I finished the audio books for the Game of Thrones series last week. I feel like I should be calling it “A Song of Ice and Fire” since I think that’s the actual name. I think everyone knows it more simply as “Game of Thrones,” though, so I’ll just go with that.

The super short version: I loved this series.

Slightly more verbose:
The first three books were amazing. Book four was really good, but something of a let down after book three. Book five was a little bit better than book four. I enjoyed all of it, though.

I like how George Martin uses his characters. He gives them consistent personalities with relatable ambitions and quirks. At the same time, he uses them as a craftsman uses tools, with disregard for their well-being, scraping them against rough places until those rough places are smoother.

Listening to the books, I felt like George had a plan, and I felt like I could trust him to execute that plan to the completion of the series. By way of comparison, somewhere in the middle of the Wheel of Time series, I felt like Robert Jordan’s plans had been muddied somewhat. I started to get a little bit worried during A Feast for Crows. I’m not worried, now.

I want to mention Roy Dotrice’s reading. Roy Dotrice did an outstanding job with the whole series. For the most part, he gave the different characters consistent voices. The pronunciation of a few names did change, and that was jarring occasionally. I did have one observation, which is juvenile but funny, and that is every time Roy Dotrice said the word “breast” or “breasts,” it was like he was in a rush to get the word out. It almost sounded like he was barking the word out. It amused me every time, so that little bit had me constantly amused.

So in summary, I found it to be an excellent series with a few minor imperfections creeping in at the fourth book. And by “imperfections” I mean, something unfolded in the story and my response was, “Oh, fuck you, George!” and I shut off the book for a while.