What was your "hook" into the series?

[SevasTra82]

I wasn't sure if I should post this in this forum, or in the GOT Reread sub-form, so feel free to move it needed.

So I got to wondering, what was it about the first book A GAME OF THRONES that got you hooked into ASOIAF?  I'm specifically talking about the 1st book.

I know we all started this series in different fashions (some started with the show, some started after a lot of the books where already out, etc), but I'm curious what it was specifically about Book 1 that made you continue reading, and/or what you thought "worked".  And on the flip side, what about Book 1 did you not like and/or turned you off?

I'm doing a study on how ASOIAF got to where it is today and how it became the beast it is.  It would be nice to hear some opinions from people who read the book back in 1996 (when it first debuted, and before all the HBO hype).
 

To answer my own question, what I enjoyed the most and that hooked me was the subtle world building throughout, and it all sparked my curiosity to know more.  I think human beings are naturally curious and want answers to questions, and IMO, GRRM did a fantastic job of this in the first book, and it made me want to keep reading to get answers.

As for what didn't work for me, the one thing that comes to my mind was the Dany/Drogo scenes.  I wasn't too keen on reading about a grown man putting his hands between a 12 year olds thighs.  In hindsight, I understand why he wrote it, but even so, the line between sex and children was blurred a little bit.  

How about you guys?

[zandru]

It was the years and years of hearing George RR read chapters from the series at the annual convention that made me decide it was time to read the whole thing myself. Plus, the great used book store down the street. And then - Costco!

[Sullen]

Started reading the books because a friend of mine suggested them to me, the first one didn't really hook me in, though I really enjoyed Cat's chapters.

The second book is really what did it for me, specifically Theon's chapters.

[Neolaina]

I have to pair a few moments together.

1) Greatjon's moment with Ghost, in the halls of Winterfell, when Robb's gathering his banners. I was already endeared to the Starks, but it was at that point where I wanted to see just what the Greatjon was capable of doing, because, god damn.

2) The last chapter, where they all declare for Robb. Sent shivers down my spine, because of what was looming.

3) Arya's escape from Trant, and her witnessing Ned's death.

These four parts, in unison, caused me to get hooked. The full effect of the former were solidified upon people yelling "KING IN THE NORTH."

[Ferocious Veldt Roarer]

Can't tell, what it was, exactly. The characters. The world. The story. Dunno. I just one day started reading... and couldn't stop until the last page. (And in spite of the quite dreadful translation...)

[Bluesnow]

For good or bad I think the moment where Bran got pushed out a window. 
I felt if the book was going as far attempted child murder in the first 100 pages then I was in for one heck of a ride. 
I think Ned getting his head off is what pushed me to read the rest of the series though. 
At the time I didn't realize there was more than one book and I was freaking out when I got to that part. 

When I finished the first book at had the next 3 rushed delivered or I might have died.... true story o.o

[Maester of Valyria]

The maps at the start of the books: good, detailed maps are a sign of good worldbuilding, and I love a complex and well thought-out world in my books. I have spent hours pouring over those drawings!

[RoamingRonin]

Dragons. I needed to read about Dany riding a dragon.

[FrostyDornishman]

29 minutes ago, Maester of Valyria said:

The maps at the start of the books: good, detailed maps are a sign of good worldbuilding, and I love a complex and well thought-out world in my books. I have spent hours pouring over those drawings!

LOVE the book maps.  I'm always a sucker for maps included in a fantasy series, but the ones for ASoIaF were given such an incredible level of detail that I knew I had found something really well-made.  Same with the explanations of the various great houses at the backs of the books.

As for plot...somewhere between the direwolves and dragon eggs I was hooked.  The last two chapters really sealed the deal though.

[Fencer]

For me it wasn't one event in itself, but Martin's style of world building.  In specific, I really enjoy the harsh dose of reality that he puts into his stories.  I am, largely, sick of what I would call "enlightened" fantasy worlds--the ones where everyone is literate, with equal rights for all, and at worst ruled by benevolent monarchs, at best ruled by democracies.  I find those stories to be quite unrealistic and normally quite boring.  Martin, in contrast, offered a world where bad things happened to good people, good things happened to bad people, actions have consequences, and right and wrong decisions are often hard to quantify or qualify.  In other words, storytelling with tension.

[Nevets]

I read the first one around 1998, and liked the characters so much I was desperate to find out what happened.  And had to wait, because ACOK wasn't out yet!

The first scene I can really remember being affected by was Lady's death.  I think it was the kids' anguish and the unfairness of it all that did it for me.  Ned's execution was what told me that this wasn't going to be an ordinary fantasy series, though.

[Walda]

My in was the TV series was a freebie deal at my local video rental store. I asked the guy at the counter what was good, and when it turned out I had seen all the films he suggested (all very good suggestions- I approved his taste) he mumbled "Well, you could try Game of Thrones, people like those", so I got the first three episodes of the first series. Went through them like crack. Never looked back.

For the books: I'd watched up to the end of the third series (at that time, the latest available on DVD. Also, my local video rental store went out of business, because nobody rents videos anymore. Luckily that was about a month later, when I had watched all the Thrones they had). While frantically searching the interwebs for season four, I found the 5 book Kindle version on sale for less than ten dollars. If it had been double digits, I might not have bit.

I've been a huge fan of Tolkien, since before I could read. In 2011, I heard a couple of workmates talking about the first Danerys scene, and asked them what they were talking about, because apart from the tits and the incest, it sounded like the sort of thing I liked [ETA:Totally agree with the OP about the paedophile porn, btw. If I hadn't seen the series, with the older actors, first, it might just have been enough to make me stop reading. Maybe.]. They said it was a series that wasn't finished, on the insanely expensive TV, so I made a mental note that I would watch it sometime in the 20's, when, if it was any good, it would be on free to air, if free to air still existed.

No way would I watch it before then, because I haven't really recovered from the first Lord of the Rings movie (the animated one, that claimed at the time that it was going to be continued), and also because I won't pay to watch ads.

Later, a couple of people I respect hugely (because they are genius in real life) had squinted at something noisome in the middle distance when I asked them if they had seen Game of Thrones, and said nothing. Well, one moaned softly and muttered something  - I could only catch 'for yourself', as he walked off.

Later I learnt that both of them had read the books starting in the late '90's, and one had specifically recommended Game of Thrones to me at the time. So glad I ignored him then. However, at the time, I did not realise they were commending the books very strongly, and the TV series less strongly, and had no wish to spoil anything for me. Or hear me speak of either until I had read all the books, and maybe learnt what it is to wait.

No way would I have started watching an unfinished TV show based on an unfinished book, but by the time the first episode was proffered to me, for free, I could see that the trilogy was complete, laid out on the shelf for me to rent any time I liked, and keep for a week. Life was so simple then.

Apart from the low cost of buying in, the hook for me was the same in both: the Prologue. If I had to pinpoint the exact moment, it would be “Do the dead frighten you?”, There is a fair chance I was a gonner before the gate of Castle Black was fully lifted in the first shot of the TV series, but that was when I knew I was hooked.

Just the idea of three men in a trackless medieval forest...you know that feeling of grand, malevolent but disinterested sentience that large mountains seem to possess? eg. Jura, Athabasca, or the Remarkables -that doubled as the mountains of Mordor for the Peter Jackson film? Shelly wrote poetry about it, and In the Lord of the Rings it was personified by cruel Caradhas. 

In AGoT it is not specifically attributed to the ridge they are about to scale, but enough of the scenery is referenced to give a sense of it in 

Quote

"All day, Will had felt as though something were watching him, something cold and implacable that loved him not."(AGoT, Prologue)

By the time that hint of preternatural interest is dropped, we already have an understanding of the human sorty - the shitful young commander, the old hand, the low young but resourceful point of view character, all a bit on edge, although none would admit it.

Every time the narrative came back to the deepening twilight it seemed to refresh my view of the scene and the characters with another layer of detail, a finer resolution that answered the question I was on the verge of asking, and simultaneously posed another three.

When the supernaturals finally show, just a few pages from the end, they have been  so much anticipated, they seem almost not supernatural at all, exactly matching the matter-of-fact tone of "Dead is dead." and "The haunted forest held no more terrors for him.".

And then they kill the shitful commander quite dead, without him landing a blow, which only took me a bit by surprise, then they left, which I was not expecting at all, and didn't really believe, but the last thing I was expecting was that when the malevolent force was gone, the corpse of the shitful commander was going to loom over my point of view, the sole survivor, the only means of communicating  the narrative to me, and kill him dead. And that was after I saw the show to season three.

How and where the hell can you go from there?  I turned the page...

[Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren]

Watching the first season of the show and learning that the books were better. Even now I think it is the best season of the show, episode nine in particular made me even more impressed about the asoiaf. Learning that the books were better also motivated me. I wanted to know what happens next, and there were several books already available. I of course started with the first.

And before that, the amount of attention that the show got, made me watch it.

Also, an additional reason that I wanted to read the books though not the major reason, was because I wanted to avoided being spoiled by book readers. Actually while reading some non spoiler content about the show some asshole posted a spoiler in the comment section. Not in this forum since I didn't even come here then, because this forum is more suited for book readers, especialy when it comes to spoilers. I am pretty sure that some of the theories that people wrote in the non spoiler forums were less theories and more coming from the books. Reading the books meant a lot less worries about book spoilers, and dealing with that. Not the major reason but a minor bonus.

What hooked me in the books were the various interesting characters, it's worldbuilding and its mystery. One of the hooks in the first book is that there is this danger and conspiracy and Ned's family gets mixed in it. And I was very much engrossed in Ned's investigations in Kings Landing. Honorable Ned losing and getting beheaded especially made the world seem more dangerous and uncertain than most fictional worlds, and I wanted to know what happens next.

[dreem24]

Was in a hospital and had nothing else to do...

I liked and still do the style of writing or maybe the translation to my language i also liked the characters and overall atmosphere of the books.

[NorthGirl]

I wanted to know more about the world the show gave me a glimpse of. I stayed because of the characters. I just love how George writes people.

[shadows and dust]

Amazon was my hook. I buy a lot of books based on the "People who bought X, also enjoyed Y and Z."

I was over reading anymore of the increasingly dull, Raymond Feist, Midkemia books. They'd become boring, and stale, and worst of all, obvious. It'd been awhile since I'd read any decent science fiction, so I brought Feist back up and, people who read Feist apparently read GRRM. The reviews were top notch, so I bought the four. Then I preordered ADWD when it came out.

In the same vein, people who read GRRM apparently read Steven Erikson. I found the Malazan Book of the Fallen series through Amazon as well, and it has been a nice series to read during Martin's prolonged book gaps.

[Lady Arya's Song]

I am as old as George.  Read the first book in late 90's after my son finished it. 

Hooked on the idea of something very scary living beyond the Wall.   Loved Martin's writing style.

I felt so bad for the bastard Jon Snow who went to the Wall.  Horrified by Jaime pushing Bran out the window.  Disliked Catelyn.  Cried over Lady. Loved the sister brother relationship Jon had with Arya and his love for Bran.

Loved the direwolves singing to each other and having a mental connection to each Stark child and the idea that the wolves were magical.

Loved Old Nan's stories to Bran.  Horrified when Ned Stark was beheaded. 

I refused to read  Clash of Kings for a long time because I was so upset over Ned's death. 

Eventually finished all the books after the first season of the TV version.  Now I wait like everyone else for the next two books. 

My health is not good and I do wonder if I will ever get to read the last book.  Hoping the author writes like the wind.  

[Maester of Valyria]

23 hours ago, FrostyDornishman said:

LOVE the book maps.  I'm always a sucker for maps included in a fantasy series, but the ones for ASoIaF were given such an incredible level of detail that I knew I had found something really well-made.  Same with the explanations of the various great houses at the backs of the books.

As for plot...somewhere between the direwolves and dragon eggs I was hooked.  The last two chapters really sealed the deal though.

Oh how could I forget the appendix? But yes, the maps were far more detailed than any I'd seen in previous books, and I loved how they hinted at yet more locations...I think I nearly passed out when I first gazed upon the Known World map in Lands...

[Drekinn]

The plot lines ripped straight out of history combined with the world building, and the different facets of each character.

[Lointain]

I was in a bookstore checking the new books (about twenty years ago), and i checked a book titled "A Game of Thrones", i opened the book, and start reading some chapter with a POV called Tyrion... and i loved the writing and the characters.