When I was looking for a fantasy series to start, the two that kept coming up were the Wheel of Time series and the A Song of Ice And Fire series. I ended up going with WoT first. It's a thirteen book series currently, with the fourteenth (and last) coming out early January next year. Books 1-11 are by Robert Jordan, but then he passed away. Luckily, he had some warning he might not have much time left, so he had written extensive notes on how the series was to finish and shared all the plot details with his family. The rest of the books are by Brandon Sanderson, and there really isn't much of a noticeable style difference. I will say they don't move quite as fast as A Song of Ice and Fire does, at least past book 5 or so, but I still recommend it.

Nice! I'll add that to my read list then. That's awesome when authors of such epic series leave notes and such behind so someone can finish it. I started reading an amazing series by Melanie Rawn (the Exiles series, if anyone has read it) and it's a trilogy that only has the first 2 books. It's frustrating because it seemed like such an amazing story but unfortunately there's no ending in sight. From what I understand, she's taken a hiatus and will finish it eventually but is in no rush.

And as far as books moving fast...well when you hit book 4 of A Song of Fire and Ice, you'll understand. It stalls out a bit.

We're getting season 1 on netflix this weekend. so excited!

Yay! I've watched Season 1 already and it follows book 1 pretty darn closely. However, I'm not watching Season 2 till I get Myr caught up with Season 1...it took all this time to get him caught up with Season 4 of True Blood so I'm finally getting to watch Season 5! It's been torture. LOL

I've been getting Kal into the first season of the GoT show. I've been surprised at how closely it mirrors the books, although there are some rather strange things they just added in. (Loras and Renly... WTF?)

LOL that was my response too. They hint at it in the books (and I can't remember which one...3 or 4? Damn, I already need to go re-read them) but it's so blatantly obvious in the show. Like you mentioned on the hubcast (or Kal mentioned) By the end of episode 1, season 1, you're practically a third of the way through the book already. LOL. I haven't seen season 2 yet...just no time! It's on my watchlist. I'm working on getting Myr and I thru Season 5 of True Blood first THEN finish GoT.

So have you started book 4 already? I warn you now, that one WILL be a bit draggy about halfway through, but Book 5 is a little better.

And all I can say w/o spoilers is Catelyn Stark!! WTF!!! That was one of my biggest scream out loud moments.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through 4 and I can see what you mean by drag. I feel like nothing really has happened.

Book 3 is definitely my favorite by far.

Yeah Book 4 was the hardest for me to get through. The interesting thing about Book 5 is you're going back in time as it's running concurrently with book 4. Book 4 & 5 was one large book before George RR Martin decided to break it down into 2 books. I need to go back and re-read 4 because I know there were some significant things that happened, but for the life of me I can't remember what they were! LOL

Just finished season 1 with Kal via Netflix. I think he enjoyed it and he was quite surprised... you know, what that surprising stuff happens.

How did you watch it on Netflix? I thought it wasn't on there :/

It's not streamable, but they do have Season 1 on DVD.

Oh duh. I forgot that Netflix even did that, I just do the streaming stuff.

OR if you have HBOGO (or a very kind friend w/ an HBO subscription who will share their log-in info with you) you can find season 1 and 2 on there. Myr and I will be starting season 1 (he hasn't seen it yet) once we finish True Blood and Firefly. We have the season finale of True Blood and I'm 5 episodes into Firefly. PLUS I've got Dr. Who to start catching up on...sheesh. Too much TV! LOL

This is completely spoiler for the first book/season...

SO SPOILERS!!!

Spoiler: (highlight to read)
I just re-watched the first episode of the first season. I almost yelled at Ned because when they are at the crossroads, he tells Jon that they will speak about his mother when Ned gets back from King's Landing.

I know they have not given any real clues to who she is, but god damn you Ned for dying.

That is all, thank you.

Dragon - have you googled any of the theories people have on that? It's crazy what some people think...I have my own theory, so hopefully we find out SOON what the big flippin reveal is!