GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

George R.R. Martin writes a tale that is bleak and brutal in more ways than I thought possible. A Song of Ice and Fire is so grim-dark that I had to take a break of about ten months after reading the first two-and-a-half books, as it was just so depressing that I couldn't keep reading it. However, recently I've became involved in a role-playing game set in Westeros, and that re-sparked my interest in finishing the books. I've been averaging about 100 pages a day and I have to say; I just love the story. I have never read anything anywhere near as intriguing as these damned books! Every time you think you have a character figured out, or think that you've seen the back of them, they will inevitably become intrinsically important to the plot again. Many fans were quite angry about how long it took Martin to write A Dance with Dragons but if any writer holds the right to take over five years to publish the next book in the series, it is him. Just to keep track of all those characters! Can you imagine the amount of family trees and notebooks just full and full on information on the realm and the lineage and history of all the houses? Sure, heaps of fantasy books have intricate plots and their own histories, but I have never heard of, or read, that is both as intricate and as excellent as A Song of Ice and Fire. By no means is it my favourite book series - it is way too dark for my taste to take that title. But I don't think anyone who has read them can deny the genius in Martin's storytelling.

Ah, Tolkien, if only you'd been so lucky.

I do find it intriguing though, that the books didn't have more of a name for themselves before HBO came out with the show. I guess maybe it came out too early for me to have heard of it growing up, or maybe I am just not hanging out with the right type of nerds! But I'm amazed that I had not heard of the books at all before the show was released.