A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Just started this and so far its pretty good. I'm less than a 50 pages in and already there are lots of people to keep track of. That might be a bad thing or good thing depending on your view. The characters all seem human and down to earth ( well not the ice dead people) and not like the heroes you would find in a D&D or even lord of the rings book. They might be to human for some. We have one guy selling his sister off, another guy trying to past off his duty so he can screw the ladies and grow more fat.

The first book is called A game of Thrones. By the way the book is going and the title I'm guessing a new king will be sitting on throne or there will be a major fight to see who will be king. All this with a some kind of monster winter coming which I guess is the Ice part of the title. The way they talk I think these winters last for years and might bring monsters with them, just a guess. The only monsters so far were ice dead pepole( they could be something else) and Dire wolves which are not really monsters in this book. I think thyey talked about the last of the dragons being killed but that could have been a group of people that use the dragon as their banner.

Something might turn people off is that many of the people are young in this book. The girl being sold off is 13. I thinking the age for marriage in this book is 16. The way the characters act really bring out their age. I don't know for sure but I'm betting their is going to be rape scene in this book. Her brother said something that I thought was a little hard and bit of foreshadow for what will happen to girl.

Welcome to the board! :)

See:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=131099

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=277725

Love the books, but it is taking Marting a loooong time to finish number 4. And now that he's so depressed (ha ha), who knows when he will finish?

Baron

Beware spoilers in the other threads. FYI.

I enjoyed the Martin books once I finally got around to reading them (the first one sat on my bookshelf for months).

Yes there are quite a few characters to keep track of - I got a few mixed up for a while.

Alvis, Martin is depressed now? Aaaargh!

I want my "Feast for Crows"!!!

Baron, enjoy those great books, I wish I could erase my memory to experience them anew -smile-

I just started on the second one. Pretty cool so far. Definitely agree that it is HARD to keep track of who is who. But I'm doing better in this one.

X

Great series, I love it and am just hoping that it does not turn into another Jordan rambling on series. Phew does he ever hate his characters. :)

I remember reading somewhere that he had it planned for a 6 book series.

Don't worry. It should stop at 6. I quit Jordan after the 8th book; how many times can you describe braid tugging and endless descriptions about clothes people are wearing...

But the way Martin is writing so far, I would not mind if he stretched it a bit. The man actually focuses on character developement and story -smile-

In my ideal world, Martin would finish his A Song of Ice and Fire series in 6 books and start a new series (prequels) that follow the previous generation: Eddard Stark, Robert Baratheon, etc.. in the events that led up to the civil war.

I really like the fact that despite it being history, Martin has been pretty vague and has (propably) purposefully left us in the dark about what really happened back then.

anyone know of a website that gives a quick overview of what happens in each book. I have read the first 2 but it has been so long I forgot most of what has happened and need a refresher before reading anymore. thanks

Here's a site with chapter summaries, and the books are out on audio now too. I think I'm going to listen to them on my ipod so I will be ready when FofC eventually comes out.


http://hometown.aol.com/vbkorik27/main.html

Need to know something really strange that happens between Ned and Littlefinger

You probably already know this but his 2 novellas Hedge Knight, and the Sworn Sword, Take place like a 100yrs Prior to ASOFI. But the involve different characters. Hedge Knight was excellent, while Sworn Sword was ok, but not really on par with his other books.

I worked it out, nevermind.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

I've never done this before with a series that I have loved as much as this one, but I think I've given up on this one. A Feast For Crows came out in October 2005 and as far as I know there is not a prospective date for A Dance With Dragons. When it does come out, I know that I will not be rushing out to get it on the day of release. I'll wait until the hardback goes on clearance after a year or so. I wonder how many other people will do this?

I know he wants to write the best book he can, but damn, maybe he has just a few too many irons in the fire? He's not exactly young.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

My enthusiasm for the series has declined a bit from the wait as well, but that being said, if the HBO series goes to series I will likely go fanboy again pretty quick.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Same here. It is my favorite series of books ever but I have soured on Martin and the way he has handled things. What has me even more annoyed than the endlessly long wait is that the next book Martin has a co-writer on, so on top of the long wait, it isn't even going to be all him writing it. And its not like the guy isn't working, he works on other books, and hits up conventions all the time. I wish he would just focus on the series that gave him his success.

Everything about the TV series though sounds like it will be the greatest show in the history of life, so I'm already going all fanboy over it.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

I'm out as well (and never even bothered with Feast for Crows). When it's done, I'll re-read the whole thing from the start (like I did with King's Dark Tower, after feeling like a sucker waiting 6 years on a cliff-hanger after the 3rd book). Until then, I've got no shortage of other things to read. I still think that if the tv series is successful, the scriptwriters will be forced to come up with an ending before GRRM gets around to it. Unless GRRM has the creative control to force the series to grind to a halt when it catches up with the books.

Though this really makes me appreciate fantasy writers like Robin Hobb, Tad Williams, and Stephen Erikson more - they seem to work out the whole series ahead of time, letting them get subsequent books in a series out once a year or so.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Read Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy NOW!!!! I can't recommend it enough if you like Martin & all 3 books were written & published in less than 3 years.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Ditto what everybody else has said. Martin is a great writer. But he treats his fans like shit. He's procrastinating himself right out of a loyal fan base.

"The dog ate my homework" only works so many times.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

I have heard good things about this one..im not a huge fantasy fan but like Martins because it kept the typical fantasy elements to a minimum..are these in the same vein?
bad thing is none of them are available for kindle

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Martin's books are way, way more fantasy than The First Law series. It's more like Conan type sword-fighting mixed with politics. Actually, Conan meets Deadwood is a pretty good description. Also written with a very "noir" style and sense of humor. Just buy the first book on Amazon, its not that expensive.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

its not the price..i just dont like reading regularr books as much as kindle

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Yeah, I'm quickly becoming that way. But I still like to have my favorites in book format so people can borrow them.

re: A song of ice and fire [potential spoilers if watching tv show or partway thru books]
 

Neil Gaiman: "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch."

In some ways, I can sort of understand Gaiman's point of view.

But as a reader, it is frustrating when authors spread their stories across multiple volumes and then take forever to finish them. It's been some fifteen years since Clive Barker put out "Everville" (the second book of his "Art" trilogy) and there's no sign that he's ever going to finish it.

I'm not normally a fantasy reader, but the enthusiasm for Martin's Ice and Fire series intrigues me enough to make me want to read these books. But I won't be reading (or buying) any of these books until the final one comes out. I have books that I read ten years ago in my house that I have no idea what they were about. I remember virtually nothing about the aforementioned "Everville," and will probably have to re-read "The Great and Secret Show" and "Everville" before I tackle the third and final one -- should Barker ever actually write it.