I think i am going to read the series, watched the tv shows and really enjoyed them.

Can anyone tell me what order to read these books in/ how many books are in the series?

thanks

also i hear Wheel of Time is a good series aswell, any oppinions if worth reading?

heard wheel of time is a great series, havent gotten to it yet, hear its long as well

finishing up the second book in song and fire and ice series, called clash of kings, great series by the way. little vulgar, but its blunt and down to earth, with so much detail you'd wonder how he imagined it alll. lots of vivid scenes and tons of characters---cannot emphaize enough---its not about one character, its about like 15 to 20 main chars. theres suppose to be 6 books in total, the 5th just came out recently. theyre each quite long, but very descriptive and an excellent read---very recommended

I picked them up after watching the HBO series. I find it a bit over-written but mostly entertaining. I do have to say I find the pederasty disturbing. Fairly graphic sex scenes involving a 13 year-old don't further the plot. HBO didn't lose anything by letting us assume that participants were of age. It's not like Martin is Nabokov here. I get the distinct sense he is writing these scenes to amuse himself about how cool he is for trashing convention.

I...

ill be buying the 5th book later today. series is great imo. plenty of plot twists, mystery, romance, humor, etc. most importantly, characters you can truly believe.


further the plot, maybe not. but arranged marriages of girls of this age are not uncommon in history and as far as same sex relations, including those of minors, are also seen throughout history. id like to think that in writing these, he is reminding us of the evils that have taken place and the acceptance (or objection) of these acts as they were viewed in those times. but thats just how i like to understand it.
i agree that HBO was right to not describe ages of characters (or when they did, portray them as older than they were in the books.) i must admit, having read the first book only once, a certain scene in the HBO series was quite shocking, and only after returning to the book did i realize the hints and clues were all there pointing to the facts of those characters.



as to the wheel of time, its been years since ive read them, but stopped around book six. i cant tell you what made me stop anymore, but theres still a bad taste and i havent been able to bring myself back to the series.

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
The Winds of Winter - not out yet
A Dream of Spring - not out yet

I know all you asked was what order to read them in but I feel like throwing in my 2 cents about the books.

I'm on the fourth book right now. The fifth one is about to come out July 12th. I started after watching the series on HBO and I think that had I not seen it I would not enjoy the books as much. I like being able to visualize the characters from the show. At times I've found the books a little over descriptive. I got a little tired of reading about 50 different types of foods. Each chapter is a different characters viewpoint which I find kind of cool but it also seems like the author is spreading himself thin. The 4th book introduced a new set of characters that I didn't want to read about since I was so interested in the previous characters (but they are a part of the storyline, i just don't care to read about the iron isles for some reason). I'm hoping that the author pulls everything together soon or in a later novel because everything seems so spread out. I wonder if he will truly finish the series in 7 books. Lots of chapters feel like little cliff hangers then it's on to another character. Kind of annoying as well.

I started the Wheel of Time series when I was around 8-9 bc my older brother recommended them. I got to book 7 or so and put them down because the rest weren't even written. I enjoyed it but I probably didn't understand half of what I was reading. I hate starting a series only to find the rest isn't even written. So I'm disappointed about Game of Thrones bc I will have to wait.

My favorite fantasy series is still the Shannara books by Terry Brooks. You may want to check them out. Nothing has ever been so easy to read but still interesting. I would love to see a few of the books on HBO or one of the other premium networks.

This post was edited by Hysteria on Jul 12 2011 07:43am

thanks for the imput man
i think i will give game of thrones a try and see what i think

in a nutshell, can any1 tell me what this book is about?
i've read fantasy novels written by daren shan, kylie chan, brent weeks and loved them(read more but those were my fave 3)
i would like to know if anyone can compare fire and ice to any of the ppl i wrote above. should i read it?

wheel of time is interesting for the first 5 books or so then he got bribed by the publishers to drag out the series to 13 or something i believe he only intended 9-10

and then the story got all convoluted and he dragged it and
and then he died.......

it was ok

song of ice and fire shits on wheel of time

ive only read the night angel trilogy, out of the authors youve mentioned, and i can say it does compare to a song of ice and fire, although in a different sense

theyre both great and have lots of twists/schemes/extreme cahracter development, BUT

the main difference between a song of fire and ice and any other series is the grand scale of the world he has imagined. it so more vast than anyone can explain which is why its hard to tell someone what its about

theres no main charaters, rahter five main bodies of power all thriving for the iron throne---so you can imagine the number of main characters---well over 15 and im only on book 4

the books are also wriitten in a very dark light, with a melancholy feel. you wont finish chapters smiling, but rather feeling for the characters, turning pages with hope however knowning that the overall premise of the series is that the evil guy wins in real life and the good guy gets fucked --- literally