The first novel in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series and a great one at that. It’s fantasy not sci-fi, actually. But, lets put it this way if you liked LOTR then you’ll like this…
I was going to start a new thread, but a quick search indicated that one was already started. Although it was a while ago
I just read the all the current A Song of Ice and Fire novels in the last week or so. Wow, just wow. Absolutly amazing books. Seriously, I say go buy a copy of each. There are only 4 books so far (although A Storm of Swords was released in 2 parts for the UK paperback release). I believe ‘A Dance with Dragons’ is out in September. I’m really looking forward to it. Although it probably won’t resolve most of what happened at the end of ‘A Feast of Crows’. I’ll come back with some discussion, theories etc if anyone else has read it and cares to comment.
Just a little warning, these books are pretty brutal. Plenty of carnage. I would definatly say they aren’t appropriate for all ages, considering a certain. A little too descriptive about the relationship between a certain set of siblings (I’m trying to be deliberatly vague, I despise spoilers and would hate to ruin it for someone)
[spoiler]I’m obviously talking about Jamie and Cersei Lannister. Really uncool.[/spoiler]
I also just picked this series up and I gotta say I’m quite impressed, personally I don’t find the more “brutal” or perhaps blunt aspects of these books to be any sort of turn-off, infact I like that there are some authors that don’t show fantasy worlds to be archetypal places where, yes indeed there is evil, but its more like evil-lite, and they fight the good guys who sometimes have trouble, but ultimately do no wrong and always triumph.
I’ve read alot of these kinds of sci-fi/fantasy books and while I don’t necessarily have a problem reading books like that, I find the occasional blunt author who’s twisted enough to make the bad guys bad, and the good guys live in the moral grey area like in reality, a breath of fresh air.
Sofar I’m halfway through the 4th book, and as much as I love the first 3, I gotta say the odd switch certainly threw me off a bit, and I can’t quite sit down and get as absorbed in this one as in the other 3, which is a shame =(
A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons were originallly going to be one book. But it got too long so it was decieded to split them. It could either be split by order of the story or by the charachters and they ended up going with the later. When they are both out, it might be better if they are read back to back.
I love this series, in fact it’s my favorite book series ever. Nothing comes close. From the first book to the fourth, it’s simply amazing. Brilliant dialogue, amazing characters, great plot twists and some truly shocking moments that most authors only dream of. This is the way fantasy should be written.
Unquestionably, without a doubt, incomparably, the best fantasy series, E.V.E.R.
1~3 is so excellent that the 4th book was a (very slight) let-down for me. I’m really eager to find out how the series will end.
BTW, Amazon says the 5th and the final book will be out Sept 30th.
The long hiatus between BSG’s seasons seems nothing compared to the long waits I have endured for this book series and Jordan’s Wheel of Time.
By the way, thanks for the release info. I had given up thinking the book would ever get out here. I didn’t realize it would be the last one though. 
Amazon’s release dates should be taken with a grain of salt. They are not reliable. The book isn’t finished yet and it’ll take a few months to print up. Also A Dance with Dragons is not the last book. There will be two more (or more, ASoIaF was originally a trilogy) after, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.
BTW, there are also two short stories that you may have missed. The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword. They tell the tale of a lowly knight Ser Duncan the Tall or Dunk as he is known. They are set 100 or so years before A Game of Thrones. I enjoyed them both. They are availible in the Legends I and II, although both books are out of print. I had to buy them used.
Both The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword are available as graphic novels.
So I’ve heard. I haven’t seen a copy yet. Anyone know if they are any good?
I’ve read Hedge Knight… it’s short, but very, very excellent. I haven’t read the other one.
I own both of the graphic novels and they are pretty good. I really like the artwork in them, it’s some of the better art I’ve seen of the ASOIAF universe.
You know, I remember thinking, how refreshing it is that a series starts off with a stated intention of spanning just three-books. Finally, I thought, it’s nice to know definitely how long it’ll last. It seems like this is starting stretch out a little bit… I sure hope GRRM has a plan for how it’ll all end.
Not that I’m complaining… I’m enjoying every one of the books, so I have no problem with one more. All good things has to end at some point, though…
I picked up a copy of ‘The Art of A Song of Ice and Fire’ I found it pretty good for art work. The cover is great, Jamie on the Iron Throne looking very pleased with himself.
I have no problem with more length. I think any of the three main plots (I consider Dany, The Wall and The Iron Throne the main plots) could make a pretty good trilogy by them selves.
I have that book as well and there is some wonderful artwork in it ( I so want the Winterfell piece hanging on my wall) but there is some work in there that makes me cringe, although I will say that most of it is better than some of the bizarre foreign edition covers of the series.
Personally, I wouldn’t believe this date AT ALL. GRRM is inundated daily with email asking him when the next book is going to be out. For the past year or so he has stated on his website that he will post there when it is finished. He did this with the last book. ALthough he does a fairly regular blog keeping people up to date on what he’s doing, he has not announced it as being finished yet. In fact the area he has set aside for that announcement has not changed since January of this year.
That date is simply the publisher & Amazon’s hope for release. It would have to be at the publisher’s NOW in order to make that release.
So basicly, sit down & keep refreshing www.georgerrmartin.com but don’t hold your breath while ya do it. 
Given the recent series green light by HBO I’m thinking this might be a good book to branch out of the sci-fi we’ve read so far.
This book is on par with depth & character development with a Lord of the Rings but also bringing with it a real understanding of human nature & political manuevering.
I’m reading it right now. The first book is quite long - I’m only about halfway through, yet I’ve been reading it for about a week and a half now. I’m probably going to take a break and read Hitchhiker’s Guide and then come back to this.
It’s a fantastic book so far. Very interesting and intricate.
Its been hard to truly enjoy any other fantasy series after reading the Song of Ice & Fire because the characters are just so realistic and compelling.
It’s been a while since I’ve read these books I will probably read them shortly.
Can’t wait to see what HBO will do with it at least they are not restricted on nudity and violence. Not that I find it necessary but there is a lot of it in the story.
Just to see what Disney did to the Terry Goodkind book (the book series is almost as hard as the GRR Martin series but the tv show is like Xena) and I’m happy this one was done by HBO.