Advantages: Engrossing, amazing, ingenious.
Disadvantages: Leaves you craving for more. A big series.

...Well the series so far is not complete; as many will know we wait hungrily for the 4th book “A Feast for Crows”. Many would wonder what makes Martins book so great to warrant a whole household to fight over the only copies in the house (well in my house anyway!). It is written in the most compelling detail, with characters you would love as your own friends and family and characters that are hateful, deceitful and absolutely vile that they either deserve your admiration for having that kind of ambition or your unimaginable loathing. With fantastical backdrop of Westeros, we are given the many powerful Houses (and few that aren’t) who are the players of the Game of Thrones where to lose is to lose everything. The ever gathering threat from the north of the Ice Wall and the army massing from the Lands of the Summer Sea, the land... Read review

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Advantages: Great fantasy for adults, lively characters.
Disadvantages: The wait till the authors finishes writing the next one.

...A Storm of Sword's is George R.R. Martin 3rd instalment in his critically acclaimed saga 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. I am anxiously waiting for the next volume to get published (the author's official site says it's November 2005) so I wanted to get more people interested in Martin's work. I chose to review the 3rd volume because it's the one I read most recently. In short, the book is just great. Really great. But it's definitely not short. In fact it's huge. However at no point in the book did I feel that it was excessively dragged out. I read it in a single breath (one of those month-long breaths, you know) and enjoyed it all the way. In Storm of Swords, nations continue to war each other and a number of kings, queens and other protagonists are killed and as a result the contenders for the Iron Throne get reduced in an alarmingly... Read review

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Advantages: Twisting multiple plotlines over a massive world of engaging characters.
Disadvantages: Not one you can pick up without reading at least the third novel.

..."A Feast for Crows" is the fourth book in George R.R Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" series. The word 'epic' is too often applied to the fantasy genre as a whole yet this series has every fan of the genre screaming the word from the rooftops. This is a series that you find yourself recommending to everyone, even those who loathe the genre. Indeed, the last series I can remember all readers recommending so heartily is "Lord of the Rings" by the great J.R.R Tolkien which for me is the highest praise indeed. However, do not assume that this is purely a fantasy masterwork. The "Song of Fire and Ice" series is all about the politics of royalty. The series as a whole is more about family relationships and the fratricide, incest and vengeance to be found within them. That is not to say that it is not all weaved around a staggeringly complex... Read review

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Advantages: A variety of different styles from three great authors.
Disadvantages: Kings offerings are surprisingly weak.

...I bought this book knowing plenty of Stephen King (who doesn't) but little of Dan Simmons or George R.R Martin. Being a King enthusiast I bought it on the assumption that I would at least like some of the stories. "Dark Visions" is a strange concept to consider. Its introduction by famous horror editor Douglas E.Winter gives the definition and origins of horror writing and he seems to be trying to convert people to the joys of the horror novel while taking swipes at those who mock it. This is an interesting introduction that gives a helpful biography of each writer but you cannot help feel that Winter is preaching to the converted. Extolling the virtues of horror writing and the writers within is admirable but for me largely unnecessary. It is unlikely someone will stumble across a book called "Dark Visions" with a co... Read review

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Advantages: Stunning Fantasy Epic. No Cliches!
Disadvantages: Your Favorite Character Might Die on the Next Page

...George R.R. Martin! What can you say. This man, through the 1970s, and the early 1980s, practically defined Gothic Science Fiction - less the supernaturalist than Stephen King, Mr. Martin nonetheless brought the seriously-creepy to hardscience-fiction. His "Corpse Handlers" stories brought the intensely morbid to science fiction. Insofar as I can tell, Mr. Martin invented the concept, if not necessarily the phrase, "meat puppet" although this is presently in dispute literary circles. In his "corpse handler" stories, he depicted a future where convicted criminals were subjected to braindeath, with their cerebral cortex replaced by the implantation of a 'corpse-controller'; and their bodies became the ultimate slave - unless one was able to obtain the divice that could [see the eponymous shortstory] "Override". Top notch thinking... Read review

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Advantages: Inovative style, fantastic storyline
Disadvantages: Have to buy more books to find out the ending

...Hi all chaps! Due to Ciaos fantastic technical skills when the database was changed the category for A Song of Ice and Fire Book 1 disappeared and it ended up in the category for Book 3, I'd be grateful therefore if you could take absolutely no notice of this review, and rate accordingly, i.e DONT!! Cheers Emma I discovered George R.R.Martin when browsing through my local W.H. Smiths and it was on offer, as a huge fan of Eddings, Feist, Gemmell, etc. I decided to give it a go. I am now hooked on the whole series! The book itself is written in an extremely original and innovative style. Rather than focusing on one character and their interaction with others, it takes one character a chapter and go's through their adventures. There is Lord Eddard Stark, the warden of the North, his wife Catelyn and their children, Rickon... Read review

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Advantages: Intricately plotted; fantastic characters
Disadvantages: Sudden death of beloved characters always a possibility

...I'd read a few books edited by George R R Martin before this came out (the Wild Card series, in case you're curious). Then the first book of the Game of Thrones came out, I had nothing to read, so I thought, why not? And boy, was I ever glad that I did. The plot is quite incredibly well done. Well, I set 'plot'; there are a large number of plotlines weaving their way through the books, many of them incredibly deep (plots within plots within plots). In broad terms, there are two main plot lines. The first deals with the plotical machinations going on between the great houses of the realm - some of these people really don't like each other, generally because of things that their ancestors did to each other - this is a world where feuds go on for generations, and really do affect who you can speak to and what you can do... Read review

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