Nobody understands the waiting game quite like Game of Thrones fans. Loyal devotees of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series have been hanging on for more than a decade since the last novel, A Dance with Dragons, was released in 2011, and the author has been pushing the next book’s release date back ever since. (A clarifying point here: the HBO series based on the novels is named Game of Thrones, after the first novel. The collective novel series is titled A Song of Ice and Fire.)
“The Winds of Winter is going to be a big book,” Martin wrote on his blog earlier this year, by way of explanation for what Esquire called “the most public case of writer’s block in human history.” Martin went on to add that the book “could be bigger than A Storm of Swords or A Dance With Dragons, the longest books in the series to date. I do usually cut and trim once I finish, but I need to finish first.”
In that update, Martin didn’t give any indication of how close he actually was to finishing, so it’s safe to say that fans of his A Song of Ice and Fire series will have to wait a while longer.
The good news is that HBO will soon be releasing its much-anticipated prequel series, House of Dragons, which depicts the Targaryen civil war. And for the uninitiated, this long book hiatus is a perfect opportunity to get caught up on the famously hefty novels. Here’s how to read them in order.
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This is technically not part of the Song of Ice and Fire series, but it’s still well worth including in your reading plans. Fire & Blood details the history of the Targaryen family, and is the basis for HBO’s upcoming spinoff series, House of Dragons. A second volume is allegedly on the way, since Martin ended up with more material than he could fit into one book.
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A Game of Thrones (Book 1)
The first novel in the series introduces the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and also establishes several of the characters we’ll come to know and love over the series. A Game of Thrones features interweaving perspectives from nine characters, including Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and the Stark family: Ned, Catelyn, Sansa, Arya and Bran.
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A Clash of Kings (Book 2)
The second novel in the series centers on a civil war between the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and on Daenerys’s simultaneous mission to conquer the kingdoms for herself. Season two of HBO’s Game of Thrones was largely based on A Clash of Kings, although it deviated in some key ways.
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A Storm of Swords (Book 3)
This third novel in the series is also the longest to date, though judging by Martin’s updates, The Winds of Winter could eventually steal that title. A Storm of Swords follows the ongoing War of Five Kings in Westeros, introduces a ghost army, and includes the infamous Red Wedding (if you know you know).
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A Feast for Crows (Book 4)
The fourth novel in the series picks up in the aftermath of the War of the Five Kings, which has left several key players dead. A Feast For Crows centers on the Lannister family’s reign after their victory in the war, while Lord Jon Snow has become Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.
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A Dance with Dragons (Book 5)
The final (for now) book runs in parallel to A Feast For Crows, and was the basis for much of the fifth and sixth seasons of Game of Thrones.A Dance with Dragons is the most sprawling of all Martin’s novels, jumping between the POVs of no fewer than 18 different characters. It explores the reign of Daenerys Targaryen, and the wider aftermath of the war.
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The Winds of Winter (Book 6)
And that brings us to the long, long, long-awaited sixth book.
After more than a decade, there’s still no firm date on the calendar for The Winds of Winter, but Martin did offer a somewhat encouraging update in June of 2022. “Still working,” Martin wrote on his blog. “Finally finished a clutch of Cersei chapters that were giving me fits. Now I am wrestling with Jaime and Brienne. The work proceeds, though not as fast as many of you would like.”
Given the overwhelmingly negative response to the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones (which was the first to be written without source material from Martin) you have to imagine Martin is feeling the pressure to deliver. Watch this space…
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