Rating: 
Summary: A fantasy epic to be proud of
Review: A Game of Thrones is quite simply the best fantasy I've read in a long, long time. I can scarcely think of a single serious criticism to levy at it, so let me mention some of what I love about this novel.Characterization, characterization, characterization. Martin does a good job of imbuing each of his viewpoint characters with life and depth. No one character is the designated hero; instead we have a cast of believable, not necessarily perfect characters through whose eyes we watch events unfold. Despite some initial reservations, I grew to like Martin's style of switching viewpoint characters after each and every chapter. Instead of making the story disjointed and hard to follow, it comes together into a multi-faceted gem. I also appreciate the absence (for now) of earth-shattering sorcery and city-devouring behemoths. The world of a Game of Thrones has its own identity. It contains magic and monsters, but these are sufficiently rare that when they do appear it means something. Instead the world is rich in legend and history, from the old gods to which many of the protagonists still keep to the the millennia-old Wall of ice that stands between the known world and the uncharted, lurking north. This novel is so gripping not because of impossible flights of fancy but because of its convincing authenticity and depth. With these characters and this world Martin constructs a compelling plot with both political intrigue on a grand scale and rivalries and love on a character level. Note that this novel makes no pretense of arriving at any sort of conclusion at its end: the plot thickens significantly in the last chapter, making it less a novel and more simply the first volume in a saga that is not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Great with only a few problems
Review: I came to this series from the ninth book of Jordan's Wheel of Time and I must say that the two stories are extremely different in approach. Whereas Jordan's world is obviously more fantasy with Aes Sedai and the like, Martin's world is more realistic and almost to a fault. While the book ending with you seething for more, it begins a bit slow and he jams many characters at you from the beginning. Once you are able to digest the different people and what House they are from (around mid-book), the plot thickens and becomes difficult to put down. A few problems I had with the book are the slow start, then numerous characters and the often times brutality of his description. First of all, the characters speak in a way that is sometimes not believable (for instance using the word bunghole). Persoanlly I also feel that there is too much emphasis on sex...not that sex offends me by any means it simply doesn't fit into the story. The book is wonderful regardless of what I have said. I cant wait to get "A Clash of Kings".
Rating:
Summary: The best fantasy series I've read since...
Review: I know it's trite and hackneyed to say so, but this is the best fantasy series I've read since Tolkien. The series has a somewhat grim tone and even the sympathetic characters sometimes end up doing bad and disturbing things. But the plotting, the characterization, the writing and the book as a whole are at a level that just goes beyond anything I've read in a very long time, fantasy or other. If you can't deal with violence or you like your fantasy light and fluffy, you should probably go elsewhere, but if you like a great story with action, wonderful and amazingly fleshed-out characters, and excellent writing, this is your book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy with some guts for a change!!!
Review: I was ready to give up on the whole fantasy genre after reading several hack-written books telling the same story over and over again. You know the one... a farm boy joins up with a group of people (among them inevitably a wizard or some such thing) and they go ona quest to find some magical amulet/sword/whatever, and along the way they are attacked by the minions of some "Dark Lord", blah, blah, blah... Well, people, George R.R. Martin is the real deal. No faeries, no elves, no stupid "heroes", no cardboard "Dark Lord", no magic amulets to save the day, just gritty in-your-face adventure with incredible characters, plot twists galore and a healthy dose of blood, guts and sex. Just the way I like it. Unlike many fantasy writers, Martin DELIVERS THE GOODS! He doesn't just paint a pretty picture of an imaginary world, things HAPPEN ...! And he doesn't ramble on either, despite the lenght of the book (well into the "doorstopper" category), every word counts and the story moves FORWARD! Forgive my overuse of exclamation points but this book deserves the all!! Read on and find out what epic fantasy can really be like!
Rating: 
Summary: Forced, contrived, lacks natural flow . . .
Review: I bought this book on the strength of other reviews here, but had to stop reading after the first three chapters (something I almost never do) due to the book's overly contrived feel. The main family, the Starks, living on their winter land -- get it?, a Stark landscape. . . The map of the world - a poor rip-off of tolkien with geographic names like "Red Bay" and "Blue Cove" . . . and the writer's inability to build true tension "He felt something was wrong," "he felt cold," "he felt forboding" . . . all conspire to make this a mediocre book and reveal a mediocre writer. Get the real thing - Tolkien, and see what this guy is attempting to emulate. . .
Rating:
Summary: You must buy this book!!
Review: I love fantasy books. However, there is a dearth of quality in the genre. If you feel the same way I do then take heart, the "Ice and Fire" series is the pot of gold at the end of the fantasy book rainbow. The characters in this series are the most realistic and believable that I have ever read in the genre. The series provokes true emotions because no character is safe. Martin imperils all characters and has the guts to even kill some. The good characters aren't so sugary sweet that they give you a tooth ache, no more than the evil characters are totally evil. They both have good and bad traits. What more, Martin gives perspective from both sides of the spectrum. The series is the best I've read since Lord of the Rings, and if you are any kind of fantasy fan (and even if you're not) you WILL thoroughly enjoy this series.
Rating:
Summary: Best book Ive read in a really long time
Review: I read alot, and this is one of the best books Ive come across in a long time. The storyline in this book in awsome, and the charators are great, after reading for awhile you feel like you really know them. There are a few things that might turn off some readers, somtimes the story drags a bit, but you usually find that in most books, the other thing that may offend some people is the amount of sexual content in the book, I personally dont think its to bad myself. Other than that this is a great book. I think anyone who is looking for a good book to get lost in, this is the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good stuff, but a few shortcomings
Review: This is above-average fantasy, but Martin falls into a couple of old fantasy-genre traps. One is the elevated narrative style. Why do fantasy authors trump up their narrative voices so often? Tolkien was great because he was one of the few fantasy writers who could convey a world of such incredible imagination with elegant, natural prose that didn't have any frills. Just because the story is set in a fantasy-type universe doesn't mean the narrative style has to have so many bells and whistles. A couple of examples: Whenever Martin has some guy eating breakfast, the character is "breaking his fast." Why? When someone goes to the bathroom, he's "creating water." Huh? If you write a novel based in the 21st century and use that language, your novel won't get published. For some reason, fantasy authors get away with it. The other problem is that Martin, apparently trying to flesh out his child characters, gives the kids in this book monologues and thoughts that simply would not occur to children. It happens a lot in fantasy and in sci-fi -- Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" comes to mind. The worst of all in this book is Daenerys --- the girl is 13 and 14 in the novel and she acts twice that age. Most glaring, and a little perverse, is her sexual relationship with Khal Drogo. Aside from the fact that their first time borders on kiddie porn -- you'd get thrown in jail for posting that sort of thing on the web -- it is so unrealistic for a 14-year-old to act as Daenerys does that it just looks like Martin is trying to get his jollies. The image that kept coming to mind was the South Park episode when Mr. Garrison writes a romance novel and keeps getting, er, sidetracked. Still, if you can get over those shortcomings, the book is entertaining. I guess you read fantasy for different reasons than you read great literature anyway. If you're in the fantasy mood -- hungry for solid plotting and a believable alternate universe -- this is a satisfying read.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Fantasy Saga
Review: I had wanted to get back into reading a truely great fantasy series, but I was wary of endless pages in an endless story that went nowhere. A Game of Thrones delivers, and delivers amazingly well. Fast-paced, suspenseful, funny. I highly, highly, highly recommend this book! BUY IT NOW.
Rating: 
Summary: Non-Fantasy
Review: Boring, tedious, uninteresting. The only reason I finished is because I'd gotten so far in hoping for something to happen. Other reviewers compared it to Jordan and Goodkind, maybe if they wrote a history text! I didn't care about the good guys or the bad guys, so as they died it just didn't matter. Magic? It hints at it but never comes through. You want realism rent Braveheart; this is 700 pages of complete droll!
| 
