Comparable series to a song of ice and fire

[Ed]

Any series you would recommend to someone who likes Martins ASOIF series?

[Stan]

You can try the first book in Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy. Merlin Trilogy
Not many series are as in depth as ASOIF but the Merlin series comes close.

[Shel, Moderator]

Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (starts with The Dragonbone Chair). Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow (starts with The Curse of the Mistwraith). Maybe even try Stephen King's Dark Tower series (starts with The Gunslinger).

[Sandra]

Second Shel's suggestions and add that if you love blood guts and gore, The Malazan series seems to be enjoyed by many who enjoyed the GRRM.

[Ed]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I will check my library on them...the Malazan series?

[Sandra]

Ed wrote: "Thanks for the great suggestions. I will check my library on them...the Malazan series?"

Starts with Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

[Ed]

Thanks; put a hold for that one. I will check out Williams and Kings' series maybe later in the summer. :)

[Todd]

Shel wrote: "Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (starts with The Dragonbone Chair). Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow (starts with The Curse of the Mistwraith). Maybe even try Stephen King's ..."

Oh, that's very interesting you suggested The Dark Tower series - years ago I was such a big Stephen King fan (his dark stuff), then I read nothing for years until I picked up The Gunslinger recently. While not a terrible book, I certainly wasn't enthralled (as I remember I used to be with his books). I LOVED GRRM's series and if there are parallels with The Dark Tower series, I haven't yet got to them (the first book was so short), so I must get reading further into the series.

A series not mentioned yet that I found to have several parallels with GRRM's series, and logically so since the author has collaborated with GRRM on other projects, is Daniel Abraham's The Dagger and the Coin series - not quite as gritty as ASOIAF, but very character centric with themes a GRRM fan would recognise. I've only read the first book, but just finished and loved it so much I've got the next one all queued up, plus someone else suggested his other series, Long Price Quartet which is supposed to be just as good.

[Ed]

I picked up the first book of Abraham's series...The Dragon's Path.

[Ken]

You might enjoy Michelle West's
Sun Sword Series
The Broken Crown
The Uncrowned King
The Shining Court
Sea of Sorrows
The Riven Shield
The Sun Sword

and House War Series
The Hidden City
City of Night
House Name
Skirmish
Battle

[Stephan]

I would recommend Stephen King's The Dark Tower series (The Gunslinger), as well as Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (The Eye of the World).

Also check out anything written by Brandon Sanderson.

[Ed]

Will do. The wheel of time seems to be such a big commitment of time though.

[Christine]

This is a great thread!! I've ordered at least three books from my library suggested here. I'm not sure about the WoT books; I read 6 or 7 of them but had trouble remembering the multitude of characters in the year between books. I read the last one sitting in front of my computer with an on-line character guide. I gave up after that and just presumed that the world would eventually be saved...

[Ed]

Agreed. My library order keeps growing.

[Shel, Moderator]

Todd wrote: "I LOVED GRRM's series and if there are parallels with The Dark Tower series, I haven't yet got to them (the first book was so short), so I must get reading further into the series."

I don't know that I'd go so far as to say there are parallels - the series are actually very different from one another in plot and focus - but they share a dark gritty realistic atmosphere.
The Gunslinger is the weakest book in the series, so at least read the second book before you give up on it.

[Kevin]

The Black Company

[Tiemen]

"The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch. Vivid worldbuilding and Lynch has the same kind of harsh attitude towards his characters as GRRM has.
Think Ocean's Eleven meets Fantasy with a bit of the brutality and humor of the Sopranos in it.