A Game of Thrones
The founding volume of the dominant fantasy work of its era: Locus winner, Hugo-winning novella within (Blood of the Dragon), and source of HBO's Game of Thrones, which made Westeros a global lingua franca.
Series Guide
A Song of Ice and Fire
Westeros: a throne of melted swords, winter coming, dragons returning and nobody safe. The saga that retrained epic fantasy's expectations and conquered television as Game of Thrones.
In the Guide
A Storm of Swords
Locus winner and Hugo finalist, near-universally ranked the saga's peak; the Red Wedding episode ('The Rains of Castamere') became a global television trauma in 2013 and the standard demonstration of Martin's contract with the reader.