A Song of Ice and Fire, 7 Volumes [Paperback]

Like most I know, I discovered this series when the HBO television adaption aired on Sky in 2011 and was instantly gripped. Since then I have read all of the books back-to-back and wow... they are AMAZING!

I am NOT a typical fantasy fan... in fact the idea of goblins and wizards going off on some good vs evil quest of grand proportions does NOTHING for me. But this is no typical fantasy novel. The story spans several view-points from across the fictional lands of Westeros and beyond. It is a story where no characters are safe from harm (or death) at any time. Each of the character-arcs are expertly woven and plot developments continually keep you in the dark whilst simultaneously steadily moving toward what can be some really devastating conclusions.

What I love about these books is that every character serves their own purpose, has their own private agendas and are all capable of good and bad to one extent or another... they do what they must to survive, and through their actions I found myself able to relate to and bond with these fictional people, who I have loved, loathed, pitied and despised. These novels are extremely character-centric which means the reader really does become emotionally involved with its characters, and believe me I did!

As with a lot of other fantasy series' ASOIAF is set during a medival time-frame, a time defined by murder, chivalry, classes and war... a lot of war. However unlike other fantasy series' magic and mythical monsters do not play a major role, but instead is allowed to steadily build and spread from the beginning, with beings such as the mystical Others, skin changers, wights, dragons and more. This gives the series more of a realistic grounding, and is perfectly researched by Martin.

The bottom line is that I found this series truly addictive. It was difficult to put down at times and I really cannot recommend it enough. Give it a go... you will not regret it!

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.

1. The Series, Itself - FANTASTIC
Martin writes a gritty fantasy epic, that truly IS epic. Raw, dark, honest, but full of liars, this series will shatter any notion you have that fantasy is for kids, or that adults cannot have their pleasures. Martin does not shy away from butchering his characters, yes even the main ones, and this lends a sense of urgency and real alarm to the series. Find yourself liking one of his characters? Watch it, that character could be next. Meanwhile, the dishonorable and "evil" in the series really seem to get away with their acts. While the series is not without the comeuppance of evil, get used to darkness thriving, as Martin does not pull his punches. There's a reason HBO has been successful, and a large portion of that reason is the source material.

2. The Kindle Edition - JUST FINE!
I've seen complaints about the Kindle edition being horrible, from the formatting to the fact that it's 4 books squished into one. I have seen nothing that convinces me that the Kindle edition is anything less than perfect. Yes, there are 4 books. On the Android versions of the Kindle app, there is nothing to distinguish the books on the progress meter. I am 31% of the way through the series, and I don't know when this book ends and the next begins. On the Kindle, itself, however, there are marks where each book ends and the next begins, so you can more easily see where you are in the 4-book series. However, there is a total Table of Contents (ToC) just after the cover of the Kindle book, so you can quickly jump to the beginning of any of the books.

The formatting, also, receives no complaints from me. I don't see how there could really be a problem...there are words, which are strung together to form sentences, which are likewise strung together to make paragraphs....what's the problem? New chapters start on a new "page".

And with the kindle edition, you can bookmark and highlight the book to your heart's content. Honestly, it really is the best of all worlds.

That being said, the paperback series is currently being sold for less than the Kindle version of the same product. This is seriously annoying, as the Kindle edition does not have the overhead of paper, the printing process, etc...This is more a complaint about the pricing of kindle books by publishers than a complaint about this particular book, however.

Verdict: Awesome series, in an awesome format. I love not having to carry around multiple books when I'm getting close to finishing one. I also love being able to read on multiple devices, and having the latest page read sync to each device. All standard features of a Kindle book!