I have a question before I start this series of books. How long of a time period do all of these books span? Do they follow the same characters from book 1 on, or are there new characters farther along the time line in each book? Sorry if the question seems ignorant, but I really have only watched the HBO series and don't know how it goes from there.
Thanks
I did not read them in order. I enjoyed each one as a stand-alone, simply because they are so grippingly written that I didn't mind not knowing the connection. But I did go back and read them in the right order later, because they are that good.
Sometimes I would not recognize a character from one volume as being the same one I was reading in the next until I had read the books again in the right order; even though the episodes are related, they often didn't seem to be. Although I think it is fair to say that they all take place in the same era there is a lot of timeline skipping back and forth into the past and so many different geographical stages of action too. The sheer scope of the world the author created sweeps you along.
Start with whichever book you can get hold of first. I have read them all more than once, and like the New Yorker article said, 'give us the next book, George!'
Terry Pratchett is the only other author I know of who makes fantasy worlds I want to read every single volume of without choosing a favorite.