Available in local supermarket for £3.50.

Picked it up out of curiosity, but on closer inspection the first page contains the word ‘wildlings’ and the names of locations on the maps look like they’ve been thought up by an 11 year old Warhammer fanatic.

Is it actually any good?
Well written, original fantasy or sub David Gemmell stereotypical nonsense?

Yeah it is good and I think the cross-over appeal of the books and tv series is evidence of that. GRRM is a good writer who’s written some outstanding stuff over the years.

One feature of the books is that magic / supernatural stuff is quite low key, so very different from a lot of fantasy novels in that respect, and also a reason for their broad appeal. Large sections of the books read like historical fiction. Ironically, one thing that GRRM is not particularly good at is the traditional world-building you see in fantasy novels – the books are entirely driven by his writing so the opposite of the usual bollox you see on the SF / fantasy bookshelves.

Unfortunately, the series as a whole looks to be heading for the rocks, as GRRM has lost his grip on the latter books in terms of their overall structure (although they’re still fun to read). The first 3 are excellent though.

I am a keen reader and a friend of mine has told me I have to read it. He is a complete geek to be honest (comic book geek type) but is a clever guy and would not have enjoyed it if it was rubbish. I’d say give it a go. I intend to.

I really like it, the show is pretty damn good too. It’s not childish, it’s pretty dark actually.

Again I really enjoyed the first 3 book, but by the fourth I’d gotten bored and dis-interested* tbh.. put it down & haven’t gotten any further.
Though having started the top 100 sci-fi books, I’ve no reason to rush back.

* for plot (spoiler) reasons, which I won’t elaborate on.

I enjoyed it, it’s an easy read…decent page turner. The sex scenes are cringeworthy in the extreme 😀

First few books are ace, the most recent ones have been a bit meandering – still entertaining, but a bit lacking in pace and leaving you wishing he’d get on with it! Just my opinion, mind.

books are awesome (yeah the sex i bad!)

but prepare for frustration when you finish them and have to wait years for the next one

Thought it was stodgy, humourless and lumpen. I’m not even averse to a bit of fantasy, I’ve enjoyed the Joe Ambercrombie trilogy recently and what saved that was it’s wit and lightness of touch. Whereas with GoT (nearly made it through book1) the story arc and characters had potential but I wasn’t prepared to read 3000 plodding pages to find out what happens in the end; the journey didn’t seem worth it.

Bimbler – Member

Thought it was stodgy, humourless and lumpen. I’m not even averse to a bit of fantasy, I’ve enjoyed the Joe Ambercrombie trilogy recently and what saved that was it’s wit and lightness of touch. Whereas with GoT the story arc and characters had potential but I wasn’t prepared to read 3000 plodding pages to find out what happens in the end; the journey didn’t seem worth it.

i take it you are not familiar with robert jordan then……

Unfortunately, the series as a whole looks to be heading for the rocks, as GRRM has lost his grip on the latter books in terms of their overall structure (although they’re still fun to read). The first 3 are excellent though.

I think (hope) GRRM has a strong vision of exactly where the series is going, and that this will become clearer in the next and of course the final book.

In a work this large the middle few volumes are always going to be a bit meandering, but when it’s finished the impact will be all the greater for its massive length.

I’ve read the game of throne books but prefer Joe Ambercrombie. I’d agree with what the other posters have said, GRRM does seem to be wandering in the last book. It’s going to be a mega tome (Winds of Winter) to pull it all back together.

I think (hope) GRRM has a strong vision of exactly where the series is going, and that this will become clearer in the next and of course the final book.

In a work this large the middle few volumes are always going to be a bit meandering, but when it’s finished the impact will be all the greater for its massive length. I hope you’re right but I fear it’s optimistic to think he can pull it together at this point. I didn’t really mind book 4 being a bit static – I appreciate the writer has to consolidate things in a big series. Book 5, though, was really poor in hindsight. I sort of enjoyed it on a sentence by sentence level, but you put it down and it slowly dawns on you what a waste of 1000 pages it was.

I think GRRM must have gotten burned out on it after the 3rd one – took nearly 10 years out and it shows. I’m reading Erikson’s Malazan series at the moment, obviously totally different, dungeons and dragons to the nth degree type books, but you can’t argue with the bloke’s productivity. Dished out a doorstopper regular every 1 / 2 years and the whole structure is pretty tight considering.

I’m reading Erikson’s Malazan series at the moment, obviously totally different, dungeons and dragons to the nth degree type books

ahem… I given up (stopped mid book anyways) on that series too, for reason not too dissimilar to why I gave up (ok.. having a break) on GRRM

Wot Garry_Lager and MrsToast said. First few are great but I reckon as he got more successful there his editors are giving him much more indulgence and the books could have been cut down a lot and be much punchier. The first 2-3 are properly addictive page turners.

Still some of my favourite books though – love the way a lot of it is like fairly convincing/well-researched medieval history with some fantasy elements thrown in. He’s not afraid to do some fairly mental thing with his characters either – I had one of the few genuine WTF moments in one of his later books (think most people who’ve read them will know which bit I’m on about).

I’m not convinced he’s going to pull it all together successfully but I hope he does.

I also quite enjoyed the graphic novels based on his short stories from the same world – The Hedge Knight and Tales of Dunk and Egg.

I’ve enjoyed all of them so far (upto book 4 or 5 can’t remember which) – as they are character focussed I find the jumping around to different threads has sustained my interest. Worth reading I’d say.

The mrs and my cousin have read it and said it’s awesome. Much better than the series but then they normally are

Just finishing off the 4th book here, it was a bit of a drag, but still good reading. Book 1 – 3 are excellent though.

As for Robert Jordan and his ‘Wheel of time that is still way to long and pointless but you’ve bought the first 8 books so why stop now’ I gave up after 4 books. **** is what it is.

I really enjoyed this series and I’m not normally a fan of the genre.

if anyone wants the tails of dunc and egg short stories (originally found in fantasy compilations PM me i have pdfs) the graphic novels only have the 1st 2 in the series there is a 3rd

but the graphic novels themselves are very good too

Bought the first book a few years back and experienced just what Bimbler says. Gave it to the gf and she devoured it (and the others) in no time.

Can’t be jaffed with all the detail and faffing around. Just get to the point please.

kimbers YGM

I’m going to a GRRM signing in Bath on the 4th April 😀 – loved the books and the HBO GoT series, season 1 that’s just been released on DVD/Blu-Ray is superb … and faithful to the book. It certainly doesn’t resemble anything ‘Warhammer’. Not that I look down on that, Dan Abnett has done some fairly decent 40K inspired books 😳

Bimbler’s shout about the First Law trilogy by Abercrombie is a good shout.

Can’t be jaffed with all the detail and faffing around. Just get to the point please.

See, I was raised on Tolkien, so I have a very high tolerance of what many may consider to be unecessarily bloated, overly descriptive, wordy wordiness.

They’re a bit too sprawly… There’s a couple of points where just as you’re thinking “Hurry it up would you”, he throws in yet another new plot or character to put the brakes on further.

But still, I enjoyed them very much… I think I’d recommend the First Law series from Joe Abercrombie above them (though he’s into recycling plots and characters now unfortunately- oh look, another crazy northman!) and probably Brandon Sanderson too (he’s the man brought in to finish the Wheel of Time and tbh it’s a shame it didn’t happen about 10 years earlier)