A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
This is the first part of a six-book fantasy series -- "Song of Ice and Fire" -- with three books out so far. It's one of the most evocative fantasy sagas I've read, right up there with Stephen R. Donaldson and Tolkien. It's set in a place called the Seven Kingdoms, which is a vaguely Arthurian land of lords, ladies and knights, with Tolkienesque magic. The Seven Kingdoms have a lot of problems: major dynastic struggles, a nine-year winter coming on, evil dead advancing from the north, barbarians invading from the east. It's remarkably well-written.

--Andrew Leonard

Recent books praised by Salon's critics

What to read: September fiction
From a surreal, carnal coming-of-age set on Coney Island, to a wicked, gossipy story of the literary life, our critics pick the best books.
By Salon's critics
[09/13/00]

Upside Down by Eduardo Galeano
The author of "Memory of Fire" delivers a scathing, mischievous indictment of North America's hypocrisy and consumer culture.
Reviewed by Greg Villepique
[10/12/00]

The Bridegroom by Ha Jin
The National Book Award-winning author of "Waiting" is in fine form with new tales of ordinary Chinese angling for love, sex and Party favors.
Reviewed by Michael Scott Moore
[10/11/00]

The Boxer's Heart by Kate Sekules
Bloodied, bruised and elated, one woman offers an account of her love affair with boxing.
Reviewed by Susan Shapiro
[10/04/00]

An American Story by Debra Dickerson
The passionate, category-defying journalist levels her tough gaze on her own journey from the ghetto to Harvard Law School and beyond.
Reviewed by Maggie Jones
[10/03/00]

Cherry by Mary Karr
Though she didn't start the memoir craze, Karr feeds the frenzy with "Cherry," the luscious tale of her coming-of-age.
Reviewed by Lisa Zeidner
[09/25/00]

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay by Michael Chabon
In the rapturous, panoramic new novel by the author of "Wonder Boys," two midcentury comic-book writers battle evil and celebrate escape in all its forms.
Reviewed by Amy Benfer
[09/28/00]

The Golden Age by Gore Vidal
Vidal delivers the final volume of the American Chronicle series, his sweeping, score-settling fictional history of the United States.
Reviewed by George Rafael
[09/20/00]

Into the Tangle of Friendship by Beth Kephart
A memoir that celebrates the most ubiquitous, least definable passion.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Judd
[09/14/00]

Noodling for Flatheads by Burkhard Bilger
A tribute to moonshiners, squirrel-brain eaters, cockfighters and other Southern holdouts against a bland and uniform national culture.
Reviewed by Jonathan Miles
[09/13/00]

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The novelist's latest masterwork blends mystery, futuristic fantasy and family saga.
Reviewed by Karen Houppert
[09/12/00]

Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard
In his latest black-comic thriller, the peerless crime novelist takes his wisecracking swindlers from post-massacre Rwanda to downtown Detroit.
Reviewed by Charles Taylor
[09/07/00]

Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen E. Ambrose
The bestselling historian serves up the stirring tale of the unsung men who built the transcontinental railroad.
Reviewed by Stephen Prothero
[09/05/00]

Keep Australia on Your Left by Eric Stiller
The story of an attempt to kayak around Australia that ended -- refreshingly -- not with triumph or disaster but with honest failure.
Reviewed by Pete Wells
[08/31/00]

NYPD: A City and Its Police by James Lardner and Thomas Repetto
Behind the "blue wall of silence" of America's biggest and oldest police force, two authors find equal parts heroism and corruption
Reviewed by Andrew O'Hehir
[08/24/00]

The Secret Parts of Fortune by Ron Rosenbaum
The author of "Explaining Hitler" shares his adventures and passions, from getting caught in a pissing match with Oliver Stone to tracking down the inventor of canned laughter.
Reviewed by Mark Schapiro
[08/23/00]

The Heartsong of Charging Elk by James Welch
In this moving, nourishing novel, the Native American writer probes the culture shock of an Oglala Sioux abandoned in France by Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
Reviewed by Jonathan Miles
[08/15/00]

The Making of Intelligence by Ken Richardson
A new attempt to answer a stubborn old question: If humans are such an intelligent species, why can't we figure out what IQ tests measure?
Reviewed by Christine Kenneally
[08/09/00]

Writing on Drugs by Sadie Plant
The author embarks on a stimulating trip into literature's strangest, smokiest den.
Reviewed by Gary Kamiya
[08/04/00]

The Dragon Syndicates by Martin Booth
The blood-soaked history of the Chinese secret societies that started the heroin trade and invented the "death by myriad swords."
Reviewed by Greg Villepique
[08/02/00]

A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You by Amy Bloom
A collection of stories that look frankly at the lives of transsexuals, adulterers, cancer survivors and angry teenagers.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Macklin
[08/01/00]

Herman Melville by Elizabeth Hardwick
A great critic takes on a great novelist, finding agony, homoeroticism and, ultimately, mystery.
Reviewed by Maria Russo
[07/26/00]

Assassination by Miles Hudson
A historian coolly assesses whether killing a leader is a useful political tactic.
Reviewed by Matthew DeBord
[07/25/00]

What to read: The best of July's fiction
Novels of love and evil, from lesbian Victoriana to deft, Vonnegut-style humor and gritty Indian realism.
By Salon's critics
[07/24/00]

An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
The author of "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt" creates a heroine with violent dreams, a passion for numbers and some problems with sex.
Reviewed by Mike Albo
[07/20/00]

Little Saint: The Hours of Saint Foy by Hannah Green
On the trail of a French martyr beheaded by her father for embracing Christianity instead of the goddess Diana.
Reviewed by Laura Morgan Green
[07/18/00]