Next Game of Thrones book The Winds of Winter won't be out until 2016

[Elok]

The dad was clearly just a dick, as he already had another son to be heir. The boy posed no realistic threat to that heir. Likewise the killing of the wrong wolf. Gratuitous. *****craft.

I've read enough history books to know that there are often times when the knives and poison come out to decide the next king. These are invariably the most confusing and boring parts of the book, because once the knives work once they get used again and again and again. Emperor succeeds emperor, sometimes three or four to a year, and until the knifework ends nothing of ultimate significance happens, except in the form of intervention by the outside world. You just have to struggle through, occasionally flipping back to remember who the hell was in charge again, and why, until a Charlemagne or Constantine imposes stability again. Only then does it get interesting, because while those kings were far from pure, they had a vision and the strength to realize it.

[kentonio]

The dad was clearly just a dick, as he already had another son to be heir. The boy posed no realistic threat to that heir.

As far as I remember you can't just disinherit an heir. Him joining the wall was a way to remove him from the line of succession without killing him.

I've read enough history books to know that there are often times when the knives and poison come out to decide the next king. These are invariably the most confusing and boring parts of the book, because once the knives work once they get used again and again and again. Emperor succeeds emperor, sometimes three or four to a year, and until the knifework ends nothing of ultimate significance happens, except in the form of intervention by the outside world. You just have to struggle through, occasionally flipping back to remember who the hell was in charge again, and why, until a Charlemagne or Constantine imposes stability again. Only then does it get interesting, because while those kings were far from pure, they had a vision and the strength to realize it.

Erm, wow..

[Elok]

Treason and infighting are the enemies of civilization; they represent the diminution of a power until they are quelled. Violence by itself is meaningless; violence in the name of a higher principle has the potential to be interesting.

(any number of unwanted or unsuitable heirs, at various points in history, were shipped off to monasteries, or married away to someone irrelevant, or simply overlooked--this is only dangerous if the one so disowned is ambitious or a suitable puppet for others who are)

[ZEE]

Elok is a nerd.

[Elok]

AAHZ's mother gets child support from a pack of ten hillbillies so inbred that modern genetic science cannot say for sure which one is the father.

[Lorizael]

AAHZ's mother gets child support from a pack of ten hillbillies so inbred that modern genetic science cannot say for sure which one is the father.

That reminds me... if you think the world of ASOIAF is ugly, stay the hell away from the X-Files.

[Guynemer]

Oh wow.

I remember clear as day seeing that episode for the first time. God damn.

[Lorizael]

I don't remember when I saw it for the first time. I watched the X-Files with my mom growing up, but I would have been 10 when that episode first aired... so I don't know if I saw it live.

[Guynemer]

I was 18. I was in a hotel with my ladyfriend in Toronto.

[kentonio]

(any number of unwanted or unsuitable heirs, at various points in history, were shipped off to monasteries, or married away to someone irrelevant, or simply overlooked--this is only dangerous if the one so disowned is ambitious or a suitable puppet for others who are)

You make it sound much easier than it actually was, and it was very dependant on the kind of feudal system at the time. Many of those systems were built precisely on the idea that lines of succession were god-given rights, and any disinherited son would be a magnet for those trying to gain power. The 'ship them off to a monastery' thing was usually only used for cases of mentally ill offspring and the like and even then it carried dangers.

[Cort Haus]

HowTF do you enjoy it? I mean, it's readable, but every twenty pages something horrible happens. Every single character is a reprehensible scheming ****head, except for the Starks who are sort of stoically dour, probably because they realize their world is a pit for fighting dogs and they can't get out. I guess that makes them the moral center, insofar as half of them hate each other but they don't do anything overtly antisocial about it?

Early days. Horrible things continue to happen, but characters do develop, with some acquiring traits of decency, and others going the other way. There are two characters that appear later who stand out as the nearest thing you can get to 'good' in that world - Brienne and Davos, whose traits both include a sense of loyalty to others, which stands out as a commodity in short supply.

Also, I'd echo Lori's well-made point about pragmatism v principle, and add the law of unintended consequences to well-meaning actions.

[Dinner]

http://www.cnet.com/news/game-of-thrones-season-5-prepare-for-deaths-not-in-the-books/

Slight spoiler predictions there. Long story short, it appears season 5 is going to start deviating from the books fair substantially even killing off characters who are still alive in the books.

[Dinner]

http://winteriscoming.net/2015/02/12/george-r-r-martin-still-planning-seven-book-series/

GRRM confirms he is still planning a seven book series which is news as he has speculated in the past that he might need to increase the number of books in the series.

[Dinner]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WQUCN4_tGTg#t=43

A Game of Thrones themed feast served on the actual set of King' s Landing! I bet prices were a pretty penny especially with all of those servants, actors, and entertainers on hand.

[Elok]

Well, I finished it. It's kind of sad that I ended up feeling relieved that I only had to read about two little girls getting raped. I was expecting it to end with Joffrey and/or Littlefinger on top of Sansa. I assume that happens in book two, or three, or whenever she becomes politically useless/hits puberty. Don't care, won't be reading. What I read about this first book, at least, was largely correct: this world consists of Starks, guys in black, peasant extra sword-fodder, and total ********ers. Yuck.

If you enjoy it, more power to you.