And if so should I read it in time with the show or do they not line up? I am in need of some fantasy to devour while I wait for The Last Dark. Is this as good as 110% percent of nerds seem to think it is? Hell my older brother (not a nerd in the slightest) enjoys them. Well, should I take the plunge?

Reading it: I would say yes, so long as you can accept that there will be bits you dislike.

Lining up with the show: they don't line up exactly, and there are some significant alterations in the show. I regard them as related, but separate. The show is damn good TV. The books are damn fine books. I'm not talking about how closely they correspond with each other.

Yes, read it.

If you've got the time, I'd say yes. It is not as good as 110% of nerds say, but it's still a good story.

I am not a fan of Martin as a writer. I gave up on Book 5 after the first couple chapters (but I'll try it again soon). He comes across as what I think of as a Thesaurus Writer (there are no horses in his world, but plenty of destriers, chargers, steeds, stallions, etc. There are other examples of thinly disguised repetition.).

I think he is a good storyteller. With a few exceptions, he is fair with his characters. None are irredeemably evil, and pretty much every good guy ends up doing something bad due to circumstances. Only 2-3 characters are sacred (so far). While some characters are predictable in that they behave consistently with how they have already acted, the overall story is full of surprises. Characters, places and ideas that seem to be untouchable get touched, so it's not just a hand-held journey to the happy ending (if there ever will be an ending at all). Sometimes he doesn't trust his readers enough and gets a little insulting making sure something comes across.

The show is a good summary of the books. It doesn't cover everything, and doesn't always go into the deeper motivations or cause-and-effect, but covers enough. I actually picked up on a bit about a character from the show that was unavoidably obvious there that I missed even the oblique hints of in the books.

Overall, it hovers around 7-8 out of 10 for me. It hits 9 at points, and dipped down lower when I stopped reading. It has never been a priority for me, but is a great filler while waiting for other reading material.

Cool. I will borrow by friends copy of Game of Thrones then. The Last Dark doesn't hit shelves until some undisclosed time next year anywho.

I really enjoyed the first four books. I stopped when reading the 5th because the eternal struggle just got too bleak. Also, it became pretty obvious that he was introducing scores of new characters, which meant that the series will never draw to a conclusion.

I thought I read somewhere that it was confirmed to be a 7 book series?

I read an article that I can't find at the moment that calls shenanigans on that claim. I don't remember the details but it was originally to be a trilogy with a follow-up book or two, and now it's all blended together and grown beyond that. And if he keeps "splitting books"...

I am currently watching the first season of the show and enjoying it. I tried to read the books, but had trouble with all the characters. (Having a baby makes extended reading and memorizing difficult.)

Once I finish the show, I'm going to go back to the books with some faces in my head.

Absolutely, read it. I've read the first two books, and thought they were astounding (though not without flaws, of course). He does a phenomenal job with making each member of his huge cast of characters motivated and memorable. You have to have high tolerance for horrific and vile behavior, though, because every so often, it gets very, very bleak. (I have a very high tolerance for all that stuff, but there have still been a couple rape scenes that I almost couldn't get past.) This series is both grand and gritty; it is not driven by hope.

The show follows the books far better than most shows/movies based on books go. However, make sure you read the books, first. Not only do they give depth and purpose to many of the scenes in the show, but the books have a lot of surprises and twists that are more impactful on paper, in my opinion. Don't let the show ruin the twists in the books; it's okay if the books ruin the twists in the show.