George R.R. Martin is one of the greatest authors currently alive. Though he is best known for his 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:epic dark fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the hit TV show 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Game of Thrones, the whole breadth of his career spans several decades, and includes 🧜many other works of science fiction and fantas🎉y.

Before he started on Ice and Fire, he was already a prolific and successful author, and many of his science fiction books had already been adapted. If you like A Song of Ice and Fire, or if you think you would like it, but are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:more of a sci-fi fan൩ than a fantasy fan, you should abso🍎lutely check out some of his other works.

Updated August 23, 2024 by Davis Collins: For decades, Martin was an extremely prolific author. The fact that A Song of Ice and Fire alone has subsumed much of his reputation is honestly a bit of a shame, because he's done a ton of other neat stuff. We've come back to this list to celebrate some more of his best works.

We already mentioned it in the introduction, but, if we're going to claim this is a list of his greatest works, we have to acknowledge Martin's masterpiece, A Song of Ice and Fire. This epic fantasy series was the basis for the TV series Game of Thrones, and the quality of the source material exceeds that of even the adaptation's highest heights.

Ice and Fire is an extremely complex work, with numerous plots woven together. To try to summarize what it's about in the space this article is permitted to occupy would be a fool's errand. Suffice it to say that all of its numerous main characters have fascinating stories, and, though some of them come to tragic endings, and others have not ended at all, every one of them is a delight to read.

Though not written entirely by Martin, this book still carries a lot of his flavor, and is an amazing look into one of the most detailed worlds in𝓰 the history of fiction. This book is absolutely full of the darkness and rich characterization that make A Song of Ice and Fire special, and contains a ❀ton of cool background details that do a great job fleshing out the history of Westeros and the larger world in which it sits.

This trilogy of three prequel st🔯ories from the Ice and Fire universe follows a pair of lovable characters as they adventure around the Seven Kingdoms. Much of what you like about Ice and Fire is here, including the grit and darkness, though these stories generall🎶y have lighter tones and lower stakes.

If you're a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, perhaps one who's having trouble waiting for The Winds of Winter, this is a great way to get yourself a little taste of Westeros, though, once you've read it, you might find yourself waiting just as impatiently for the further installments in this series that are theoretically going to be written after The Winds of Winter is finished.

Another of Martin's books to be adapted into an HBO series, Fire and Blood, like the show based on it, House of the Dragon, is a prequel to A Song of Ice and Fire. It's a history book, and it chronicles the long-term history of House Targaryan, the royal house of Westeros for the three-hundred years preceding the main series of books.

Though many of us may wish The Winds of Winter had been released in its place, this book is still a nice ride for fans of the Ice and Fire universe, that fills in some interesting gaps in the story's lore and has an interesting story of its own to tell in the process.

Those whose familiarity with Martin only extends to A Song of Ice and Fire might be surprised to see him write a relatively short children's novel. However, as this list will cover, he has plenty of experience with novellas, and he's a versatile enough author that he's able to adjust to a young audience.

Contrary to the assertions of many, including the very Amazon page we're linking to, this story does not take place in the world of꧒ A Song of Ice and Fire. It does, however, carry the spirit of its most mystical elements. The result is a fun book, great for readers of all ages, nearly every page bearing excellent illustrations.

Wild Cards is a series of superhero anthology books, each of which is a collection of short stories set in a common universe where an alien virus has mutated the human genome to give some individuals incredible powers. These are superhero stories, through and through, but Martin's trademark grit and moral ambiguity is still to be found within them, especially the stories he personally wrote.

This book is just the first of the still-ongoing series of Wild Cards series, which currently has more than thirty entries, the most recent of which was published in February 2024. Though Martin has stopped writing individual stories in these books (he has to focus on Winds of Winter, after all), he still edits them, so the fingerprints of his talent and style𝔉 are still present.

Those familiar with his biography are likely aware that George R. R. Martin was a participant in hippie culture throughout the 1960s and 70s. Those unfamiliar with his biography would be able to figure that out simply by seeing ⛎the passion for the𒈔 subject he displays in The Armageddon Rag.

A love letter to the flower power era and its counterculture, this novel is an exploration of the ideals it stood for, and, to some extent, their pitfalls, all wrapped within a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:well-crafted murder mystery, that, by the end, makes good on the title's promise of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:end-of-the-world stakes.

If you're interested in seeing George R. R. Martin's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:take on vampires... well, if you really do have an interest that specific, you probably already know about this book, but, if, now that you've been introduced to the idea, you are newly interested to see George R R Martin's take on vampires, this is the book for you.

A complex tale, in terms of both character and morality, this story does a lot of interesting work with general vampire mythology, especially the relationship between vampires and humans and the relationship of an individual person with immortality. If Martin is good at anything, it's exploring these sorts of ideas in a complex way, and that's exactly what he does here, to wonderful effect.

Before he began A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin's most impressive work was the Thousand Worlds, a disparate set of interconnected sci-fi stories set in a single universe. There were numerous works in the Thousand Worlds series, so many that we could've filled this list with nothing but them. Most of these stories are isolated, but one character Martin returned to a few times was Haviland Tuf, a decent person in a galaxy of rogues, who just happens to be blessed, and burdened, by astonishing technological power.

Tuf Voyaging is a collection of seven stories. Three stand-alone tales, each of which was originally published on its own, an introduction designed to serve as this novel's first section, and a trilogy of interconnected tales added to give this story a sense of structure and plot. All of them are excellent. For the most part, this series is made a bit less bleak than Ice and Fire, but the final entry in this series contains some brutal moral ambiguity, and is just generally fascinating in a very cruel way.

Another story in the Thousand Worlds universe, Nightflyers 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:is a horror story about a group of promiscuous telepaths being picked off one by one by an incestuous computer ghost mom 𒈔while they chase after the space squid that c🐠aused the miracles of Jesus.

Every word of that sentence is completely true. We swear. This book really is that out of its mind, and it's glorious. Only an author of Martin's singular talent could make something this off-the-wall work at all, but boy does he. This book has the same rich characterization we're used to from him, and actually does a pretty good job expanding on Thousand Worlds lore. It sounds bonkers when you step back and summarize it, but when you're reading the story, it's engrossing enough to pull you along with its wild ride.

Despite being Martin's first novel, this is a fitting note to end on. Set in the Thousand Worlds, Dying of the Light is the story of Dirk t’Larien and his strange... well, love triangle isn't exactly the right word, but it's the story of the drama between him, his ex, and her new partner as they deal with the harsh and brutal reality of a world that was once alight with mirth, but which is now slowly dying as it drifts away from its star.

So much of what we think of as Martin's brand manages to manifest all the way back in this book. The darkness, the moral ambiguity, the villainous puppetmaster and the excellent twists he perpetrates, it's all here, and it's all excellent.

FAQ

Which George R. R. Martin books should I read first?

It depends on what genre you're interested in. If a dark, intriguing, epic fantasy story sounds appealing to you, you probably want to look at A Song of Ice and Fire. If you're more of a sci-fi fan, consider Tuf Voyaging or Wild Cards. If you really like vampires, Fevre Dream is a must-read.

What is the best book in the Game of Thrones series?

This is subjective, but many fans would agree that it's A Storm of Swords. The first three books in A Song of Ice and Fire make up a sort of simi-open trilogy, and Storm is the conclusion of that trilogy, which gives it the privilege of containing the ending beats for several of the saga's plots up until that point, including the Red Wedding, the deaths of several main antagonists, and the conclusions of several story arcs. Of course, you need to read the previous books to fully appreciate it.