ASOIAF Books: Best to Worst?

[Lya's Winter Rose]

Just wondering what everyone's favorite books are. We've had years to reread AFFC and ADWD, so perhaps people have started viewing them in a more favorable light? For me:

 

1) A Storm of Swords (10/10)

• Every storyline manages to be interesting, very well-rounded
• Tyrion, Jon, and Dany feature extremely strong storylines
• Jaime's redemption and Sansa's evolution was stupendous
• Most substantial plot points within the series
• Both incredibly heartbreaking and incredibly exciting

2) A Game of Thrones (10/10)

• Introduced us to the world, and possessed a fluidity of a Shakespearean tragedy
• Eddard's arc is thematically brilliant
• Daenerys' character development is great 
• Lore and worldbuilding at its absolute finest
• Relationship dynamics between the characters probably the greatest I've seen in fiction

3) A Dance With Dragons (9.5/10)

• The most complex novel by far, and perhaps contains the greatest writing in the series despite the subpar editing
• Northern storylines are the greatest parts of ASOIAF in its whole
• Theon, Bran, & Barristan narrative arcs were perfect
• Best character development out of all the novels   
• Strongest ending since A Storm of Swords 
• Far less eventful than the first three books 
• A handful of storylines fall flat, and Essos is uninteresting until 3/4 through the novel

4) A Clash of Kings (9/10)

• Most interesting narrative in terms of politics
• Battle of Blackwater Bay and House of the Undying were both phenomenal climaxes
• The War of the Five Kings was brilliant; Tyrion, Davos, and Catelyn POVs at their best
• My two favorite characters have their weakest storylines; one wandering around in the north and the other stagnant within Qarth, and my third favorite remains in chains and gets very little dialogue
• The least elegant writing from Martin, in my opinion, but still phenomenally written

5) A Feast for Crows (8.5/10) 

• Contrary to other readers, I believe this is the only book aside from ASOS with no weak storylines
• A great insight into the deplorable implications of war
• Great character development for the whole cast
• Phenomenal world-building, expanding into the Dornish and Iron Islands plots which I found to be quite intriguing
• Despite having no weak storylines, the only strong POVs were Jaime and Arya
• The least eventful of all the novels, comprised mostly of characterization
• Struggles without the three main characters, and has to resort to following less-interesting side characters

PS: I love every single one of the books. I've only given 11 novels out of almost 700 a 5/5 on Goodreads, and every single ASOIAF entry is worth a 5/5. They all have their merits, but I prefer some to others. It just comes down to preference. For example, I enjoy great quotes and pristine dialogue (AGOT) more than action and intrigue (ACOK), and I enjoy a novel with the most consistently great chapters (ASOS) more than a novel with my favorite chapters accompanied by some mediocre ones (ADWD).    

[Lion of the West]

To me its like this;

Best: All of them

Worst: None of them.

In my opinion they are all so very good that I can't hope to say that anyone is bad or worse than the other. The later books are slower but I don't find them to be worse than the earlier books for that reason.

[the trees have eyes]

Yeah, I don't know about ranking books (or anything for that matter) when you enjoy all of them.

The only fair comment is that the earlier books (AGOT, ACOK & ASOS) were more tightly focused on the main characters and faster paced while the latter two (AFFC & ADWD) introduce lots of new characters, omit some of the main ones (due to the split pov structure) and seem to move the story forward a shorter distance at a slower pace.  That said they add a lot of depth and richness and if you can get past your initial expectaions of what will happen they are pretty darn good

NB. A poster on here once said they read initially to "find out what happened next" and that only on re-read do they really appreciate what is written as they don't bring any expectations or hopes with them second time round.  AFFC is the first book where I really noticed this myself.  On initial reading I missed some characters a lot and was disappointed that the story didn't move in the direction six or so years of waiting and imagining had led me to hope it would.  On re-read I simply enjoyed a really good book with some great writing, e.g. Brienne's fruiltless search for Sansa that I had read impatiently first time waiting for her (and GRRM) to get on with it and succeed in her quest.

[Lucius Lovejoy]

@Lya's Winter Rose very well thought out rankings you have!  I prefer the politics over magic, and have no real interest in Danerys (unless she's going to be a badass villain at the end, which based on ADWD seems like won't happen), Barristan (he's cool but I could do without his POV), Bran before the sack of winterfell, Arya after she departs the Hound, and Tyrion after he kills Tywin.  My favorite characters are Stannis, Jaime, Davos, Sansa, Eddard, Tywin, and Robert.  My least favorite are Doran, Brienne, Bran, Theon, and Catelyn (though I loved her POVs because stuff consistently happened).  With that said, my rankings would be...

1. A Clash of Kings - introduces Stannis and his team, the Wot5K was compelling and had the most uncertain outcome at this point, it has the best Tyrion and Catelyn POVs, Sansa is compelling, Joffrey is actually great on re-reads once you know he eventually gets what is coming to him, Arya hasn't gotten boring yet, the dragons and Danerys are still fresh and compelling.
2. A Storm of Swords - Jaime POV introduced, seems to start to narrow down the story (well, until AFFC), Jon's storyline gets more interesting, Joffrey eats shit, the red wedding and peak Walder Frey.
3. A Game of Thrones - the fewest POVs which was a good thing, the book had a good flow and the story hadn't sprawled too far out of control; Eddard was a tremendous read, Cersei was still threatening and intriguing, King Bobby B!, Varys+Littlefinger were introduced in great fashion.
4. A Feast for Crows - Jaime... and that's it?  I enjoyed the Ironborn though would have preferred a completed story that did not involve the Ironborn or Dorne as opposed to whatever we have now since TWOW will never be released.  King's Landing's machinations were interesting since I enjoy the politics much more than the magic.
5. A Dance with Dragons - it had the best Davos chapters, and Stannis in the north is my favorite storyline of the series.  Bran got interesting and consequential.  Otherwise shoot me before I read another Quentyn, Tyrion, Danerys, or Barristan chaper.  Aegon was clumsily introduced, and made me more frustrated given that he just means the story will take that much longer and be that much further away from completion.

[Blackfish Tully]

7 hours ago, the trees have eyes said:

Yeah, I don't know about ranking books (or anything for that matter) when you enjoy all of them.

The only fair comment is that the earlier books (AGOT, ACOK & ASOS) were more tightly focused on the main characters and faster paced while the latter two (AFFC & ADWD) introduce lots of new characters, omit some of the main ones (due to the split pov structure) and seem to move the story forward a shorter distance at a slower pace.  That said they add a lot of depth and richness and if you can get past your initial expectaions of what will happen they are pretty darn good

NB. A poster on here once said they read initially to "find out what happened next" and that only on re-read do they really appreciate what is written as they don't bring any expectations or hopes with them second time round.  AFFC is the first book where I really noticed this myself.  On initial reading I missed some characters a lot and was disappointed that the story didn't move in the direction six or so years of waiting and imagining had led me to hope it would.  On re-read I simply enjoyed a really good book with some great writing, e.g. Brienne's fruiltless search for Sansa that I had read impatiently first time waiting for her (and GRRM) to get on with it and succeed in her quest.

that's a good point about the re-reads , randomly over the last few years i'll pick up one of the books and re-read a certain POV in one of the books for example the Jaimie ones in AFFC or Barristan in ADWD and without consciously deciding it i tend to mostly pick out a POV from the last 2 books , i think that the same reason that some people hate those books (the vast amount of detail and world building and fleshing out of characters and story ) are the reasons why i keep going back to them . 

[mankytoes]

A Game of Thrones is probably the best as a self contained book. Taken out of context, Feast and Dragons aren't great as individual books. I don't really see it as five books, I see it as a series all flowing together, maybe because I read them all back to back.

[the trees have eyes]

3 hours ago, mankytoes said:

maybe because I read them all back to back.

Lucky you!  Still, you've had your wait now like the rest of us

[Anck Su Namun]

1. A Storm of Swords
2. A Dance with Dragons
3. A Game of Thrones
4. A Clash of Kings
5. A Feast for Crows

[Fishb20]

1. A Storm of Swords

2) A Game of Thrones

3) A Feast for Crows

4) A Clash of Kings

5) A Dance with Dragons

That being said i love all the books a whole ton, it was just the Meereen plot started getting dull in ADWD

[SerHaHa]

For me my #1 is Clash of Kings, the Davos chapters in particular - his and Tyrion's chapter during the battle for Blackwater Bay are probably the best battle scenes written in fantasy, ever, IMO.  The rest, it's 5/6 and pick em, very close, and it changes every time I re read them.  I'm in the middle of AFFC, and having a new appreciation for it, particularly the Cersei chapters, which are hilarious this time around for some reason. 

[Joy Hill]

1 AFFC

2 ASOS

3 AGOT

4 ACOK

5 ADWD

AFFC is my favorite because I enjoy the 3 dominating POVs.

[Faera]

A Game of Thrones is pretty much an extended prologue but I enjoy it. It is to this day the easiest to read through and it never feels like it is slogging at any point. 

I admit I have a soft spot for A Clash of Kings. The Battle of the Blackwater was soooooo enjoyable to read through Tyrion and Sansa's POVs from inside and outside. It is also one of the few Daenerys plots that at no point felt slow, despite her spending the first part of it "wandering the desert". The only thing I don't like about it is how boring find Tyrion's relationship with Shae. Plus, lots of Arya wandering around aimlessly, being captured by different people until she finally escapes...

...only to get caught by the BwB. There are parts of A Storm of Swords where it felt a little bit slow for me because of all the wandering around in the Riverlands (again) Jaime/Brienne and Arya/Hound seem to be doing. The fascination I have with the BwB, Jaime's growing respect for Brienne and how close Arya was to meeting up with her brother and mother again... ugh! Still, it was "The Big One" with the shock deaths of Robb, Catelyn, Joffrey and Tywin. Then Cat coming back at the very end... eep!

I actually don't mind A Feast for Crows as much, especially now that we have the A Feast with Dragons, splicing it together with A Dance with Dragons. Truth is, both books are best read at least back to back. Even so, the best part about A Feast for Crows was reading just how utterly insane and deranged Cersei is - she made that book for me! (That and the Kingsmoot with us finally meeting Euron properly). Plus, it is in these two books where it feels Arya's plot really kicks off. Still, Brienne's chapters almost felt comical with her "I'm looking for a maid of three and ten blah blah..." (take a shot each time she says it!) until the BwB finally capture her though her interactions with Hyle Hunt made me smile.

I love A Dance with Dragons because I actually really enjoy all the politics at the Wall, all the conspiring that seems to be going on in the North (again, a great book for Davos and Asha fans) and I loved the underlying magical element binding Theon back to Bran again. Plus, I find Barristan's chapters interesting too as a welcome POV on Daenerys's plot.

I really can't rank them 1 to 5. I enjoy all of them for different reasons because even if I think a book is a bit boring or meandering for one character, another character will usually be doing something. I can understand why people will typically say AFfC or even ACoK are the "most boring" books because the pay-offs take forever to get to but I got a lot out of both of them.

[Endymion I Targaryen]

1. Storm of Swords
2. Clash of Kings
3. Game of Thrones
4. Feast for Crows
5. Dance with Dragons

The main reason I enjoyed SOS most is the fast pace of story evolving. Many things happening at the same time. The opposite happens with DWD.

[Bowen 747]

1. A Storm of Swords
2. A Dance with Dragons
3. A Clash of Kings
4. A Game of Thrones
5. A Feast for Crows

[Lady Anna]

I love them all but if I had to choose a favourite I'd say Dance and a least favourite Clash of Kings (there's just something abt this book....).