Just Started A Song of Ice and Fire

[Forsaken Lover]

And who knows my read through might take as long as it will take Martin to write another book. These things are so long... And there's so much to learn.

I feel very...overwhelmed right now. I'm on the first book when they just foiled the assassin trying to kill Bran. Well, the first assassin, there might be more. I realize that's practically at the beginning of the book relatively speaking and then there are four more which is why I feel so overwhelmed Every step i make still feels like no step at all when I look ahead of me.

There has just been so many Terms and Locations and Names thrown at me. When you factor in all the characters, I have a very tenuous grasp of the setting. Will all these things be brought up again when they are relevant? Because right now it is just much context-less gibberish.

I still have no idea how all this political intrigue relates to the book's beginning of ZOMBIES.

I have been spoiled on a few things, in a broad sense. I figured Dany's brother for a villain but he apparently dies at some point. I kinda feel bad for the poor guy....

Also sweet little Dany and Arya are both going to become assholes or something.

Anyway, I started the books 'cause I have a few friends who like the show. But I'm a purist kinda guy so I figured, "I'll watch and enjoy the show later on but after I have some understanding of the source material."

[Forsaken Lover]

So does all the political intrigue and trout relate back to the prologue with the zombies because all the royals will be too busy plotting and trying to kill each other to effectively defend against the undead horde outside The Wall?

Not gonna lie, I'm rooting for the zombies considering most of the characters I've met.

[Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World]

Oog. I want to ruin everything for you.

[Ayen]

So does all the political intrigue and trout relate back to the prologue with the zombies because all the royals will be too busy plotting and trying to kill each other to effectively defend against the undead horde outside The Wall?

Pretty much.

I tried reading the books, but I eventually got bored by the time Tyrion accompanied Jon to the Wall. I prefer some of the character descriptions to that of the show, but prefer watching the show overall.

[Freya]

The book is great for the internal dialogue you don't get on the show but it is slow. The books though build up well so while you may have read 3 pages about food it builds up to OMG.

[yukina]

^My thoughts exactly.

The books are also great for making you feel conflicted about the characters. You get perspectives from the good guys, the not-so-good guys, and the downright horrible, I-wish-you-get-eaten-by-a-dragon guys. And sometimes it makes it hard to hate anyone when you know so well where they're coming from.

[fire_of_avalon]

Oog. I want to ruin everything for you.

Devil!

I am about to start book five and I'm glad you made this thread, because I've always wanted to talk about the books but everyone else has already read them.

Book 1 is great! Your assassin hunch is probably right, but Martin kind of diverts you for three books. Because of reasons.

[Agent Proto]

Take your time! However, I found that you may be able to complete the first book within a month if you read a chapter or two (or more) a day. I completed each of the books within a month, besides the fourth one. It took me over a year because I kept pushing it off for several months, that I had to force myself to read when it came to it. :P

[Forsaken Lover]

Take your time! However, I found that you may be able to complete the first book within a month if you read a chapter or two (or more) a day. I completed each of the books within a month, besides the fourth one. It took me over a year because I kept pushing it off for several months, that I had to force myself to read when it came to it. :P

I'm actually listening to an unabridged audiobook version because my eyesight sucks and this is the only practical way to read these huge things. I'm almost done with Book 1 - Dany had just saved some women from being raped and now she has some slaves and her and Drogo are supposed to be getting ships and stuff by selling some of slaves so they can sail back to Westeros or whatever it's called. The place where the main story happens.

Viserys' death was...unpleasant. i feel for the guy. Alas, Poor Villain indeed.

The Lannister uprising or whatever you want to call it was a rather dark point in the book. Well, I meant the immediate aftermath, with Ary arunning for her life and Sansa basically being held hostage and all that. Although I find Sasna completely unlikable. I hear she gets better later on.

That is a recurring theme in the fandom. Jaimie sucks? Sansa sucks? "They get better, I assure you!" people tell me.

Arya, Ned, Tyrion and Jon are probably my favorite characters. I am interested in what Littlefinger and Varys are truly up to however. Mostly, I really like the world and history and lore and am eager to learn more.

Also Syrio Forel was awesome. People say he isn't dead. I hope it's true. And Sir Barristan saying 'smurf you" to Joffrey and Cersei was great.


But a lot has happened since my last post. I've ben told the zombies won't be important until Book 3. lol

EDIT:

You know, i think some people are a bit too attracted to awful human beings. I've met more than a few people who insist Ned was a worthless idiot while extolling the virtues of Tywin Lannister. Tywin who did that horrific farce with Tyrion and his "wife." Tyrion's backstory made me sick and I hope he is the one who kills his piece of crap father.

[Freya]

The reason people tell you "they get better!" is because Martin does a great job of showing you the grey of life. It's not black and white and you'll get perspective chapters from those characters. So when you get a caricature of perception of a character it's usually because it's the opinion of whoever you are reading at that point. When you get one from their own perspective or someone closer to them, you get more character depth just as you would with a person. If all you know about someone is from afar then you only know their highlight reel. If you actually know someone and are closer to them you know all the actual ups and downs. GRRM does a good job of showing that.

[Forsaken Lover]

Ned Stark - the man Westeros deserved but maybe not the one it needed. In the end he gave up his honor for his family. He would have been content to be reviled for the rest of time just for his loved ones. A truer hero than any other yet seen in these books.

Talk about soul-crushing... It seems like Joffrey's Stupid Evil screwed up a lot of plans if Varys and Cersei's protests are any indication... And all of that right on top of the chapter of Arya describing how she's nearly raped and she's living on pigeons.... AND AFTER THAT, she's kidnapped. Jesus.

Oh and some stuff happened with Drogo and he's dying. Who cares. Dany is in the book but she's such an afterthought.

[Freya]

JUST YOU WAIT until the end of this book and she kinda sorta does stuff the next few but JUST YOU WAIT til the end of book one, you'll go "ooooooo"

[Ayen]

Joffrey is the reason King's Landing can't have nice things.

Ned Stark was indeed the best.

[Marky Tee]

See...i have a bit of a dilemma here

Just last night i finished my marathon and caught up to the end of season 4 of game of thrones....and it was unbelievably amazing

buuuuuut...april next year for season 5? what am I to do?
Do i just wait it out like a good little boy? too long

do i pick up song of ice and fire from where season 4 has left off? i'd imagine there has been several, if not many deviations from the books but i'd imagine it would still be readable

ah but i'm too much of a completionist
tried that with harry potter( gay, i know ) a couple of films in and just didnt fancy it

read the full thing from start to finish? that would be sooooo bloody long and tbh i really avoid reading fantasy like the plague after reading the full lord of the rings after watching the first movie and by god did i hate that book(s) (too much descriptive text for the likes of me, just not my thing)

just so as there's no confusion- i'm not saying i'm against reading at all, i spend most of my free time doing it and am reading sci fi with particular interest in time travel by the ton these days, though that genre could change at any moment

wow...where did all that come from lol

[Forsaken Lover]

Alas poor Yoren. I had feared for the worst for Arya at the end of the last book but the guy really wasn't bad at all. A little stern but he was sincerely doing his best to help her.

As for Arya being some evil psychopath like people are BS'ing about, her evil deeds include accidentally killing this one kid trying to sell her to thE Lannisters, defending her life against murderous knights, saving a little girl and risking her life to free three prisoners, two of which had tried to kill her. OH THE EVIL!

Things are getting really good though. Tyrion is certainly a more able Hand than poor Ned; a lot more able with the politics of the court. I'm not sure what this "big chain" project is for but other than that, he's pretty much the only one standing between the king and his mother's evil idiocy.

As for the supposed genius of Tywin, I wonder how many friends he made by burning and killing everyone for no reason. I'm sure he would make a splendid king. The most favored king in history because 99% of his subjects are dead. What was it Tyrion said about actually treating Smallfolk in King's Landing like human beings? Something about how he would rather there not be a flood of willing traitors when the city is inevitably besieged? I wonder how many people would gleefully betray Tywin Lannister after he's casually destroyed their lives.

Mistakenly helping evil doesn't make good people evil or evil people less villainous. But Tywin doesn't seem to be quite as clever as some people say. And that includes the people who said "oh, Tyrion didn't have it that bad. What's he got to complain about? Leave Tywin alone." The GOT fandom is a scary place.

Oh and that drunken knight Sansa saved is going to try and smuggle her to freedom. I don't see her fleeting to Winterfell going any more smoothly than Arya's but I hope for the best. Maybe she can at least get out of the castle.

Although Winterfell isn't the safest place anymore it seems, if I read Theon's father right... I think in that one chapter, the Greyjoys became almost as unlikable as the Lannisters. A remarkable feat.

EDIT:

Honestly? It never even crossed my mind that ships might not even be able to attacK Winterfell. I am really bad at IRL geography, let alone fantasy geography for a novel series I just started. It was just my best guess based on how much this guy seemed to hate the Starks.

King's Landing makes a lot more sense. i was spoiled on that but, really, my own fault for not seeing what was obvious.