A Song of Ice and Fire, 7 Volumes

I recommend this product for its price/value. I do not regret buying this product.

I should start by saying that I purchased these books after seeing the superb show Game of Thrones (named from book one) on TV. This is not normally something I would recommend, because personally think it's better to read the source material first. That said, I was exceptionally glad I took the plunge to buy the books, because it is one of the most thematically rich, rewarding, exhilarating and impossible to put down series in the "fantasy" genre. I should say that for those of you who are coming to A Song of Ice and Fire having seen the TV show, it makes the show look even more impressive, and yet there is a lot of additional material present in the book that makes it hugely rewarding. The writing style is wonderful. Descriptive but fluid, it has a rawness to it that makes you love and loath characters in equal measure. The style of writing has an adult feel to it, both in the graphic nature of violence and the sexual relationships of the characters. The scale of the book is huge, with most locations set within the vast continent of Westeros, which feels as big if not bigger than Tolkien's Middle Earth. Criticisms, there aren't many. I found at the outset there are a lot of names and this can make it seem a little bewildering at first. It doesn't take long for that to pass though. The main "criticism", comes in the form of the more sexual side to the books. Within the first 100 pages of the first book Game of Thrones you encounter incest, and the marriage/sexual act of one of the main characters, Daenerys Targaryen, who is 13, with her husband. In the TV show, they have made the characters older to overcome the obvious issues, however this may make some readers uncomfortable. I should note that rarely is this stuff described very graphically or for prolonged periods of prose, and thus only makes up a tiny proportion of the overall story. That said, I, like any sane person am not condoning this, I am just trying to present it as portrayed within the books. A final note, although not strictly a criticism, Martin has not finished the whole body of work yet, so by the end of the seven volumes you will need to wait longer for the conclusion to the story. Overall, I cannot recommend this highly enough. The quality of the writing is superb, the story is as complex as it is engrossing and George Martin cannot be praised enough for this stunning (but unfinished) body of work. As discussed, there are recurring aspects that some readers may find distasteful. Getting all seven volumes at once is certainly the best value for money, and when you get to the end of one book, you will be glad the next one is there waiting for you. For fans of the TV show, reading the source material from which it is derived will give you added appreciation for what they achieved for the show (albeit some details are different), and an appreciation for the vast and complex web of characters and stunning locations George Martin has constructed.

I came to this having watched the first series of the TV dramatisation having not read any serious Fantasy novels for about 20 years and was not disappointed. However that isnt to say this series of novels isnt badly flawed. I give it 5 stars because it is compulsive reading but then crack cocaine is compulsive, and I suppose that would probably get 5 stars if anyone ever reviewed it. Actually what it reminded me most of was Harry Potter, but only if JK Rowling had come to hate her creation. Like Harry the world that is created is compelling and the detail is fantastic, the characters are fully realised, the writing is only OK and the plots creak at best and at worst are non existent. Here, seven books in, we are mostly worried about what has happened to Theon's appendage ( and the revelations in the Tv series do nothing to resolve this). The two basic tropes here are the entire book being written from characters point s of view in an episodic way and the authors propensity for bumping off major characters when you least expect it. Which starts out as refreshing but eventually gives a chaotic and disjointed narrative and no real plot trajectory. There are just too many voices and too many ideas, this could be thirty books not nine ( or ten).He says he knows how it is going to end (I wonder if Charles Dickens ever felt compelled to make such a statement!) but he has clearly lost the map of how to get there. Having said all that the journey of reading this is amazing and clearly he is not going to bump off Tyrion ( or probably John Snow unless to spite us all, or Dany) which means that, once done it might become the most important fantasy about a vertically challenged hero since.....well Frodo Baggins. This does seem to be the case where an authors creation has gone out of control in the era of the internet. Blogs, forums, ideas and pressure while the plot is unrealised and as a consequence opinion feeding into the plot development, either to satisfy his audience or to spite them. An interesting aside is whether he will live to finish it, or whether it will ever be finished! And finally, the TV series (which is brilliantly realised) follows the main trajectory of plot but characters are amalgamated, plots changed and mutated and information provided that is not in the book but may not be...real..again this means the unfinished novel exists in a post modern world where it is influenced not just by the internet but by television but the reaction to televison and the requiremnts of television. So an author who may not live to finish his creation which is evolving out of his control because of the internet and the exigencies of television. A metaphor for our times I think. My favourite character? Obviously John Snow.

Highly recommend

Great quality

This set covers all the books so far published (summer 2020) and they come supplied in a stout card outer case which is shrink wrapped and includes a basic fold out map. Written in a typical 'Boys Own' comic book adventure style with heroes and villains alike' and plenty of 'grand action', it's an easy read style where Sir becomes Ser, the welsh Meistr is changed to maester (master) creating a pseudo medieval flavour etc. Value for money its far better than buying them separately and is excellent value. The first 3-4 books (broadly speaking) cover the 'main' story of the challenge to the 'Usurper King' and the fight for supremacy within the Seven Kingdoms and are easily *****. The remaining four tend to follow the survivors and lead up to the final book(s) to be published (although another 6 books are likely given the writing style). I think this certainly belongs on any well rounded bookshelf but ultimately it depends on whether you enjoy this type of era being a rough, coarse and uncouth world in a 1066, early crusader vein (good for characters, but lacking real world substance). This is no Renaissance or Tudor style world. There is no blending of cultures' and no international trade other than Dornish wine and slaves in the east; here east and west never seem to deal with one another and where all the great architecture and achievements were carried out in the past. This is a decaying, stagnant world. Why ****? Books 4-7 seem repetitive and padded out (lose a *, lots of heraldic descriptions on characters who only appear once etc and lists of meaningless names) and they have a 'soft porn' Jackie Collins feel to them (copying the TV style) where characters reveal their other sides turning from bad to good in the 90s and naughties TV serial manner to show them as muti faceted. There's also a feeling that the author is listening to too many ‘advisers’ and writing the book they want and not following his own gut feeling, which seems to create a lot of dithering and a distinct lack of pace with confused writing styles. A gripping yarn and well rounded; the first three books are good publications but there are numerous minor errors in 4,5 & 6 -i recall. In comparison I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy in a long weekend, Vanity fair at 300 pages a day whereas this ran to 60-80 pages a day. But that' my personal take, although I did enjoy it and never considered it dull. A word of warning, if you've seen the TV series, the books actually only really reach to season 4, from 5 on the TV production was almost all TV assumption on what's to come in the remaining books. Will I be buying the next mammoth set, sadly, probably not, unless it offers much more than the last few volumes.

The definition of fiction.This books engages all readers with characters of different POVs.

For all Game of Thrones or Song of Ice and Fire fans this is the set to get. First of all great service from Amazon, it came a day earlier then expected, which was fantastic. The story, itself, is brilliant; there are a tone of great characters that develop superbly in a gigantic, fantasy medieval world called Westeros, ( a very authentic map of Westeros is actually included in this set if you buy it in papaerback and it's easily nice enough to be framed if you're a massive fan) the story lines are very exciting and there is always a good fear for the characters as Martin doesn't mind killing them. However if you are new to the series I'd recommend you pick up the first in the series, A Game of Thrones, or watch some of the TV show before buying this to see if the series is definitely to your taste. A lot of people complained that there is too much sex, swearing, detail and that their favorite characters were killed off. If you don't like any of that in the your fiction then I wouldn't suggest the series to you. If, however, you love that sort of stuff in your fiction, like me, then I urge you to go read A Game of Thrones right now or try and catch the TV show. The books themselves are a lot better quality then the previous paperbacks. Before I bought this set I already owned all of the books but they were very used, small fat things with tiny print and the hardback of the fifth title was very, very heavy and after a while a nuisance to hold, if you have kindle those issues are not a problem but a lot of people have been annoyed with the kindle edition so I wouldn't recommend that unless the kindle edition is significantly cheaper. These paperbacks are taller, slimmer and the print is easier on the eye then older editions. Also the fact that the newest book in the saga, A Dance with Dragons, is split into two parts; Dreams and Dust and After the Feast is an advantage for the majority of Ice and Fire fans that didn't like A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons as much as the first three. The latest two books in the series were not as well liked because Martin put half the characters in the fourth book and the other half in the fifth book and they both carried on directly after the third book in the series. The advantage about the fifth book being split is that you can read book 4 and 5 part 1 together so you won't go to long without half the characters and come Part 2 After the Feast all the characters are back together in the same book again. Lastly some readers were irritated at the the box, mines okay, but it's just okay, nothing special. Many faults were that some boxes had split and a few customers experienced difficulty putting the books back into the box, honestly I wouldn't worry about it too much because Martin plans to release at least two more books in this series so the box isn't vital. On the whole, though, this set is outstanding, I would definitely recommend this box set to you if you're a fan of the books and/or the TV show unless you can get them cheaper separately and aren't worried about the map. Thank you for reading my review, hope it was helpful.