A Song of Ice and Fire

Searched the index for this series and the link that came up was redundant, so I thought I'd make a new one.

Hopefully some of you guys have read it, as it is an awesomely amazing series.

For me, it is vastly superior to all other fantasy books that I have read such as The Wheel of Time series and The Lord of the Rings.

You guys got any thoughts on it?

Isn't the first book A Game of Thrones?

I believe I read a little of it, but I can't recall of I actually finished reading it, or not.

I'll just pop in to agree with Nilwethion. The books are brilliant. You're really got to give them a good chance though. Some less patient readers might give up after 100 pages or so. Finish the first book, A Game of Thrones, because if you do that you will most likely be hooked and unable to avoid reading the rest - an experience which will be great for you!

I personally prefer the Wheel of Time series, but this is brilliant aswell. Just as well written and less clichéd than the Wheel of Time. I just prefer that story and those characters. These characters are amazing aswell but in a different way. They come with faults and flaws. I don't really feel like I know them the same way I do Jordan's characters however.

Martin isn't afraid to kill off even the biggest characters though. That's one thing that makes the book exciting. You truly never know who's going to win whereas in other fantasy novels you always know that good will triumph over evil in the end. Here, there is no good and evil. Everyone has some good and some evil in them, and no character is "untouchable". The ambiguity of the series, the way things are written in shades of grey rather than black and white, are what makes it so great.

Luckily I didn't have to wait for any books as I started reading them just over a year ago. The only wait I'm having to do is the current one. I might have to re-read the series before the next book comes out though.

Favourite characters would be:

Robb Stark

Tyrion
Jaime
Sansa (strangely I just enjoy her chapters)
Arya
Sandor Clegane - The Hound

I don't particularly like Sansa herself, but I never get to one of her chapters and think "urgh, can't be bothered to read that now". I guess I just find her story quite interesting. I don't particularly like Bran but there's been hints that his story could become very interesting.

Arya's chapters were good for getting us close to The Hound aswell.

I like Dany's chapters aswell. The dragons are quite interesting and it's cool seeing her build up her strength in preparation for an assault on Westeros.

Who can you see actually gaining/holding on to the Iron Throne in the end then?

Recently I've been looking for a book to pick up and I think it'll be this. Just checked on amazon and I can get a paperback for around £5.

**edit** Obviously not this one, A Game of Thrones

quote ali3n

quote Nilwethion

i) It isn't cliched like Lord of the Rings. There is no good and bad people per se, just a load of people fighting, plotting, rebelling and stabbing each others backs. You have no idea what is going to happen next, you can root for whatever family you like as there isn't really a good or evil and you won't fail to be amazed by the characters, which are the best things about the whole series.

ii) The series is really gritty. Martin isn't afraid to explore topics such as rape, murder, peadophilla, treason, capital punishment, rebellion, war, torture and other such things. It isn't a book for the light hearted, but I can be sure that anyone who loves politcs, magic and war will love it.

The characters might be slightly more 'human' in that there isn't some clear cut evil that they've banded together to defeat but the majority of it has portrayed the Starks as the 'good guys'.

It never particularly explores any of those aspects, they simply seem to be thrown in there in order to make the books seem slightly more mature.

The only reason the Starks are portrayed as the good guys is because of the main POVs being Starks. This is different from a LOTR good v evil where there is no perspective on the evil side.