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This is greatest news i`ve heared this year! July is going to by great with new book (finally, after all this years of waitng!!!) and HBO series.
meh he sayd that every year the last 3 years
but i cant w8 for the game and the tv show all comes 2011 
I've never read any of the Game of Thrones books. Would you say that this series is:
a. The absolute best in the genre.
b. Above average.
c. Not worth your time. (Probably not this one, based on your post, huh?)
In my opinion somewhere between Wheel of Time and the Hardy Boys.
Seriously though, it's pretty good but I'll always be prejudiced towards Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth. What I found shocking in this series was how some pretty major players end up dying. You get all wrapped up in some characters and then like wtf? The first time I saw Braveheart and Mel's honey had her throat slit - movie had me hooked because I had no idea what was coming next. I like that.
That's the last one, right? Maybe I can finally start reading it...
So do you like major characters getting killed or not? The above suggests you don't mind if it is well written. 
I like more human traits (including frailty and the ability to make mistakes, but also for all characters, good and bad to have good traits and the ability for redemption) for my characters. I quite like that heroes in Katharine Kerr's Deverry series were fallible and could die, although the series did have the overall reincarnation motif. I don't like it when major characters go through so much, nearly dying multiple times, and then because there is *no way* they can be killed, poor old "second-string" characters, who went through a lot less danger, fall victim to random death. =) Yes Sword of Truth, I stopped reading when it seemed that the main characters were immune to anything serious and consequential (like permadeath). I stopped caring about Richard and Kahlan as human characters when I knew they could not be killed no matter what. Pillars of Creation just made that obvious. It's easy to be philosophical and have righteous fury when you are invincible. It's a fine line to walk between great human-like character and infallible superhero, and unless it is written into the series at the start (like Doctor Who) I just don't like stories that separate the (super)heroes (can't die) from the expendables, just because more plot time is put into them or they have to stay alive for the plot to have any real meaning.
It's just a preference, there is nothing wrong with liking fantasy heroes that can't die - however to me, I don't like it when quite likeable "second-string" characters take the fall to make the body count OK just so that the characters in the most danger can mosey on. 
Best regards,
Steven.
Yep, I don't mind if well written - but not all the time. Predictability and stability is good for recharging the batteries; the opposite is like riding a roller coaster. I love roller coasters but I think I would start to hate them if all I did was ride 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
I would say these are very realistic fantasy novels. The people have real motivations and obstacles. Things don't always go well for them. I hope the tv series is good.
Yeah definitely. I don't read very much compared to what I used to though.
Best regards,
Steven.
Yep, good news if it actually comes to pass.
Though really comparisons to Wheel of Time are misplaced. Wheel of time is an endless muddle of largely uninteresting characters who just bump around waiting for some reason for all of them to wind up back together for the final battle (assuming it ever comes).
Fire and Ice is a better paced muddle of more interesting characters (from their diversity of motivations and situations) who actually lead meaningful storylines while waiting for some reason to wind up back together for the final battle (assuming it ever comes).
Wheel of time is ultimately quite dull, after the intial WOW factor (and I don't discount that factor at all) wears off. The problem is that the books drone on and on about minor characters who don't do anything other than provide Jordan (well past tense) the opportunity to milk more books out of the series. That is the first 4-6 books were quite good, the story was compelling, but then it just turned to a near endless repitition of 'she crossed her arms beneath her breasts and glared at Rand/Lan/Mat/Perin/...'.
Fire and Ice, certainly could turn into this, and Martin taking so long to put out DwD lead to much speculation that this is indeed the case, but none the less, he does seem to keep the number of characters somewhat constant by killing off a few everytime he introduces new ones.
Anyway, Fire and Ice is more 'mature' than Wheel, and doesn't rely on the crutch of magic nearly as much. Which is entirely subjective whether that's a positive or not.
Hope it will come out but not really trusting of any date he puts forward. I think it was originally to come out within 6 months of his last book in the series because it is suppose to the second part of that book. Kinda confusing but it is a good read non the less. Just frustrating.
it's just a provisional date. what is more encouraging is that he is simply talking about the books more in his blogs.
i do agree there is a feat of it going the way of the wheel of time. i actually enjoyed that until heart of winter. but even the last book, although it fealt far from reaching a conclusion, still had great character development and lots of new, unexpected and important things going on.
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