A Song Of Ice And Fire Series

[LIDL 692]

A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels by American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the series in 1991 and the first volume was published in 1996. Originally planned as a trilogy, the series now consists of five published volumes (the fifth was published on July 12, 2011) and a further two planned. In addition there are three prequel novellas available, with several more planned, and a series of novellas comprising excerpts from the main novels. One of these excerpt novellas has won a Hugo Award. The series has been translated into more than 20 languages and the fourth volume reached the top of The New York Times bestseller lists upon its release. Overall, the series has more than 6 million copies in print in the USA and sold more than 15 million worldwide.

The story of A Song of Ice and Fire takes place in a fictional world, primarily upon a continent called Westeros but also on a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. Most of the characters are human but as the series progresses other races are introduced, such as the cold and menacing Others from the far North and fire-breathing dragons from the East, both races thought to be extinct by the people of the story. There are three principal storylines in the series: the chronicling of a dynastic civil war for control of Westeros among several competing families; the rising threat of the Others, who dwell beyond an immense wall of ice that forms Westeros' northern border; and the ambition of Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled daughter of a king who was murdered in another civil war 15 years before, to return to Westeros and claim her rightful throne. As the series progresses, all three storylines become increasingly interwoven and dependent on each other.

The series is told in the third-person through the eyes of a number of point of view characters. By the end of the fourth volume, there have been 17 such characters with multiple chapters and eight who only have one chapter apiece.

The growing popularity of the series led to it being optioned by HBO for development of a television adaptation, named Game of Thrones after the first novel. A pilot episode was produced in 2009 and a series commitment for nine further episodes was made in March 2010. The series premiered on April 17, 2011, and two days later, the network picked the show up for a second season.

So here it is. This deserves it's own topic.

Any fantasy book lover/reader should try to check this series out if haven't

I just finished the first book myself.

To be honest i was started it with the TV series first, and then start to read the books.

Got a huge bargain from Barnes and Noble for the box set when i bought it.

So yah i personally feel that the fact that it sells cheaply when i tried to find one is like serendipity.

The story is good, well, some parts may be not suitable for reader under 18 years old.

Cos it is quite vulgar/sexual. But as a whole it is great.

Very solid and intense.

I am in a pickle though,

if i should read the second book before the TV series sequel starts in 2012 or not.

It just, although HBO have been quite decent with visualizing the first book.

As ever, there is some parts that just seems better when visualized by our own imagination.

And i suppose we can join the Book and TV altogether here?

But beware of spoiler though, non book readers.

Any fan here? Maybe anyone rooting for any houses?

Though it seems unlikely there is this classic villains x heroes pattern in the book.

discuss.

[Zeus 7997]

Read the book. The show was good but the book was better.

[LIDL 692]

after reading the book, i thought so too.

And it seems not enough people know about this yet?!!

Come peeps, try to read some. You won't regret it.

[Neon 6]

Book is absolutely better but I liked show to

[Vurtox 3]

All the books are good except I'm finding a Feast for Crows really hard to read (not as in challenging but as in hard to get into.)

The television show was great too! I'm glad they took the TV road instead of making it into a film series and condensing the material even more.

[Zeus 7997]

This is just my musings about how the series will end (on Book 2 so IDK if anything later on invalidates this):

The reason why I get on people that refer to this as A Game Of Thrones is because of my prediction about how it will end. The series is called "A Song of Ice and Fire" because I believe Martin is referring to two characters in particular: Daenerys and Jon. Jon represents Ice because he is of the North and the Night's Watch, Daenerys represents Fire because she has the dragons. I believe those two are the most important in the series and will bring peace to Westeros.

I also believe that Ned's secret that he told no one except Howland Reed was that Jon isn't Ned's bastard: I think Jon is the child of Lyanna and Rhaegar. Everyone knows that Robert always loved Lyanna and mourned her death the most because she was the "one that got away" and he always believed that Rhaegar had raped her. Well, I think Lyanna refused him because she loved Rhaegar but couldn't bear to tell Robert that. They then did the nasty and had a kid, which Robert kind of heard of but didn't say. He figured she got raped and then killed Rhaegar. I think Lyanna died in childbirth and told Ned to promise to protect Jon from harm from Robert's jealous rage (since he now hates all Targaryen's, having your best friend with the son of a Targaryen isn't the best thing in the world) so Ned decided to act on his honor and claim it as his bastard.

Shoot me I'm bored.

[55-69 0]

commenting on the above, but spoiler ;D

I totally go with the first theory... would make sense, but the second seems just a bit to far away for me... although I have to admit, it came to my mind, too, that Jon might not be his son xD

but everybody who might know, is dead.... except Vaserys... he should know °_°