Jump to content

How have you started reading the aSoIaF books?


Lady-Nymeria

Recommended Posts

I watched and enjoyed the tv series, but it wasn't until the very end of Season 2, when Sam's beyond the Wall, and That White Walker looks him in the eyes, with no care & no empathy - at that moment I said out loud "I. Gotta. Read. These. Books".

And I did - devoured them. Read them constantly, so much so that my wrists/arm muscles hurt. And this via my e-reader!

I'm currently, finally, re-reading GoT, and loving all of the foreshadowing, early characterisation, the slow-mo car-crash of how the shizzle is about to hit the fan. I love the books so much more than the tv series, which often drives me around the bend with what it reinterprets, leaves out, but in my rational moments I accept it is its own thing, and stands alone. And really, I'd watch anything Charles Dance, Jonathan Pryce & a bunch of brilliant character actors are in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember seeing the first few books in Borders (RIP) in the early-to-mid 2000s. I gave AGOT a go no less than three times over the years and could never get past page 50. I started watching the HBO series last fall and finally finished up this month. The end credits rolled for S4E10, and I just wanted more. I remembered that there are thousands of pages of primary material to keep me occupied. Started AGOT on Sunday, and now I can't let go. I was also in a reading rut, and I think this was perfect because I was already partially familiar with the basic storyline and cast of characters.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I remember receiving the first book for christmas 2012, I think, when I didn't even know that a tv show called "Game of Thrones" existed *shame upon me*. I've started to read it then, but the first chapter annoyed me so much that I actually put the book away for some months, fearing that I'd have to fight through those pages. Then, in April 2013, I started a new attempt to read it, and was soon fascinated by the story's complexity. And so I soon read the whole series. :)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I saw the show on HBO's programm and saw some commercial about it but I always thought it was just a stupid soap opera / drama. Then one of my classmates recommended a book called Game of Thrones so I bought the book and read it. After I the third book I realized that the show what I thought was stupid is the adaptation of the books I was addicted to. So I watched the all three seasons (it was in 2013) in two days.

Now I'm starting to believe that the show is really becoming a stupid soap opera and I'm becoming a book purist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, I remember like it was yesterday. I have kept hearing some offhand remarks about the books here and there from my fantasy loving acquaintances and friends, I was big fantasy fan myself of course but I never have run into the books myself, it was before they got really popular.



Then one night at the party I talked with a friend of mine and we somehow broached the subject of fantasy and after few minutes he asked me have I read Martin, I said like no, I heard about them, are they any good. He said they are amazing and I will certainly like them, further more he had the books and said he will bring them to me tomorrow night, I was like sure, bring me the first one, I will take it easily and we will see about the rest.



We meet tomorrow and he brought me A Game of Thrones. When he said I will like it, oh man was he right. I got home late and got to bed, tired as hell, it happened to be few nights of consecutive heavy partying, thinking I will read a little to help me go to sleep. I got to the Bran being pushed and then I got up from the bed, made some coffee, got the cigarettes and got back to reading almost shaking because of the who good book was, or maybe from the all the coffee.



Of course I read the rest of it in one sitting, it was dawning and I sent message to the friend to meet me and bring me the other ones as soon as he is able. I read all four of them in few days, thinking about them pretty much all the time, I even was with a girl on one party but I couldn't wait to get home to read the books, so I made some excuses and left. I don't think I slept much until books were finished.



Man, do I love telling this story, I get warm around the heart every time, books really did hook me in, it was a hell of the adventure reading them first time. And each time after is adventure of itself


Link to comment
Share on other sites

in 2011 I was staying at my Aunts and Uncles at the time and he was getting ready to watch season one and he was like do you mind if we watch the episode I am on? and I was like no I don't mind, So we watched the episode where Viserys gets crowned with Molton Gold and he turned to me and said have you read the books? and I was like no I had no idea that they're were books. So my uncle gave me the first two books and I read them and then went and bought the other two after I was done with those and I was hooked ever since, This Series is special to me because a family member gave me the first two books and I didn't have to buy them. After I finished Feast I went and bought ADWD online in hard back and took it to the beach with me and I read that quickly as well. ASOIAF is one of the most well written pieces of literature written in years and this forum and the internet really helped me with the better understanding of ASOIAF as well so thank you guys.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw a friend of mine with a copy (German version) of the first book back at a convention in 2003. He had also changed his usernick in a forum to "Königsmörder" (ie Kingslayer).



Then someone told me about the show at about 2010, and I remembered my old friend.



I watched S1, then read the books. Not in my mother tongue though. In English. In about four weeks.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started with the TV show. I saw the first 3 seasons in one go. I could not wait for S04. So when I learn about the books, I started my reading and it was a REVELATION and a none stop reading. Before the S04 even started I was done with the books, so the best of Both World. Just Read it!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

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?

I did that for Arya chapters in books 2 and 3, because she was my favorite character and I couldn't wait to know what happened to her. Luckily for me, Arya's story is the most isolated from all others until halfway through the third book.

But doing that for all characters is a bad idea and you lose track of things, IMO. The Tyrion and Sansa chapters in the second and third books are very much complementing each other. Missing one would mean you miss a great deal of things that happen in KL.

OP:

Many of my friends were talking about the show, and I don't respect their opinions that much so I did not pay attention. I read fans writing about it in Quora, comparing ASoIaF to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, and what they wrote was very discouraging for me to read the books or watch the show. I was very bored in last spring due to various reasons, so I got the first book from the library and started reading. It was the happiest thing I've done in a long while. Finished the entire series within two weeks. Started watching the show with season 4.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was always a fan of the show, not like the average watcher, but borderline obsessed haha. Decided to take up reading the books because I kept hearing the book-readers complaining about characters that were left out of the series and how much better the books were.

That peaked my interest, so I started reading AGOT 4 days ago. Already 411 pages in. Absolutely love it. I know most people say that the first book is pretty similar to the first season, but GRRM's writing is sublime. So I decided to read all of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

I heard about it on other internet boards back around 2006-07. I think it may have been on wotmania, as I was very into the Wheel of Time at the time.

I tried reading AGoT, but couldn't get into it. I was a bit shocked at the style then, having only read books like WoT, LOTR, and Harry Potter.

About a year later I started seeing artwork inspired by the books on the internet; the various depictions of the Rhaegar-Robert duel, the main characters, some key scenes etc. I really liked the artwork, so I picked up the book again. Currently, my favorite series. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I watched the show first and when the internet exploded with asoiaf things and I was like what is ASOIAF? like I didn't know that they were books so I was staying at my aunts house and my uncle was like did you read the books? I was like what? I had no idea that they made books out of this? like what? so I read them and I was half way through book two maybe more when the red wedding episode aired and that was just wow for me because I didn't see what was coming at all. I didn't even see anything coming and then when I read the books I was to numb to read about the red wedding at that point. I didn't have a special friend come up to me and be like oh read this and watch this? like I didn't a friend to say that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I've been hearing about the show endlessly for years, but when I saw the size of the books I assumed it was one of those things I'd just never get to. I had so much else to read, and I almost never watch TV. And anyway, my sense of the series was that it was mostly a lot of pointless shock value and not worth my timeThe way I started reading sounds almost dramatic. Last May I was visiting my best friend from college for his father's funeral. It's a weird sort of time to spend a weekend together, so when we were idly talking about the books on his shelf and he insisted that I take A Game of Thrones home with me, I complied.

It happened that I was taking more classes that summer, actually way too many classes. When my friend asked at the end of the summer if I had finished the book, I had to sheepishly say that I hadn't started it. I only started reading when he mentioned that he would be visiting my area in October, so I felt I had to read the thing so that I could return it. I wasn't into it at all. I was mildly interested by some of the themes of decay and degradation in the setting, but beyond that it did seem to be a lot of shock value: a series of pointless rapes interspersed with weirdly specific recipes for stew. So when my friend did visit, I had to tell him I wasn't done with the book. In fact, the thing had spent so much time bouncing around the back seat of my car that it was pretty beat up, so I just bought him a new copy. After that I mostly stopped reading, maybe a page here and there.

It was only about three weeks ago something clicked. I think it was Maester Luwin's long lesson to Bran about the history of Westeros. Suddenly the world wasn't a mildly interesting deconstruction of fantasy cliches, it was a living, breathing thing with an incredibly intricate history. The stormy politics weren't an excuse to show violent scenes, they were based on a backstory that went back centuries and more. And that helped me connect to the characters better, which was pretty important for me at that point. My two favorites, Robert and Ned, were out of the picture, but Daenerys and Arya were rising quickly and turning into people even more awesome to read about.I have hardly been able to put the books down since. So I wish the history had been placed earlier, maybe at the beginning like Tolkien did. I would have enjoyed the first book a lot more and better appreciated this really monumental piece of worldbuilding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...