What order are the 'a song of fire and ice books' in, and are they worth it?

I am a huge harry potter fan and I also like lord of the rings and the his dark materials trilogy. I'm planning on ordering the game of thrones books cheaply off amazon, but I don't know how many there are or what order they're in. Can someone tell me this, and also tell me what other books that typical fans of this series are into.What order are the 'a song of fire and ice books' in, and are they worth it?
A Song of Ice and Fire series:



A Game of Thrones (1996)

A Clash of Kings (1998)

A Storm of Swords (2000)

Part 1 Steel and Snow (UK edition only; US edition published as a single volume)

Part 2 Blood and Gold (UK edition only; US edition published as a single volume)

A Feast for Crows (2005)

A Dance with Dragons (2011)

The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)

A Dream of Spring (forthcoming)



Pretty good books though more into the politics and characters than your normal fantasy fare.



I would recommend Raymond E Fiest- "Magician" the 1st book in the Riftwar saga.

And Robert Jordan "The Eye of The World" 1st book of the Wheel of Time series.