laklak wrote:I don't think there's any question that Jon is a Targaryen, been saying that since I first read the books long before the show started. But given how bloody minded Martin is he could decide to kill him off in book 6 or make his mum Ironborn or damn near anything else just to fuck with the readers.

I doubt it. Jon is too much of the mythology of the book series. He and Bran have roles to play at the end of the story.

The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones will be released in October, but a few advance copies were on display at Comicon:



From GRRM's blog:

GRRM wrote:Will THE WORLD OF ICE & FIRE answer every question you ever had about Westeros and its history? Hell, no... I need to save SOMETHING for the novels and the Dunk & Egg stories. But it will answer a lot of questions, including some you never knew you had, and there are long meaty histories of all the major regions and great houses of the Seven Kingdoms, plus the Lands Beyond -- the Nine Free Cities, the Summer Isles, the grasslands of Essos, even the Further East, beyond the Bones.

And the art... the art will knock you on your ass... Justin Sweet, Magali Villenueve, Marc Simonetti, Michael Komarck, Jae Drummond, Chase Stone, Ted Nasmith, and many many more.

Does anybody have a reliable date for when the next book in the series will be released?

surely you jest....I've been trying to get a handle since I first read them in the mid 90s.

Try Robin Hobbs series....at least they are complete tho the interelated aspects of the same world are ongoing in different series.

2.2.1 The Realm of the Elderlings
2.2.1.1 The Farseer Trilogy
2.2.1.2 Liveship Traders Trilogy
2.2.1.3 The Tawny Man Trilogy
2.2.1.4 The Rain Wilds Chronicles
2.2.1.5 The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy
2.2.1.6 Other Elderlings Novels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hobb

She does what should have been more complete in GOT. The world spanning novels are set into trilogies that are related but not integral to each set.
Thrones is in risk of getting to the Wheel of Time fiasco level of frustration.

Would be brilliant if the GOT producers would tackle Hobbs.

Macdoc wrote:surely you jest....I've been trying to get a handle since I first read them in the mid 90s.

Try Robin Hobbs series....at least they are complete tho the interelated aspects of the same world are ongoing in different series.

2.2.1 The Realm of the Elderlings
2.2.1.1 The Farseer Trilogy
2.2.1.2 Liveship Traders Trilogy
2.2.1.3 The Tawny Man Trilogy
2.2.1.4 The Rain Wilds Chronicles
2.2.1.5 The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy
2.2.1.6 Other Elderlings Novels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hobb

She does what should have been more complete in GOT. The world spanning novels are set into trilogies that are related but not integral to each set.
Thrones is in risk of getting to the Wheel of Time fiasco level of frustration.

Would be brilliant if the GOT producers would tackle Hobbs.

It is getting really ridiculous that the dates keep on moving like this.

I've been a bit spoiled - the last several series that I read, I only started reading the first book when I knew the series was complete. WOT, all of Robin Hobb's stuff... but yah! Fool's Assassin is coming out this month and although I am setting myself up for more long waits and frustration there's no way that am I going to wait

The only series that I did not read of Hobb's stuff is the Liveship Traders Trilogy. Is it worthwhile?

Yes Liveship fits into all the books tho you may not recognise how until you get to the Rain Wilds.Good trilogy

The only Hobbs I did not like was the western themed effort tho I did finish the trilogy. Seemed an experiment.
The Elderlings has infinite potential in variety of directions and sometimes you don't know how they fit together.

Damn another Fools book - one of the most enigmatic characters in fiction.

If you a masochist try Malazan Book of the Fallen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen

it IS finally complete

1 Gardens of the Moon 768 203,896 1 April 1999
2 Deadhouse Gates 943 266,260 1 September 2000
3 Memories of Ice 1187 345,755 6 December 2001
4 House of Chains 1021 307,427 2 December 2002
5 Midnight Tides 940 272,724 1 March 2004
6 The Bonehunters 1232 362,804 1 March 2006
7 Reaper's Gale 1280 386,342 7 May 2007
8 Toll the Hounds 1296 391,897 30 June 2008
9 Dust of Dreams 1280 379,326 18 August 2009
10 The Crippled God 1200 412,123 15 February 2011
Totals: 11,147 3,300,026 11 years, 10 months, 14 days

11,000+ pages that took 12 years to complete....

I must be one of the few people who actually liked the Soldier Son Trilogy... it was my first Hobb books. I have read the Rain Wilds Chronicles and I don't mind reading her books out of order, so I will give the Liveship books a go. I did that with the Assassin Trilogy and I still really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the mention of Malazan Book of the Fallen, I will definitely check it out. It is exactly this kind of thing I like to get into.

Have you read any Brandon Sanderson? (Except for the end of WOT obviously) I hear some of his stuff is not so good, but I'm really enjoying this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stormlight_Archive

We are at book number 2 out of 10 but his work rate is phenomenal.

Just about finished DWD - just the epilog to finish tonight.

DWD?

Must be a Dance With Dragons.

Okay thanks

Has anyone else who's read the books worked it all out yet? All the clues were in the first book!

Worked all what out? I didn't realise there was supposed to be a puzzle

Animavore wrote:Worked all what out? I didn't realise there was supposed to be a puzzle

There is a puzzle in the first book, but even highlighting it is one of those slippery slopes!

I wasn't aware of this thread until now, and haven't read through it - are people speculating in here? Using spoilers?

This is a spoiler thread specifically for those who have read the books. There's no need to use spoiler tags or anything in here. Topics can be discussed openly.

Coastal wrote:Does anybody have a reliable date for when the next book in the series will be released?

No, but George released an excerpt chapter, there is a point of view from Hodor:

https://twitter.com/GRRM/status/456824016641486848




























....

Animavore wrote:This is a spoiler thread specifically for those who have read the books. There's no need to use spoiler tags or anything in here. Topics can be discussed openly.

I'm going to take the time to read through first because I don't want to drop a major spoiler which hasn't actually yet occurred in the books beyond all the clues he's dropped.

Is this a spoiler free thread?