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How have you started reading the aSoIaF books?


Lady-Nymeria

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Internet buzz.



In 2008, about 3 yrs. before the TV show, I was looking for a good fantasy series to replace my current read at the time (The Wheel of Time, which I found boring as hell from book 7 on) and I found an interview with Robert Jordan, TWoT's author, precisely, where he spoke wonders about GRRM and ASoIaF.



So I decided to get AGoT at Amazon, and the next thing you know is that I was getting the remaining 3 published books at the time, even before I was done reading AGoT. That's how hooked I became. Funny to see that I am one of the few "sullied" who has posted here, btw.


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I started reading Game of Thrones a long time ago, but never finished it.



Picked it up again when the series started, but again, didn't finish it because stupid Real Life got in the way and I just didn't have the time to commit to it.



I'm now on my third attempt and I have to say because of the show, it's much easier to read and even though there are differences, I'm finding that it's much more enjoyable. I'm flying through it this time. :cool4:


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I got across them at a convention back at 2003. Some years later, I played p&p "Deadlands" in a round with friends of mine, and a friend told me about the series (first season at that point) and the books.



I watched the first season, and then I begun to read the books - finished them in a week.


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  • 2 months later...

I would like to know the way you came across them.

I got hooked on the TV series and found myself constantly pausing the show to consult the Blu-Ray guide that HBO embedded in each episode. After watching season 2, I decided that I would read the series so I would understand it better. Since I'm a teacher, I work pretty hard from August-May reading a lot of academic books and students essays, and I have no time for pleasure reading during the school year.

I finally got around to starting the series this summer and I am really enjoying it, having just finished book one. But given the complexity of the mythology and the huge cast of characters, I am going to move through each book very slowly.

I watched the first season again in class, no matter how unfit for a classroom the show is.

Unfit, indeed. Does this teacher still have his job? I cannot imagine trying to justify this in any school I have worked in.

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  • 2 months later...

I remember watching the show at a friends one time, and didn't really get into it until season 2. After that, I watched every episode and went as far as subscribing to HBO via Time Warner just to watch them.

I barely started reading the books. I kind of like it though, after watching the show and reading the books some of the characters from the show help me give the characters in the book faces.. Kind of helps with the imagination of it all.

Still reading the first and at a leisurely pace at that. Really like how the show was somewhat accurate. The book is obviously better.

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I remember watching the show at a friends one time, and didn't really get into it until season 2. After that, I watched every episode and went as far as subscribing to HBO via Time Warner just to watch them.

I barely started reading the books. I kind of like it though, after watching the show and reading the books some of the characters from the show help me give the characters in the book faces.. Kind of helps with the imagination of it all.

Still reading the first and at a leisurely pace at that. Really like how the show was somewhat accurate. The book is obviously better.

Just wondering what didn't you like about the first season and did u like the first book more then the first season.
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Similarly, my introduction to the books arrived by way of the television program. After watching several episodes, I started visiting the Wiki and researching information based upon the series. The more I became interested in ASOIAF, it’s when I discovered the books. I was hesitant at first to read them, since there were several books which made up the series. And I didn’t really want to get involved in that aspect, such as the case with other genres. But I knew if there were any chance of fully understanding the characters and events associated with ASOIAF, it was imperative that I read the books.



As the saying goes, the rest is history.


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  • 1 month later...

I'd heard the name Game of Thrones in passing for some time and somehow made the assumption that it was like the Twilight series, haha! So I never paid it any mind for quite a while, until a friend mentioned the books and I said "Isn't it like some crappy Twilight film?", to which I was finally enlightened!



My friend lent me the first book, but when I asked and he responded that it's not set on Earth and the characters are aliens (I know!!), my enthusiasm waned. He's not the sharpest tool in the box, bless him, but I started reading anyway, and quickly worked out what he was referring to was a reimagining of history with a different geography and fantasy thrown in the mix.



I still groan when I recall the 'aliens' theory.


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I was managing a bookstore in the late '90s. We had a decent SF/F crowd.



Despite liking sci-fi, I had read very little fantasy. Several of my customers in 1999 started coming in asking about when the second book in the series was coming out. These folks, many whom I had talked books with and knew my tastes, recommended to me that I read AGoT.



Still I resisted, because I just didn't consider myself a "fantasy type". Eventually the third book hit and did very well, and I decided to give AGoT a shot.



Multiple re-reads, two kids, and near 15 years later, here I am.


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It's a collection of the three published Dunk & Egg short stories. It has not had an American release, but has been published in several countries, including Poland.

Ah, okay. Thanks! I'd heard of the Duck & Egg short stories (and the Dangerous Women) spin-off books, but I didn't know you could get the D&E ones as a collection.

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I just heard a lot of buzz, really. I think it must've been around the time when s4e10 came out because there was more buzz than usual (being a season finale and all). I had heard a ton about the show, so I decided to give the first episode a watch and liked it a lot. I knew there were books as well so I started reading those as well.


So yeah, typical answer I suppose - I got into it following the hype of the show's popularity.


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I saw them in a bookstore, and if i remember correctly they were only on display because of the soon to be TV show by HBO. I picked up all the books because, well i suppose it was interest and was on the lookout for some good fantays books, the genre i enjoy the most, but more that i wanted to read it so i could say i was one of those people who read it before the show xD I know, it's pretty vain i guess. I do have this thing where i read the books first tho, although i do usually not watch the movie versions unless i disliked the book. Won't take the risks with books i like very well.


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Back in 2009, a coworker was reading aGoT. He suggested it to me but said it was a really heavy read. It scared me away from the series for a while. Picked up aGoT a year later and have been hooked ever since. As for the coworker, by the time I was tearing my hair out waiting for ADwD to be published, he had just finished aGoT.


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GoT came out when I was in college (1996) and I saw a copy at the bookstore. The cover just got my attention--it's the silver one with the Iron Throne--and I grabbed it. When the TV show came out, I did a reread of all the books and really fell in love with them. Now, I'm a fiend for all things Westeros.


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I only heard of them for the first time after the success of the TV adaptation. Last Christmas I was gifted "A Game of Thrones", and got "A Clash of Kings" and "A Storm of Swords, Part 1" early this year. I'm currently re-reading them from AGoT onwards now to refresh myself before Christmas as I'm getting "A Storm of Swords, Part 2" and "A Feast for Crows" this year. I was planning on getting the series myself, but some people have asked me what I want for Christmas so I saved myself a job. :cool4:



* "A Storm of Swords" and "A Dance with Dragons" are split into two volumes here in the UK, in case someone isn't aware and wonders why I've got ASoS in two halves.


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I used to be in a pen and paper-roleplaying group; a friend of mine took over as gamemaster and introduced us to Westeros, letting us meet a lot of characters - our party in fact dragged along Tyrion because we liked him so much. We got to battle the Others, met the White Walkers, Ned (whom my character kept calling "Lord Horseface"), Sansa... so basically all the characters based in the North. It was real fun to play so I asked my friend where she had gotten the idea for the setting and the characters. She pointed me to ASoIaF, I picked up the first two books and was hooked :) That was *uhm* I think in 2009; I read the first four books as quickly as I could, borrowed ADWD from said friend after she had finished it (because I don't buy hardcover books when the rest of the series is in paperback) and am now in line with those waiting for the sixth book :)


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