Game of Thrones: Should I buy the books?

[kick-ass-bob]

I was going to get a copy of the first book from my local library, but apparently I am #210 (!) on the wait list for about 10 copies, so it will be at least 4 months before I get a copy.

So I went to Amazon and iBooks and I can get 1 book for $8.99 or all 4 for $30. I love fantasy, so that is not an issue.

So... should I buy these books or can it wait for 4 months or more to start? I do not have HBO, so I am in no danger of seeing the show.

Also, as an aside:
What 1939 novel was burned and banned and was particularly unwelcome in California's agricultural communities?
(I have a page a day Jeopardy calendar) :)

[RedCappedBandit]

1. Yes, worth it.

[6000eliot]

2. The Grapes of Wrath?

[kick-ass-bob]

3. Correct. :)

for 600 Jeopardy cash.

:D

[PassingFair]

4. I got a used copy for $4.50 last week.

Check your used book stores....

[petronius]

5. Yes, with two caveats:

1) Be prepared to expend a fair amount of mental energy keeping track of beaucoups characters, only to lose many of them to horrid deaths, and

2) Be prepared to be royally pissed off when you get to the end of them and the next book is not imminently forthcoming...

(Grapes of Wrath?)

[LeftyMom]

6. The next book comes out July 12th.

:)

[petronius]

8. Best news I've had all week!

:party:

[NewJeffCT]

13. yes, but then how long until Book 6?

maybe 2016 or 2017 the way Martin has been going.

I think Martin has said it will be a 7 book series, no?

[LeftyMom]

16. Who knows.

Supposedly he has a lot of it written already, but he said that about this one.

[Dappleganger]

7. Amazon has the first 4 in a set for around $20.

We bought that set for our teens so they'd leave my original ones alone. ;)

It's definitely worth reading, at least you have the ADVANTAGE of not being forced to wait years and years between each book, LOL.

[kick-ass-bob]

11. So it does! I saw 29.99 but that was

the Kindle price and I missed the other. Unfortunately, the set says it ships in 1-3 weeks!

And I'm down to 207 on the library wait list now :P

[Xithras]

9. I own them all.

It's an excellent book series, and most of it is really more fiction than fantasy. While the books do have supernatural elements, they're far less central to the plot than in most fantasy novels, and you can often go a dozen chapters without even seeing a reference to anything even slightly magical. It's really a story about people and their relationships, which is very uncommon in the fanstasy genre.

If you've seen any episodes of the TV show, be prepared for a LOT more complexity. There are many major characters in the books that have been either marginalized or completely removed from the TV series, and the books do a much better job at building up the thousands of years of history that led up to the events you're reading/seeing in the "present" day. The books do tend to move quite a bit slower than the television series, but they're never boring.

[Glorfindel]

10. Yes, you should. They're excellent

I can't wait to start on the next volume next month!

[Betty88]

12. Yes go get them now!! nt

[stuntcat]

14. Yes!

okay I haven't read them and I don't know if I will :blush: but I just asked my husband and he says "Yes!" because there's a lot of good stuff in the books that's left out of the show.

We have an advance-readers' copy of the first book and I think it's worth a lotta lotta lot now!

[graywarrior]

15. Someone here mentioned the other day that Costco has 4 for $19.99

[Frank Cannon]

17. Absolutely, you should buy them.

Start on them now, and you might be able to finish before the fifth one comes out next month. Because I promise that you are going to want to get it, too.

[Kablooie]

18. The first one is great. I'm in the middle of the second but it's a little slow.

Certain characters are great and I can't wait to see what happens but there are others I don't care so much about and I have to wade through all their experiences as well.