A Song of Ice and Fire
by George R. R. Martin · first published 2012
22% recommend74% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Immersive epic fantasy with deep world building and morally gray characters who follow their own motives; no one is safe. Rewards rereading for its dense plot, and suits readers who want gritty fantasy over the TV show.
Common criticism: Some find it bloated and padded for its length, with little direction
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Contains: A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows A Dance with Dragons
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I just finished 'A song of ice and fire' series by George R.R. Martin and it's an amazing read.
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗Re-reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Best fantasy series of all time. Read it even if you're not a fantasy buff.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗Read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Whether or not you are into fantasy, it's a must read series, not to mention it's been picked up as an HBO series too. Everybody I've recommended it to has loved it, regardless of their opinions…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗…novels by Iain M Banks if you like science fiction, pretty much anything by Guy Gavriel Kay if you like historical fantastic fiction, Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss for being simply amazing, and the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin, if you like fantasy that's gritty and realistic.
on “Ask HN: What do you want for Christmas?” ↗…you want to verify something as the old Encyclopedias we used to use. To just fill the hours, I would suggest some nice book, even better good series, like Foundation and Robot Series by Isaac Asimov, A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin etc.. With those I think those 5 weeks will fly..
on “Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?” ↗A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin If you are able to suss a message from fiction, these books are perfect. A (maybe the) central theme in the series is an examination of the muddied qualities that define good leadership.…
on “Ask HN: Suggest me books on leadership and negotiations?” ↗The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin The Mars trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson Hyperion Cantos, Dan Simmons The Collector, John Fowles
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗I love long books just fine. Like "Mission Earth" by Ron Habbard or "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George Martin or Asimov etc. etc
on “Good riddance to long books” ↗…the post. But some of my favorites are - 1. God: The Failed Hypothesis Book by Victor J. Stenger 2. The God Delusion Book by Richard Dawkins 3. Berlin: The Downfall 1945 Book by Antony Beevor 4. A Song of Ice and Fire Novel series by George R.R. Martin 5. A Short History of Nearly Everything Book by Bill Bryson 6. Billions and Billions Book by Carl Sagan 7. Flowers for Algernon Short story by Daniel Keyes 8. I'm…
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite book you've read?” ↗A Song of Ice and Fire
on “Ask HN: What is the best fiction book you've ever read? ” ↗…trying to read Brandon Sanderson recently and while he's a good writer, it's just not hooking me yet in the same way that, say, Revelation Space did. I think the last fantasy series to really hook me was A Song of Ice and Fire. The first three books are some of the finest books ever written. But as for the decline of starships, I think that the readership has evolved too. More vintage sci-fi simply projected the era of exploration…
on “Where did all the starships go?” ↗To be fair, both A Song of Ice and Fire and The Kingkiller Chronicles is magnificently inspired and novel writing, more so than most that of some very consistent and prolific authors. I could certainly empathize with them running out of inspiration…
on “Entitlement issues (2009)” ↗In a Song of Ice and Fire there are no good guys or bad guys. Each side has moral quandaries and a drive to survive. The only “Evil” characters are sadists, and there are quite a few. That is part of the reason the books are so…
on “The good guy/bad guy myth” ↗…even acknowledging that it went more into philosophy. No offense to anyone that likes the later books in any of those series, but as far as I'm concerned, I've just kept the first ones. Stuff like A Song of Ice and Fire avoids that because it isn't afraid to move the plot to other characters, though of course, we'll probably see the heat death of the universe and the gold master release of Star Citizen before the Winds…
on “Ken Follett Says Readers Still Like Epic Books” ↗I can't really decide, but here are a few of my favorites. * Song of Ice and Fire series. I never really liked fantasy but this series is wonderful. The TV-series (Game of Thrones) is okay but a far cry from the books. * The Pragmatic Programmer. The best programming book I've seen.…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗