2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss the George R.R. Martin book, A Game of Thrones, the 1st book in A Song of Fire and Ice Series.

Pages: 848 pages

Length: 2 months January thru February

Participants: Anissa, Brittany, Casey, Cassie, Catherine, Cheryl, Consuelo, Dianne, Fatima, Kadijah Michelle, Kristin MB, Scott, Sue

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.


Happy Buddy Reading!

I read the companion book to The World of Ice and fire over the last few weeks. It came out several years ago. Martin also released another one last year focus on a specific house in the series. Anyways I highly recommend it for ppl doing rereads of the series. It does read like a history book but it has so many interesting back stories to the people and places in the novels.

I read the book several years ago and have seen the show, but I am trying to go back and read the whole series. Excited to see what I forgot / how it is different from the show!

I’ve only ever seen a couple episodes of the show, which I had to watch for a class, so I’m planning on both reading and watching the series. I’m only 10 chapters in, but I’m very surprised by the ages of all the characters in the book. Much younger than I expected.

I'm up to date on the show so reading the book to fill in the details that the show left out or just couldn't go as far as a book can. I really enjoy reading Tyrion and Arya's parts the most. #favcharacters

Catherine, I came here to say the same thing! I was intimidated going into this, worried I wouldn't be able to finish because the book is long and (I thought) pretty heavy reading. I'm 15% of the way in and loving it.

Ok, so I've had this book a while and I've never done a buddy read before, so I'm going to try it out.

I have only watched couple episodes from the show I like it and now I want to read the books and watching at the same time .

Kristin wrote: "Hi everyone! Like several others, I've watched all of the episodes. I am 16% through, listening to the audiobook. I was surprised how similar the book and show are, at least up until this point. Th..."

Most of the differences that I noticed were that there are more characters in the book than the show. I'm not finished, but I'm further than you are and that's the biggest difference I've noticed. (view spoiler)[Well and Renly takes a back seat, he's only at Casterly Rock. No bumping and grinding with Ser Loras Tyrell. (hide spoiler)]

Catherine wrote: "Done! How is everyone coming with the book?"

WOAH, 60ish pages a day! Nice work, what did you think? I'm about 40% of the way through, really enjoying comparing the story to my memories of the first season of the show. Work is busy and I'm studying for a test so can't dedicate as much time as I'd like to reading, but I'm on track to complete it by the end of Feb.

It was taking me a while to get into this. I fell like this always happens to me with longer books and first in series. There’s always a lot of background that needs to be set up and I always struggle with that for some reason. I just read 4 chapters this evening and am now on chapter 17. I’m really starting to get into the story. As I didn’t watch the show (outside of the first couple episodes for a class a couple of years ago) this is all pretty new to me and I’m already starting to gain pretty strong opinions about characters and families. It looks like I’m going to have to breakdown and get hbo so I can watch too.

Kristin wrote: "@Brittany - I would recommend NOT watching the show if you haven't already. Despite what many people say, I am finding the first book and the series to be very, very similar. I wish I would have re..."

Regarding your first spoiler, (view spoiler)[I always thought Drogo wasn't trying to rape Dany but he just hadn't had any experience in consensual sex and didn't even know what it was or how to do it, which coincides with his culture's male-dominated rape-and-pillage traditions. I thought he and Dany had to learn together, since she was a virgin prior to marriage, how to make the experience less painful and eventually pleasurable to her. (hide spoiler)]

How is everyone getting along with this one? I’m a little over half way done. I’m actually liking reading over two months because I can read a couple chapters here and there without getting overwhelmed (I love the story, but I end up getting intimidated by larger books).

Catherine wrote: "There's one week left for Game of Thrones, how's everyone coming along with it?"

I finished a couple of weeks ago, after I got to the halfway mark it really started to move. I can't believe you finished it in a week though, that's really fast!

I just got the next to books via mail. So I will be continuing I just love Tyrion so much it's hilarious to read his chapters!

Cheryl wrote: "Catherine wrote: "There's one week left for Game of Thrones, how's everyone coming along with it?"

I finished a couple of weeks ago, after I got to the halfway mark it really started to move. I ca..."

I just finished tonight. Agreed that the second half moved a lot quicker than the first. I read through the last twelve chapters tonight no problem while I had been chipping away at a chapter or two at a time in the beginning. I'm excited to continue on with the series.