Winter is Coming: #ASOIAF Re-read

Hello, and welcome to the introductory post of a fun project about re-reading George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Some of you may know that the first book, A Game of Thrones, got the green light for production by HBO, and it should be ready within a year. And if you know that much, then chances are you also know that the fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, could conceivably come out some time this year. In anticipation of both events, I’ve decided to go through the published books one at a time, chapter by chapter.

(For a complete list of recaps and posts related to this series, look no further than the A Song of Ice and Fire master index.)

For anyone who doesn’t know me, my name is Francesco, and this is an extra-curricular labour of love. I work in publishing, and I do a little of this and that for fun on the side, but I'm a bookworm at heart; reading and writing are what I like to do best. Mostly, I just wanted to re-visit one of my favourite series and do some in-depth analysis instead of just racing through the books at top speed. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

I was introduced to A Game of Thrones about two and a half years ago by an old friend of mine, who loaned it to me after I let her read my Wheel of Time books. Then I realized that my girlfriend’s roommate had the same books, and he told me a bit more about the series. It sounded intriguing, so I started reading. And you know what happened? I became another obsessed fan of this series, and of Mr. Martin. As if being WOT-crazy wasn’t enough. All that’s left is for me to start watching Lost.

I’d be lying if I said I got this idea out of the clear blue. No, this re-read thing isn’t new. Over the past year and a bit, I’ve been following Kate Nepveu’s writings on The Lord of the Rings and Leigh Butler’s take on The Wheel of Time. If you’re a fan of either series, I highly recommend reading Kate and Leigh’s work. I’ll essentially follow the same convenient outlines, with a “What Happens” recap, followed by commentary. I don't have the savvy web guys at Tor to make handy indexes and pages for me, so I'll make do with tags or #hashtags to keep the related posts together. We'll figure something out.

My aim is to have two regular posts a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, covering as many chapters as possible. There is a lot of information to cover, and I can’t possibly go in-depth on every single detail, so I’ll have to pick and choose which parts get mentioned. Disagree with my choices and interpretations? That’s what the comments are for. Share your insight.

It’s been over a year since I last read these books, and I don’t remember all of the theories and the lesser events. I hope that this re-read will provide a better understanding of the series at large and the finer details, while at the same time whetting my appetite for the HBO series and the new book. (As if it needed whetting.)

I hope this will be fun, because otherwise, what’s the point? Part 1 of A Game of Thrones will go up tomorrow, and I hope you’ll join me in reading along and commenting. See you then!