There's way too much discussion of the book series in the Game of Thrones TV show thread, so this thread is for discussion of the series of books.

A lot of people are reading the books now, so please note any spoilers, or at least which book you're talking about, especially once the new book comes out.

I'm about halfway through the fourth book and I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as the first three. I'm trudging through, though, and I'm still really looking forward to see what happens.

5/17/2011 4:41:59 PM

I've posted this in the other thread but I will post this here as well since I just think it makes sense:

http://towerofthehand.com/

That is a great little website for looking up/refreshing information on certain characters, relationships, histories etc. It also has some very well-written essays and discussions on parts of the books as well as speculation.

The entire site (barring user comments) is affected by which scope you select ranging from No Books Read through A Feast for Crows, meaning it automatically removes descriptions or changes about a character that are revealed in books later than what you have read. I highly recommend it over other sites that may have more detailed information at times but who don't handle spoilers as well.

5/17/2011 4:48:25 PM

I'm about to start book 3.

5/17/2011 4:52:17 PM

I'll say what I said in the thread about the show. That fat fuck will never finish the series. I'm going to get the next book since it's finally scheduled to come out. And I'm not going to remember anything because he takes forever to write them shits.

5/17/2011 5:26:01 PM

Quote :

"I'm about halfway through the fourth book and I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as the first three."

I felt the same way. He introduced some new characters and plot devices that I didn't care anything about, and I developed a fear that this series would turn into another Lost, ie continual development of other plot tangents and introduction of ridiculous deus ex machinas without any real effort to resolve the main storyline leading to either a rushed and garbage ending, or so many more books that it takes another ten years to finish.

5/17/2011 5:43:56 PM

^^Hope he doesn't go the way of Robert Jordan and die before he finishes everything.

5/17/2011 5:50:46 PM

Maybe he'll randomly kill the shit out of a lot of characters.

I dunno what I'm expecting out of the fifth book. I cringe when I think how many years it will be before he even talks about #6

5/17/2011 5:53:19 PM

I thought the fourth book was fine but definitely the weakest.

Probably because nothing important happens.

5/17/2011 6:00:18 PM

Yeah, I mean the writing was still very good. It just wasn't as good because it focused on a lot of characters and threadlines that play second fiddle to the parts of the story readers want to know about. I still enjoy it but obviously not as much as the first three. That being said, I'm not worried at all about ADWD being anything but good for those same reasons.

5/17/2011 6:17:16 PM

is ADWD going to release on paperback? lady at B&N the other day told me it'd be hardcover only for like a year. this is probably the first time i am ever going to purchase a fictional novel on its release day so i have no idea about these things

5/17/2011 11:49:19 PM

Seriously you've never bought a new book? Hardcovers come out first.

This is how publishing works. It's like the theatrical then DVD release for movies.

5/18/2011 12:31:10 AM

^^<$20 on Amazon for a pre-order.

5/18/2011 12:33:05 AM

Yeah but usually his hardcovers are actually giant paperbacks, right?

I don't recall seeing Feast in hardback at stores when it came out.

5/18/2011 8:41:56 AM

I have all of his shit in hardback except for Game of Thrones which I got from the library in middle school.

5/18/2011 11:35:03 AM

Kindle..all on the Kindle

5/18/2011 11:37:20 AM

1 set of hardcovers plus 1 set of paperbacks here. Got the hardcover on pre-order for ADWD.

5/18/2011 1:29:07 PM

^ just curious if you bought all of the books brand new and thats why you have a whole set of hardcovers? if not, why 2 sets?

5/18/2011 1:42:56 PM

Mainly besides reading and writing a lot, my wife and I also collect books. For example, the current hardcover copy of AGOT was a steal I found on ebay for the version (first edition. not first print but still nice) so I picked it up to replace my 2nd printing copy and sold that one to a used book store.

If we didn't do that I would probably get rid of many of my hardcover versions after I read them and just keep paperbacks around. Sometimes I buy a paperback copy of a book we already have in hardcover to take notes in when I re-read it (for writing purposes). Other times for books that we really love but only own hardcovers of, I buy used paperback copies when I see them so I can loan books out to friends. For example, our paperback copy of AGOT has been loaned out to countless friends/family members and been read in about 5 different countries so far

Or, for books that we read in paperback first and really loved, I will buy the hardcover to display in our book collection either in our reading room or on one of the other bookshelves throughout the house.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 2:27 PM. Reason : .]

5/18/2011 2:12:16 PM

I everytime I come to a Daenerys chapter.

5/18/2011 6:52:05 PM

I'm not a big fan of her either.

She's a massive hypocrite and I hope she never ends up ruling anything.

5/18/2011 7:01:02 PM

It'll be cool when Necro Drogo makes an appearance in the show. Probably will have red eyes and shoot lasers and shit.

5/18/2011 8:44:36 PM

Nevermind, this is the book thread.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 8:46 PM. Reason : nm]

5/18/2011 8:45:45 PM

^^No spoilers guy!

5/18/2011 9:25:40 PM

Just finished the third book.

I enjoy the Daenerys chapters. I've gone through phases though, one day all I'll want to do is read the next Bran chapter, the next day all I want are more Jon chapters, at first Daenerys bored me but I enjoyed her chapters in book 3.

Onward to book 4... when is the 5th supposed to come out?

5/19/2011 6:51:07 AM

July I believe.

Dany chapters bored me the first couple books but picked up in Book 3

Tyrion chapters are still my favorite

5/19/2011 7:25:32 AM

I never really liked the Dany chapters through all the books, and I'm finding the same on my second read through. I think it's more because she's so far removed from all the other factions that her story line isn't of any consequence.

At the same time it obviously will be. It sort of seems like she gets a pass in to the championship round, and everyone else it fighting just to be able to inevitably face Dany and her dragons in the end.

5/19/2011 9:27:42 AM

well one would think that eventually its her and the dragons teamed up with some factions in westeros to go up to the wall and whoop some ass

can't wait to see how the greyjoy and dorne plots to get involved with her turn out

and i'm shocked with how many people don't enjoy dany's chapters. I love them. Can't wait for Tyrion to show back up, I imagine he is one of the heads of the dragon. He's the dangerous one, like Genna Lannister said, Tyrion is truly Tywin's son, not Jaime

5/19/2011 10:02:06 AM

^ dany's later chapters all involve people and places we've never heard of and don't really have any background or context for, so it's hard to really care about them, at least for me it is.

[Edited on May 19, 2011 at 10:48 AM. Reason : .]

5/19/2011 10:48:17 AM

^ I mostly agree with your premise, but everyone sure as hell knows who white beard actually is.

5/19/2011 11:06:43 AM

started book three my fav chapter narrators by far are jon, tyrion, arya, dovros, in that order

5/19/2011 1:56:57 PM

Quote :

"Maybe he'll randomly kill the shit out of a lot of characters. "

he would never do that!

5/19/2011 2:25:59 PM

and to me its its starting to seem like there is more of a reason for jon to be rheagar and lyannas kid than anything else, jons supposed mom is only mentioned a couple times (im in the middle of book 3) and the she wolf and dragon prince are talked about in at least a couple chapters in each of the books

5/19/2011 9:57:30 PM

I mean I like some of her chapters, I just don't like Dany.

5/21/2011 1:59:23 AM

I guess it was just book 2 that Dany's story sucked. I like the story in 3 so far.

5/21/2011 12:37:49 PM

yea in book three al she does is trick the shit out of a bunch of rich bastards and kills a ton of ppl like a bad ass little queen, its the first time her dragons actually kills someone to i just cant wait for them to be full grown horse/cow eating size

5/21/2011 1:13:29 PM

The part in the show where Tyrion designs Bran's saddle (I'd forgotten about it after reading the book so long ago) struck me as evidence that Tyrion will be designing some dragon saddles???

Also I posted this in the other thread, but can anyone answer this question??? or even a theory??

I didn't notice this when I read the book, but what's Littlefinger up to? He has to know that the royal kids aren't Robert's. Seems like he's trying to get Ned to figure this out, knowing that Ned will take action and be called a traitor. The point of that is to get Ned out of the way so Littlefinger can have Cate. Right??

Also, why did he tell Cate that the dagger belonged to Tyrion? Was it just to get Cate away when the shit went down? Or does he have some reason to want Tyrion dead?

5/21/2011 9:48:25 PM

I can't give you definite answers to those questions, but I will say that often times I have thought of the entire series as a chess match between two people; Littlefinger being chaotic evil and Varys being chaotic good.

I do believe that everything Littlefinger does is for himself, and in turn I think Varys is being truthful when he says that everything he does is for the good of the realm. The problem for Varys at this point is that most likely the best thing for the realm has yet to show itself entirely. Varys has yet to make any personal gain, and Littlefinger has risen the most out of any figure in the entire series. Currently he is sitting pretty at the Eyrie after being declared the Lord of Harrenhal and the ruling figure of the Trident.

5/21/2011 11:19:24 PM

Yeah I can't wait to hear more about what Varys is motivated by. The way people refer to him and his wealth of information....I know there are plenty of tunnels and secrets in the Red Keep to overhear stuff, but he has to be using some other magical? means to get all his info. At least that's my thought.

5/22/2011 9:40:00 AM

just finished 3 and im excited to read 4

5/22/2011 8:10:13 PM

you may be a bit disappointed if your favorite characters are jon, tyrion, or dany

its still a good book, I love Jaime and Arya's parts especially, and Cersei's is rewarding to see how she degenerates (at least to me)

but he saved a lot of action for the book coming out in July, it feels like

5/22/2011 8:17:22 PM

since it seems like they will have a near limitless amount of obsidian how will the others be able to take over westeros

5/22/2011 8:55:18 PM

^^ Yup. And I was glad to read there would be at least SOME continuation of things that started in Feast for Crows.

It won't just be characters that didn't make it into 4. There will be some things carrying over.

5/22/2011 9:13:32 PM

yeah thank god, Arya's storyline is really interesting to me. glad to hear she is in the next book, too.

5/22/2011 10:30:51 PM

I just finished book 1. It just feels kind of...meh. And GRRM really seems like a dirty old pedophile who happens to have a decent writing style. He would have been better off writing epic romance novel shit.

5/23/2011 12:00:44 AM

Quote :

"since it seems like they will have a near limitless amount of obsidian how will the others be able to take over westeros"

what are you referring to? where's this obsidian come from?

5/23/2011 2:03:51 PM

Stannis said hes mining Obsidian from his volcano fortress or whatever (the name slips my mind) - and while he doesn't expect to hold his island hes going to mine the shit out of it before it gets taken from him. I think this was end of book 3.

[Edited on May 23, 2011 at 2:20 PM. Reason : blarg]

5/23/2011 2:20:20 PM

yeah on dragonstone or whatever that island thats right off of kings landing is called

5/23/2011 3:25:10 PM

Just finished A Feast For Crows last night. I really enjoyed the second half. I'm really glad I can comfortably read the wiki now, because the significance of the ending (Hey y'all I'm Pate!) and the prologue (totally didn't realize The Alchemist was supposed to be Jaqen--just too many people for me to recognize one based on a physical description that was mentioned once) were completely lost on me. I'm probably gonna be reading the wiki all day every day for the next six weeks until the new book comes out.

5/24/2011 9:11:53 AM

nice. Reading the various sites out there is pretty fun when you aren't worried about spoilers. Definitely some very cool stuff and little details I missed or certain items that were just fun to read more into after I finished.

[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 9:13 AM. Reason : .]

5/24/2011 9:13:28 AM

Just finished book 4. Best part was the epilogue where he says the next book will be out in 2006. And its 2011.

I can't imagine having to wait 5 years between the two, Feast for Crows left a lot to be desired.

5/24/2011 7:54:17 PM