A Song of Ice and Fire

[mkornecki]

No offense to any fans but with all the talk of female characters in the casting discussion above, and the fact that this series apparently appeals to women, I am suspecting it is something I would not enjoy. My wife accuses me of being a sexist pig in my reading choices, and I do not deny the charge. Female-oriented, or even books with female lead characters, do not appeal to me at all.

Is this series more like Dune (if so I may try it) or more like True Blood (if so I will skip it)?

If you hate books just because there are female characters that have important parts, then that sounds pretty sexist.

If you dislike the the way that some female oriented books have devoloped, then that is more of a genre thing, and is understandable.

Oh, and by the way, even if you are sexist, you'll love the books.

 

[Amer]

I've read Game of Thrones and I'm halfway through A Clash of Kings. Unfortunately it's one of those things where it's taking me over a year to get through Clash of Kings. I keep getting distracted by other books and diversions.

When I read one of the ASOIAF books, I find them hard to put down. It's always one more chapter, etc. etc. But once it's down, I find it equally hard to pick back up. I think the problem is the structure of different characters of each chapter. I'll read a Jon chapter and be really into it and it will really pick up steam, and then suddenly we are on Sansa. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading all the character's chapters and seeing the different views, but once the book is down, I know I'm going to have to read through several chapters to get back to that point of the story so I don't feel any great need to pick it back up to see what happens next. It doesn't help that each book is so massive. I feel like I can read for hours and I've hardly made a dent.

 

[SeattleSparky]

Thank you sir!! If you haven't you should look for the following authors,

Bernard Cornwall
Conn Iggulden

Awesomeness!!!

 

[maxman]

Great thread. I've gotten some more authors to look up.
To the Library!!! giddyup!

 

[professorchaos]

+1. Huge fan of Ice and Fire, hopefully we'll see Dance at the end of this year. Also a huge Abercrombie fan. Currently reading his latest book The Heroes and it is awesome. Could be his best work to date.

Cracked The Heros last night. Only got 5 pages in but it seems like it will be a real treat.

 

[ink]

I'm about half way through and really liking it. There was a short story Abercrombie did in Swords and Dark Magic featuring some of the new characters in The Heroes that was also really good. Lot of good stories in that one.

 

[~Spyne~]

another fan here...i've never really been much for reading and about 9yrs ago grabbed Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks at a garage sale. WELL, I was hooked and have read the entire Shannara/Word-Void series several times over.
Girlfriend then bought me the first two books in ASOIAF and i became hooked on another great author. Have finished all the books released so far and have been eagerly waiting for DoD to come out. They style of writing and how the characters interact with each other was interesting - alot of cruelty, taboo topics and the thing that REALLY annoyed me was all the larger characters that kept being killed off. I'd start really getting into a character and liking them and then BAM, dead. I hated it, but also loved it.

Also very much looking forward to the HBO series.

 

[J_R_G]

I'm a pretty big fan here also.

I started reading A Game of Thrones in 1998, while I was stationed in San Antonio, TX. One of my troops used to take "smoke breaks" and go outside to read his book. While I was out there smoking, I'd see him with it all the time!! Finally, I asked him about it and he very excitedly told me about the direwolves and the part in the book where thieves are going to ambush Bran. I can only imagine what the bad guys thought when the saw Summer!!

Since then, I've read all of the books religiously. I've got all of the books in Trade Paperback and the first edition Hardcopies. I got lucky with GoT 1st edition hardcopy and paid $6 for it!! I think it's worth considerably more now. They typically hit the UK before they do the US so I will end up getting two different versions of it.

For you fans, check out Valyrian Steel. They are making replica swords from the book. Longclaw, Needle, and Demascus Longclaw are now available and Ice is in production. I love this series!!

 

[wilsonent]

I read the first 3 books, and when I read the reviews for the 4th book, I kinda lost interest. It seems to move a little slowly for my tastes.


Jeff

 

[Edcculus]

Sorry to bring a thread back from the grave. I saw the thread back in February and made a mental note to read the series. I kind of forgot about it, and started reading the Wheel of Time series.

I got 3 books in when the company I work for started working on the DVD cases for the HBO series Game of Thrones. I purchased A Game of Thrones on my Nook and haven't been able to put it down! I'm about 50 pages from the end, and plan on going straight into A Clash of Kings. I don't have HBO, so I'm pretty excited to get Game of Thrones when it comes out on DVD too.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[blary54]

Saw the HBO series really liked it....Anyone know If I was going to read the books would you recommend I skip the first one and start on the second or start from scratch?

 

[professorchaos]

Saw the HBO series really liked it....Anyone know If I was going to read the books would you recommend I skip the first one and start on the second or start from scratch?

Start from scratch. The HBO series did a very good job. There is so much more to the books than was presented there.

 

[blary54]

Got it thanks. I think im gonna get it from the library this weekend.

 

[np1986]

Saw the HBO series really liked it....Anyone know If I was going to read the books would you recommend I skip the first one and start on the second or start from scratch?

I started reading the books after I saw the HBO show - I would definitely recommend starting from the first book.

I sort of wish I had read the books before watching the HBO series.

 

[Edcculus]

I haven't seen any of the show, but just like any film adaptation of a book, you can't just watch the TV show or movie and say you might as well not read the book. One notable thing I think you would miss out on by just watching the TV series are the inner thoughts of the characters, especially ones like Tyrion.

As an aside, does the first season of Game of Thrones just follow the first book? I don't think it comes out on disc until December probably, but I'd hate it to ruin anything that I haven't read yet. I should be well into A Storm of Swords though, and maybe even through A Feast For Crows.

 

[raisindot]

I saw the show and am now reading the books. I haven't gotten to the first book yet (I had to order request them through the library and they came in out of order; still waiting for the first), but, based on where the second books begins I'd say the TV show basically covers the first book alone.

Without giving away too much, from where the books go from there I have no idea how they're going to be able to cover everything that happens in the following books. In terms of complexity, this thing makes Tolkien seem like Danielle Steele.

 

[dreadwing]

I'm on the second book so far, about halfway in and hooked.

 

[Inverness11]

So, being inspired by this thread, I went to the local Half Price Books to find A Game of Thrones. They didn't have it, but they did have the first book in the Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World. I am by no means a big fantasy reader, and the cover of The Eye of the World looked waaaay too nerdy for me. However, desperately wanting to re-live the joy I got from the Dark Tower series, I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did, I'm hooked so far! Stupid B&B getting me addicted to stuff all the time...

 

[professorchaos]

Hope you enjoy Robert Jordan. I found his characters endlessly irritating.

 

[Sullybob]

Hope you enjoy Robert Jordan. I found his characters endlessly irritating.

Same here. It also seemed like they didn't evolve at all. By around book 5 or 6 I lost interest in the series.