A Song of Ice and Fire

This is a series that got started back in 1991 by George R.R. Martin. It didn't get published until 1996 and the most recent book A Dance With Dragons just came out a few months ago. And frankly, this series kicks ass! Martin manages to pull things off that other writers would shrink away from the possibility of. Now you'll have to bear with me here, there's a lot of information just in the first book alone and it's nearly impossible to talk about it without either 1) confusing the hell out of people or 2) revealing major spoilers about the plotline. My friend Mike (a huge fan of the series, huge as in he created a DND character based off of Robert Baratheon) constantly taunts me with his knowledge of the later books. I've only made it through A Clash of Kings so he knows a lot more about the series than I do. Before this I was only watching the HBO TV series that came out back in April and it blew my mind. I'm not kidding, after the 8th or 9th episode I sat there, staring at the screen, mouth hanging open, and completely unable to believe what had just happened. And no, I'm not going to tell you what happened, that would completely destroy the point of taunting you with the knowledge until you read or watch the series for yourself. But if you want a little intro to it here goes...

It takes place in the Seven Kingdoms, the Hand of the King has died so King Robert Baratheon goes north to find Lord Eddard Stark, his oldest friend, to ask him to take up the post. The King's biggest problems are dealing with the children (Denaerys and Viserys Targaryen) of the previous King, who was killed by Robert's brother-in-law Jaime Lannister, and dealing with his in-laws and wife, Cersei Lannister. Stark owns Castle Winterfell and has five children and one bastard son, John Snow, who's desperate to become a man of the Night's Watch. Stark finally agrees to take the post after learning that the first Hand was murdered. Before they can even leave to return to King's Landing, Stark's younger son, Bran, "falls" from a window and nearly dies.

Did you manage to keep up with that? I'll be amazed if you did, and I've even left out some information, like Tyrion Lannister, the Queen's dwarf brother (my favorite character), and Khal Drogo, the Dothraki horselord Denaerys marries to help her brother forge an alliance to get the crown back. You have to be confused by this point if you haven't read the series. You should definitely check it out though. The book lineup looks like this...
1) Game of Thrones
2) Clash of Kings
3) Storm of Swords
4) A Feast for Crows
5) A Dance With Dragons
Happy reading/viewing!