The book itself.

[DomDayne]

How is the world of ice and fire going to be done?

Is it going to be made from the perspective of a westerosi, or the free cities, or an omnipresent onlooker. If it's the former then we shouldn't find out much about the COTF or Assai and place like that, or events like the Doom; which, while being a little dissapointing would, in my opinion, add to there mystery. I wouldn't want this book to be a go-to guide for any questions about the world. I think discovering and forming our own theories is a draw point for the books, and a large part of the fun, regardless of whether their the ones that Martin has made.

[Ran]

There are distinct parts to the guide. The history and regional section will be written from the perspective of a maester working a massive compilation of lore into more managable, bite-sized chunks with the idea of creating a text such as young nobles (and, especially, princes) could be able to learn from. New information about the setting and its history will come from the guide, but they will not reveal all the secrets, and some of the details have to be considered from the fact that it's being transmitted by a fallible narrator (the maester) using fallible sources (ancient legends and histories, that sort of thing). It should, we hope, be entertaining reading at the least, and a thorough overview of the setting at the very worst.

The Who's Who, OTOH, will simply be a summarizing of details for each listed character as they are given in the books (with possibel additions from George). Mysteries that are mysteries as of the end of ADwD will remain mysteries in the Who's Who.

[ogbebaba]

Sounds great I can't wait to read it... :D



P.S. HURRY UP :tantrum: I hate waiting :leaving:

[Rinso]

Hummm... The thing that Ran said - "Mysteries that are mysteries as of the end of ADwD will remain mysteries in the Who's Who." got me thinking... Does that mean that after ADWD comes out, this book can become a bit outdated? And even more after the next two (or more) books? Why don't release it after [i]all[/i] of ASoIaF is done?

[SkyPirate]

[quote name='Rinso' post='1605419' date='Dec 2 2008, 03.31']Hummm... The thing that Ran said - "Mysteries that are mysteries as of the end of ADwD will remain mysteries in the Who's Who." got me thinking... Does that mean that after ADWD comes out, this book can become a bit outdated? And even more after the next two (or more) books? Why don't release it after [i]all[/i] of ASoIaF is done?[/quote]

It becomes (possibly) outdated after the sixth book comes out because the companion book is to be printed after ADwD. If I remember correctly (and if I've read Ran's post correctly, it says "as of the end of ADwD").
Having said that, I thought the book would be mostly about the history and the culture and peripheral info, and not so much about character futures, so does it matter so much?

As to your last question, because we're impatient and it's an awesome idea. :P

[Ran]

The book will be about 50-50, divided between a look at the history and places of the setting and then the Who's Who that covers all the major (and not so major) characters in the first five books. There will doubtless be some new information in the final books and following D&E stories (we will have "The Mystery Knight" before the world book is published, so interesting tidbits from there ought to be incorporated).

I don't think the book will be superceeded by further books. Doubtless new tidbits will show up which fill in gaps of information and so on.

As to why now? Well, that's a question from Bantam, GRRM, and the fans who want it now rather than later. For my part, I think now's a good time for it primarily because the setting and series has grown large enough and complex enough that people are clamoring for the sort of information a world book would provide.

[eliogar]

No one is anticipating this book more than the proud parents of Ran. Can't wait to buy my copy.

[Onion Knight]

oh
i thought its going asoiaf's silmarilion-like book..
i thought wrong ^^