So, I'm certain that there are others out there who have read these books, and, with the raving for them that the series produced, I went ahead and read the books (since I tend to find books more rewarding than TV, and easier to carry to work)

And I think I've figured out a secret... It's in spoiler tags, because it heavily involves knowing what's going on in the books, and I don't want to colour people's first read of the books, or the series if they watch the first book on HBO..

but..



So, thoughts, comments, and theories about the books are welcomed. I haven't yet read the latest book, waiting for this Friday to purchase it.

Anyone reading it now?

I finished Dance yesterday. It's a good, but flawed novel. Some plot lines seem to go nowhere, while others make some progress, but are quite boring in doing so.

Agreed.

I'm reading Dance now. I'm liking it so far. Interesting theory about John Snow, I can see how that might come true.

I love this series. It's not The Book of the New Sun, but it's fantastic nonetheless.

I don't like how the saga is written, I find the sex scenes naive and overly fantastic, but it's undeniably addictive.

They're books that you simply can't stop reading. They're hard to get back into though, I read the fourth roughly 2 years ago and now I'm going to be completely lost starting the fifth...

I read about 3/4 of the first book, and reached a point where I said to myself, "Seriously?" I gave up then.

The book is poorly written, overly verbose, full of plot lines that just fade away, and the flitting from character to character may work in a 300 page thriller, but for a book that size, it gets annoying very quickly. Martin tried to do way too much in those books, though I can understand why some people like them. I did find that writing a "fantasy" with few elements of fantasy was interesting, but, in the end, I just realize that he did not make me care about any of his characters, and I felt no need to continue reading.

I did watch the series, and thought it was okay, but no better than that.

As for the theory in your spoiler, my thought about this is: Big deal. As I said, I felt no interest in these characters, so if he was the son of the dwarf, I don't see what interest it would make. If it takes 5,000 pages to get there, and that's all the payoff there is, I'll go back to reading the Dark Tower again if I want not-too-fantastic fantasy.

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Cor, I could clean my kettle with that.

overly verbose? What do you read?

If anything, I might fault him for being too modern in his diction. And his graphic depiction of life is plain lifelike. Some people take issue with that, but I can't see why. It's not a children's book.

I've been meaning to try these books out, but I've always found with any book or series of books with so much hype I'm always disappointed.

Previous experiences have developed a habit in me for avoiding the "popular" stuff (books, games, technologies, etc.) until the hype has died down significantly.

So, I'll wait for another couple years or so before I get to this series ...

The first book is 15 years old... it was published in 1996

Which makes you wonder how long before the next one, and whether the author will live to complete the series.

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Which reminds me that I'm ALMOST finished the Wheel of Time series.

Is it finished? I thought there was to be one more book, at least.

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The last book is currently being written. It should be out either next spring or fall.

Yes ... once it is out, I will drop my name on the (probably long) holds list at the library and read it sometime in 2013.

Kind of like the most recent Harry Dresden novel .. I'm #87 in queue on 25 copies.

I'm patient. Guess I'll give these Ice and Fire book-thingies a try ...

Forget the library. I've been following Brandon Sanderson's twitter, and the second I get word it's available for preorder, I'm placing my order. :]

Also contemplating a series re-read in preparation for the final novel...although I did a re-read just a year and a half ago, so I'm not sure I really want to invest that much time again....

I sold off my copies of books 1-9. Using the library gives me a free way to re-read. I'm not going to own them.

I found the Song of Ice and Fire books to be rather boring. They do provide some entertainment, especially in the beginning, but I could never shake the feeling that they were needlessly bloated. Slow and tedious. The "current" book I partly read vertically until boring passages, which spread over numerous pages, finally ended. The "addiction", for me, consisted mainly of the vain hope that something actually might happen some time soon. I also didn't enjoy the author's tendency to kill off so many plot characters (I also feel his characters are too flat.)

The comparison to Tolkien is correct in one way: They both had/have a boring writing style. Tolkien's story felt more meaningful, though. And yes, I realize these aren't popular statements.

I much prefer writers like Robin Hobb and the newly discovered Brent Weeks (the Assassin trilogy is frequently a little crude, but I actually care about his characters and the pacing is great). Then again, I also like David Eddings, so maybe I'm just a terribly shallow fantasy reader! Patrick Rothfuss' first book, The Name of the Wind, blew me away. I was so excited about the recent sequel, and what a disappointment it turned out to be. Not bad per se, but it consisted of endless pages of "nothing happening" and was the typical "filler" book that many trilogies seem to be plagued by.

I'd agree with your assessment that you probably are more in tune with the faster-paced, shallower material. Not as an insult, mind. Just saying.

Whilst it is considered, at least in traditional fantasy, bad form to axe main characters, Martin's departure from that form gives his story a credible reality that others fail to achieve. His characters portray realistic flaws. They're not good vs evil as so often plagues fantasy writing. By no means, I should clarify, am I a fanboy of Martin. On the contrary, I put him below my favorite Gene Wolfe, UK LeGuin, China Mieville, and Pat Rothfuss.