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The Horn of Winter, Ice Dragons, Jon Snow's Valyrian blood, The Wall collapsing, all that is going to play out in the far north. The White Walkers are more than they seem, they are intelligent, have their own language, and may not be the bad guys after all. If there is a grand northern conspiracy it is being orchestrated by the Bloodraven

I've already read some of the Grand Northern Conspiracy. Not buying it

That doesn't mean that Snow is Azor Ahai. She wants a glimpse of Ahai but all she sees is Snow, that is not because John Snow is Azor Ahai, it is because he and his dragon can defeat R'hllor's champion. Which is why Melisandre fears the falling of the wall so much. She knows Azor Ahai can be defeated, and the thing that can defeat him, is inside the wall.

You ever wonder why the wall is 700 feet tall? Seems a bit excessive to keep white walkers out. Also, why is Melisandre who claims to know that Azhor Ahai is Stannis, who will destroy White Walkers is so scared that the Wall must not crumble? She said “The Horn of Joramun? No. Call it the Horn of Darkness. If the Wall falls, night falls as well, the long night that never ends. It must not happen, will not happen!” Perhaps that is because the wall is not what it seems to be. It isn't a fortification to keep white walkers out, it is an ancient tomb of a full grown ice dragon. Jon Snow has the blood to tame a dragon, and will lead a white walker army against Dany and the fire breathing dragons and her army

Jon Snow will be king alright, but it is going to be king of the White Walkers riding an ice dragon. That is after they reanimate his dead corpse

I.hope they do gloss over most of the Dornish and Greyjoy storyline.

Great. Now everyone troll Darin Gantt about having Rae Carruth as his twitter avatar.

Doesn't matter. Once you take your vows of the Night's Watch, you release all claims to titles and inheritances. Even if he is alive he is a crow for life. Everyone has turned on him, even his former family, and now his brothers of the Night's Watch. He is going to be bitter after everything he has done for them, even giving up his true love to protect them. None of that matter though, because he is dead and will be resurrected or healed by the White Walkers with full consciousness, become their leader, and storm Westeros on the back of an ice dragon freezing all of Westeros, because he is the only one in the north who has the ability through blood to tame dragons. Dany, Tyrion, and.... I don't know, maybe Aegon, are going to return on fire breathing dragons and there will be a battle of the centuries between the remaining survivors who have all but killed themselves trying to gain the Iron Throne, The Hound's fire sword, and the fire breathing dragons whoopin ass against John Snow who is now the villain leading the wights and White Walkers.

Dead as a door nail. Maybe he becomes a wight or white walker though

To bad Jon Snow is dead and will never know amirite?

Anyone else see that Sean Bean spilled the beans that Ned Stark is not Jon Snow's father?

Let me know what you think. It isn't so much three stories at it is one long story with three volumes. Fenris is a badass. If there is one nitpick about these books is that it didn't spend enough time with Bethod and Fenris because there are no POV characters in their camp. Also, Glotka and Logen are both awesome characters. Two of my favorites in recent memory.

Next up I am reading The Heroes, a stand alone novel from Joe Abercrombie's First Law world. Then I am probably tackling The Kingkiller Chronicles

Finished The Way of Kings last weekend. Well worth it. Good stuff. Like with any book #1 it is slow out the gate, but the last half of the book is REALLY good, and sets up well for whole series. Now I just have to hope I am not 70 by the time all 10 books are finished. Brandon Sanderson's style is very different from GRRM, it seems to have more "Fug yeah" than "holy poo" moments. But the "fug yeah" moments are so awesome it is worth it. It is not better or worse, just different. Also, for what will be a big world it is narrowly focused on basically 4 major POV characters. The result is less world building and confusion, which allows more character development. He teases the reader with some other POV characters but only briefly to give a glimpse of what lies ahead. Kaladin was by far the star of the novel! Just a really great read. There are some minor things to nitpick (to me none of the characters were as good as Vin from Mistborn, or Logen Ninefingers from First Law), but overall it was awesome, and I am excited to see where this story is headed.

Also, I think these guys let the scope get away from them. I was watching a podcast with several good fantasy authors, and they generally have an ending in mind and kinda work backwards. I think sometimes they come up with cool ideas, start wanting to explore new characters they created, then end up with a mess and struggle to get it all back together in a satisfying way. So they get kind of stuck. They also talked about writing organically which allows the story to come together as they write. I think that too gets them off the main track and they get stuck. One good thing about Stormlight Archive is that so far it has been about only basically 4 POV characters, so it has kept story tight so far. At some point though Sanderson is going to have to stretch out the world and characters, and that is when I worry that it will get off track.

Brandon Sanderson is a really good writer. I just read the Mistborn trilogy, and The Way of Kings and both were awesome. I am not sure he could get the tone of ASOIAF correctly. His books are usually not as dark and gritty as ASOIAF. Joe Abercrombie or maybe Patrick Rothfuss could possibly do it. But GRRM is such a unique writer, that I think it would be hard for someone to just step in and finish it up.

I am only 60 pages in, but I am excited about starting it. I have heard nothing but good things about it. I am worried about how long it will take Sanderson to finish a 10 book 10,000+ page epic story like this one is planned to be. I hope I am not 60 years old by the time it is finished. But the reviews have been so good I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. Plus Brandon Sanderson is such a good writer. Have you read book 2 yet? Also, any other completed series you would recommend?

I also just started The Way of Kings. It has had great reviews on Good Reads, so I am checking it out. I also bought The Name of the Wind, but I am holding out hoping the third and final book comes out soon

I just finished the Mistborn trilogy. Pretty good read. Interesting magic system. The main characters are really well developed especially the main protagonist Vin. First book was a little slow as it spends a great deal of time explaining the magic and introducing the characters. But it ends strong. The second book I enjoyed a lot, and I burned through the third book anxious to see how it all ended. It doesn't hold up to some of the others I have read, but it was a pretty strong series. Brandon Sanderson is a great story teller and does a good job making you excited to see what is going to happen next. Mistborn would make for a good movie trilogy I think.

I liked the end even if everything doesn't get wrapped up into a happy ending for all with all loose ends tied. The ending also helped spurn his other books in the same world. I just finished "Red Country" which expanded one of the stories of a main POV character (I don't really want to give it away even though it is pretty obvious after a couple of chapters) It was more like a western than fantasy, but it was really good. I would recommend. There is a book I am about to read about Black Dow and his reign. I am sure there are more books from the First Law world coming. His books are different and dark, but that is what I like about Abercrombie, and some of the dialogue is awesome.

BTW, have you read the First Law trilogy yet??

Apparently I have absent mindedly become an exclusively Brandon Sanderson reader for the next several weeks. I went to Barnes and Noble to try and pick up "Red Country" by Joe Abercrombie as it is a stand alone novel that takes place in the First Law world that extends the story of one of my favorite characters. Anyway, Barnes and Noble didn't have the book, but I had a gift card so I figured I would pick up something new. I finally decided to pick up the "Mistborn" trilogy because I had heard it was pretty good. Then I was trying to decide between the first novel of the The Kingkiller trilogy and "The Way of Kings" but then heard the third book of "Kingkiller" had been pushed back. Everywhere I had read on the internet kept saying how good "The Way of Kings" was. I knew it was just the beginning of a supposed 10 book series, but finally I was like "fug it. I will read these 4 books, and then whenever the final book for the Kingkiller trilogy is out I will pick up the whole trilogy and knock that out then. It was only after I got back to the house that I realized every book I bought was a Brandon Sanderson book. Point of that overly long story being, I have "The Way of Kings" and will read it after I finish the Mistborn trilogy. I will let you know if it lives up to the hype, and I really hope I like Brandon Sanderson because that is all I am reading for the next several weeks lol

There is definitely more magic than ASOIAF. One of the main POV characters is an old and powerful wizard. But it isn't a series focused on magic. It is a character driven series that has a bit of everything but is more military and political based rather than magic based. All the characters are well written and interesting because they are seriously flawed. The setting is similar to Thrones. Kind of a gritty mideival time. There is magic but very few people use it and it isn't a story about the magic. The characters drive the story. A barbarian that is only good at killing people but now wants to be a better person. A former great soldier who is now a cripple who is a torturer. A self entitled noble born jerk. A wizard who has a bad temper. And on and on. And none of them are as they seem, even to themselves. All of them think about themselves differently than they actually are. I don't know. It is similar in ways to ASOIAF but also completely different. But by book 3 I was completely invested in all the characters and the third book doesn't disappoint IMO. And not to spoil the ending, but not everyone gets what they deserve. It is a gritty bloody realistic (at least as far as a fantasy goes) world. And Logen Ninefingers from these books is one of my favorite book characters of all time.

I just read the First Law trilogy. If you like ASOFAI I think you may like it. Has some gritty realism with several flawed heroes. It is not as good and doesn't have quite as many holy poo moments. But a real good read

Has anyone read The Way of Kings?