Book One: A Game of Thrones
Book Two: A Clash of Kings
Book Three: A Storm of Swords
Book Four: A Feast for Crows
Book Five: A Dance with Dragons
Book Six: The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)
Book Seven: A Dream of Spring (forthcoming)
If you like intricate plots with a whole host of characters, you would like this series.
I might end up reviewing the first three if I get a chance, but I will review the fourth and fifth (when I get it from the library and get it read).
A Song of Fire and Ice Series Review:
The series is written in chapters dedicated to just one characters point of view at a time. The characters that start the series don’t always make it through to even the second book, let alone the fourth, the cast is huge and ever changing, but there is never a character’s chapter that comes up that I think “I really don’t want to read about this person.” All of his leading characters are fully fleshed and interesting to read about.
With that said, let me be clear: George RR Martin is ruthless when it comes to his characters; he spends a lot of time and energy to build them up, and make you love and root for them, just to kill them off in surprising and unexpected ways, and sometimes by other characters that you thought you loved. He's killed off some of my favorite characters, and I have set the book down thinking I wouldn't finish. But I always find myself picking it back up the next day because I just have to know what happens.
His storytelling is superb, there are characters that I hated at the beginning of the series, but now I like them and even sympathize with them. There are others that I liked at the beginning, but don’t like what kind of people they’re turning into. He writes a fascinating tale, that’s more than just the standard good vs. evil you see in a lot of fantasy series’. There is of course that good vs. evil element, but thus far, we haven’t seen it too much; it’s hinted at, but not fully revealed. Thus far Martin seems to be focusing on characters and their stories than the good vs. evil fight that seems to be approaching.
With that said, let me be clear: George RR Martin is ruthless when it comes to his characters; he spends a lot of time and energy to build them up, and make you love and root for them, just to kill them off in surprising and unexpected ways, and sometimes by other characters that you thought you loved. He's killed off some of my favorite characters, and I have set the book down thinking I wouldn't finish. But I always find myself picking it back up the next day because I just have to know what happens.
His storytelling is superb, there are characters that I hated at the beginning of the series, but now I like them and even sympathize with them. There are others that I liked at the beginning, but don’t like what kind of people they’re turning into. He writes a fascinating tale, that’s more than just the standard good vs. evil you see in a lot of fantasy series’. There is of course that good vs. evil element, but thus far, we haven’t seen it too much; it’s hinted at, but not fully revealed. Thus far Martin seems to be focusing on characters and their stories than the good vs. evil fight that seems to be approaching.
A Feast for Crows Review:
I think this is the best book thus far in the series. Partially because I tend to think the most recent book I’ve read is always the best one, but partially because he focused on just a handful of characters this time, so we got to see more of the characters we love and more of the characters we love to hate. We are introduced to a few new narrators, and a few of our favorites are back, but not all. Martin divided this book and the fifth character-wise, so the characters we read about in book four will not be the same as book five. Not as many of my favorite characters die in this book (which is good, I didn’t think I could keep reading the third book after a few of my faves were knocked off), but Martin still manages to kill a few.
We see a few voyages and journeys and some characters are raised to great heights, just to take a tumble. The war of the 5 kings is mostly over by now, and the main plot is the clean up after the war and the impending winter. Since there isn’t as much fighting in this book, there is less gore than the third book (which at times I had to put down because the amount of gore grossed me out), but for those of you who love to see it, Martin certainly hasn't done away with all of it. The book has an ending, but since it is a series there are character arcs that leave you with cliff-hangers, which sucks when you are getting the books from the library. Just checked my account and the fifth book “A Dance with Dragons” should be arriving in my hands sometime next week. Woo – hoo! Stay tuned for an upcoming review!
Be warned this is a monstrous series, there are 7 books planned, only 5 are out and of those 5 not one of the books is under 600 pages, and some even hit the 1,000 page mark. If you are into high/epic fantasy and are looking for a big series this is the series for you.
I haven’t seen the HBO show, but I hear it stays pretty close to the books, I’m interested to see if this is true or not. If you have read the books and seen the HBO show – let me know! I want to know what you thought, whether you think it matches the books well, or if they leave huge plot points and/or characters out.
We see a few voyages and journeys and some characters are raised to great heights, just to take a tumble. The war of the 5 kings is mostly over by now, and the main plot is the clean up after the war and the impending winter. Since there isn’t as much fighting in this book, there is less gore than the third book (which at times I had to put down because the amount of gore grossed me out), but for those of you who love to see it, Martin certainly hasn't done away with all of it. The book has an ending, but since it is a series there are character arcs that leave you with cliff-hangers, which sucks when you are getting the books from the library. Just checked my account and the fifth book “A Dance with Dragons” should be arriving in my hands sometime next week. Woo – hoo! Stay tuned for an upcoming review!
Be warned this is a monstrous series, there are 7 books planned, only 5 are out and of those 5 not one of the books is under 600 pages, and some even hit the 1,000 page mark. If you are into high/epic fantasy and are looking for a big series this is the series for you.
I haven’t seen the HBO show, but I hear it stays pretty close to the books, I’m interested to see if this is true or not. If you have read the books and seen the HBO show – let me know! I want to know what you thought, whether you think it matches the books well, or if they leave huge plot points and/or characters out.
As I was fact-checking for this review I ran across a few pretty awesome fan-sites for both the books and the show. Here and here, if you're in to that sort of thing.
Happy Reading!
Date Started: 1/1/12
Date Finished: 1/9/12
Stars: 4.5
Next Up: The Legends of Shannara: The Measure of Magic by Terry Brooks
Next Up: The Legends of Shannara: The Measure of Magic by Terry Brooks
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