The Song of Ice and Fire Saga: George R.R. Martin.
Book1: A Game of Thrones
Book2: A Clash of Kings
Book3 Part1: A Storm of Swords : Steel and Snow
Book3 Part2: A storm of Swords: Blood and Gold.
This "book" was introduced to me by a drunk, strange you may say that a drunkard reads so much, but this particular drunk is super smart, he goes by the name Psycho_Goldfish, and hes a top notch Website and Games developer. I was wary at first about trusting him on this, but iam glad i did, because this is truelly the best saga ive read since LotR.
The first book starts of introducing the characters to the Stark family, a mother a father and their 5 children, 4 natural and one bastard child from the fathers side. Martin explains all their loves and like, their hates and all the things they despise with such clarity you begin to love or hate these characters within the first few pages.
The storyline is based on a land (it has no name, to my knowledge) that is separated by 2 borders the north and the south, and beyond the wall. The wall is a huge construction of ice and wood and stone, which is about 100 meters high and 700 miles long, to either keep things from getting into the "normal" lands, or keeping things in. The story in the first book tells of how the family gets on with each other, their friends and so on. It turns out the father is actually the Kings good friend, and is held in high regard for him. The king gives the father (Eddard Stark) a job of his right hand man (The Hand) which is held in high regard. The hand speaks with the kings voice, but, the hand also wipes the kings arse, as its said :) The rest of the book is used to separate the family, and so on, its a weird ploy, one i havent seen in a book before, but it works so well, as to bring in new characters cities and towns.
The second book, tells how the king is killed and the land turns to war. after Eddard is killed his son Robb is heir to his lands in the north, and declares himself king. Stannis, the kings brother declares he is the king, because he is next in line respectedly, but, his younger brother also does the same. The kings oldest son who is only 15 is also made king. This leads to a war or the grandest scale. King v King, knight v knight and one v one. This book tells how all the kings amass their armies, and fight their first few battles.
The third book in the saga details how Eddard Starks bastard son is sent to the wall, to gurad against wildlings and Others, who are ammassingto get into the lands. This is a great book, showing how the son of Eddard feels alone, he misses his brothers and sisters but not his "mother" Catelyn Stark, who has always shunned him, because he is not of her blood. Jon, is on the wall, and in order to join the nights watch he must take vows. The vows include, he may not take a woman to marry (no sex) he may take no territories as his own (No land) and he may not take any payment for his service (no gold). He takes these vows, but grudgingly, as he has no other real options. This book tells of the wildlings and how they are escaping the Others, a mere legend come to life, large creatures made of ice and snow, and when they kill a man, they are brought back to life in the service of their new masters, and only Fire can stop them.
The 4th book in the saga, rounds up some ends, but, totally unravels new threads. This is the second best in the four in my opinion. This details how all the ruling families are falling apart, the lannisters, the starks, the barantheons and the greyjoys. Strange things start to happen in this book, which make you want to read and read till your finished. This book details how the sons of all the major families are used and abused during this war, all making sacrifes, all plotting, all murdering (even the kids and women). This book is pure gold. Its packed with betrayal, twists and turns you could not imagine. It is brutally honest, totally brutal in all the way things happenm. For example. A king orders one of his lead knights to demolish a family, this family also happens to be another kings. He slays the wife with a huge greatsword, rapes a 7 year girl killing her in the process, and smashes a 6 months year old kids head against the sharp corner of a wall. This book is filled with malovensce, traitorism and sex, blood and gold.
Over all the saga is a great read, i do recomend it to all. G RR Martin has got this spot on. Its detail is its greatest acheivement. Martin doesnt only detail the high families, he details their knights, their bastards, their soldiers and their spies. Its truelly a harrowing and thought provoking read.
Some of the characters in these books are so evil its unbeleivable, but some are so true and genuine, that you must keep reading to see what happens to them.
G.R.R. Martinhas said he is aiming for 7 books to this saga, i would be happy with 20, or if he kept going. The fifth book is out in 2 months, and its already pre ordered by me :)
If you read all this, them im happy, because it took fucking ages to write. Thanks for your patience.
Psycho_Goldfish once told me, once you have finished one book, you would kill an old woman for the next, as sad as it seem, its so fucking true. I read all four books about 3700 to 4k pages in 3 months, they are that good.