Nobody is debating that the books are great page-turners, and have what I personally think are some great allusions to history and myth in them. Martin's fantasy is not narrative, but rather a complete "other-world", which is why I think he is frequently compared to Tolkien. Martin paints a massive fantasy landscape to the tune of Machiavelli, Sade and Rand. HOWEVER, why are you still selling a boxed set short of one book? Some mean attempt to capitalize of the TV series maybe?? And I bought this very boxed set a little over a year ago at Wal-Mart for only $15. Also, the quality of the paperbacks is VERY poor. If you're the sort of person who values their books, buy a lightly used older edition or read these on Kindle until the publisher chooses to release a fairly priced decent quality edition. As always, mass-popularity damages the quality! I'd give Martin 5 stars for entertainment, and this boxed-set 2 stars for quality:affordability ratio!

The first book of Game of thrones was a bit slow at the beginning and left me quite unmotivated to finish but once it got interesting, it was an uncontrollable snowball tumbling down, gaining more and more momentum. The next thing I knew, I was out the door purchasing the fifth book. The Game of Thrones trilogy is very intricate and very detailed, leaving very little room for confusion regarding the plot. What I love most about this book is that no character is ever left forgotten. Every character you encounter serves a purpose. The writing is also very realistic and filled with lot's of deception, dark twists, and other stuff that leaves the reader screaming "noooooooo!" The heroes aren't always the winners when it comes to the game of thrones.

A fantasy series reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, I read the series and I have to say, I was addicted! The various viewpoints from characters that are complex in themselves offers a rich reading experience. I definitely recommend it! A must for the fantasy reader. In terms of the actual books themselves, I can see how the reading might be difficult, it was a bit for me. The width of the book, the fact that it was paperback, along with the font size, makes them a bit bulky and awkward. There is no avoiding getting the visible bends in the spine, but considering the price difference between paperback and hardcover, I'd say go for for the paperback.

This is a highly addictive series of books, full of adventure, twisted characters that is impossible to put down. By the 4th book, I was thoroughly confused about the secondary characters. However, this did not stop me from reading on. Looking forward to Book 5!

I recently started to watch the TV series so I decided to read the books. They are great! Once I started I couldn't put the books down! Now I'm on book 5. My only complaint is that there are so many characters that I find it hard to keep track of them all.

This series is what reignited my love for reading. It has Kings, Queens, Lords, Ladies, Knights, Eunuchs, honor, betrayal, incest, wars, Direwolves, Giants, Dragons, a massive wall of Ice and an Iron Throne. Just about anything you would expect from a superbly written fantasy series. George R.R. Martin is magnificent in his character descriptions and building the suspense for the many gripping story lines within this series. There are characters that you absolutely love to hate and ones that you will hate to love. Through out the series you find yourself rooting for certain characters and eventually rooting for their enemies. The twists that you would never expect make you question the author's state of mind and then he flawlessly keeps the story moving in a way that you cannot possibly deny his brilliance. With the unending list of characters it can sometimes become frustrating distinguishing between them, however, with The Game of Thrones HBO series you now have faces to put to the names, which does make it easier. The only negative thing I can say about the series is the long waits in between books. When I started reading the books I refused to read anything else, afraid it would take away from the series, but eventually I had to give in, having to wait years between instalments. But it is undoubtedly worth the wait!

Bet you can't read just one.

This series has truly spoiled other fiction for me. Since finishing the 5th book, I just haven't been able to get into any other books because they don't compare. Regardless of the wait between books, Martin is a master and I'll wait for however long it takes until the 6th book is ready!

This is by far one of the best series I have ever read! It astounds me how true the HBO series is to the books. Although I have not finished the series yet, the books I have read have been mesmerizing. Martin really makes you feel for every character (whether that feeling is love or hate) and provides constant surprises that make it very difficult to put it down. I would highly recommend this to anyone; even if this isn't the type of genre you normally read, it may just be the series that changes your mind!

I just finished this series. I came into this series after the first season of the HBO show and began with A Clash of Kings. Both of Cash of Kings and A Storm of Swords, were very good books. Even A Feast of Crows well well written. My main issue with the series is not its length, nor how in depth it goes, my issue is how slowly events in these books seem to be moving, however until A Feast of Crows this was an issue that was not actually noticed. Broken down individual, each of the story lines is well written and all seem to serve a purpose (with the possible exception of The Onion Knight, who in my opinion is a completely useless and annoying character as well as the events surronding the Greyjoy clan). However towards the end of the final book. I realized how little the story line had actually moved foward. One would assume that Martin knows how he wants this series to end, who he wants to ultimatly win the Iron Throne, and the ultimate fate of all of many many characters he has created. My question is, will all of the characters introduced into the books, be playing a significant part in the series, or will some of them be useless. Martin, at the point in the series has about 200 characters we see in the books on a fairly continueous basis, along with some 50 odd characters we see and hear from briefly. Are all of the characters really truly important to the growth of the series. All of these characters are beginning to simply bog down the progression of the story line. In my opinion there has been no significant growth in the series since about half way through the third novel, (those who are read the series will know what events I am speaking off) I feel that at this point in the series things should be moving a little faster, Martin should be beginning to cut out some of the more useless characters and focusing on the way the series will end. To me it feels as though the story has gotten out of his control and is in danger of going sailing off the tracks. With now 5 of his planned 7 books completed, I wonder if book six will somehow wrestle the story back on track. A lot of people are also wondering if it will take Martin as long to complete book six as it did book five. I don't care if it takes him 8 years and the book is 1500 pages long, as long as the story lines moves, or rather flys ahead and stuff get done and storylines are resolved. I know I don't think I can take another 1000 or so pages like books 4 or 5. That being said, This is a series I do enjoy reading, Martin has a unique gift for making every single one of his many characters and story lines seem important and making them all very interesting. This is why I can't sit back and say many of the lesser characters with their own chapters in the novels are useless and should have been cut, because not one of them SEEMS to be useless, they are serve a purpose, with again the exception of the Onion Knight and the Greyjoys, who anyone who reads the books knows they don't stand a chance at winning. Overall this is a series I recommend especially to fans of the HBO show who just cant wait to find out what happens next.