OK, so I got most of the way through the first book in the series before giving up. My gripes then were essentially my gripes now. I am not a big fan of Roy's narration. Some of the voices are ridiculous, and most of the guy voices sound like pirates or stodgy old Brits. The women sound like they should be in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is true, though, that the voices for each character are more or less individually recognizable. That's a good thing because my second gripe is...

DANG, there are a lot of characters in this series. It's hard to know when a character is introduced whether they will be inconsequential or hugely important. I like to keep track of things like this in a story, so this in particular drove me nuts for quite a while.

The last thing I'll mention on the minus side is that there is a boat load of detail. Too much in my opinion. I lose track of what is going on and who is currently present in the story for all the detail. I don't care what your cloak is made out of, just move it along!

Now, after all that, you're probably wondering why I bothered to part with four more credits to get the second and third books in the series. Well, at the risk of sounding low brow, I'll tell you. I LOVED the first season of the HBO series. There... I said it! All the issues with the hokey voices were addressed with excellent casting. All the extraneous characters either evaporated or faded into the background. All the long descriptive passages became beautiful sets and locations. I got a good grounding in the story, saw the developing big picture, and promptly got the second book after I finished watching the first season.

Now that I know how the more important characters are handled in the book, I just resign myself to letting the other characters sort of wash over me without giving in to my OCD and trying to keep them in order. I got an app for my phone with a Westeros map on it, and descriptions of the houses, religions and characters. That helped. The mental pictures of the actors from the HBO series help me to keep the characters straight, too. At times, I just let my eyes roll back in my head when the Roy-ness gets to be too much, or there is a multi-paragraph description of what people are wearing.

I'm most of the way through the third book, and there is a real story arc developing, and quite a few surprises. On the whole, I'll admit that I am now enjoying this series despite my strong negative reaction to the first book. I think I will see this one through...

Loved the book and performance, was disapointed in the recording of the first 2 or 3 segments, my down load had pops in the audio.

I'd absolutely recommend this book and series to a friend, and recently actually gave a buddy the four-book set for his birthday. Storm of Swords was chock-full of surprises and happenings that had me smiling and going

There were so MANY memorable moments in the book, and I don't want to be a spoiler. Some of my favorites involved a wedding feast, an encounter in the privy, and an unusual pairing of two of my favorite characters in the book.

I have to admit I wasn't crazy about Ray Dotrice when I first heard him performing the first book. I found him to have too proper of a manner of speech with certain characters, and somewhat weak doing young voices. I have to say he's grown on me! His ability to switch between voices for the massive cast of characters has been very helpful in keeping track of who is who. I have no doubt I'd be looking back in the book every now and again whilst reading to try to remember various characters. The voice acting helps immensely with that.

A Storm of Swords, bringing the masterpiece A Song of Ice and Fire to new epic heights!

George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien... there MUST be something about that R.R.!!!

Again the the story lives up to the epic story line, unfortunately the story telling is lack luster.

yes
so many characters and interesting plots

i had 5 favorites

the whole book

yes, but far too long

this is a must read series

Mean ,,evil,,hateful,, crooked,, ruthless ,,cruel,, vicious,,twisted,,depraved,,and believe it or not not one of the afore mentioned baddies are in Washington. Goodness is at a premium and keeps us hoping for a change... Fast paced well written great characters.
Great reader.... HOPEFULLY grrm write a little faster??? Please. A1 book. Paul T.

This story is pretty compelling. I want to start the next book as soon as I am done. I am a commuter and use my road time for 'reading'. I love the way the characters develop and surprise you.

I like Roy Dotrice but sometimes find the way he slures and accents some of the characters distracting and difficult to understand.

I love the shocking endings!

The first half primarily just has the characters traveling around, but then the action really picks up in the second half with a lot of surprises. I really like getting Jamie Lannister's point of view on the action and the history that he has been a part of.

I would because so much happens and it is enjoyable to listen to.

Queen of Thorns-she has the best understanding of all the players and is very amusing.

I enjoy Roy Dotrice's interpretation of each character and the voices he assigns to each.

Jon Snow breaks his vow-with as much honor and conflict a person could have in his situation. In my opinion no boy should take a vow of abstinence without first knowing what they are missing out on.

I enjoy that Martin really seems to understand human nature and applies that in his series. People are predictable but many authors are usually try to make a hero not only succeed but live. I hate that some of my favorite characters die but it adds a sense of truth to the fantasy. There are a couple of surprises that it keeps me wanting to know more.

Epic Ongoing Battles

The scope and scale. The intrigue. This story is twisted!

The story flows from his mouth smoothly and suddenly you don't hear him anymore, you see the story.

To many to count

If you are like I was and you are putting this one off because it takes 2 credits trust me it is worth every dime.