A Song Of Ice And Fire: Every Book Ranked Worst To Best

Despite the underwhelming end, and incredible backlash from fans, there is no doubt that Game of Thrones will go down as one of the greatest TV shows ever. Its unique world, complex characters, and cutthroat story lines struck a balance between realism and fantasy that made fans fall in love from episode one.

The genius behind it all is, of course, George R. R. Martin, whose Song of Ice and Fire book series is what the show was based on. There are currently five books that make up the saga, including two so big they have been broken into two parts each, and two more planned for the future to complete the story.

Martin has been called the American Tolkien, and has brought to life one of the most popular fantasy franchises ever. Since the show has followed the course of the books loosely to say the least, there is so much more written in the pages than can be seen on the screen.

Though he is a famously slow writer, releasing A Game of Thrones all the way back in 1996, and having no release date yet for The Winds of Winter, Martin's fans have stuck by him and have never lost any excitement or enthusiasm for the legendary series.

While there are many additional books to this saga, this list will focus solely on the main series from A Game of Thrones through to A Dance With Dragons.

Every single book in the Song of Ice and Fire saga is a joy to read, however some are better than others, and by default one has to come in last place.

George R. R. Martin's poor forward planning is evident in A Feast For Crows more so than anywhere else in the series. The book was never actually supposed to exist, with A Dance With Dragons set to follow straight on from A Storm Of Swords. The author however, found this would not work, and inserted this book as the fourth in the series (fifth if you count both parts of A Storm Of Swords separately).

One of the drawbacks of this book is the fact that half of the main characters don't appear. With Feast running parallel, rather than chronologically, to A Dance With Dragons: Dreams and Dust, the POV chapters are split. This means we see nothing of Daenerys, Tyrion, or Bran, and only a glimpse of Jon in an early Samwell chapter.

While these characters are missed, it does open the door for different players, introducing among others, Brienne and Cersei as POV characters. The latter is certainly the MVP of this installment, as we get to see inside her head for the first time, dealing with Joffrey's death, her insecurities, and her battle to keep hold of Tommen as long as she can.