Book · 1996
A Game of Thrones
by George R. R. Martin
A direwolf litter found beside a dead stag opens a decades-spanning war for the Iron Throne with no guaranteed survivors.
What does Reddit think of A Game of Thrones?
2834 mentions make this the heaviest hitter of the sample, and 2088 of them are on r/Fantasy alone, with r/suggestmeabook (373) and r/printSF (370) trailing well behind. The recurring joke is GRRM himself. One commenter (↑756) can't imagine anyone seriously wanting Brandon Sanderson to finish ASOIAF the way he finished the Wheel of Time, and another (↑773) has pulled the series off their recommendation list entirely because a living author has stalled it. That frustration coexists with real reverence: one prediction (↑594) says 'ASOIAF will go down as a classic, KKC will get forgotten,' and a separate thread (↑613) spends its upvotes cataloguing GRRM's nickname game, from the Laughing Storm to Bloodraven to the Kingslayer. Unanswered lore questions (↑542), like the Doom of Valyria, the oily black stone, and what Euron actually is, still drive threads on their own steam. Acronym fatigue is a running complaint too (↑871): expand ASOIAF, GoT, and TCoTCtU, or lose new readers. 2019 was the peak year at 491 mentions; nothing since has matched it.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · political intrigue and war for the throne
- · GRRM's unfinished series
- · dense invented worldbuilding and lore
- · moral ambiguity across POV characters
- · genre comparison to Wheel of Time and Kingkiller Chronicle
Common praise
- + Readers build entire threads just cataloguing GRRM's character nicknames (↑613).
- + Some predict it'll outlast contemporaries like Kingkiller Chronicle specifically because more of the story is actually finished (↑594).
- + The unanswered lore questions, like what happened at the Doom of Valyria, keep generating fresh discussion years later (↑542).
Common criticism
- − People are removing it from recommendation lists outright because the series isn't finished and the author hasn't delivered (↑773).
- − Nobody trusts Brandon Sanderson to finish it the way he finished the Wheel of Time, and that gets treated as a bad sign for the franchise, not a compliment to Sanderson (↑756).
- − New readers keep getting lost in unexplained acronyms like TCoTCtU without anyone providing a glossary (↑871).
Who it's for
You need patience for a series that might not get a real ending, going by how many commenters have already given up waiting. If cataloguing house sigils and remembering which Freys are dead sounds fun rather than tedious, this is your series. Compare it to the Wheel of Time before committing: both are unfinished doorstoppers, but only one has Sanderson standing by to close it out. Newcomers should ask what the acronyms mean before diving into r/Fantasy threads, or spend a while confused.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for A Game of Thrones?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Adding to this, *please* expand acronyms on first use, even if it is a well-known work. It’s terrible trying to guess what the heck something like TCoTCtU might mean, or to try to remember that ASOIAF is the same thing as GoT.
“It’s a very popular series that many people love and many people dislike/dnf. Personally I’ve taken asoiaf off of any of my lists, if Harriet can get the WoT finished after RJ literally dies I can’t in good conscience recommend a series that a living author has given up on finishing. The slog is …
“Genuinely have no idea who seriously thinks Sanderson would be good pick to finish either ASOIAF or KKC. I don’t think even he would think he’d be good at it. Afaict, it’s mostly a joke because he writes very fast while Roothfuss and Martin… don’t.
“…A Song of Ice and Fire…
“I always tell people that, contrary to Asoiaf & KKC, Gentleman B******* is episodic enough that it can stay where it is without issue. Having said that, Six of Crows (though YA) is an alternative, as also Foundryside and maybe Nevernight
“When it comes to nicknames GRRM is probably the best in the game. The Laughing Storm, the Young Wolf, Bittersteel, Bloodraven, Kingslayer, Lightning Lord, there’s so many awesome nicknames in ASOIAF. Like Gregor Clegane is a monster that should be locked away and never see sunlight again, but The Mo…
“My hot take on your hot take: ASOIAF will go down as a classic, KKC will get forgotten.
“These are the ones I can think of just from ASOIAF: \-What caused theDoom of Valyria? \-What's the oily black stone mentioned? \-What the hell is Euron meant to be?
Convinced? Pick up A Game of Thrones
Readers also mention
All books like A Game of Thrones →Books that share discussion threads with A Game of Thrones — counted from the comments, not curated.
Gardens of the Moon
Steven Erikson
An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.
The Eye of the World
Robert Jordan
A farm boy's village burns in one night, and the Aes Sedai who saves him says the Dark One marked him before he could walk.
The Blade Itself
Joe Abercrombie
Nine-Fingers the barbarian just wants to survive one more winter, but a torturer's investigation and a prince's war have other plans.
Dune
Frank Herbert
A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss
An orphaned actor's son claws his way toward becoming a legend by the University's fire-and-sympathy magic — a story stuck at book two for over a decade.
The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien
A gardener, a burglar's heir, and seven others walk a piece of jewelry to a volcano because destroying it is the only way to stop a war.
A Game of Thrones — frequently asked
Will A Song of Ice and Fire ever be finished?+
Reddit has stopped assuming yes. One commenter (↑773) says they've pulled the series off their recommendation list entirely because a living author has stalled it, and another (↑756) doubts Brandon Sanderson could or should be the one to finish it, unlike his Wheel of Time completion.
Is A Song of Ice and Fire better than The Kingkiller Chronicle?+
By Reddit's own prediction, yes, long term. One top comment (↑594) puts it bluntly: 'ASOIAF will go down as a classic, KKC will get forgotten,' out of 2834 total mentions for this series across the tracked subs.
What does r/Fantasy actually discuss about A Song of Ice and Fire besides the show?+
Mostly lore and craft. With 2088 of the series' 2834 mentions, r/Fantasy threads catalogue GRRM's character nicknames (↑613) and chase unanswered mysteries like the Doom of Valyria and what Euron really is (↑542), rather than rehashing the TV adaptation.
Is A Song of Ice and Fire worth starting in 2026 if it's still unfinished?+
Depends on your tolerance for an open ending. Mentions have held steady, 368 in 2025 versus a 491-mention peak in 2019, showing sustained interest, but the sample includes real readers who've already given up on ever getting a conclusion (↑773).