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Shall i start reading the books now that i'm a fan of the show?


Danny-

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I've been coming to this website for a while now for information on Asoiaf.

i don't know if its right to post this thread here but i think its the best place to get answers.

Shall i read the books after watching the show?is it worth it or just a waste of time?

I think this thread will help others like me who are fans of the show to decide wether or not reading the books will be rewarding.

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Yes definitely they are superb, imo much superior to the show. Just a warning though, don't make too many assumptions about character behavior. Characters can be quite different between the show and the books and some things may be a little confusing at first.

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I'd suggest you start with a library copy of A Game of Thrones. If your local public library is anything like mine, there are plenty of copies, and no huge demand for them at the moment. Hold off on the quality leather-bound edition, because there is a low probability that Winds and Dream will be published in leather-bound singles of the same size, colour, quality. When the song is sung, there is a high probability that there will be a quality leather-bound edition of the complete set. That is the time to buy the version that is too nice to read at the breakfast table.

Game is the book that is most like the show, it will give you a deeper appreciation of what they were trying to achieve in season one. From the start there is a lot that is hard to convey on the screen, a lot of subtle changes (for example, the scene that starts the show, the rangers riding through the tunnel to the north side of the Wall, gives the viewer an idea of the scale of the Wall, but also gives the impression that the wildlings they are tracking are considerably less than nine days ride from the wall, and is still smaller than the one in the books).

You then have plenty of time to decide whether or not you want to borrow Clash from your local library, whether you'd rather Yara or Asha.  Then you can read Storm and see if Styr's ears really do ruin the whole show, when you watch it frame-by-frame.

By that stage you might find you need cheap paperback editions (the more recent the better) so you can make notes in books and put postits in the pages, the better to contribute to the  "Wow I never Noticed That" thread. Or a 5-in-1 ebook version, like I did when my wrists started swelling from holding those doorstoppers up to my face for a month non-stop. Ebooks can talk to you while you are driving and in the shower, and they are easy to quote from, and not hard to annotate.

You have picked a good time to read all the books, enough time to read them all and still have enough time to read them all again, closely, before Winds is released. When you do the close read you will understand why we still call people who have only seen the show unsullied, even though the show has passed the books now. You are not too late to experience the waiting for the ultimate (and maybe penultimate) book, and when you finally have the opportunity to buy a complete leather-bound version of the series,  you will not have sacrificed the unique experience of being one of the first readers - the ones that had all those wild speculations, before everyone knew how they ended.

It might spoil you for the last series of the show, though. Actually, I think if I was in your position, I'd hold off on reading the books until after the next season of the show had started. Read the first books while watching the last series of the show. That way the hype about J=R+L is augmented. And there is a fair chance your box-set will soon be augmented with a copy of Winds of Winter, when all the details are still fresh in your blown mind.

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Show is good. Books are fantastic. Ignore the people who claim the books will never be finished. Unless they've got a working crystal ball, they don't know that. And if they do have a crystal ball, they need to share.

If you want to wait til the show is done, or the books are finished, that's fine. But I recommend reading them at some point because there is so much the show had to cut or change, you can't get the full story without the books.

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I can definitely recommend reading the books. You will be surprised, but there are a lot of plot parts and whole plots, which are different in the books or only exist in the books. In addition you will get a lot more details about the personality of different persons. Its excellently written, so its definitely better (in my opinion) to read A Song of Ice and Fire then a random book. So, if you don't know what to read, ASoIaF ist a very good pick.

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Thank you all for your posts.

Walda ,thank you for taking the time to reply ,i don't live the the usa so i can't borrow the books from a library.i do have an Ipad but i preffer the feel of a book.

Amazon doesn't deliver here so i will go to the library and check them all out and weigh my options.

I'm gonna get "a world of ice and fire as well". It seems really cool.

 

 

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On 8/20/2017 at 0:02 PM, Danny- said:

Its done then ... Thank you!

i looked online and saw the leather bound set.I think its better than buying the stand alone ones coz it really looks good.

I, too, have often thought of buying a nice leather bound set, but I want to wait until the series is finished, so I can buy one combined set.

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YES! Absolutely you should read them. I started watching the show first and being a reader I jumped right into the series. The books and show are very different though so try not to judge a character by what you've seen.  And the best part is discussing the theories with our friends on this board, reading the World of Ice and Fire to learn about the history and re-reading the series for stuff you didn't pick up on during your first read. Martin is an incredible author and the world he has created on page doesn't come close to what D&D put on screen - of course I understand there are significant limitations when filming as opposed to writing, but you know what I mean :) Enjoy!!!!!!

 

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