A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin

[PhreakySTS9]

So, anybody else here HUGE frickin' fans of George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga and/or the show based off it, Game of Thrones? I had somehow never heard of the books until a few episodes into the first season of the show my dad discovers it and is instantly hooked. He showed it to me and I really liked it a lot. Well by the time I had watched the 4th episode, when Tyrion is "arrested" by all of Lady Stark's father's bannermen in the Riverlands I was HOOKED! So I found out the show was based on books. Since then, I have read each book over and over again, to the point that I honestly have no idea how many times i've read them. I have absolutely fallen in love with the characters (which for you fans you would know is a TERRIBLE idea since George is NOT shy about killing off your favorite characters, even those you thought where the main character!). If I had to guess i'd say i've read each one maybe 7 or 8 times, and I still catch new things every time. I love hanging out at the ASoIaF forums and trying to figure things out with everybody, trying to figure out what's going on. What's going to happen to Stannis? What about the Boltons?(I really hope it ends with Roose and Ramsay being flayed, it would be especially cool if Theon was the one to flay Ramsay, talk about an eye for an eye, eh?

As you can tell by what I just wrote, these books (and the show to a lesser degree) are NOT for the faint hearted! They are very, very dark, but amazingly well written. I can't wait for season 3 to start back up (which if you don't know is the first half of A Storm of Swords, which I assume will end with or closely after the RW). So I know I can't be the only fan here because these books/show are gaining in popularity like crazy now with the show out!

What do you guys think? Think there will ever be a Stark in Winterfell again? Think a Targaryen will ever sit on the Iron Throne again?(Be it Aegon or Daenerys) Will Stannis win the Iron Throne, or will he stay up at the Wall, fighting against the true enemy? Will the wall collapse, sending the Others/white walkers/wights into Westeros? (No GRRM didn't steal the name "the Others" from Lost, he wrote it long before the show ever existed!) Talk to me people! Who else loves Westeros?!? What about little Arya becoming a Faceless Man of Braavos? My favorite characters are Arya, Tyrion and Dany(yes, Dany, I don't get all the haters? She's Aegon the Conqueror reborn!!)

 

[WickedSick]

Well I sure hope there will be a Stark in Winterfell and that all the Boltons will be flayed . As for the rest of the big questions we'll have to wait and see. One thing is for sure I would really like to see conclusion in some of the plot lines in the next book and not simply newer and newer characters. I mean we already have our favorites why bring more latecomers to the fun, when we won't feel as attached to them like say : John Snow for example

 

[Caridwen]

Since most of my favs are dead, I have to say Arya, Tyrion and Dany are my favorites too.

Anyone know when the last book will come out?

 

[PhreakySTS9]

Well GRRM stated that he will have the last 2 books finished before the show catches up to the books, so it shouldn't be a crazy 5-6 year wait like the last book! If you guys hit up google you can find a couple different sample chapters from the next book. Theon's is easy to find I believe it's on George's website, and there's a Tyrion sample chapter you can at least read about but i'm not sure if anybody scribed it out because I believe it was read aloud by George in front of a crowd(having a hard time remembering the details on this one). There may even be more, not 100% as I believe these chapters were actually leftovers that didn't fit in A Dance With Dragons that got pushed back to The Winds of Winter.

Here is the Theon chapter if you guys care to read it. Obviously, spoiler alert! http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-sample.html

 

[WickedSick]

I hadn't realised there were pre-released chapters ! It really never occured to me that he may release some spoliers. Thank you Phreaky

 

[Off Topic]

I made it half way through the first book. I saw it turning into a soap opera.

If you want medieval fantasy with a rich and complex storyline, I reccomend Robin Hobb:

Assassin's Apprentice
Royal Assassin
Assassin's Quest

Ship of Magic
Mad Ship
Ships of Destiny

Fool's Errand
Golden Fool
Fool's Fate

It is a trilogy of trilogies. By far the best fantasy I've read since I read JRRT 35 years ago.

 

[PhreakySTS9]

Ummm, maybe you should actually read them before making a judgement. Soap opera? Not sure about that. The first book, while not terribly exciting as the others does an excellent job for setting up the story. George RR Martin has created an incredibly detailed world with great characters. The plot is excellent and has been VERY well planned. (He has binders and binders filled with details to keep from making a mistake in the books or forgetting things, hard to explain without reading). Thank you for the recommendations, but this thread is about ASoIaF, and it's kind of rude to do that.

I wouldn't go into a "Robin Hobb" thread and say "Yeah well, your favorite series sucks, but what you should be reading is A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM! So much better! I haven't actually read more than a few chapters of it but it seems pretty weak to me". Not trying to be a jerk, just saying, it's a bit uncalled for. Why don't you actually try getting past the first book into the good stuff before you pass judgement. Sure there's plenty of politics involved but there's A LOT more than that. Why not give it an honest shot?

 

[Off Topic]

Pardon me. I got halfway through the second book. My wife is reading the whole thing and let's me know when another character dies. Most of the ones I like are dead now.

I do have to say that I like the dwarf. He's quite the alpha assclown.

 

[Ray D]

I don't get the "soap opera" comment, but to each their own. Just like anything else in life, individual tastes vary.

I'm a huge fan of ASOIF. I've read each book 4 times, and will probably do a 5th read through sometime this winter. Each time I read them, I'll pick up on something subtle I didn't notice, or never considered. I enjoy the series quite a bit. We'll watch the same movie multiple times, why not books?

But before I do that, I'm long overdue for a reread of LOTR. I haven't read it in a very looong time. Frankly, I didn't appreciate it very much back then. I found a lot of the prose tedious. Great story overall, but Tolkien writes like he's getting paid by the word. But now that I'm older, perhaps I'll appreciate it much more than I did as a teenager.

Back on topic, my only complaint about ASOIF is the glacial pace with which the books come out. I'm hoping that the show forces him to write a bit faster, but that doesn't appear to be happening so far. LOL The show is great too, I love it. But I never thought I'd be a purist. I cringe when they change a storyline, or even a minor detail. "It didn't happen like that!" or "That's not consistent with that character." or "What? Why kill these people off? They're still alive in the books!" Of course, I know why they alter things. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

[PhreakySTS9]

You know I was the same way at first, but the more episodes came out the more I grew to actually enjoy the changes. If the show were a detail for detail copy of the books it would be boring and we would always know what was going to happen. I like being surprised and it's almost like having a whole new Westeros based story line. I've read each book and all of the Dunk and Egg novellas many times each so it's nice to have fresh material. We're getting close to season 3! Like two months!

 

[Ray D]

I don't mind the added scenes. They provide some context and flesh out (no pun intended) minor characters or events. I don't even mind their combining a couple characters into one new character, or creating a completely new character (Ros. She has grown on me).

And I know they have to truncate certain story lines and all. But I still cringe at some changes they make that seem pointless. Talisa Maegyr? Really? WHY? (Oona Chaplin is a delight. Nothing against the actress)

The whole story in Qarth. Granted, it wouldn't really make for riveting TV if done like the book. But I still wasn't pleased with many of the changes. Xaro was ok (or I just liked the actor). Pree was suitably creepy. But did they have to kill Irri?! She's still around at the end of A Dance with Dragons! The whole dragon heist thing was either ill conceived or not executed well. And then the one awesome part of the whole Qarth journey: The House of the Undying... they completely muck up! Sure, it was nice to see Drogo one brief last time, and some of the imagery was cool. But where were the visions? Many of them quite important IMHO.

I'm not sure I like that they implicated Stannis in the whole shadow assassin thing outright. He had foreknowledge and went along with it. Frankly, by the books, I'm still not convinced Stannis ever knew what Melisandre had planned. Oh, he knew Renly was going down. But murder? Not buying it. Rigid as he may be, and as steadfast in his own claims as he is, Stannis still has too much honor to agree to that.

But the whole second season was too rushed. I guess they did the best they could with the time they had. With ASOS being chopped into 2 seasons, maybe we can be more faithful to the books now.

 

[echofinder]

Man this is rough... how to talk about ASOIAF without including spoilers...

Did Stannis know what was going on in the show? I know he banged Mel and she was obviously somehow going to take care of Renly, but I do not remember her telling Stannis exactly what was up.

Yeah, those visions kind of influence everything Dany does, like very overtly. Not sure how they will deal with all that. Will say though, show Viserys was 10x cooler than book Viserys.

Can't wait to see Doran & Quentyn; everyone loves Oberyn and he's cool but I liked these two more.

 

[Ray D]

Can't wait to see Doran & Quentyn; everyone loves Oberyn and he's cool but I liked these two more.

I'm a Sand Snakes kind of guy.

Got a bad feeling they'll end up combining all of them into 1.

 

[PhreakySTS9]

I'm pretty sure we won't be seeing Prince Oberyn's party until season 4, because he doesn't come until halfway through A Storm of Swords. If you guys haven't seen this check it out. It's random pictures of the new cast members, including The Queen of Thorns, the Reeds, the Blackfish, Thoros, Lord Beric, etc.

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