Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: It had been a long time since I've read a book that I could not put down. Martin's book, A Game of Thrones managed to do that. It captured my imagination with greatly developed characters. I could associate with each one of them in turn, even the "evil" characters were described in such great detail, that the reader could always understand where they're coming from.Overall, a wonderful read. I would recommend it to anyone (my mother-in-law loved it as well).
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent and New Begining
Review: This book is an excellent new beginning. I haven't had this much fun since I read "Eye of the World". I'd forgotten how much fun reading the beginning of an all-new series could be, a series full of all new characters and plots. If you are looking for a book where you have a hero that gets in trouble and at the last minute results to a splendid magical episode to get him out this is not it. This is a story where the good guys sometimes lose and they must rely on brain and brawn, not might and magic. Martin brings the Seven Kingdoms to life with a gifted talent of the English language. My only hope is that Martin continues to dazzle us with this epic and doesn't fall back to just putting out books to keep the series going. We are getting far to much of that today. Get this book...you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Martin better than Jordan?
Review: As a relatively new reader of sci-fi and fantasy, I hadn't read too many of the current popular fantasy series, so I started with Jordan's books. While they were enthralling and the world he builds is amazingly detailed, my foray into the Seven Kingdoms in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series has been just as enjoyable. I can't decide my favorite of the two authors, but I will tell you what I like about A Game of Thrones. First observation: Things happen. After reading entire chapters of Jordan's later novels that only stew in their own contemplative juices without actually going anywhere, it was refreshing to experience a little adventure and excitement with each chapter in AGOT. Second observation: Women are authentic. I'm not sure if I phrased that properly, but here's what I mean. After a while, Jordan's portrayal of women gets really annoying. Maybe it's just me, but they all seem so similar and uninteresting most of the time. In AGOT the female characters are some of my favorites and they seem like real people to me. I hope that anyone who is reading this looking for a potential fantasy novel to bide their time until the next Jordan book comes out will immediately add this worthy tome to their shopping cart. You may find yourself counting the days until the next Martin book rather than the next Jordan book if you're not careful.
Rating:
Summary: *drooling*
Review: I love fantasy but very rarely do I find a book that I get so into that I skip work to read it. I'm currently at work and I have the book sitting next to me because i haven't finished it. I'm glad I picked this up on a wim good work george
Rating:
Summary: So good it hurts.
Review: The first time I read A Clash of Kings - right after its US release - I inhaled it like a starving woman at a feast. After two long years of waiting I just wanted to see what happened next! As with A Game of Thrones, I was sucked into this world and had a hard time pulling myself out. I couldn't read anything else for two weeks afterward. Everything else paled in comparison and I was exhausted! Since then I have gone back and reread bits and pieces when I felt the need, fully intent on reading the entire book again...and so I just did. This time I slowly read each chapter - taking my own sweet time to savor it all. As with A Game of Thrones, I fell in love with the story, the descriptions and the characters - and what characters they are! But it's not just the main players (jon, arya, tyrion, etc.) who seem real enough to walk off the page. Martin's secondary and minor characters are just as fascinating. Bronn, the Hound, Yoren, Jaqen, Doloreous Edd, and Vargo Hoat to name a few. I do believe I will never be able to see a leech and not think of Roose Bolton. And Theon. Theon, Theon, Theon. Even though I wanted to wring his infuriating little neck, I found myself feeling something akin to pity for him as the walls of Winterfall closed in on him. How does Martin do it? Yes, it's violent. It's grim. Terrible things happen to women AND men - this is war. It's not pretty and it's not for little kids, but it has everything I could possibly want in a book : descriptions that jump off the page and a gripping story full of impelling characters who come alive and proceed to captivate, horrify and amuse page after page after page. It's simply awesome.
Rating:
Summary: The hard part of taking a crown is to pass it to your son
Review: We sometimes forget that wars have been fought over who will sit his a**on a throne. In this one the popular usurper dies while his kid is young and untested. A kingdom that has been held together by strong, effective leadership shatters. The hates expressed by various Houses are old and deep. No one is totally free of self serving ambition in this book. This book is really a stage setting book for the next volume. It just takes your breath away with its detail and the background that is given. You understand why everyone is fighting, but you cannot really agree with them. Asimov could not develop a character to save his life, but his plots were first rate. This author does character development and plot development that are as believable as life. People start out to go to one place and wind up in another. Long laid plans fail, because the planners wanted some things to be true that could NEVER be true. In closing I want to say that all people who do evil are NOT Evil. It is possible for noble and just men to serve Evil and unjust causes. It is also possible for the most vile and dispicable person to serve a just cause.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good!
Review: Reasonobly original fantasy. Martin manages to create a compelling world, characters that are intresing and a sytoryline that manages to keep you interesting for the entire book and makes you go looking for the sequal. All in all it is well worth the time spent.
Rating:
Summary: Wow...
Review: This has to be one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. It is light years ahead of The Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth. The story weaves a complicated web of intrigue and politics, of honor and dishonor, and of treachery and truth. The book honestly draws you in quickly and leaves you hanging. You will come to respect, love and loathe most of the characters, and find yourself begging for more. Alas, this seems to be one of those long epics...let us hope Martin does not burn out as Jordan did. Read and love this book.
Rating:
Summary: No huge magic, but believable readable characters
Review: A very well told story, easy to read, the 800 pages go by very quickly. Good characters and enough plot lines to keep you interested but not so many that you lose track of what is going on (about 9 separate plot lines). No huge magic involved, but the threat exists for future books. Remember "Winter is coming"
Rating: 
Summary: Welcome back, George?
Review: Well, he's back, and arent we all yearning for something new and refreshing? Yearning for male characters smart enough to tie their own shoelaces? Yearning for female characters who are more than scheming, conniving, or helpless babes in the woods who do not much more than make bad decisions and whine? Keep yearning. Martin's swords sans sorcery attempt is chock full of the banal and with nothing new to grab you with, so check it out of your local library if you've found some time on your hands, but for heavens sake dont buy the darn thing....it'll only encourage him.
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