Are the "A Song of Fire and Ice" books worth reading?

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GrimGrimoire

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Arsen said:
The show doesn't fully elaborate on various themes and other topics the books do.

With the books you get:

1. Introspective looks into the thoughts, emotions, and feelings of characters from present and past events.
2. Historical information about each location, as well as legends, folklore, and myths from past generations that clarify or offer hints as to what might happen in the future.
3. More knowledge about the characters from their interactions with other characters. (This is a big one)
4. It will make the show ACTUALLY make sense. They leave out so much I wonder how they can even dare to pull off "the legendary hero" BS when his name is actually "Azor Ahai". What? Too Middle Eastern sounding for the average viewer?

Also, you know the part where they found the wolves in the first episode? It was mentioned in the book that Jon thought the gods gave them to the children to protect them. MAJOR importance which was left out. Made them just seem like regular dogs.

Not to mention the foreshadowing that is never shown.

Incoming spoiler for the first season, possibly the third if you think about it hard enough:

The wolf mother was found impaled with a stag's horn. Starks - Wolves, Baratheons - Stag... sort of symbolic of how Robert/Cersei led to their doom through their actions.

Not to mention all the other areas of foreshadowing.
Someone had already written down all my arguments. But yeah.
You should read it, right now.

An additon to this good list would be the inclusion of major characters that have yet to appear in the show,
 

Alssadar

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Sep 19, 2010
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I'd go with read the books. Watching the TV show can help clarify things, but it can also make you realize how much stuff they had to change to suit the TV audience and rage slightly. That being said, the books elaborate far deeper than the show, allowing further explanations and flashbacks to further character development and explation.
However, just like the show, there are hundreds of characters, now of whom you have to remember by name (Oh, I'll remember this guy as having 3 q's in his name, in contrast to the guy with only 2), not by image--so you better pay damn attention, as Martin likes to make every character have a use.
They're long books (I'm on Book 5 with a 972 pages of GLORY), but they're definitely worth reading.
 

Rednog

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I think the books are far better, they actually follow the more interesting characters...I mean wtf is with the show focusing so much on Rob in season 2. Did we really need like 10 scenes of him wooing his bride? He is an after thought in the book and we never actually follow him from his perspective, its like oh we haven't seen Rob in a while what's he up to? Married? That's nice now piss off and let's follow Arya, Tyrin, Jamine, or John.
 

squidface

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Of course! I always think it's good to indulge in the book version of tv/film adaptations. E.g. Master and Commander books are much better than the shitty film.
 

cookingwithrage

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Apr 4, 2012
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The first three definitely worth your time (excellent writing, esp in the second one.). Abit iffy on the last two (have yet to read dance with dragons (the sixth.) so cannot say anything about that.
 

5ilver

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I was told they were amazing by a friend. I forced myself to keep reading through the first even though I didn't care about any of the characters. Spoiler: it doesn't get better.
 

Jack Rascal

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I find myself not too happy with the series. I've heard great things and a lot of people like them, but I cannot get into them. But I am a trooper and will finish the series, I will get through. I will. I must.

What I don't like is that it somehow feels like some medieval "the Bold and the Beautiful". The books jump from character to character constantly and have so many of them that I find the story boring half the time. There are characters I like, and liked to read more about, but then suddenly I have to read about some other poor sod somewhere. It is well written, but I find it hard to keep myself interested.

And now that it started to annoy me, one thing really bugs me (well two things really). Martin's excessively detailed explanations of clothes and food on top of his love for the word "queer". Seriously, I will never see in my minds eye the clothes you just explained and for the love of god, find a synonym for queer.
 

Arsen

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Nov 26, 2008
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OH let's not forget the best part:

Seriously, this is the best part: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS INCOMING

The books offer hints that some characters may not infact, be dead....such as Eddard, Robb, Jon or a few others.
 

CrashBang

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Jun 15, 2009
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Arsen said:
The show doesn't fully elaborate on various themes and other topics the books do.

With the books you get:

1. Introspective looks into the thoughts, emotions, and feelings of characters from present and past events.
2. Historical information about each location, as well as legends, folklore, and myths from past generations that clarify or offer hints as to what might happen in the future.
3. More knowledge about the characters from their interactions with other characters. (This is a big one)
4. It will make the show ACTUALLY make sense. They leave out so much I wonder how they can even dare to pull off "the legendary hero" BS when his name is actually "Azor Ahai". What? Too Middle Eastern sounding for the average viewer?

Also, you know the part where they found the wolves in the first episode? It was mentioned in the book that Jon thought the gods gave them to the children to protect them. MAJOR importance which was left out. Made them just seem like regular dogs.

Not to mention the foreshadowing that is never shown.

Incoming spoiler for the first season, possibly the third if you think about it hard enough:

The wolf mother was found impaled with a stag's horn. Starks - Wolves, Baratheons - Stag... sort of symbolic of how Robert/Cersei led to their doom through their actions.

Not to mention all the other areas of foreshadowing.
Exactly. I've just started watching the show after reading the first book and feel bad for anyone who doesn't read the books first because, hell, the characters names are barely repeated twice in the show so you get no sense of characterisation (not to mention the fairly poor acting from Robb and Jon) or relationships. So many themes are just ignored or glanced over and, so far, I feel no connection to the characters.

That's not to say I don't like the show. I think it's brilliant; the settings, costumes, pacing and action scenes are top notch but, from the show, you don't get to know the characters like you do when reading the books.
 

AntiChrist

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Jul 17, 2009
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If you like the HBO show, chances are you might like the books as well. Instead of buying the entire series on a whim, it might be wisest to merely get a copy of the first book to start with - just in case you don't find it to be as interesting as the TV version. That's what I did back in November - I'm cautious like that.

Hoplon said:
The first one a great work of fantasy. A grounded world with elements of the supernatural that never seem to get out of hand or over shadow everything else. Tightly plotted but with a wide scope.

Then they drift off in to meandering waffle land with each book.
I've just finished GoT and am just about to start on CoK. I sincerely hope you're wrong. The low fantasy - almost medieval - setting of Game of Thrones was what got me interested in the books to begin with. :(

That, and the sex scenes.
 

bernardblack

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Apr 24, 2012
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Personally, I prefer the books to the show. There's just so much more to them, and it's much more elaborate than the show.
 

Deathmageddon

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Nov 1, 2011
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Why do you even need to ask?! The book is ALWAYS better than the movie/TV adaptation. It's all the awesomeness and then a lot more, and without all the shameless fanservice and pointless filler.
 

Mariakko

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Nov 21, 2011
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Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes. They are far better than the HBO series and... and... They're just so GOOD. I can't even describe how good it is because I get a giddy feeling whenever I think about them.
 

MrStab

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Mar 24, 2011
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I'm 220 pages in to the first one (I've seen up to date with the show) and holy fuck yes! I'm a big reader in general so my opinion is probably a bit biased towards books over shows/movies already so take my recommendation with a pinch of salt but I think the book is better already. You just learn so much more about the characters and a deeper feel of their emotions in regards to certain events and what's going on around them and also their opinions and views of other characters that don't seem to get shown that well in the show.
 

Giftfromme

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Nov 3, 2011
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Now we wait for the next two books, another 2 decades in the making. And what happens once the show catches up to the books? Book 2 is already done...
 

Zen Toombs

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Nov 7, 2011
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Short answer: yes.
Long answer: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Vuliev said:
Short answer? Yes.

Long answer? YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssss.
....bloody ninjas.

Now to adress the actual OP:
mrhappy1489 said:
I was wondering if this book series was worth reading now, or would it be better to just wait for the next season of the TV show (Game of Thrones)?
Definitely read the first two books (which correspond to the first two seasons). If you like the books as much or more than the show, feel free to read ahead of the TV show. As someone who has already read all the books, the series is still FANTASTIC.

Plus, if you watch the show with other people, you can watch their reactions to things like
Ned Stark unexpectedly getting beheaded on Joffery's orders.
 

fireaura08

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Apr 10, 2012
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YES. The first three books are great, but the fourth and the fifth have been a little slow in terms of plot. Despite that, they're all good reads, especially for the characters.
 

Goofguy

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Wolfram23 said:
However the show is done so well that nothing truely important is missing, so it's not like when you see a movie based on a book and so much stuff was cut out.
Nothing truly important? But... the Blackfish! Of all the things I wanted to see most, it was the Blackfish. Such a great character.