starman9000

They must be pimping these books a lot at Barnes and Noble, my mother told me she got it for her nook last night. I didn't really know what to say.

MrX

I didn't notice until yesterday, but the UK amazon site has a couple of excerpts from the new book.

Reek aka
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.h...d_i=0002247399

Tyrion

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image...179236532_.pdf

Cusm

OMG!! I could not resist and read those two, I can not wait! The first one is hard to read, maybe the most brutal account GRRM has written in the series.

Shinobi

Leighton Meester is apparently a new fan of the books. She was seen carrying a copy of A Game of Thrones on the Gossip Girl set on 7/7/11.

Sheff

I'm new to this series. Watched the HBO season in a marathon run and loved it. Immediately got the first book afterward and listened to the audio book in the car during my long commutes to work.

I must admit I'm confused on a lot of the minor characters, especially those that didn't appear in the TV show (or if they did, only for a brief period). Is there a wiki or a site I can reliably go to that can explain everything that happened in the first book without spoiling anything from the next books? I'm paranoid about that and don't want to google anything for that reason.

MrX

http://towerofthehand.com/

You can set the scope of what is shown by what book you've read.

wlj

I started Game of Thrones. I feel stupid, but it is a hard book to follow. I am probably only 25 pages in and I can't keep track what is going on. There are tons of characters.

movie diva

Try it on audio book, thats how I am getting thru them.

wlj

i am "powering through" right now. I am determined to read this book. I have been reading a couple of chapters and then going to Tower of the Hand's website and reading summaries of the chapters i just read. This helps me. I am still waiting for the story to really "kick in". I have heard some people say that it really picks up speed after you pass around 100 pages.

Draven

There are a lot of characters but many of them are minor. You can just forget their names after you read them. If they are truly important they'll come up later. After you go for awhile, you'll realize you know everyone you need to know.

maxfisher

That's basically true, though a lot of minor characters go on to have bigger roles. I read the first 4 some years back and re-read them before picking up the latest. I picked up way more on the second read-through. But yeah, all the characters that you need to know at any given point are usually mentioned with enough regularity that you'll kind of automatically get to know them.

wlj

that is very good to hear.

DaveNinja

I'm almost through my second read of Feast for Crows and i'm enjoying it a lot more this time, especially after reading Dance with Dragons

wlj

Well, I can safely say I am hooked now.



I don't want to put the book down, but I have to quite a bit as I don't have alot of time to read. I am excited about where the journey leads.

MrX

Amazon is selling an exclusive set of hardcovers, but Dance isn't included.

http://www.amazon.com/George-Hardcov...7326305&sr=1-3

Daryl

Hmm, I had been eyeing those slipcover ones available for pre-order on the Amazon UK site, but these might be a cheaper (and better looking) solution

Josh-da-man

Looks nice, but I don't really see the point in what amounts to a half set of novels. There's no guarantee that they will release a matching set of books 5, 6, and 7 when Martin completes the series.

Dr. DVD

Just finished Game of Thrones today. I have to say, I really liked it. Took me close to two years, but that's because I kept reading, losing interest, then going back. Finally had time over the past month to power through and finish. For those who said I might dislike the fantasy element not being front and center, I'm happy to say you were wrong. I enjoyed how the story was character focused and the series is a fantasy, but Martin is introducing those elements slowly. Already have the second book on my nook, will start reading after I do Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. I like to break my reading with genres, do a fantasy-otherworldly book and follow it with something set in the "real world."

FWIW, it seems that the HBO series has gotten lots of people who aren't typically into fantasy books reading these; ADWD was #1 for quite some time, and the other books were in top selling paperbacks for most of the summer. Great accomplishment.

Ropes Pierre

is there an inexpensive source for these books, 86 dollars for a half set just feels uncomfortable.

i want to start reading them, but don't want to wait 15 years for the set to be done and drop in price.

i guess only option is library if they can order them?

Groucho

eBooks?

starman9000

Paperbacks are $6.29 with free shipping at gohastings and cheaper if they have a used copy in stock.

Boxed set of the first 4 is $21 at amazon too.

milo bloom

Any idea when Dance/Dragons will be available in standard sized paperback? I'm almost done with Storm of Swords, and I understand Feast/Crows and Dance are two parts of the same (more so than the others, anyways). I'd rather wait to read Feast so I can buy the paperback of Dance right after reading it.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

I think it generally takes about a year for the paperback version of a book to get published. And youre right about FoC and DoD being concurrent up till say the last 5th(?) of the book takes the story further along (i.e. you get some POV character chapters that tie up was was in FoC and sets up more clifhanger type things)

I'd like to propose something to those that have read up to current.

starman9000

DaveNinja