A Game of Thrones
The noble Stark family is drawn into the ruthless political contest for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Seen through multiple perspectives — from the honorable Lord Eddard Stark to the exiled Daenerys Targaryen across the sea — the first novel establishes an extraordinarily complex world and then destroys any expectation of safe storytelling. Nothing is as it seems and no one is safe. One of the finest opening volumes in epic fantasy.
A Clash of Kings
Five kings now claim the Iron Throne and Westeros is engulfed in the War of the Five Kings. As armies shatter across the continent, Daenerys Targaryen hatches dragons for the first time in a century. The second book expands the world enormously — new viewpoint characters, new locations, and the realization that the war for the throne may be less important than the supernatural threat gathering in the frozen north.
A Storm of Swords
Widely considered the finest book in the series and one of the greatest epic fantasy novels ever written. The war reaches its most brutal turning points, delivering some of the most shocking and emotionally devastating scenes in modern fantasy literature. At over 1,100 pages, it is enormous — and worth every page. The Red Wedding. The Purple Wedding. Readers who have finished this book understand why the series has the following it does.
A Feast for Crows
After a six-year gap between books, Martin split what would have been one enormous volume into two. A Feast for Crows follows the characters in the south and west of Westeros — Cersei, Jaime, Brienne, Samwell, and others — in the aftermath of the war. Slower and more political than what came before, it rewards patient readers with deep character work and ominous foreshadowing. Note: Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon Snow do not appear in this volume.
A Dance with Dragons
The companion volume to A Feast for Crows, covering the same time period but focusing on Tyrion, Daenerys, Jon Snow, and the events at the Wall and across the Narrow Sea. The fifth book converges the two narrative streams by its closing chapters and ends on a string of massive cliffhangers that set up the unfinished sixth book. As of 2026, this remains the last published installment in the main series.