Via this Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine’s forum, we see that noted author Jeff Vandermeer has provided a short excerpt from a review of A Song of Ice and Fire that he’s written for the New York Review of Science Fiction:
Martin needs no late-comers like me to sing his praises or guard his guild hall, but I’m going to do so anyway. These are the best heroic fantasies I’ve ever read—layered, complex, true to the characters, real as the bloodiest of real life is, and stunningly, fascinatingly page-turning, even as you’re cursing yourself for not reading more slowly. Why? Because Martin’s craft in these novels is absolutely remarkable. As are the little grace notes, doffs of the hat to other fantasy series. As is the subtle dark humor. As is the way he gets away with Clark Ashton Smith-type descriptions—which is to say, extremely strange and uncommercial—in the middle of these New York Times bestselling novels. Amazing stuff.