A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 12

Another day, another reread post! It's getting very difficult for me to take a break from reading to type these posts up, I just want to keep going. Today we have Arya meeting her "dancing" instructor. I meant to include Daenerys' chapter too, but it's late so one chapter is all for today. I did finish reading the Mystery Knight however (an excellent addition to the Dunk & Egg series), so we should get back to normal now.

Now, boy, click the read more link right here. Just so.

No New Post Today

OK, well that title is not entirely true as what you are reading now is, in fact, a post. What I mean is that I didn't finish typing up Part 12 of the reread, so there is no reread post today. Sorry!

I think I have a semi-good reason for missing a day. The anthology WARRIORS was finally released in paperback yesterday, which meant that I finally had the chance to read The Mystery Knight - the third Dunk and Egg short story. Or is it a novella? I never remember the difference.

I love the first two Dunk and Egg stories, and I'm only about a third of the way through Mystery Knight but I'm enjoying it as well. It's interesting seeing what Westeros was like 80 or so years ago, and how the Targaryens were as rulers. It is also enjoyable to see the land through the eyes of a lowborn Hedge Knight, as all the other characters we "see through the eyes of" are Lords and Ladies (or close enough).

Once again, sorry for the 'skip day' and we will be back with Arya and Daenerys tomorrow!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 11

We are moving right along through Game of Thrones, and there's no reason to slow down now!  Today some more of our cast arrives in King's Landing, and Ned realizes immediately that his new job kind of sucks. And up north we see how big a giant wall looks when you're only three feet tall (or however tall Tyrion is).

A quick note, if anyone lives in/around New York City, HBO is sponsoring a food truck this week. Each day it will be giving out meals inspired by Game of Thrones. You could read more about it at HBO's Making Game of Thrones site. HBO is really going all out to market this show.

And now, let's see what Ned is up to.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 10

Ah, Monday! I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. We are really getting into the juicy part of the book now. It is very hard to stop reading every two chapters and write up my thoughts.

Today we have Catelyn meeting an old friend, and a character I plan to keep a close eye on this reread - Littlefinger. And our favorite bastard, Jon Snow, begins to see what life at the Wall is like.

As always, spoilers for the four books released so far: Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, and Feast for Crows.

On with the show!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 9

Part nine of the reread? Where does the time go. Nearly 1/5 of the way through the book! What will we be discussing tonight? First we have the ramifications of Arya's actions, and then we have a young crippled boy finally open his eyes.

The Bran chapter is actually very interesting, and as it is short, I recommend you go back and read that chapter yourself (if you're not already reading them along with these posts).

Okay, spoilers through A Feast for Crows, be warned, blah blah blah, you should all know it by now.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 8

I'm starting this post later than usual, so I'm going to try to make my summaries a little shorter tonight. Of course, every time I start typing I intend to write less, but then somehow get carried away. So I won't waste time with this blurb, just to say if you're reading the posts, please comment! I'd like to foster a discussion if I can, and maybe one of you will point out something I've missed.

And now, the reread. Remember, these posts assume you've read through A Feast for Crows, do there will be spoilers.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 7

And we are moving right along! In todays reread we will spend most of our time traveling. We've got Eddard & company heading south, and Tyrion & company heading north. We'll get to see more of the relationship between Eddard and his king, and learn more about the ever interesting Tyrion, who may be the most complex character in this series (and that's saying something).

Well that's enough of telling you what you're going to read, why not just get to it? As always, possible spoilers for all the books through A Feast for Crows below, so be warned!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 6

Ah, another reread already? Where does the time go!

Today we will say goodbye to Winterfell! It's funny, I've read the entire series twice before, but it has been several years. I remember all the big events, but a lot of the smaller events and some character moments must have slipped my mind. More are coming back to me as I read, but I remember less than I thought. What I'm getting at, is that I remember disliking Catelyn, but after her first two chapters I thought maybe my dislike was unjustified. Nope. This chapter pretty much seals it for me, I do not like her. I'll get into it more below, but this chapter opened up the floodgates a bit, and I remembered a lot of the reasons I dreaded her POV's.

But that's not all! We also get a wedding! And presents! Everybody loves presents!

A Monday Afternoon Update

So it turns out that trying to read two chapters, summarize, and discuss them everyday is harder than I thought!  I had begun today's post, but unfortuantely haven't finished it yet.  Instead of having another day with no content, I thought I'd point out some cool goings-on from the fine folks at Valyrian Steel. 

For the last few years, Valyrian Steel has been making official replicas of the weapons used in this series.  They already have for sale Ice (which we've seen in the reread), Needle (which we will see very soon in the reread), and Longclaw (a bit of a ways off, but my personal favorite sword. 

Now, just announced, is King Robert's warhammer.  The same hammer used to defeat Rhaegar at the Trident, and win King Robert a kingdom!

Check out GRRM's own thoughts on the hammer here.

And view the hammer, and all of Valyrian Steel's other weapons here.

And for any of you getting impatient for the reread, don't worry.  The next installment will be up later tonight!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 5

Who's ready for another Song of Ice and Fire reread???

In this part of the reread, the shit hits the proverbial fan. We see what a brother will do, for the love of his sister. And we finally got a Tyrion point of view.  Throughout the books, whenever I saw that a Tyrion chapter was next, I'd get excited.  What a great character.

Remember, possible spoilers up to and through A Feast for Crows, so if you haven't read - don't read this!

On to the reread!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 4

Welcome back to another installment of your daily Song of Ice and Fire reread!  In today's reread plots will thicken, and everyone will share Arya's hatred for needlework.  The events are moving along nicely, but the shit hasn't hit the fan just yet.

Remember, this is a reread, so beware potential spoilers for all four currently published books.  Now, let's see what Catelyn is up to.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 3

Part Three of the reread already??  Where does the time go.  In the next two chapters we get into the heads of Eddard and Jon, and are introduced to a few more members of the ever-growing cast.  In these chapters some things are set into motion that have profound effect on the rest of the series.

And don't forget, this is a reread, there is a very good chance that the post will contain spoilers for future books.  So if you don't want any mysteries prematurely solved, or to find out who will wind up dead, don't read this and read the damn books!

So what are we waiting for?

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 2

Welcome back to the A Song of Ice and Fire reread! Now we move on to the next two chapters of A Game of Thrones. We get a lot of history and a lot of new characters coming up, so be ready for a lot of info.

As I said in the last post, but I suppose it bears repeating, this is a reread. Meaning I assume you've read these books before, so spoilers will abound. Aright, enough BS, on to the show!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 1

Now that we have the introduction out of the way, we can commence the reread in earnest.  This post will cover the prologue and first chapter of A Game of Thrones.  Remember, this is a reread, so I'm going to assume anyone reading this has already read through A Feast for Crows.  This means that there will likely be spoilers, and I may make comments about what will happen in future chapters or books if it seems pertinent.  S'aright?  S'aright.

Introduction

Game of Thrones debuts on HBO next month.  A Dance with Dragons will be released in July.  I think it is safe to say that 2011 is the year for A Song of Ice and Fire!

I've known about the show for awhile, but when Dance was given a release date last week, THAT caught me off guard.  I've read the entire series before, but I had been holding off on reading them again, awaiting that aforementioned release date.  I thought for sure there would be a long stretch of time between the announced finish of Dance with Dragons (note: the book is not ACTUALLY finished, but I am cautiously optimistic about this July 12 release date).  But now with the HBO series soon starting, and Book 5 on the horizon, I find that I do not recall the books quite as well as I thought I did.  I've read the first 3 books at least twice each, but I've only read A Feast for Crows the once, and that was devoured in less than a week.

What does all this mean?  It means that I need to read them all again!  And quickly!  And it occurs to me that a lot of folk are likely in the same position as me.  So, inspired by the lengthy (and excellent) Wheel of Time reread taking place over on Tor.com I thought I'd post my thoughts on the series as I read it.

The plan is to follow the format Leigh Butler uses on her WOT reread, wherein I briefly summarize the chapter, followed by my thoughts.

I hope to do 2 chapters every weekday, but as I haven't actually started typing up yet I don't know if that's too ambitious, or not ambitious enough.  We shall see!