The finished trilogy is certainly better. As I said in a previous reply, she's really irritated that Martin isn't done.

When you say "dark fantasy," does that mean heavy in the fantasy elements or just not naive and elf-happy? Either variant would be good but the more gritty and edgy the more likely it's going to go over well. She isn't squeamish unless the book illustrates what it writes about (though excessive description of, say, maggots eating someone alive from the inside and burrowing out of their eyes, etc., might be a bit too much).

I'm curious as to the reasoning for the statement that your recommendations are better than everyone else's but I'm not asking for an explanation.