Quick Q. GoT: HBO vs. Books

Hi everyone. I have been swept up in Game of Thrones mania over the past few months. I love the HBO series and am wisbing to dive into the books but really don't want to re-read any story that I have seen to this point. So I guess my question is can I dive into the third book and get up to speed or do I really need to read book 2? Buying digital Kindle copies fwiw.

Read the first two. Trust me. Read them. While the show is a good representation of the source material, the books are so much more dense and layered. It's worth the extra time, besides you have until March 31, 2013 until Season three starts.

Edit: Also while Season 1 is fairly true to the first book there are things in the background that are important down the line they didn't touch on the show. Also with Book 2 there were significant changes (most just compressing stories and characters) enough so that reading it will seem "fairly" new to you and will make Book 3 make a heck of a lot more sense to you. Dany's story in Qarth for instance is much much different in Book 2. (for good and bad) I think you'd be a little lost jumping straight to book 3.

While not having read any of the books myself, I have always come to believe that almost always no matter how faithful an adaptation is....it is just that, an adaptation. The shows that are based on books are more likely to skip over and or compress things down just for the sake of time.

The same thing can be said for The Walking Dead....while an excellent show in its own right, the comic books are different and just as good.

In the end what I am saying, is if you are going to make the commitment to read the books, start at the beginning, you will be glad that you did!

I am second guessing myself after reading reviews of book 4-5 which seem to characterize them as wastes of time in which nearly nothing of consequence happens. It sounds like GRRM was planning on a 5yr time skip after book 3, but changed his mind and disappointed most readers of the first three with books 4-5 which fleshed out what was best (for story advancement) glossed over.

I now have some anxiety about GRRM being able to finish his epic in his lifespan. I wouldn't be surprised to have him keel over in some near-future Comic-Con hotel, while receiving fan-sex from a star-struck nerd-grrl.

Taken as a whole, Book 4 and 5 aren't as bad as you've heard.

I would do what MM says: read the first two books (I'd say the first three, actually!). They are some of the finest fantasy literature ever written.

Once you've read these, my guess is you'll want to spend more time in Westeros/Essos, regardless of what happens in the books.

I've enjoyed the whole series.
Yeah, the first two-three are quite a bit stronger than the later entries, but it's still the best sustained effort on a long fantasy series I've ever read.

The later books may not be as terrific as the earlier ones, but if you like the characters and want to find out what happens to them they still get the job done.

I'll agree with saying you should just start with book 1 and read them all. The first book is a (relatively) quick read, and will give you some nice backstory and fleshing out of characters and events you don't get from the show. And book 2 deviated enough that some things in book 3 will seem a bit off. And again, as big as the fist 3 books are, I'd guess you'll find yourself getting through them somewhat quickly.

I have friends that hate book 4, and were underwhelmed by 5. I think they're both pretty decent, but I also think they are a bit bloated, and could have been better served by better editing. One of the problems, also, is that because they were originally planned to be one book, Martin ended up dividing the characters, so that many of readers' favorite characters were not in book 4. I think that once the characters in book 5 catch up to those in 4 and the story moves forward as a whole again (about 2/3 of the way through book 5) the writing also became better and the story became more compelling again.

I pretty much agree with what everyone else here has said - read them all, you won't regret it.

I can attest that the first four books are worth a read. However, it's pretty dense stuff with a lot of plot threads going on simultaneously. I read the first four non stop and then had to wait for the fifth to come out - I bought it when it was released and still haven't read it because every time I try I'm somewhat lost having jumbled up or forgotten things that went on. And I find rereading the first four to be a rather daunting prospect.

Yeah, I think that's the toughest part about the GoT series. I remember the broad strokes, but as each new book is released I find myself re-reading the entire series prior to the newest, just so I can catch as many details and references that I can. At this point, I'm almost tempted to skip buying and reading book 6 until book 7 comes out.

To the OP, I'll ditto what everyone has said. Read them all.

Book 4 is probably the worst of the series, but doesn't make it a bad book just not as good as the others. Rumor has it that the editor backed off giving GRRM a bit more slack. As such the story meanders quite a bit.

Book 5 gets better in that respect though.

The 4th book, A Feast For Crows, is a fine book, and over time has become one of my favorites.

Structurally, it is much more thematic than the previous three books, considerably more atmospheric. The third book in particular is packed to the gills with major plot-turning events; the fourth book by contrast is more about picking up the pieces and expanding the world.

The fourth book dives in-depth into several more peripheral characters and introduces several completely new locations. From a world-building standpoint, it's pretty fantastic. For readers hungry for "What Comes Next!?", it can feel slow and detatched. It's somewhat frustrating in that four key point-of-view characters from the first three books are completely absent in the fourth. Put in that context, you can probably understand why readers were upset with the time passing between book three and four, then from four to five.

As to your original question, I highly recommend starting the books from the beginning. While the HBO adaptation has been mostly awesome, the increased depth you get from the source material is staggering. Mostly you get the benefit of internal dialogue, so you get a better understanding of motivations behind decisions that the characters make.