George R. R. Martin's dark and unpredictable masterpiece is a must-read. Written in a style that deliberately highlights the moral ambiguity, distinctiveness, and complexity of the central characters, it is almost impossible to anticipate the direction the story is heading. This novel will appeal to people who are not traditional fantasy fans, as magical elements are deliberately kept to a bare minimum, with most of the focus on Renaissance-esque Machiavellian political machinations in two fictional continents based on medieval England and the ancient Eurasian Steppe, respectively. With that said, the book has a surprisingly emotional tone, with most of the main characters struggling with internal conflict and social rejection. There is a large amount of violence, sexual content, strong language, and disturbing themes like incest and rape; so it is not advisable for anyone other than adults and mature teens.

I watched the first season of the show and was hooked, but I normally prefer to read the book first, so I ordered this set and have started reading them. My son advised me I should read the whole series before I watch the other seasons because after the first book & season, the seasons don't always track well with the books.

That's fine with me - I'm loving the book more than the show anyway. There are details in the books that film just can't translate, such as the way a character is thinking. I'm amazed at the number of characters and how individual and unique they are.

While there is a lot of action and some of it quite violent, there is also humor and tender moments, complicated family dynamics, and good descriptions of the landscape and surroundings so that I can picture what is going on without having to rely on my memory of the show. I'll be ordering more when I get through the first five, as I enjoy reading well written book series.

Are you tired of fantasy stories being all fluffy and hard to believe? Would you like to know about the people in a fantasy story just as much as you would the lore? This is the series for you! There is a reason the show is so popular. This series is not just your typical fantasy series with dragons and giants. This story is almost a historical record. Everything that happens in here is believable in the sense of war strategy, ambitions of politicians and war-leaders, and of course that very important lesson in life: horrible things happen to the best of people. You can't just be righteous. You have to learn how to play the game. I love that the story is just as much about the people as the dragons/walkers/giants/etc. You get inside the minds of the characters, even the bad ones, and learn about what makes them do the things they do. A word of caution, however: if you don't like depressing things to happen to good people, then this series is not for you. (But you probably knew that from watching the show, right?) Sometimes I finish watching the show feeling depressed that the good guys just can't catch a break. But that's life and history. No fluffiness here. Just a super-believable fantasy-story that draws a great deal from actual history.

The books are great.

The manufacturing is garbage.
The first book I opened had about 15 unattached pages, because the binding was so terrible.
I stashed those pages and thought to myself, I should reglue that at some point...
Then I went about my life.

I'm really glad I've already read these books, because I had the book in my back seat while driving one day, and decided I should put the windows down. About 20 more pages flew out, and I lost 5 or so out the window.

Pay a few bucks more and get a QUALITY set of these books.

This review is primarily to give a feedback on the sizes of leather bound and paperback printed books. I initially bought leather bound books. They were really pretty and paper quality was very good. But the down side is they are really small books. So I got the paperback edition books. These books are bigger than leather bound and easy to read. So it totally depends on the customer what size book you would like to buy. I attached a photo to compare. Hope this helps