George R.R. Martin - A Game of Thrones

Pros: Superb writing, character development and stories
Cons: So many characters, hard to keep straight at times

Over the years, I’ve tried quite a few fantasy series. Most were satisfying reads, but not earth shattering. Recently, I was listening to Z talk to a friend about the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin and they were so ...

Pros: A tale as gripping as Shogun, a world complete and detailed.  Superlative writing.
Cons:  You have to pay attention to juggle the multitudinous story threads.

A Game of Thrones.  By George R. R. Martin.   "Winter is Coming."  The words of House Stark.   Westeros is a feudal society, with seven kingdoms, ruled by a High King.  The land is used to ...

Pros: Very well written, lot of sex and violence
Cons: Very long, not many fantasy elements

George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series is the fantasy epic series that I’ve been waiting for since reading Lord of the Rings. I tried getting into Robert Jordan’s wildly popular Wheel of Time series, but after reading the ...

Pros: Believable characters set in a flawlessly detailed created world, lively descriptions, plenty of lively dialogue
Cons: None!

At some point in my reading career, I had forgotten how much I used to love high fantasy literature. When I was in middle school and high school, I devoured fantasy novels at the rate of several a week. Then, during college, novels were pushed off my...

Pros: complex, intelligent, unpredictable
Cons: grim, grim, grim, grim, and grim

"I'm a big wimp." That will be engraved on my gravestone, right above "Yes, yes I would like fries with that," and right below, "What do you mean, I can't take my books with me? If I can't take my books, I'm not going!"

A Game of...

Pros: Great characterization, intricate plot
Cons: Slow to start, very violent

It is probably for the best that I read this book under the influence of a fever and an unidentified but unloving virus. It put me in the perfect mood for this book.

A Game of Thrones is dark, violent, depressing, and slow. It is...

Pros: Interesting structuring, lots of political intrigue.
Cons: Flat characters, very choppy story.

There are two main types of fantasy sagas. I like to call the first one, pioneered by J. R. R. Tolkien the questing fantasy. This kind of stories is about one or more people who travel from point A to point B in order to save the world or do...

Pros: An intricate, gripping tale; easy to lose oneself in the flow of the story.
Cons: None present themselves to my mind; this has brought me great pleasure.

Long have I slaved and labored through the morass of the Sword that is called Truth. Long have I groaned under the burden of stilted prose and ponderous plot constructions. But now, though the light of hope had dimmed almost beyond recall, I have found ...

Pros: Lots of characters, plenty of blood and guts.
Cons: It's all been done before.

In the world of epic fantasy, innovation is seldom part of the equation. Instead, authors line up to crank out lengthy tomes full of dragons, swords, and damsels in distress. It seems that many fantasy authors have abandoned any attempt to push the ...

Pros: Well-developed characters and situations, not overly ambitious.
Cons: Can be unrelentingly grim.

Plot Details: I reveal limited plot details in this review, not really worth of spoilers. I am becoming wary of series, particularly unfinished series. Too many series have disappointed me. Card's Homecoming ended one book too late. ...

Pros: Great characters, sweeping plot.
Cons: Ending is a killer, and I don't have the second book yet.

Believe it or not, I picked this book up in response to a few reviews I had read on it and it's sequel, Clash of kings. The reviews I read sparkled with praise for Mr. Martin's book.

I was not let down. Indeed, I was surprised at how...

Pros: Great characterization, far more direct style of writing then previous authors.
Cons: The series gets lost in future books.

It seems that ever since Tolkien wrote his trilogy The Lord of The Rings, other authors have attempted to come up with their own epic adventure. These usually involve various characters operating in some sort of fantastic world where the magic has ...

Pros: -Epic Story -Great Character Development
Cons: -Character names can be hard to retain as they are very similar sometimes.

A Song of Fire and Ice Book I A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin Published 1996 So here I was at a crossroad where the decision was going to determine what it was I was going to be reading over the course of the next ...

Pros: Politics combine w/ Epic Fantasy, putting you in your chair until the last page
Cons: Hunger for next book at the end, long wait between books

I was first introduced to Martin's epic world of politics, royalty, fantasy, love, lust, betrayal, war and power when tripping over it (literally) at a friend's house. At over 900 pages, he had finished reading Game of Thrones and decided...

Pros: GREATEST STORY EVER WRITTEN. POV story style. Purposely flawed characters. Intriguing. Not Predictable
Cons: You haven't read it yet

I could not possibly be more pleased by a single piece of literature. I will go on record as singularly defining my favorite book, upon which sets the standard for all books that I should read in the future. This book has everything you could ...