A Song Of Ice And Fire

Come one, come all, to discuss A Song Of Ice And Fire by Mr. George RR Martin. Argue about favorite characters, post rampant speculation and insane theories, or just bitch about George's update schedule (or lack thereof).

I'm thinking of picking the series up, but the only installments I can come by is the second and third. Should I read them anyway?

Start with the first. You'll miss a lot of necessary context if you start with the second, not to mention spoiling yourself for some of the best scenes of the series.

^Definitely. The ending of the first book is just one Wham Chapter after another. You wouldn't want to spoil that.

Yeah, take your time and do it properly. Once you're finished, it's going to be a while before the next book comes out because GRRM seems to be bored with it but isn't interested in letting someone else take the franchise over. Yet.

Yeah, at this rate you'll have plenty of time to catch up with the rest of the series before any new books come out.

Or just read the first three.

So, R+L=J?

Called it two-thirds of the way through Thrones.

edited 17th Mar '10 3:40:18 PM by Taelor

I'm starting the third one and I only have two questions...

Why nothing nice can happen, like, ever? It seems like everytime something halfway decent happens to somebody I actually like is just to make it even more tragic when it all turns even worse.

And second question... then why I like these damn books so much? Am I masochist? A sadist? I don't even know...

Oh, it gets so much more tragic in teh third book. I'm sorry, Daltar.

Also, the tragedy is sorta teh point, I think.

I've started the fourth book, but not really.

Why nothing nice can happen, like, ever? It seems like everytime something halfway decent happens to somebody I actually like is just to make it even more tragic when it all turns even worse.

Deconstruction. A medieval Western Europe fantasy continent in the midst of a convoluted civil war is a pretty awful place, even for the aristocrat viewpoint characters.

And second question... then why I like these damn books so much? Am I masochist? A sadist? I don't even know...

Because they're well-written?

edited 17th Feb '10 6:36:28 PM by Neep

I guess so... they are well written. I like a lot of the characters and the plot is really interesting if more tragic than I would prefer.

Damm George R.R. Martin for making me yell "No! Please Not that!" every couple of chapters.

I'm about halfway through A Storm Of Swords and I can't put these freakin' books down! My only fear is that the TV series will outpace the books! Then what?

My biggest fear for this series is that GRRM will kick the bucket before he finishes it. I was upset enough when that happened to Robert Jordan, and I had already stopped reading Wheel of Time by then. I really can't think of anyone who could finish the series if Martin isn't going to.

How long has he been working on that last book now?

Feast was published in October of 2005, though he's been working on the book that would become both Feast and Dance since 2001.

I dropped ''A Clash Of Kings' halfway through, with no sign of picking it up again.

My wife is re-reading the A Song of Ice and Fire at my urging, and has just finished A Game of Thrones. I'm going to pick up a copy of A Clash of Kings for her soon. She'll like it because it's purple (and also because it's an awesome book :P)

There's so much awesome in this series; I don't have the time or inclination to go into all of here. I will say this though: The misery and tragedy in the series lends it it's verisimilitude.

There come times when people completely identify and choose something to identify themselves with. "This is my song." "This is my movie." "This is my video game."
This, The Game of Thrones, is my book.

I don't know what it is about it that I love. It's chock-full of things that I don't; angst, pain, tragedy, senseless cruelty...

But yet every part rings true, everything makes me want to read more.

...I'm gushing, aren't I?

edited 17th Mar '10 3:27:26 PM by krrackknut

Really, I prefered A Storm of Swords to A Game of Thrones

Out of the three I've read, I probably liked Game the least.

I'm taking my time with this series.

So, it appears that the role of Cat is being recast in the HBO series.

I'd be hard put to pick between A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings for my favourite. For A Feast for Crows, I like Cersei's POV chapters, but it's missing quite a few characters that you end up looking for. I'll probably say the same about the next, if it misses out on everything at King's Landing.

I'm almost done with Storm of Swords (it's my favorite of the series so far); I have about 130 pages left. I'm undecided as to whether I want to read A Feast for Crows now or wait until Dance of Dragons comes out and read those two books at the same time. I guess my question is: Is Feast for Crows really as horrible as everyone makes it out to be?

^ It isn't. It's not as good as the rest of the series, but then again, the rest of the series sets the bar pretty high. On the positive side, it succeeds in making Sansa vaguely sympathetic, which is a plus.

edited 23rd Apr '10 9:43:15 PM by Taelor