I've been hearin alot about the book series 'Game of Thrones' so I looked it up on Barnes and Noble and there were mixed reviews about it. Some said it was a great story, others said that it was slow, there were so many characters it was hard to remember who all of them were, and that it just seemed to muddle though the plot. So I was wonderin if anyone here had read the books, and what their thoughts on them were. Should I read them, or should I not even waste my time?

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13

I am huge fan of "A Song of Ice and Fire" (Game of Thrones is a title of first book in the series). They are worth reading thousand times!

First at all if you like knight tales, you will like ASoIaF. Its all about battles (but not boring at all!) and great plotting. Also, a bit of misticism and beautiful adventure of Daenerys.

Yes, they are lot of characters but quickly you will love them. I had no troubles with placing them in my head.

READ IT!

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Well, I like fantasy books like LotR (naturally), and the Dragonlance series, and the Sword of Truth, so would this series sort of fall in line with those different books?

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13

Its different. Less fantasy-ish, more serious. A lot of violence and prose of life. But at the same time magical and sort of beautiful. I never read something like this before to tell the truth.

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Alright, I'm gettin a bit more interested now.

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13

Plus last but not least, Martin has great style of writing. You say reviews were saying its slow, nothing less true! He has style that captures you and hold until you realise the book is finished.

Its great time to start reading the series, Martin told that he is finally finishing next part

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Great, thanks! I dont know anythin about the series, so I wasn't sure if i wanted to spend the money to buy the book, then wind up not liking it.

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13

I can second nearly all of what morgana said

I loooove a Game of Thrones, yes it does have a lot of characters, but then so did LotR and the Silmarillion- it's more the fact that most of them are described in detail, then you are given 2 or 3 opinions on them that can be tricky at times, but it soon becomes clear who is important, and who isn't.

I wouldn't say the story is slow, for this book at least- I'd say the main plot is like a medieval murder mystery, that's solved about 2/3 of the way through, and then you have the consequences. I would say some POV character's chapters are slower and less interesting than others, but their stories pick up in the other books. I think the only time you'll find the series slow is when you either want to read faster to find out what happens quicker, or when your sitting around waiting for the author to write the next one!

I would also make note that- whilst it's fantasy, it's a lot more grown up than say LotR- theres a fair bit of gruesome violence, and plenty of -mostly- gratuitous sex. But then theres lots of gratuitous feasting and clothing descriptions too

But I'd definitely recommended it

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Thanks for your input! I know I can trust the opinions of LotR fans more than B&N book critics!

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13

Well these are my thoughts on A Song of Ice and Fire. *gets into snobby critic mode*

Martin definitely knows how to build most of his characters and even though the plot may not need five or six POV characters, by having them he can definitely let the plot expand as much as he can. Having multiple POV characters also allow him to have more suspense. For example, we know something really shocking from one character's POV but not the others. So we're waiting for the others to catch up and figure out the truth themselves. Having a lot of characters also makes it somewhat bearable if you like certain characters or not. If there had been only one POV centred on one character and it was a character I didn't like, I wouldn't have bothered with it. If you're worried about having way too many characters, there is a character sheet at the back of the book and it says who's who, who's part of what family, and what that person does.

In short, if you've liked all the characters, you'll like all the little subplots as well. However I found some characters less than tolerable so it was something of a pain to go through their POVs.

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I was cured all right.

I didn't like only Catelyn and Brienne POVs. They were just dull. But for example Theon or Tyrion POVs are really interesting. Not mentioning Dany. Jon is moderated but I like reading behind the Wall.

All in all, its always if you like characters, you may probably like the book. If style is good, of course.

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Hahah I think it's really interesting who like's who's PoV's best. I found Dany kinda dull after Book 1, and thought Theon just came across as a total idiot, but loved Brienne's. Tyrion's is consistently good- even with copious referrals to Shae :/. Sansa- so far though- has been my fav PoV, but then hers was one of the worst in AGoT lol. And I still feel slightly embarrassed about liking Jon's PoV after the Ygritte chapters in ASoS

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I find myself wishing to skip Jon's and Dany's POV chapters. It's not so much I hate them perse but I just find the stuff going on in King's Landing much more exciting.

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I was cured all right.

Alright, so what order do the books come in? I hate it when I buy a book and find I bought them out of order...

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13

I believe it's...

1. A Game of Thrones
2. A Clash of Kings
3. A Storm of Swords (?)
4. A Feast for Crows
4. A Dance with Dragons

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I was cured all right.

Great, thank you!

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Wed Killian Jones (Captain Hook) 4/20/13