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Summary: Got me back into fantasy
Review: This is absolutley the best fantasy I have read since the David/Leigh Eddings books. Great charachters, complex plot, fascinating world... and most of all, well written. Based on the "people have also purchased" links on this page I made the tragic error of purchasing the first few of the Goodkind books after reading this. The Goodkind books feel like something out of Reader's Digest when compared to Martin's prose. I'm on the waiting list at my library for the second, and whole-heartedly recomend this book.
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Summary: What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks!!!!
Review: There are times when a reader stumbles upon a story that catches their interst, AND WON"T LET GO. Welcome to one such time. If I wanted to criticize a writer that, in all honesty, captured my attention, then I should start writing my own books. Plus it does not help that Mr. Martin left no room for critics to squeeze into. This will be on my favorites list, along with Mr. Jordan and Mrs. Rawn, for a long time to come.
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Summary: An excellent story and Plot. Outstanding by all means
Review: A very gripping plot that keeps readers reading and the critics quiet. An outstanding buy for all fantasy readers and even for those that are not.
Rating: 
Summary: Great, but not perfect.
Review: Time to add my two cents to the pennybank. The good: 1) An engaging read, that really pulls in the reader chapter after chapter. Despite the book being fairly hefty in size, I finished the book in no time at all. 2) Great characterizations, great background, great world. 3) Nice fusion of 'reality' with 'fantasy'. Read it and you'll know what I mean. The bad: 1) Gratuitous sex scenes. There is going to be SOME sexual scenes...but some of this is just hollywood-ized sex for the sake of sex. Cut it out. 2) Gratuitous violence. I thought to stop reading this at several places because the book was simply too gruesome to continue reading. 3) Very dark tone. I look to Fantasy to be "nice," and "good." This is definitely not. It's in the same vein as some of Donaldson's work, especially "The Illearth War". NOT a book for children.All in all, though, worth reading. Winter is Coming!
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Summary: Finally, a truly stirring and emotional fantasy series
Review: George R.R. Martin has truly outdone himself. What an incredible package this book has to offer. Characters you hate to love and love to hate run rampant throughout this exciting novel. I have to say that only serious fantasy readers should even attempt to tackle this one. If you want to read a ludicrously fast paced, guick resolving, unsatisfying novel do not go near this one. This novel is an amazingly woven tapestry of developed characters and a massively developed plot-line which leaves you believing and caring for all characters involved. Hopefully the pace keeps up in what is sure to be a multi-volume series. Keep up the good work Mr. Martin
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Summary: A Time to Stand
Review: OK. This is were I react. The writer before me is certainly losing it, as well, as the woman who bitched about not havng stron female characters. Martin created the most incredible cast of characters, male and female, to have ever apeared in a fantasy book. Catelyn is a stron female character, and so is Dany,and Arya. Someone who doesn't think they are probably will consider Pilar from 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' a weak female character. As for likeable characters, it's true that a few likeable character die, but that's life. You have plenty of cool heros left, most notably Tyrion Lannister. If you feel bad about characters sying, Martin has done his work properly. As for childlish, well it's true that about half of the character sare children, so they act childlish. Like DUH. But there are lots of grown ups, and they never act childlishly. Catelyn and Tyrion's battle of wits, Ned's search for Robert Arryn's murderers, Jon Snow learning about loyalty - all are simbols of growth and greatness.
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Summary: Bloody Excellent!!!
Review: Read it, just read it! I did (in about 6 days) and loved it
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Summary: Completely disappointing. Read to learn how not to write.
Review: Don't be misled by the high praise plastered across the cover of this book. The plot seems like it's going somewhere for the first 300 hundred pages, but the author manages to kill off all the worthwhile characters by the end of the book. The plot fizzles as Mr. Martin trumpets events that we're supposed to feel as significant but instead are yet more lurid, overblown escapades. We're left with a storyline that apparently is heading toward some cataclysmic "clash of kings," without a character I'd like to meet left. All the remaining main characters are immature, delusional, or outright perverted. In sum, "A Game of Thrones" is yet another sign of the malaise crippling modern fantasy: replete with gratuitous deviance and lacking in characters worthy of admiration (eg, Terry Goodkind and the later Robert Jordan books). Read only if you'd like to really know how utterly hyperbolic cover quotes can be.
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Summary: I'm singing fire and ice on this novel! Well-written!
Review: This is an excellent novel of epic proportions! George R. R. Martin is an excellent author who know how to write a darn good story! I love the characters of Ned Stark, Jon Snow, Catelyn Tully Stark, and most especially, my favorite, Tyrion Lannister, the Imp. I just loved this little character, funny as hell. Thanks God no major bad guy plotting the downfall of everything (like the Emperor in Star Wars movies), but shady characters with questionable intents make reading this novel VERY worthwhile. I've read the first 2 books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, but his just goes on and on too much and with the next 5 books, jeez...I can understand the need to tell the stories about one world, but it went too far. Every series must have 3 things: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Why go on too much? I just hope George R.R. Martin stay on the track with his Song of Ice and Fire series through and through without ending up in the same trap as Robert Jordan writing his WOT series. It's a helluva novel and I'm looking forward to the second book in a paperback.
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Summary: A Powerful and Stirring Read
Review: This is the first 5 star review I have ever given on Amazon.com and it is one richly deserved. Martin, an excellent wordsmith, has crafted a book that borrows the best from the fantasy genre while not falling into all its traps and cliques. Above all, it is a grim and gritty tale that eschews the romanticism of a fairy tale. Magic is spare but profound when seen. Creating a rich and textured world that breathes, lives, and snatches you up the author writes above most in his or other genres. The last time I read a fantasy book so grand it had "The Eye of the World" stamped across it. All the magic of those early Jordan books was invoked in this reading. Great characters with all their flaws and quirks were presented and soon they become alive. Reviled or loved, you will come to know them and bless or curse their actions or want to fold them in your arms and brush away their tears. Often I was moved by what happened to them, honestly caring. Often I stared at disbelief at the page and at some twists. This is a highly recommended book. Some may be offended by language, violence, and sexuality but it never seems gratitous. It is a world both fantastic and real and that makes for the best in this genre.
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