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How have you started reading the aSoIaF books?


Lady-Nymeria

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I stArted off watching the show, loved it, then decided I wanted a sense of superior knowledge to my brother (who is also a watcher). I read the first novel but found it really hard to get used to the slightly clunky and long-winded style. Reading a lot of spoilers motivated me to read more however as I wanted to understand them. Took me a year to complete the series and it sparked a lot of mental fruition. There is so much character, intrigue, political scheming and society building that that the show just can't cover.

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I had been hearing about the show over the past few years and didn't really think that it was 'for me'. But then my sister got the dvds and from the 3rd episode i was delightfully hooked. (Ironically my sister only mildly liked the series) I bought the books a few days ago and am now engrossed with A Game of Thrones.

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I watched the first two seasons, got all the books and started with A Game of Thrones. I'm so glad I started the show first so that my brain could retain their names and appearances better. :/ I'm still traumatized by reading the Red Wedding chapter though.


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I had heard much and more about the series on TV and this past January, going through a divorce with nothing much to do, I decided to start watching them on demand. Went through the entire series (even bought a new 60" TV for them) and just absolutely loved them! I had to get the books once I finished the series because (as with Harry Potter) I was sure there would be a ton more detail and 7 Kingdoms goodness in the books. I'm now down to ADWD and loving the books even that much more than the show! There's so much going on in this series it blows me away that any one man could've contemplated all of it and put it down on paper! GRRM really is a genius!



Interestingly, I've been a huge Harry Potter fan for a decade and have read that series through countless times. In fact for years I ALWAYS had a copy of Harry Potter at work to the point where my co-workers were always making fun of the fact that I had read them so many times. One of the EMT's I work with actually tried for years to get me to read ANYTHING else and begged me to check out ASOIAF 7-8 years ago but I never really thought it would be for me. Eventually I did move onto another series (Paolini's Inheritance Cycle) which I really enjoyed and kind of set me up for ASOIAF. But vasically, I could've read the entire series before the show ever existed had I just listened to my buddy but I'm glad I did it this way so at least I didn't have to wait for ADWD to come out...


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I've always found medieval stories and lore to be rather interesting and I'm surprised how long it took me to discover the show and the books. A few friends and I started watching the show but while waiting between seasons I realized that I needed to know more about the actual story behind the television series.


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I started to watch the series 2 years ago at Belgian TV. At the point of Ned’s death I realised that me as a book worm I should rather read the books than watch the series. Decided! Done! Bought all books, started reading. Soon I was torn between being curious about the end of the story and being sad to finish the reading. Sure you understand what I mean. Towards the end of ADwD I was getting more and more confused, sensing something amiss. YESSS, checking the internet I realised that there were still 2 books yet to come. Now I’m in line with all the other fans WAITING!!!


When going through this forum I absolutely admire how well other readers know the books. I’m even tempted to do a re-read myself …… though for the time being I’m content that I ‘infected’ my husband with our virus. We are currently watching the series together and I feed him happily (and sometimes boastful) with the info I recall from the books.


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After the first episode I wanted to know if Bran was alive , then bought all the books ... Had a head injjury and had to stay in bed for a week , I read A clash of kings and storm of swords in that week , then read Feast the week after and ordered ADWD , waiting since then ....

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Watched the the first season of Game of Thrones a while ago, liked it but didn't like it enough to pursue it further. A few years later the Game of Thrones boxset was then made available on sky demand. I then binged watched all three series just in time for series 4, loved it so much I then decided to read the books. I'm loving them so far!


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I'm a big fan of the Wheel of Time series and the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. In 2006 while I was in high school, someone introduced me to ASOIAF because I was into fantasy. I read halfway through Game of Thrones and I have to admit, I found it boring. I never picked up the series again until after my friends started talking about the show. After watching the first season I bought the four books that were out at the time and read them casually. I got DwD a couple of years ago for Christmas and read that too. The problem with me reading them was I was also watching the show and reading other books at the same time so a lot of my memories bleed together. I'm going back to try and marathon all five books before WoW comes out.


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I was kinda pressured to see the show ("you must see it!" times a thousand). At first, I was not really into it, but after some episodes I really liked the story. When season 2 started, I wanted to know more about the background and details of Westeros, and in addition to watching the show, I started to read articles, wiki's, blogs, etc. Then I realized I wanted to read the books, so I ordered them all and finished them quickly. I'm eagerly waiting for WoW. Till 2015 I suppose.



I think it's a good thing that GoT creates new ASOIF readers, even if they are late at the party. Often you hear that because of television people don't read anymore. Got is a nice example how television can direct people towards books.


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A friend gave me season 1 from his hard drive. It sat on my computer for a few months cause I wasn't sure if I would like it. Once I did start, I watched all 10 episodes in something like 16 hours. I then immediately googled the first book and tried to find how close the tv show stayed to the book? Found out the answer was very similar, and went out to buy ACOK and started from there.



Since then I've now read each book twice and all the Dunk and Egg novellas.


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Hi, my first post here even tho I've read a few full threads already.



I'm happy I've started reading this before the TV series came. The internet is full of spoilers now and goddammit I'm glad I've read it all before I watched it.



I started reading ASOIAF in 2009, when the Slovenian version of the first book was released, my girlfriend recommended it and when I read the sample chapter in a local magazine (the sample chapter was the prologue), I was intrigued. I was hooked quickly by the fast paced story and great characters, I even remember reading 100 pages of it at 4.a.m., under the street ligh, sitting outside on the pavement, waiting for the bus to come.



I had to wait almost 2 years for ADWD, and even that was almost too much for me. Now it's been almost 3 years since I've read the fifth book and I've read all of the books three times...and will re-read it at least once before TWOW comes.



I wouldn't read the books if I watched the TV series first. I don't like it.


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  • 2 weeks later...

I got into this whole thing a bit wrong way around. :laugh:



I'd had the TV show mentioned to me on a completely different forum about a year ago (when season 3 started showing in the UK) and didn't think it sounded like my thing, but last winter I noticed that it was showing on the telly in my country (at some ridiculous time on a weeknight!) and decided to give it a go.



I don't have a TV set but an online "catch-up" service with 4 weeks' saved so I watched the first episode of season 3, then the second... I watched all the available 4 episodes that same night! Then had to wait a week for the next and then another week for the next one but then they showed all the remaining episodes one after another the same night into the wee hours - with me watching them all the next day.



It was a bit confusing because I hadn't seen seasons 1&2 :laugh: I read the basic story on Wikipedia so I sort of knew what had gone on previously but I was still a bit lost.



I then got the complete DVD boxed set of seasons 1,2 and 3 and spend a long weekend watching it all.



By then I was completely hooked and went and got a boxed set of all the five books (in English, though they've been translated into my language, too) and spent the next couple of weeks reading them.



I like the movie/TV show first, then the book(s) sequence because books are usually even better than the movie/show. Books have so much more detail, backstory etc. The downside is that the movie/show of course influence how you "see" characters, settings etc. while reading. For instance, because I came to ASOIAF through the HBO show, I "see" the characters older than they are in the books (e.g. in the book Eddard Stark is 35, Sean Bean is mid-fifties, Robb, Jon, Dany are young teenagers in AGOT but early twenties in the show and so on). That said, the show has really helped me see the clothing and settings while I read (they're sometimes contradictory, BTW). I love the costumes, hair, the sets on the show!



Jumping in into ASOIF in the beginning of season 3 of the TV show obviously influences how I view different characters to this day, even after seeing seasons 1&2 and reading all the five books. First impressions and all that...



Don't want to spoil anything but when you first see some characters in season 3, they're different from what you read in AGOT.



Right, my first ever post on this forum and I've made it a long one :laugh:



I'll now go and see if I can get my avatar pic sorted - I tried to read the instructions in FAQ but they don't seem to be working. :dunce:


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I used to get up early on the weekends before the fam was up to watch my shows that they didn't like, I kept seeing this one "Game of Thrones" and even by season 1 there was some buzz about it. So I started watching, became obsessed and had read all the books by the time season 2 was released. I made my wife watch the first season and she as well was hooked. Been watching it ever since.


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  • 2 weeks later...

Well , the show was out around 2011 , i knew i would like it , so i decided at some point , around 2012 i think , before the second season kicked that i must see it! Well i downloaded the first episode and the first season in general , but....nah , i couldn't do it. I stopped , but i still had the desire to start it somehow. Well , the series as far as i knew was based on a book , so luckily i found the books translated in my native anguage(not english obviously) at a local store! I bought the second (i didnt start it i just couldn't find AGoT) and a few days later i was handed the first one from my mother , so I started reading at some point in August and this was it , i was affiliated with this epic series , and i feel lucky i'm reading the books and not watching the show so much (i've seen only the first season fully and took some glimpses from the other seasons , mainly because my father is watching the show) because it's MUCH better. George Martin is a pure genious...!


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I started reading aSolaF through my local book store. I read the books starting with the first character /chapter then locate his or her other chapters and read them through. I then again go to the start of the book and do the same with the second character, and so on and so on. Is this good or bad?

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