Do NOT follow this advice. If you want to read the books, start at the beginning. It makes what happens in the third book and beyond that much better.
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Game of Thrones - Season 2 - George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire - Sundays on HBO
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Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Nah, he's seen the show what more does he need.
ASOS spoilers
dude doesnt seem to want to read the first two books, as heshould, anyway. I want to see what happens when someone starts from book 3.
I would agree if we were just talking about Season/Book 1, since they're pretty damn similar. But Season/Book 2 have quite a few significant differences, and you would miss a lot skipping the book just because you've seen Season 2.
ChimpBottle
Member
No, he should read them. There are certain events exclusive to the books, names and places to know and the second book and the second season didn't end off in the same place in many cases.
As much as I would hate to see it, you could skip the first book and not be lost plot wise, but book 2 is really different. There are at least four major book 2 characters who the show has delayed from season 2 to season 3, and so you would miss all of their early events that are presumably going to be adapted some way in season 3. Also, Arya's story is significantly different in the book, and the show essentially omitted its ending, which has pretty major ramifications for events for other characters and in the war overall. Also, Jon's story is just better in the book.
I would recommend reading all the books if at all possible, but if you really can't stand book one, it's possible to get around it. It mainly just adds background and plants some foreshadowing of future events. If you can't get through book 2 though , sorry, but the books just aren't going to be for you then.
People who have watched the show first just want to get to the next season/book as quickly as possible. As such, I'd suggest they should at least start from the second book. Starting from the third will definitely be confusing.
But feel free to ignore everybody's advice though. lol.
But feel free to ignore everybody's advice though. lol.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
I'm on SOS now, but went through the other two books, and am very happy I did. I can't imagine going into SOS only having seen the TV series.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
This would be optimal.
Forsaken82
Member
The inner monologues of the characters are a wholly unique experience that you can only get from the books and they represent a very large chunk of the reading.... Those monologues alone are worth reading in my opinion. It is one of the most compelling aspects of the books for me to be honest.
Seriously.
New fan: "I really like the show and want to read the books. Can I just start at book 3?"
Entire thread: "You could get away with skipping the first book, but you really have to read book two. Ideally, you should read both though as there is more detail, foreshadowing and backstory."
New fan: "lol whatever nerds"
This should go in the OP as a Q&A.
PhoenixDark
Banned
I know a couple show fans who initially stopped reading ASOS because they had no idea what was going on, who was who, etc. I suggested at least starting with ACOK but they didn't listen...
Oh well. I steered them to the Tower Of the Hand summaries and now they're back to reading (and enjoying) ASOS. Although I'd imagine even the summaries wouldn't fully help someone remember various characters who are absent from the show.
Oh well. I steered them to the Tower Of the Hand summaries and now they're back to reading (and enjoying) ASOS. Although I'd imagine even the summaries wouldn't fully help someone remember various characters who are absent from the show.
blainethemono
Member
you should read all the books or just not read them at all IMO. When I started reading these books, I bought all 4 that were out and read the first 2 pretty quickly, and then read The Hedge Knight and decided to take a break and read some other stuff before reading the third. That break ended up being too long, over a year long absence from the series. Eventually when I decided to jump back in with the third book, I realized that a lot of the minor characters and events were forgotten, and I decided that I wanted to experience the full story without having to look shit up on tower of the hand or whatever when I didn't remember someone or understand something, so I just started the series over again and read all the books in publication order including the prequel novellas
If you're gonna just jump into book 3 you're going to miss out on a lot of cool events and characters that weren't even in the show. Its worth it to read the first 2, and at the very least start from the second one and read the chapter summaries for the first one on Tower of the Hand or A wiki of ice and fire.
If you're gonna just jump into book 3 you're going to miss out on a lot of cool events and characters that weren't even in the show. Its worth it to read the first 2, and at the very least start from the second one and read the chapter summaries for the first one on Tower of the Hand or A wiki of ice and fire.
Steelyuhas
Member
Yep haha.
I had a friend who watched the first two seasons of the TV show and then through hearing friends talk about it/fears of getting spoiled at some point, wanted to read the third book. Asked me if he could just start with the third book. I said it was probably possible, but strongly advised against it.
So he did it anyway, sends me a text when he was through 200 pages and said he was confused as hell/didn't know who half the characters were.
Enosh
Member
I started with the second book
wasn't confused, characters were pretty much the same and the ones that weren't in season 1 but were in the first book (the whole Tully family) were described and explained anyway again in the second book
might read the first book at some point, but don't think i missed anything big by not reading it
wasn't confused, characters were pretty much the same and the ones that weren't in season 1 but were in the first book (the whole Tully family) were described and explained anyway again in the second book
might read the first book at some point, but don't think i missed anything big by not reading it
Admiral Bone to Pick
Banned
Are books 4 and 5 really as bad as I've heard? Want to start reading the series but I don't want to invest in it if the later books are a slog.
Wrong. AFFC
What is our heart's desire? Vengeance. Justice. Fire and Blood.
dead souls
Member
I couldn't disagree more. AFFC, though quite different from the first three novels, is a decent book. ADWD is borderline unreadable garbage. It's easily one of the most disappointing books I've ever read.
They were suppose to be "one", but the manuscript got too large so they split it up. I think new people starting the series now will be fine with it, because they didn't have to wait years for each book to be released like the rest of us poor saps. lol.
This. I was worried about AFFC/ADWD due to all the things I had heard, but being able to read them straight after ASOS helped a lot IMO.
evilromero
Member
This is very true. Despite what some are saying the book and show deviate from each other quite a bit.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
I can kind of understand skipping the 1st book, but would not recommend it. The first season is a very good adaptation, so you wouldn't miss much, but you woudl miss somethings.
Skipping Clash of Kings is a bad idea for many reasons, the biggest being that you would miss the House of the Undying sequence.
Skipping Clash of Kings is a bad idea for many reasons, the biggest being that you would miss the House of the Undying sequence.
You can probably skip book three if you've seen the show. It's quite predictable if you paid attention to the excellent season two finale. Go ahead and skip straight to book four, which will give you the best experience with the least actual reading involved. Reading is for nerds, amirite?
That should be the standard answer to anyone wanting to skip one of the earlier books. Why skip one or two books when you can skip them all?
Still too much reading. Just do a Google image search for a couple key characters, you're good.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Do you just patrol every ASOIAF TV + Book thread to complain about people not reading the books?
I'm joking around because someone asks if they can start with book three every few days, and none of 'em listen, and I didn't even start this little gag, just playing along.
Cornballer
Member
News from this morning:
- WiC.net: Filming on season three begins today
- EW.com: 'Game of Thrones' Comic-Con panel adds Ygritte, but loses Cersei
- Westeros.org: Cast Interviewed at London Film and Comic Con (youtube vids)
- Westeros.org: Discussion of one actor's contract and the length thereof *book spoilers through ADWD*
- WiC.net: Filming on season three begins today
- EW.com: 'Game of Thrones' Comic-Con panel adds Ygritte, but loses Cersei
- Westeros.org: Cast Interviewed at London Film and Comic Con (youtube vids)
- Westeros.org: Discussion of one actor's contract and the length thereof *book spoilers through ADWD*
Cpt.Underpants
Member
Bad news man
Steelyuhas
Member
Bad news man
This sucks
Love Clive Mantle as the awesome Greatjon.
It appears he wasn't asked to be in season 3, I wonder why they would do that? I suppose they want to keep the cast of bannermen around Robb relatively small to be able to focus on them a bit, but still. :/
Emerson
May contain jokes =>
Interesting. Both stories (Westeros and the original) say "six more series" which would mean through an 8th season. I wonder if that's just poorly worded or what.
This sucks
Love Clive Mantle as the awesome Greatjon.
It appears he wasn't asked to be in season 3, I wonder why they would do that? I suppose they want to keep the cast of bannermen around Robb relatively small to be able to focus on them a bit, but still. :/
Hm, I had expected then to reintroduce Greatjon and [MAJOR SERIES]
kill him off at the Red Wedding. Use him as the face of Robb's men who die. Guess not.
Anton Sugar
Member
Wait...did you just spoil (series)
the death of the Greatjon? I thought he is taken captive in ASoS. I'm reading AFfC now and I haven't read anything about him dying yet, unless I missed something.
They've been saying that ASOS would be 2 seasons long. So an 8 season run is possible. I just don't expect GRRM to finish the books in time.
vitaminwateryum
corporate swill
Nah, he's just talking about a possible change for TV.
Sorry for not being clear. I was proposing a rewrite of the character, not moving up a future event.
[SERIES]
I would say that Greatjon's role in the first three books, and even moreso in the first two seasons of the show, that anything he may or may not do in the subsequent books could be assigned to other characters without much damage.
S1) A Game of Thrones
S2) A Clash of Kings
S3) A Storm of Swords 1
S4) A Storm of Swords 2 (They're splitting up the tv show seasons as well)
S5) A Feast for Crows
S6) A Dance with Dragons
S7) A Wind of Winters
S8) A Dream of Spring
I think that's going to be all the books (I might have gotten the order/names wrong) but it checks out with the seasons.
edit: Disregard this whole post, I misread your post as "up to an 8th season".
Other main characters have contracts coming up earlier than 6 years from now, and is HBO really going to want to shell out the big bucks to lock in actors to portray events from books that might not even be out in time?
I wouldn't take today's news that 8 years for this show is a fait accompli.
I wouldn't take today's news that 8 years for this show is a fait accompli.
George R.R. Martin will take some time finishing those last two books. He published ADWD last year, so there's a least 2-3 years to go before The Winds of Winter is out in stores and another 3-5 years before A Dream of Spring.
I think they're not gonna divide one book into one season anymore. ADWD even has more pages than ASOS. Besides I think they will rather put events in their proper place and time, thus using both AFFC and ADWD in mutiple seasons.
First both parts of A Storm of Swords will be broadcast and then we'll talk about the rest.
I think they're not gonna divide one book into one season anymore. ADWD even has more pages than ASOS. Besides I think they will rather put events in their proper place and time, thus using both AFFC and ADWD in mutiple seasons.
First both parts of A Storm of Swords will be broadcast and then we'll talk about the rest.
NathanMcMahon
Banned
Who says both will broadcast? Or that it's been split? Has that been confirmed? All that has been announced is a third season.
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