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[TCRS]

Finally opened mine today. damn the cover feels so good. and so many coloured pictures. I'm quite pleased for the 23 euros I payed for it.

storywise I haven't read that much yet, can't say anything on that.

 

[Blue Ninja]

So at the start the book pretty much confirms that the odd and variable length of the seasons is unrelated to the position of the planet, which to me confirms that whatever is behind the others and drives them Dow from the far north is also what causes the long winters.

So I guess once they're defeated the seasons will be constant like our own.

I thought it was interesting that we finally had some descriptions of winter on the other continents. Pretty cool read so far.

 

[Chairman Yang]

HBO will finish the series in less than three years from now. That will have to suffice if the worst happens, because I doubt anyone else finishes GRRM's books. Though his publishers will wish otherwise.

David Benioff, one of the TV show creators, could probably do a great job. His novels have been great and have bits that are very ASOIAF-ish.

 

[thequickandthedead]

Damn this book is exensive in the UK. Amazon here is only selling a used copy for £40.

 

[Acidote]

Finished it last friday. It was a heavy read towards the end reading the "history" of kingdom after kingdom. Although it got a little better with Yi Ti and Asshai by the Shadow.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

HBO has that covered.

No they don't. They'll finish their TV show, but they won't finish the real story.

Damn this book is exensive in the UK. Amazon here is only selling a used copy for £40.

That sucks. Here Amazon.ca sold it at like 50% off for some reason, so we got it for like barely $30 CAD.

 

[Loke13]

No they don't. They'll finish their TV show, but they won't finish the real story.


That sucks. Here Amazon.ca sold it at like 50% off for some reason, so we got it for like barely $30 CAD.

At this rate Martin won't finish the real story either.

Just finished reading the Nymeria section and holy shit her people's journey from Essos to Westeros was horrific Sothoryos should just be avoided at all cost.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Damn this book is exensive in the UK. Amazon here is only selling a used copy for £40.

???
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0007580916/

£15

 

[LProtag]

Lovely looking book. Going to start reading today.

 

[ZeroRay]

Got it delivered in a day after it "being ready to ship" on Amazon for days. Pretty great. Lots of interesting little tidbits and mysteries that will probably never be answered. Also did a great job of painting Westeros as just a small part of a much larger world.

David Benioff, one of the TV show creators, could probably do a great job. His novels have been great and have bits that are very ASOIAF-ish.

David Benioff is a way better novelist than a screenwriter for sure.

 

[Cornballer]

- Sean Collins with 10 things he learned from the AWoIaF book over on Rolling Stone

 

[TripOpt55]

My copy is arriving tomorrow. I'm so excited.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Only about 30 pages in, but this is a damn interesting read. I'm glad I have the physical version, too. I don't think it would be nearly as good as an e-book.

 

[Loke13]

Holy fucking shit.

Of all the queer and fabulous denizens of the Shivering Sea, however, the greatest are the ice dragons. These colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, are said to be made of living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars can be glimpsed as they wheel across the sky. Whereas common dragons (if any dragon can truly be said to be common) breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat.

A Song of Ice and Fire indeed.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

:O

 

[Cornballer]

- Recent NY Mag interview with GRRM: George R.R. Martin on What Not to Believe in Game of Thrones

Anyone upset that the new book — a sort of compendium of historical information about Martin’s fictional world — doesn't advance the story in progress is missing the chance to have a deeper understanding of the Targaryens' long-lost hold on the Seven Kingdoms and the world around them. (As is Daenerys, who was given the histories of her world as a wedding gift and neglected to read them.) "But you know who does know a lot of [the history]?" Martin teased. "Tyrion." Tyrion, who likes to make sure the royals in his vicinity have the benefit of a good education, might be inclined to share what he's learned, but without his influence in King's Landing, Cersei, the Queen Regent, is ruling blindly.

"That's accurate to history, of course," Martin said about Cersei’s unintentional myopia. "During the War of the Roses, the Lancasters and the Yorks were concerned about each other, and to an extent, what was going on in France, and to a lesser extent, what was going on in Spain and Germany. They knew Hungary and Morocco existed, but they didn't really care what was happening beyond that. 'What the hell is south of Morocco?' 'What is going on past Russia?' They didn't care."

So, unless you want to be as oblivious as Cersei, it might be worth taking the very deep dive, so long as you keep in mind that The World shouldn't necessarily be taken as gospel. The book is written from the viewpoint of a maester at the Citadel, one who hopes to pass its knowledge on to someone sitting on the Iron Throne. As such, the author may have ... rearranged events to suit the interests of a particular royal family. "So who knows if it's really true or not!" Martin chuckled. Furthermore, the maester's knowledge comes from other scrolls that, in turn, may be unreliable. The narrative unreliability is reminiscent of Westeros's first tell-all author, the court jester Mushroom, who claims intimate knowledge of various Targaryen bedroom secrets. "And he may be making up a lot of this shit," Martin said. "That possibility is there, because he's an old guy telling tales, and embroidering them, making them more sexual, suggestive, and violent." Martin likens Mushroom to Suetonius, "the great gossip of ancient Rome," whose stories helped shape I, Claudius. "It's full of things like [Claudius's third wife] Messalina having a fucking contest with a prostitute, and there's no source for that! Unless you believe Suetonius," Martin said. "People do know things, but the things they 'know' may not be right."

How many of the book’s stories should be understood as pure myth, rather than history? What about the green-tinged people of the Thousand Islands, who file the teeth of their females into sharp points? "Some of that is, Here there be dragons," Martin cautioned. "It's beyond the world they know." Of the other continents yet to be explored, Martin said he "deliberately" kept Sothoryos mysterious, to echo real-life history: "Even though Africa was known to Europe from the earliest days of ancient Greece,” he said, “we knew relatively little about sub-Saharan Africa." He chuckles at the complaints he gets from fans about the lack of boundaries on his maps: "What's this Ulthos thing over here? Is it just a big island? Or is it another continent?"

Despite this, some of the history contained within The World of Ice and Fire is enlightening, like the passages about the Others and the Children of the Forest. And then there are the stories of the Targaryens — how Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters actually conquered Westeros, how Aerys II the Mad King lost his grip on the Seven Kingdoms. "What's cool about writing history is that history is continuous," Martin said. "You read Thomas B. Costain's four-volume history of the Plantagenets, and it covers a couple of centuries, starting with William the Conqueror. The characters are coming and going, being born and and dying, and it never stops. By the end of the fourth volume, everyone in the first volume is long dead. And sometimes we lose sight of that." Too often, he said, a fantasy story or a fairy tale might begin with a king on the throne, without us knowing what made him the way he is. "If he's a noble king, why is he noble? If he's a selfish king, why is he selfish?" Martin asked. "So you go back to his parents, and their parents, and their parents. Everything leads to everything else."

More via the link.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Fire and Blood will "strictly" be about the Targaryen kings and their reigns? Hm. Hmmmm :/

 

[TripOpt55]

I have read through Aegon's Conquest and am up to the section on Targaryen Kings. Enjoying it so far. Love all the art in here.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Fire and Blood will "strictly" be about the Targaryen kings and their reigns? Hm. Hmmmm :/

Initially Martin planned on doing a trilogy about Aegon The Unworthty (after ASOIAF is finished of course) but he seems to have settled instead for Fire And Blood. He's said other regions will get some focus, but mainly as they interact with the Targ kings.

I hope it's done in parts/volumes, instead of fitting all the kings into one book. That way there will be more space to go into ridiculous detail.

 

[Laekon]

How did Dorne hold off the Targaryen's/dragons?

 

[Loke13]

How did Dorne hold off the Targaryen's/dragons?

Didn't they engage them using guerrilla/hit and run tactics?

I mean desert warfare is pretty brutal in the first place specially if your not accustomed to it.

 

[Basileus777]

How did Dorne hold off the Targaryen's/dragons?

Plot armor and a secret letter. The way the invasion is described it doesn't make much of any sense that Dorne survived.

 

[TheKaeptain]

I think I might be able to pick this up for $20 bucks tomorrow.

 

[Paganmoon]

Holy fucking shit.

A Song of Ice and Fire indeed.

Cool as hell, still believe it'll be revealed that there are Ice Dragons frozen in the Wall.

 

[Jack Remington]

He should have been prioritizing The Winds of Winter. This is something that would have been better served coming out after he finishes Winds and A Dream of Spring/A Time for Wolves.

 

[Basileus777]

He should have been prioritizing The Winds of Winter. This is something that would have been better served coming out after he finishes Winds and A Dream of Spring/A Time for Wolves.

He didn't write this whole book and a lot of what he did write was then paraphrased by others. I'm not sure how much time was really lost to this.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Initially Martin planned on doing a trilogy about Aegon The Unworthty (after ASOIAF is finished of course) but he seems to have settled instead for Fire And Blood. He's said other regions will get some focus, but mainly as they interact with the Targ kings.

I hope it's done in parts/volumes, instead of fitting all the kings into one book. That way there will be more space to go into ridiculous detail.

Hmm, I mean, that's cool and all, but it's nowhere as Silmarillion-esque as I thought it would be.

 

[WadiumArcadium]

He should have been prioritizing The Winds of Winter. This is something that would have been better served coming out after he finishes Winds and A Dream of Spring/A Time for Wolves.

He doesn't have to do anything. It's his books, he can take as long as he wants.

 

[Fuzzy]

Hmm, I mean, that's cool and all, but it's nowhere as Silmarillion-esque as I thought it would be.

Yeah, I was expecting F&B to be a lot bigger in scope than just the Targ kings.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Yeah, I was expecting F&B to be a lot bigger in scope than just the Targ kings.

Yeah. I mean, The Silmarillion covers, like, the entire creation story of the Middle Earth universe and the stories span eons and continents.

I never expected a creation story for the ASOIAF universe (I actually think something like that would be incongruous with the relatively realistic style GRRM has established and is more suited to the high fantasy mythos of Tolkien's works) but I was hoping it would get away (somewhat) from Post-First Men Westeros and the Targaryens.

 

[Martian]

Ive been reading AWOIAF for a bit and a few things popped out as interesting.

In the iron islands stands the Seastone Chair, which is said to have been there since before the first Men. It is made up of a black, oily stone.

On the other side of the planet lies Asshai. This ancient city has alledgedly been there since the beginning of time. Asshai is made up of a black, greasy stone.
Its kind of tinfoily, but it cant be a coincidence that the most western part of the known world and the most eastern part share this strange stone.

The sea east of Asshai is described as black and shadowy. The sea west of the Iron Islands is called the sunset sea. Although this could just be so because the sun goes from east to west, it is a fun comparison to make. Just like the Iron Islands have been said to encounter sea-dragons and some legends say that dragons were first tamed in Asshai.


Moreover, Euron Greyjoy has apparently sailed to Asshai, one of the few people to do so. Perhaps he has learned some important things over there.



Other things: seeing as there is a Westeros, Essos and Sothyros, I would not be suprised if there turns out to be a "Northyros". Perhaps a long way north of the Wall.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Other things: seeing as there is a Westeros, Essos and Sothyros, I would not be suprised if there turns out to be a "Northyros". Perhaps a long way north of the Wall.

I always thought it would be cool if Westeros was like South America to Northyros' North America.

 

[shanshan310]

It just arrived in the mail and I am ridiculously excited. The ASOIAF world and history has always been one of my favourite elements. Gonna go against the grain and say I don't really mind about lack of winds of winter because of this and the novellas :3 World building is the best and I can't wait to start reading this. So many purty pictures.

 

[badcrumble]

Ive been reading AWOIAF for a bit and a few things popped out as interesting.

In the iron islands stands the Seastone Chair, which is said to have been there since before the first Men. It is made up of a black, oily stone.

On the other side of the planet lies Asshai. This ancient city has alledgedly been there since the beginning of time. Asshai is made up of a black, greasy stone.
Its kind of tinfoily, but it cant be a coincidence that the most western part of the known world and the most eastern part share this strange stone.

The sea east of Asshai is described as black and shadowy. The sea west of the Iron Islands is called the sunset sea. Although this could just be so because the sun goes from east to west, it is a fun comparison to make. Just like the Iron Islands have been said to encounter sea-dragons and some legends say that dragons were first tamed in Asshai.


Moreover, Euron Greyjoy has apparently sailed to Asshai, one of the few people to do so. Perhaps he has learned some important things over there.



Other things: seeing as there is a Westeros, Essos and Sothyros, I would not be suprised if there turns out to be a "Northyros". Perhaps a long way north of the Wall.

Circumnavigation theories aren't particularly tinfoily, it's almost a given that it'll happen at some point.

 

[Basileus777]

Circumnavigation theories aren't particularly tinfoily, it's almost a given that it'll happen at some point.

A given to happen in the main series? It really isn't.

 

[Malmorian]

Grabbed my copy today, absolutely love it. Book looks great and I'm loving the Maesters take on the history. Art is fucking fantastic too, I'll always picture Dragonstone like that from now on. Sooooooo good

 

[Kyougar]

finished the Book.

What a load of Lannister Propaganda

But what intrigued me, was the secret letter to Aegon (the conquerer). What was written there? Will we ever find out? Maybe someone from Dorne will mention it? Will it even play a role in the future when Dorne negotiates with (F)Aegon and/or Dany?

so much questions.

 

[nampad]

Finished the book and liked it. It got a little bit difficult to read later on as it is written like a history book and as such, having fact after fact can be little bit tiring. I wished there were more maps which would have helped with all the geography being reported. The other illustrations were great though.

Finally getting more information on the civilizations of Essos and Sothyros was great.

What surprised me a lot was that many of the Southron houses still have their roots traced back to the First Men as their names suggest. I thought the Andal invasion would have let to the leading houses being primarily Andals.

Was also quite surprised that the scholars of the world are speculating that the world is round.

 

[Kain]

I liked it too, and I felt the best thing of the book is the things they don't tell, like that letter Aegon read concerning his sister and Dorne, what happened to Valyria, the maze makers, the origins of Oldtown, Winterfell... it makes you realize that the best literature is the one that doesn't explain every single detail.

BTW, is it me or is the Iron islands part the longest of all the houses? That may be indicative of something...

 

[Incandenza]

Just finished this. I loved the art and thought the lore was generally interesting, though it's a hell of a lot of fake history to take in at once if you're just reading it straight through.

Scattered thoughts:

- Like others have said, the black stone stuff definitely seems connected, though I wouldn't be surprised if we never got any more explanation than that.

- The Carcosa reference was cute. Kermit and Elmo... maybe taking it too far.

- Lorath sounds pretty awesome, with its weird ancient mazes and blind God cults.

- Those teases of Summerhall and the Third Blackfyre Rebellion were expected but still frustrating. Surely future Dunk & Eggs will give us at least a bit of that.

- The bit about the Iron Bank using assassins against those who don't pay their debts has me suspecting even more that Arya is gonna be sent to kill Cersei.

 

[foxtrot3d]

Just finished this. I loved the art and thought the lore was generally interesting, though it's a hell of a lot of fake history to take in at once if you're just reading it straight through.

Scattered thoughts:

- Like others have said, the black stone stuff definitely seems connected, though I wouldn't be surprised if we never got any more explanation than that.

- The Carcosa reference was cute. Kermit and Elmo... maybe taking it too far.

- Lorath sounds pretty awesome, with its weird ancient mazes and blind God cults.

- Those teases of Summerhall and the Third Blackfyre Rebellion were expected but still frustrating. Surely future Dunk & Eggs will give us at least a bit of that.

- The bit about the Iron Bank using assassins against those who don't pay their debts has me suspecting even more that Arya is gonna be sent to kill Cersei.

But Arya knows Cercei so they couldn't send her on a contract to kill her.

 

[Koko]

But Arya knows Cercei so they couldn't send her on a contract to kill her.

Do we know for sure that they can't? For all I remember Arya heard/saw someone saying that he couldn't do it because he knew the guy, but what if he just didn't feel comfortable doing it?

 

[foxtrot3d]

Do we know for sure that they can't? For all I remember Arya heard/saw someone saying that he couldn't do it because he knew the guy, but what if he just didn't feel comfortable doing it?

It's never stated but like many things in ASOIF it is implied, I actually didn't pick up on it until someone mentioned it in the ASOIF subreddit. But, if you recall when Arya is sailing to Braavos she mentions how the crew members would routinely go up to her and tell her their name making sure to stress the pronunciation so she could understand it, and would ask her to repeat it. When they reach Braavos many of the sailors give her some gift and again repeat their name slowly. Much later when she witnesses a meeting of several Faceless Men they seem to discuss upcoming contracts and one of them goes "I know this man, I cannot give him the gift." While another says "I do not know this man, I will give him the gift."

The implication seems clear, putting everything together, that the Faceless Men do not kill people that they know. And also explains why the crew members on Arya's voyage were so eager to ensure that she knew their names.

 

[The Artisan]

BUMP - I came home this weekend and I'll bring back the asoiaf books with me, so I have one question with that: Is there terminology in this book or any other sort of literary shit for that matter that would be confusing, if one hasn't read the series first?

I'm still on A game of thrones and I intend to finish the series - maybe it's the other way around and I should check this out first?

 

[Basileus777]

BUMP - I came home this weekend and I'll bring back the asoiaf books with me, so I have one question with that: Is there terminology in this book or any other sort of literary shit for that matter that would be confusing, if one hasn't read the series first?

I'm still on A game of thrones and I intend to finish the series - maybe it's the other way around and I should check this out first?

I think you would be ok with the terminology, but avoid the preface and appendices as they have some spoilers in them. I'd probably wait until finishing ASOS before reading the world book though.

 

[ZiggyPalffyLA]

I read the book a while back and I’ve gotta say, Asshai sounds like one of the most fascinating places in any type of fantasy I’ve ever heard of. I wish we could see it someday.

Also, it sounds like if Yi Ti ever wanted to, they could easily conquer Westeros and destroy the White Walkers without a second thought. It’s funny to think what’s going on in GoT is such a small part of the world overall.

 

[Ryde3]

how's the e-reader version of this?