10 Best George R.R. Martin Books of All Time, Ranked According to Goodreads

Published Nov 2, 2026, 7:38 AM EST Luc Haasbroek is a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa. He has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years. Luc's areas of interest are broad: he's just as passionate about psychology and history as he is about movies and TV. He's especially drawn to the places where these topics overlap. Luc is also an avid producer of video essays and looks forward to expanding his writing career. When not writing, he can be found hiking, playing Dungeons & Dragons, hanging out with his cats, and doing deep dives on whatever topic happens to have captured his interest that week. Sign in to your Collider account George R.R. Martin is perhaps the preeminent titan of contemporary fantasy. His A Song of Ice and Fire books captured the world's imagination like nothing since the heyday of Harry Potter. Despite the lackluster conclusion to the Game of Thrones show, House of the Dragon is still very popular, and HBO is currently developing a host of spinoffs. People can't get enough of Martin's grittier, bloodier, more morally gray take on the genre's beloved tropes. He's certainly earned this success. Martin is a terrific writer, with a talent for sprawling fantasy worlds, vivid characters, political intrigue, and snappy dialogue. This extends beyond ASOIAF to the many other novels, novellas, and short stories he has published since he got started in the early '70s. This means there's a wealth of Martin goodness for fans to dive into. Here are his ten strongest works, according to the users of the book review site Goodreads. 10 'Fevre Dream' (1982) Rating: 3.90/5 "Sometimes I think the humanity of him is all hollow, a mask..." Fevre Dream is Martin's take on a vampire story but with his own distinctive twist. For example, all the action takes place on a steamboat chugging along the Mississippi River. The book has been memorably described as Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain. The story follows Abner Marsh, a struggling steamboat captain, who is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to command the most magnificent steamboat ever built, the Fevre Dream. However, his mysterious benefactor, Joshua York, is later revealed to be an immortal bloodsucker. This is an inherently tense premise, with Marsh trapped on the ship with the vampires. It makes for an enjoyable book, if a rather slight one, lacking the depth of the Game of Thrones books. On the plus side, York is at least a far more complex vampire than the genre usually serves up. His motives are mostly altruistic, and he's far from a stock villain. 9 'Fire & Blood' (2018) Rating: 4.02/5 "Thrones are won with swords, not quills." Many fans were disappointed when it was announced that Martin's latest book in the ASOIAF universe would be a fictional history rather than the long-awaited Winds of Water, but there's no denying Fire and Blood's impressive scope. It delves deep into the rich history of House Targaryen, spanning from the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror to the early days of King Aegon III's reign. It clocks in at almost 1000 pages. The book is very meta and is presented as if it were written by a scholar from the Citadel in Oldtown. The fact that it's meant to be a historical text rather than a novel means it's obviously a lot drier and less absorbing than the Game of Thrones novels. This means it's sure to delight GoT superfans, though it may be a little inaccessible to more casual readers. On the bright side, the book does at least contain source material for many more HBO spinoff shows. 8 'The Sworn Sword' (2003) Rating: 4.11/5 "A broken oath tarnishes a knight's honor forever." Game of Thrones fans who have read every book in the main series and are craving more should definitely check out the Tales of Dunk and Egg series, following the knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire, Egg, who is secretly Aegon Targaryen. Set nearly a century before the events of A Game of Thrones, the plot of this novella centers on Dunk's service to Ser Eustace Osgrey during a drought in the Reach. All of the Dunk and Egg stories are enjoyable. The plots are smaller in scope and more political, like the early seasons of GoT, and that's also their charm. However, the characters do cross paths with a few important historical figures, like Bloodraven and Daemon Blackfyre. 7 'A Feast for Crows' (2005) Rating: 4.16/5 Image via Bantam Spectra "Silence is a prince's friend." The fourth ASOIAF book shifts its focus to the aftermath of the War of the Five Kings. With the death of King Joffrey and the crowning of Tommen, the power struggles within King's Landing intensify. Cersei Lannister grapples with her newfound authority, facing threats from within and outside the capital. Meanwhile, Brienne of Tarth embarks on a perilous quest to find Sansa Stark, who is hiding in the Vale under Littlefinger's protection. A Feast for Crows is notable for not featuring primary viewpoint GoT characters like Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Tyrion. Instead, the main characters here are Cersei, Brienne, Sam, and Jaime, while Sansa and Arya each receive three chapters. This is both the book's blessing and curse. The absence of Jon and Tyrion is keenly felt, but it's also fascinating to spend more time seeing things from the perspective of Cersei, Brienne, and Sam. For this reason, A Feast for Crows is sure to remain one of Martin's most divisive books. 6 'Sandkings' (1979) Rating: 4.22/5 "I detest cute animals." This sci-fi novella tells the eerie tale of Simon Kress, a wealthy and callous collector of exotic pets. Kress acquires a terrarium filled with sandkings, insect-like creatures with a hive mentality that build elaborate castles and engage in war. Fascinated by their behavior, Kress begins to manipulate the sandkings, pitting them against each other in increasingly cruel experiments. When he loses control of the critters, all hell breaks loose. This is Gremlins on steroids. Sandkings is dark, gory, and gruesome; Martin at his most unrestrained. Readers who appreciate this aspect of his work are likely to enjoy it. The highlight is the fascinating description of the sandkings. Each colony consists of hordes of 'mobiles' along with a single queen, or 'maw', which cannot move but controls the others through telepathy. They're also capable of evolving and adapting to their environment, gaining in intelligence and ability. They're like mini versions of StarCraft's Zerg. Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie. 🐺Stark 🦁Lannister 🐉Targaryen 🦌Baratheon 🌹Tyrell FIND YOUR HOUSE → 01 Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house. ACall it out, openly and on the record. If honour means anything, it has to mean something when it's costly. BUse it. Information about someone else's dishonour is leverage — and leverage is power. CAct decisively to correct it — with or without the approval of those around me. DChallenge them directly. Strength settles disputes more honestly than courtroom manoeuvring. ENavigate carefully — build alliances, apply quiet pressure, and create a situation where the right outcome becomes inevitable. NEXT QUESTION → 02 What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours? AThe loyalty of people who trust me — earned over generations, not bought with gold. BWealth, intelligence, and the willingness to use both without sentiment. CA legacy so fearsome and a vision so total that opposition becomes unthinkable. DPhysical strength, military force, and the respect that comes from being the kind of person nobody wants to fight. ECharm, connection, and the ability to make powerful people feel that my success is also theirs. NEXT QUESTION → 03 Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything. AMy family and my people — those who depend on me and have kept faith with me through everything. BMy family — the ones who share my blood, even when they exhaust me, even when they disappoint me. CMy cause — a vision larger than any single person, including me. DMyself, and those few who've proven themselves worth fighting beside. EMy house — its name, its future, the position I intend to leave it in when I'm gone. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with your enemies? A house's method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could. AHonestly — I face them directly, and I give quarter when it's warranted. BThoroughly — I don't leave loose ends, and I don't make the same enemy twice. CDecisively — fire answers questions that diplomacy only delays. DHead-on — I'd rather meet a threat on the battlefield than behind closed doors. EElegantly — I prefer to make former enemies into allies, or at least into people who owe me something. NEXT QUESTION → 05 What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly. AA just one — someone who serves the realm rather than using it, who leads by example rather than fear. BA capable one — someone smart enough to navigate the game, ruthless enough to win it, and realistic about what winning costs. CA transformative one — someone who doesn't just rule what exists but reshapes what's possible. DA strong one — someone whose authority is beyond question because the alternative is obviously worse. EA wise one — someone who understands that the realm is fed by more than armies, and that a full stomach keeps more peace than a sharp sword. NEXT QUESTION → 06 You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory. AWe grieve, properly and together — and then we endure, because endurance is what we do. BWe adapt. We reassess. And we ensure that whoever caused this loss comes to regret it completely. CWe burn hotter. Setbacks don't soften us — they clarify what needs to happen next. DWe hit back. Grief and revenge are the same motion in our house. EWe regroup quietly, rebuild our position, and return when we're ready — on our terms, not theirs. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours. AThe lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Nothing matters more than the people you protect. BA Lannister always pays their debts — in gold or in kind. Reputation is built on consistency. CI am the blood of the dragon. Some destinies are written before the person who carries them is born. DOurs is the fury. When we move, we move completely — and we don't stop until it's done. EGrowing strong means knowing when to bloom and when to wait. Patience is its own kind of power. NEXT QUESTION → 08 The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character. AClaim it only if the realm needs me to — and rule in a way that makes it worth having. BEnsure someone who owes us sits in it. The power behind the throne is safer than the throne itself. CTake it. It was always meant to be mine — I feel that in my bones and in my blood. DSeize it — with both hands, without hesitation. Opportunity in Westeros does not wait to be asked. EPosition my house to be indispensable to whoever sits there — influence outlasts any single reign. REVEAL MY HOUSE → The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don't. That's very much up to you. 🐺 House StarkWinter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view. You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having. Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn't bend when things get difficult. The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold. You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are. 🦁 House LannisterYou understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology. You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage. A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order. You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway. The lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you. 🐉 House TargaryenYou carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it. You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality. Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs. The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible. At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them. 🦌 House BaratheonYou are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them. Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what's behind it. You value strength and straight dealing. You'd rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers. The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after. The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too. 🌹 House TyrellYou understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes. Growing strong is your house's motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts. You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter. The Tyrells fed King's Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it. You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 'The Hedge Knight' (1998) Rating: 4.27/5 "Other knights serve the lords who keep them [...], but we serve where we will, for men whose causes we believe in." The Hedge Knight is the first entry in the Dunk and Egg series. The story begins with Dunk's journey to Ashford Meadow, where he hopes to prove his worth in a tournament. As Dunk competes in the tournament, he becomes embroiled in a conflict between noble houses. Along the way, he also encounters Egg, who becomes his squire. The Dunk and Egg novellas are light and lean; this one is just 160 pages long. The characters are likable, and the writing is clear and engaging throughout. The plot is simple but hooks the reader's interest, proving that Martin's books don't need White Walkers or epic quests to save humanity to be compelling. It builds up to a satisfying conclusion, while also planting the seeds of future adventures. Indeed, Martin is said to be planning more installments in the series. 4 'A Dance with Dragons' (2011) Rating: 4.34/5 Image via Bantam Spectra "Kill the boy and let the man be born." A Dance with Dragons picks up where A Storm of Swords ended and runs concurrently with A Feast for Crows. However, it focuses on the major characters, like Jon, Daenerys, and Tyrion. In the North, Jon struggles with his role as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys grapples with ruling Meereen. Finally, Tyrion Lannister, on the run after murdering his father, navigates the treacherous political landscape of Essos. The book is great, loaded with tense scenes and significant plot developments, including several that were cut from the show. However, A Dance with Dragons is also a little frustrating in that it builds up so well and leaves the reader wanting more. All these storylines are meant to continue in The Winds of Winter, but it's unclear when that book will materialize. Martin has admitted to "struggling" with the sprawling text, something that must only be exacerbated by the high expectations fans have for it. 3 'A Clash of Kings' (1998) Rating: 4.42/5 Image via Bantam Spectra "The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow." A Clash of Kings, the second ASOIAF book, plunges readers into the chaos that follows the death of King Robert Baratheon. With the Iron Throne up for grabs, multiple factions vie for power. In King's Landing, young King Joffrey's reign is threatened by his uncles, Stannis and Renly Baratheon, who each claim the throne. In the North, Robb Stark is declared king and seeks vengeance. Daenerys, likewise, plots her return to Westeros from across the Narrow Sea. A Clash of Kings impressively avoids the sophomore slump, if anything, raising the stakes established in the preceding book. Martin also greatly expands the canvas of his fantasy world: there are more characters, more locations, and more mysteries, from the rising White Walkers to the shadow magic of Melisandre. In terms of viewpoint characters, this book also introduces fan favorites Theon Greyjoy and Ser Davos Seaworth. 2 'A Game of Thrones' (1996) Rating: 4.44/5 Image via Bantam Spectra "If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words." Martin's magnum opus begins simply enough, with Ned Stark, Lord of Winterfell, being summoned to King's Landing to serve as Hand of the King to his old friend, King Robert Baratheon. From there, it quickly expands in scope and ambition, adding in Shakespearean levels of noble drama and shocking plot twists. The infamous beheading of hero Ned remains one of the most hard-hitting moments in the entire series. The book is just so finely constructed. The dialogue is great, the scheming is addictive, and the battle scenes are intense. A Game of Thrones is also dark and harsh from the get-go, with characters meeting grisly fates like being covered in semi-molten gold. Practically every chapter ends on a cliffhanger, propelling the reader onward and making its 700-odd pages fly by. 1 'A Storm of Swords' (2000) Rating: 4.54/5 Image via Bantam Spectra "Fear cuts deeper than swords." Martin's highest-rated book on Goodreads is the third entry in ASOIAF. In this one, the War of the Five Kings rages on, with Robb, Joffrey, Stannis, Balon Greyjoy, and Renly all vying for the throne. Betrayal and treachery abound, leading to shocking and pivotal moments such as the infamous Red Wedding and Joffrey's assassination. Jon and Daenerys also have monumental storylines: the former goes beyond the Wall, while the latter amasses an army in Essos. A Storm of Swords is a whopper of a novel, almost 1000 pages long, but it never drags or feels like a slog. It's the perfect blend of fantasy thrills — dragons, knights, magic, battles, mysterious beasts — and rich characterization, with figures like Daenerys and Jaime revealing themselves to be complex and often contradictory. This may be the central strength of the series: that it avoids simplistic binaries and instead looks at everything in shades of gray.