Read this over ten years ago in my teens and listened to the first book over audio again now. I don’t know if there’s much use in spending too many words reviewing this but I still had a lot of fun. Roy Dotrice does get very grating and there were times I dropped my headphones to just read the book; he calls Bran ‘Brian’ a couple of times and has really strange working class British accent he applies to almost every character. The world in my head has space for high born lords but Roy’s voice acting doesn’t stretch that far. The Dothraki chapters are a bit shit too. I won’t waste my time on plot holes but they felt very lazy. I’m not even mad about the orientalism because it’s still consistent with the POVs but they feel a bit rushed compared to the western storylines.
I will be slowly making my way through the series now I think. It’s such a shame the tv series sucks…
Also very funny I remember rushing through the series because A Dane of Dragons was imminent but over 10 years later GRRM Martin still has not finished 😔
I’m glad you liked it. I’ve only watched the tv show(blocked the last season out of my memory) and I keep getting reminded to read it at some point.
The first book can be a slog while you get into the story but I remember A Clash of Kings is honestly the most fun I’ve ever had reading a book. Granted I was like 14 years old but the series has a special place in my heart still.
It’s hard to say whether it’s worth it though. The audiobook for this was 50 hours which I had on while I was at work. If I didn’t have the dull time to waste I probably wouldn’t be going through the series again.