What age should you be to begin reading ASoIaF?

[ChillyPolly]

I would not refer to 13 year olds as "poor things".

I'm sorry, but I feel genuinely horrified, and genuinely sorry, for any 13 year old whose world-view is influenced by these books. And it seems all too likely that it would be.

Of course, there are also 25-year-olds, 30-year olds and 40-years olds who believe these books are "realistic", and I feel sorry for them too. But their worldview is already formed.

[ChillyPolly]

Should you really be calling another user a "poor thing"? Really?

This parrot has been around for a long time, and has earned the right to refer to younger members of different species as "poor things".

[Howland Reeds Weed Swamp]

How, exactly, do these books make you more knowledgeable? By teaching you that 90% of men are rapists and 90% of women are whores? I think you've just demonstrated why impressionable young people should NOT read these books. The poor things actually believe they are receiving an education. This is ultra-lurid, ultra-cynical, over-the-top entertainment, whose redeeming qualities are hard to judge since the tale remains unfinished. But it does not make you more knowledgeable.

It introduces the grimness in even today's world. Not everyone is going live a fairytale. Give the ASoIaF books to a teenage princess and she'll realise nothing will ever have a happy ending

[Howland Reeds Weed Swamp]

Should you really be calling another user a "poor thing"? Really?

she said it to me and I actually find it pretty funny.

[John Doe]

This parrot has been around for a long time, and has earned the right to refer to younger members of different species as "poor things".

You refer to yourself as a parrot? :dunno:

[Howland Reeds Weed Swamp]

This parrot has been around for a long time, and has earned the right to refer to younger members of different species as "poor things".

if anything is a poor thing then it's you,who refers to themselves as a Parrot?

[Ser Eric]

Generally speaking, 13 is too young to start reading ASOIAF in my book. Not just young in terms of violence (towards women and in general) but I think too young to appreciate the books properly.

I certainly wouldn't want any 13 year old child of mine reading it.

[ChillyPolly]

You refer to yourself as a parrot? :dunno:

An eclectus parrot. From New Guinea.

[Mark Antony]

I'm sorry, but no. There is no reason at all to wait until my thirties to read aSoIaF, or any other book for that matter. I get plenty of enjoyment reading it now

ETA: And I'm not "studying" the books. I'm reading them for enjoyment, like most people do

Agreed completely.

[ChillyPolly]

if anything is a poor thing then it's you,who refers to themselves as a Parrot?

I am touched by your concern. On the other hand, detect a hint of implied speciesism, which is uncalled for.

[Howland Reeds Weed Swamp]

I am touched by your concern. On the other hand, detect a hint of implied speciesism, which is uncalled for.

calling me a "poor thing" on a ASoIaF forum is uncalled for.

[sweetsunray]

How, exactly, do these books make you more knowledgeable? By teaching you that 90% of men are rapists and 90% of women are whores? I think you've just demonstrated why impressionable young people should NOT read these books. The poor things actually believe they are receiving an education. This is ultra-lurid, ultra-cynical, over-the-top entertainment, whose redeeming qualities are hard to judge since the tale remains unfinished. But it does not make you more knowledgeable.

I agree it is a cynical series. I also agree that the majority of people are not rapists or whores or psychopaths. But I think you exaggerate the influence on impressionable minds. One of my most favourite books in my teens was "The Gang of Jan de Lichte" (by Louis Paul Boon). It is extremely cynical and a tale with the protagonist being a leader of cutthroats, thieves, whores and scum in the 18th century in Flanders who ends up being executed with a breaking wheel by the French. A poor girl romanticizes about becoming one of the members and possibly his lover, and the whole romantic notion of it gets broken down piece by piece throughout the novel. The same can be said of several romantic classiscs: Tess of the D'urbervilles, the Mill on the Floss, Wuthering Heights, or the all time teen classic 50 years ago "The Yearling". Despite of reading these books as a teen it did not alter my positive view on humanity, nor my belief that given the chance anyone I'd know would choose to do good over something selfish. I learned the truth that the majority will and a minority won't when I was 37, which is perfectly fine. And it probably just fits my age anyhow. I'm not one to say: children should let go of positive beliefs, hopes and dreams and be hardened. But sheltering them from cynical ideas and examples isn't any good either. From age 13 and onwards children start to look for stuff that is less "and they lived happily ever after" and experience several scenario's to compare with. A fictional story where they experience several point of views is one of the safest ways to experience different motivations, different hopes, different ages, different events and consider - what would I do? what would I want? before exposing themselves to possibly dangerous situations IRL. I still think it's better to let them pick it up if they want to, but guide them and discuss characters and events with them. That way you at least can guide them to build their own perception. And yes, that is educational. How educational you make it and what it educates about depends on your guidance.

[Howland Reeds Weed Swamp]

I agree it is a cynical series. I also agree that the majority of people are not rapists or whores or psychopaths. But I think you exaggerate the influence on impressionable minds. One of my most favourite books in my teens was "The Gang of Jan de Lichte" (by Louis Paul Boon). It is extremely cynical and a tale with the protagonist being a leader of cutthroats, thieves, whores and scum in the 18th century in Flanders who ends up being executed with a breaking wheel by the French. A poor girl romanticizes about becoming one of the members and possibly his lover, and the whole romantic notion of it gets broken down piece by piece throughout the novel. The same can be said of several romantic classiscs: Tess of the D'urbervilles, the Mill on the Floss, Wuthering Heights, or the all time teen classic 50 years ago "The Yearling". Despite of reading these books as a teen it did not alter my positive view on humanity, nor my belief that given the chance anyone I'd know would choose to do good over something selfish. I learned the truth that the majority will and a minority won't when I was 37, which is perfectly fine. And it probably just fits my age anyhow. I'm not one to say: children should let go of positive beliefs, hopes and dreams and be hardened. But sheltering them from cynical ideas and examples isn't any good either. I still think it's better to let them pick it up if they want to, but guide them and discuss characters and events with them. That way you at least can guide them to build their own perception. And yes, that is educational. How educational you make it and what it educates about depends on your guidance.

said perfectly

[Winter's Knight]

Considering how many posters on this board are referring to the female characters as whores, I don't think y'all are ready to read ASoIaF either. :P

The horror in these books is not the sort you see on dodgy movies like House of Wax, it's more Silence of the Lambs-ish. I just don't think a middle schooler could handle it, along with the deeper themes of the books.

Would you pick up the anti-war messages or the deconstruction of female fantasy tropes for example at thirteen?

And as far as sex goes, yes most kids know the nuts and bolts but at thirteen, one's ideas are still very much Ikea Erotica.

Are there middle schoolers who are mature enough to handle the books? Probably, but the books will still be there at fifteen.

[ChillyPolly]

calling me a "poor thing" on a ASoIaF forum is uncalled for.

I apologize for any offense taken. However, you may have noted it was not addressed to you specifically, but to all teenagers without differentiation.

Of course, any teenager worth his or her salt will be offended by my position no matter how I express it. That is unavoidable.

[Howland Reeds Weed Swamp]

I apologize for any offense taken. However, you may have noted it was not addressed to you specifically, but to all teenagers without differentiation.

Of course, any teenager worth his or her salt will be offended by my position no matter how I express it. That is unavoidable.

don't worry,I don't mind.

[RuthBolton]

Considering how many posters on this board are referring to the female characters as whores, I don't think y'all are ready to read ASoIaF either. :P

This!

Maybe I was a cynical, screwed-up thirteen-year-old, but I don't think this series would have changed my worldview much at all...but I started reading adult literature young because it was around and I was bored, so it wouldn't have been the series that stripped me of my innocence.

I think the thing is there's a huge variation amongst people. I loaned AGOT to my neighbor's 16-year-old daughter, and I have no doubt she can handle it, but I have peers who would have a really hard time with it for numerous reasons.

[willofDorne]

As a highschool English teacher, some of you are in a fantasy land regarding where kids are at. An intelligent teen who likes to read can get this book from a library. There's no age limit to literature, unlike R rated (17+) HBO shows.

I occasionally see some students with the book and they are aware of the show, but it's not nearly as popular with them as trite stuff like PrettyLittleLiars etc.

I've used a sample chapter (Arya/Syrio training) in an advanced comp class, but those are 17-18 year olds who enjoy reading and are pretty mature & sophisticated in their thinking.

13 is ok for the right kid. If they want to read it they're going to. But honestly it's wasted on the average teenager, which is a shame really b/c it has some great teen/tween characters.

My English teacher played Magic with me in highschool. I thought that was pretty cool at the time, but in retrospect, he was an English teacher and that game wasn't exactly literature. This was in 1994 when Magic was just showing up and it was all the rage... I doubt he continued to play Magic with other students afterwords, but who knows.

But this is a similar situation. The reasons that ASOIAF will be remembered as literature haven't even been established yet. It would be like an English teacher teaching the Hobbit in 1954 or something. English teachers don't teach the Hobbit, at least good ones don't. Why not stick to classics? You are an Engish teacher, I refuse to believe you could not find something better for an AP class than Syrio Forel clicking his tongue and beating on Arya with a stick.

He wouldn't dare attack a HS English teacher! Oh yes, he would. hahaha

[SeanF]

Everyones' mileage varies, but there are parts of the series that would have distressed me at the age of 13. Chyswyck laughingly recounting the gang-rape of the Innkeep's daughter and the murder of her brother; pretty Pia being put in the stocks; the Red Wedding; the Walk of Shame; Theon's transformation into Reek; the horrors inflicted on the Riverlands; Lady Hornwood eating her own fingers.

Many 13 year olds will see and read things that are far more graphic, but much less distressing, because the violence is cartoonish. Martin said that good horror writing doesn't require graphic accounts of "rats eating Billy's genitalia", and he proves it with the most horrific parts of this series. You feel for the people that are having awful things done to them, in a way that you don't when reading a book like "Slugs".

[Primalsplit]

Hmm, dany was 13 in the start of series; arya much younger. I don't buy the bullshit that young ones will be effected badly from "mature" material. If something is horrific to a person, it will be horrific regardless of age.