Bronn

hah! I'm about 235 pages or so into RSURS now and it does not disappoint! IIRC Amazon will ship it all as it is available, as long as you didn't choose the option to "ship order in as little shipments as possible" during checkout.

lol I am gonna try to get Rebublic of Thieves in the next week or so... I will probably just hit up a Barnes and Noble I thought TSROST was already out? I hope you like the Wool stuff... I really did. I haven't read the Hyperion stuff though.

yeah man that was totally a GRRM moment, although it wasn't on as epic of a scale I don't think... One thing is for sure... I am glad Karthain Bondsmagi aren't a real life thing...

AWWW !!! I didn't even think about that when I said it... hope I didn't spoil anything!!! GAH! My bad, man... But I know what you're feeling if you're at the point that I think you're at... lol

back to the shred

totally atypical for me, but I heard this on the radio and can't get it out of my head... I kinda really dig it...

It's an example of how easy it is to make bubblegum pop/rap music

Glad to hear it! Locke and Jean are an epic character duo...

Yo man how's the book going? Just curious what you thought if you were further into it/done with it. I just started the second one a few days ago, and it is just as good as the first so far.

I don't know about Jon becoming a WW. I just think that's a little too fantastic. I think he's just plain dead or he is indeed going to warg into Ghost until his body can be healed. I definitely think that the WWs have their own intelligent civilization, though. I think the show showed that this past season.

Interesting thoughts on the ice dragon and Snow. I think the key piece that knows what is going on is Howland Reed. I read an interesting theory the other day that Reed is actually the High Sparrow/Septon. On the Mel prophecy: Skulls. Thousands of skulls. And Jon Snow. This could very well be an interpretation that JS represents the polar opposite to Mel's cause and Lord's champion. I've read theories that Mel knew this, and actually used the NW soldiers to kill Snow. They were crying and confused because they weren't the ones controlling their bodies. This could mean he's in fact deader than Ned, or that Mel's actually made things worse for her cause by unleashing the power conduit that would be Jon's blood onto the wall. Remember how Dany woke her dragons? Blood magic and fire. Jon could wake his with magic and ice.

Well, the HBO site or somewhere has Trystane's character listed as the heir of Dorne. By my count, at this point in the show, he should be third in line to Arianne and Quentyn. Still an heir, but not the heir. I'm more concerned about the lack of Greyjoy's. One theory is that they can't cast Euron because he is already on the show (Daario?) Another is that they just make Yara (Asha) the main Greyjoy contingent and merge all plot lines with hers. I don't know if I like those ideas though. It just feels like they are removing huge chunks of canon, or slowing way down and making stuff up to draw out the show in order to give GRRM time for the books. It seems almost like the former, though.

also, besides winteriscoming.net, a new site has launched that you might find interesting to keep up with GoT news... watchersonthewall.com

Okay. Is it irrational for me to be pissed if I don't get to see Euron, Victarion, Aeron, or Arianne in season 5? I feel like they are totally glossing over the Iron Island stuff, and Arianne is like a huge part of the Dornish storyline. I'm a fan of the books and the show, but I feel like if they leave these characters out, it will be the first time I have to get book snobbish on them in a critical way.

I have to add another recommendation to my list. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville - This one was recommended to me by a big fan of Mieville's body of work. I also have a second book by him that will be read pretty soon called The Scar that my friend likes the best. I kinda feel like Perdido St. Station can pretty much be considered High Sci-Fi in the vein that High Fantasy refers to dragons and monsters. It also has elements of steam punk, and even fantasy elements. There are bunches of races and creatures (picture Mos Eisley) living in this city-state setting. It is characterized by huge industrial complexes and, in turn, lots of nasty pollution and detritus in the streets and bodies of water. The basic plot is that a scientist is approached by a Garuda (a flying race that has traits of a hawk/eagle blended with arms and legs like most bipedal species) about helping him regain flight, since for some reason the others in his community saw fit to punish him for something by tearing his wings from his body. The scientist, Isaac, undertakes the work but ends up having a hiccup in his research that unleashes a menace to the rest of the world. Not only that, but his hiccup has uncovered a conspiracy involving the government that even has ties to a crime lord. I'm still a couple hundred pages from the end, but it has drawn me completely in and has been my focus in the recent weeks. If you like weird creature races, sci-fi, steam punk, great intertwining plots, or even just fantasy worlds with fantasy concepts, I would recommend this book too.

Yeah man I definitely feel where you are coming from with books taking a while to reel you in. Hopefully by now you're seeing that Lynch kinda bounces around between present and past, and the younger Locke stories tie into the present ones and serve as a kind of background for things that happen in the present chapters. They help solidify Locke's character traits and even give insight into some of his cohorts' as well. I hope you're enjoying it! I can't wait to start the second book but I have to knock these others out that I've started first. The third one hits mass market paperback in like 5 days I think. I have to read back but I might have misquoted earlier in the thread... I think this series is actually 7 books long and not a trilogy. It might even be longer, as Lynch's wikipedia has 8 titles listed but then it says the series is 7 books long.

ned's not dead... he warged into some bird

omg I can't wait... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtnfmzEBvMs You Deftones lovers should dig this too.

Let me know what you think. I hope you like it as much as I did! I've got the second book and will start it as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading.

I can't recommend these books enough: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - First in a series of seven books, with only 3 being published so far - one of my favorite "new" authors... It isn't so much as medieval fantasy in the vein of GoT but it is more like a Renaissance era Venice type setting... but you'll fall in love with the main characters like you do with the GoT characters. Locke Lamora himself is probably one of my favorite protagonists ever. The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss - Parts one and two of The Kingkiller Chronicles (a three part series.) Kvothe is probably my favorite protagonist of all time at this point. The world is interesting and the take on magic that Rothfuss uses is really cool. There isn't a whole lot of high fantasy present, and Rothfuss' prose is really fluid. The Silo Saga (Wool, Shift, and Dust) and Sand (Omnibus) by Hugh Howey - The Silo Saga features a female protagonist in an underground post apocalyptic world. It is pretty much the best work of SciFi I have read in a while. Ridley Scott has the movie rights and is piecing together the movie stuff as I type this. Sand, on the other hand, is also set in a post apocalyptic world, but above ground. The setting world is pretty much a desert of poverty in which people can dive down and retrieve relics from the past via special suits that vibrate the sand to a frequency that makes it move like water. I almost enjoyed this as much as the Silo Saga and probably would have enjoyed it more if it were longer than one book. I've said all those before in the thread but I felt I needed to say them again. Also, from my understanding, Locke Lamora and Kvothe's stories have both been sold to TV. So they will probably be coming to a box near you in the future. Get ahead of the game and check them out now. Might even be the next big thing after GoT gets done.

GRRM asked about the fears that he will die before he finishes the books... His response: http://winteriscoming.net/2014/07/09/george-r-r-martin-strong-message-think-wont-finish-song-ice-fire/ swoon

If you're gonna do rap metal nowadays, it should sound something like the beginning of this song...

Body Count is and was just plain terrible.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/03/how-much-winds-of-winter-is-out