George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire Series *spoilers*

[Critical]

We've been talking in the Game of Thrones TV series thread about starting a discussion thread for the books. Well, here it is!

We're going to try to keep discussion of the books and the TV series as separate as possible.

I know that some FoRTers have read the first four books and some (like me) have only just started, so I'm not sure how we want to handle "spoilers." Technically, as soon as the book is published, we don't consider it a spoiler any more, but I'd like to be sensitive to posters who still want to discuss the books even if they haven't finished them all yet.

Maybe we can start every post with which book we've read through? That way, if someone hasn't read to that point, they can scroll past that post.

For instance, I would post Book 1 at the beginning of each post....for now. I'm looking forward to starting A Clash of Kings later this week. I have to read another book for my book club first. It's torture not to pick up book 2!

If anyone has other suggestions, please feel free! We can, of course, use spoiler tags if we want, but a whole thread with ALL spoiler tags might be a bit ridiculous!

[Kao]

That sounds like a really good idea, Critical. I've read all four books but I know a lot of people haven't (and wouldn't appreciate being spoiled).

[elk]

Book Four

Thanks for starting this thread, Crit. I have become such a fan of this series, that I am already planning my next fantasy reads. This has 'converted' me to a whole new genre!

My favorite book so far is A Storm of Swords, not to worry, though, I won't post any spoilers.

I love the characters in this series. Who are your favorites?

As of the end of book one, Tyrion, Robb, Bran, Dany, Ser Jorrah, Kal Drogo and Arya were mine. Some have been added and deleted since I started #4.

Also, can anyone recommend any other series that I can try?

[cantstopwatchin]

All Books (no spoilers)

Thanks for starting the thread, Critical. My IRL friends and family are only watching the show, though DH has started reading GoT but he reads at a snail's pace so I'm not counting him (yet), so I love that we'll be able to discuss the books here, since I think they have so much more meat to them.

I read the series for the first time in Sept/Oct and flew through the books, so now that Book 5 is getting set to be released, I'm rereading them to catch myself up and am glad I did. Now that I really know who the characters are, I'm catching things I originally missed. There's just SO MUCH in these books - I love it! They are part of the reason I'll never get a Kindle - I love holding 600+ page books too much.

Storm of Swords is my favorite book but it's hard to rate one over the others b/c they're all part of the whole. That said, I flew through SoS my last few days at Disney and the entire 6-hour ride home; I just couldn't put it down.

My favorite character is Arya but Jon, Tyrion, Bran, and Dany are close behind. When a chapter with one of them ends, I'm disappointed and read eagerly until they emerge again but that's the brilliance of GRRM - the story always continues even though you're reading a different point of view. Others have tried that but I've never found one who's succeeded like he has.

Elk, you asked about other fantasy series - I'd highly recommend Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Like Martin's Fire & Ice series, it's more geared towards adults than teens. I rave about those books as much as I do Martin's. Also, for fun fantasy reading, I'd recommend David Edding's Belgariad and Mallorean series. That was my favorite series as a teen and after rereading it last summer, I felt the same way.

[Kao]

Elk: I would recommend The Dresden File books by Jim Butcher. Great stories about a modern-day wizard who lives in Chicago.

[cantstopwatchin]

Book 5

If anyone's interested, GRRM has a blog he updates pretty frequently. A couple of weeks, he wrote about the upcoming Book 5, Dance with Dragons. I'll post the link so I don't have to put spoiler tags around it all but that particular blog gives an update on why it took so long to write the book, how the book became longer and longer, and a few details about the book, namely who's in it and who's not. I found it pretty interesting...

Only 5 weeks and 3 days until it comes out!!!

Not A Blog - Talking About the Dance

[Misty8723]

All of Them But no spoilers.

I'm about to go back and re-read them all, since its been a long time. I figure maybe by the time I finish re-reading book 5 will be out in paperback and I can save some money. This is absolutely the best fantasy series I've ever read, and I've read quite a few. I just wish that by the time finish book 5, the final book will be out so I can finish it. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.

[elk]

Book 4; halfway done

I am having a problem reading some of the povs in this book and I have actually had to skip through some chapters. Another site recommended "Tower of the Hand" where they have a plethora of info (they call themselves "An Encyclopedia of Ice and Fire").

Among all the fantastic goodies on that site, they also have all the chapters of all the books summarized. I've read the summaries of the Iron Island stuff (those chapters just put me to sleep), so I am up to snuff. You can click on the last book in the series you have finished so that you are not spoiled with anything from future books.

They have sections with geography/maps, history/timelines and more. I find myself often consulting the maps in the books just to figure out exactly where certain characters are in relation to each other. I found this cleared up any questions I had. There's also recaps of the HBO show.

I am not sure if I'm allowed to post the URL, but I'm sure you can Google it. If not, pm me and I'll give it to you.

It is helping to make my reading even more enjoyable!

[Kao]

End of book 1, book 2 spoiler

I've been hearing an interesting theory lately that Syrio is one of the "Faceless Men" and defeated the guards after he told Arya to run. Then then changed his face into the criminal Jaqen H'ghar and got captured by the Night Watch so he could continue to watch over Arya. When Miltos Yeramelou was asked whether or not Syrio would return in the future his reply was suspiciously ambiguous, and he hinted that we might see him again.

Hmm...

[Critical]

Book 3 - halfway- spoilers

After taking well over a week to read book 1, I read book 2 last weekend and started on book 3 Monday night. I'm about halfway through now. I'd probably be finished if I didn't have to deal with my actual life!

I don't have any friends who have read this far in the books and it's KILLING me to not spoil them! One friend is part-way through book 1, but she isn't up to where the show is, so I've kept my mouth shut. Although I'm not looking forward to the next two episodes of the show because of the characters that die, but I can't wait to see the dragons! I pictured that scene in my head when I read it, so I'm excited to see how it looks on the show.

Right now, in book 3, I'm starting to worry that NO ONE will survive! Or be happy! Still, I can't stop reading!