GRRM is all set to release a new aSoIaF short story!

We've all be waiting for The Winds of Winter to be released for years now and we all know that the sixth instalment of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire doesn't even have a release date (as of publishing this post). It's a long and frustrating wait to be sure, but I'm glad that everyone has started to get off GRRM's back about the delay - art can't be rushed and, in the end, we'll get the book he wants us to read eventually and we'll enjoy it a lot more than a rushed, error-filled 'fan-pleaser.'

The good news, however, is that GRRM's wetting our aSoIaF appetites in October 2017! He has written an anthology called Book of Swords, which contains 15 short stories, one of which is a never-before released story set in Westeros!

It's not the news we've all been hoping for, but it'll certainly be an interesting read and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! The book, which is once again edited by Gardner Dozois, is available for pre-order on Amazon now!

Waterstones Releases the Ending of A Song of Ice & Fire!!!

What?! Waterstones has released the ending to A Song of Ice & Fire?! I probably thought exactly the same thing as you when I saw the article's headline pop up and could barely contain a sense of terrified, confused excitement. I'm a huge fan of the series and, since discovering George R. R. Martin, he has become one of my favourite authors. But should Waterstones have released the ending ahead of GRRM's books and HBO's television series?

My answer is 'no,' although, in all fairness, I don't know if Waterstones actually have. After a moment of weakness that I nearly acted on, I decided not to read the article and plan to wait for the upcoming books and series to have the story told properly. I did read the article's description though and apparently Waterstones have released the original outline of the epic series, which GRRM made when he was trying to sell his idea to publishers. The description said the storyline has since diverged somewhat, so who knows how similar the ending will be to GRRM's original idea now ASoIaF has matured.

I guess you have the choice to find out for yourself and can read the article here. To read or not to read? The choice is yours and only one thing is certain, there's no turning back if you go through the looking glass . . .

GRRM is all set to release A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a prequel to ASoIaF!

Anybody who's familiar with George R. R. Martin, who is often affectionately called GRRM by his fans, will know that he is writing a hugely complex work of fantasy intrigue called A Song of Ice & Fire. These critically acclaimed novels are international best sellers in themselves and have been adapted into Game of Thrones, one of television's biggest shows.

While it is taking GRRM a long time to write The Winds of Winter, the sixth instlment of the series, he is managing to get a few spin-off novels into print. He released The World of Ice & Fire in 2014 and now has another book ready, which comprises all three prequel novellas about Aegon Targaryen's early life, where he is know as Egg and squires for Ser Duncan the Tall . . .

I expect that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will be a must-read for any ASoIaF fan and is available for preorder now, being set for release on 6th October 2015! I think this book is well worth watching out for and will provide a much needed Westerosi fix! One that I'm certainly eager to get!

GRRM Releases Another Excerpt From 'The Winds of Winter'

George R. R. Martin has just released a new excerpt from his upcoming novel, The Winds of Winter, the next instalment of his popular and critically acclaimed series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Although this isn't quite as exciting as announcing a release date for the book, it's certainly interesting and provides a good teaser for the widely anticipated sequel.

The excerpt, which can be read on his website, features the Lady Alayne as the PoV character, who is apparently being forced into a political marriage. For obvious reasons, I don't know enough about the plot to speculate on this too much, but Lord Petyr Baelish is involved in the scene so the arrangement can't be good for Alayne! Anyway, never mind what I think and read the excerpt for yourself - afterall, it's only a click away!

Dangerous Women - George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

RATING: THREE STARS

Dangerous Women is an anthology of short stories that features female characters as its main protagonists. All of its stories have been written by some of the biggest authors in fantasy, being full of darkness and adversity while women struggle to protect themselves and those they love.

The collection also includes a novella based on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin called The Princess and the Queen! The story is relatively short, but it's full of depth and describes the events of the first Dance with Dragons where two rival factions of House Targaryen go to war for the Iron Throne. GRRM's addition to the book is by far its must read, but many of the other stories in Dangerous Women are extremely enjoyable and its contents are as follows:

• Some Desperado by Joe Abercrombie
• My Heart Is Either Broken by Megan Abbott
• Nora's Song by Cecelia Holland
• The Hands That Are Not There by Melinda Snodgrass
• Bombshells by Jim Butcher
• Raisa Stepanova by Carrie Vaughn
• Wrestling Jesus by Joe R. Lansdale
• Neighbors by Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)
• I Know How To Pick 'Em by Lawrence Block
• Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson
• A Queen In Exile by Sharon Kay Penman
• The Girl in the Mirror by Lev Grossman
• Second Arabesque, Very Slowly by Nancy Kress
• City Lazarus by Diana Rowland
• Virgins by Diana Gabaldon
• Hell Hath No Fury by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Pronouncing Doom by S. M. Sterling
• Name the Beast by Sam Sykes
• Caretakers by Pat Cadigan
• Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector
• The Princess and the Queen by George R. R. Martin

The Good

As said above, The Princess and the Queen is the best story in Dangerous Women and is a must-read for all fans of ASoIaF! GRRM has written it in the beautiful prose I have come to expect of him and it's every bit as detailed as the larger books in his series. It's also extremely interesting to read about the history of Westeros and finally see what fully grown dragons are capable of as cities are burnt to the ground and how armies attempt to defend themselves against devastating attacks from the sky!

It's also nice to read stories where women are cast in strong, independent roles as the heroes (instead of men). Women are every bit as capable of greatness as men and it's refreshing to read about them finding the courage to stand against monsters like in Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson. I think too many fantasy authors are still casting women in non-roles (which is a shame for this day-and-age) and Dangerous Women goes a long way to help rectify this.

The Bad

As with any short story anthology written by different authors, some of the stories included are much better than others. The Princess and the Queen, Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell and Some Desperado were particularly good, but sadly some of the other stories were actually quite boring. All of the authors included in the book are highly accomplished in the fantasy genre and I think this is a shame since it easily could have been remedied with a bit more imagination and craftsmanship on their parts!

My Thoughts

Dangerous Women is definitely worth a read overall (even if it's only to glimpse a part of Westeros' bloody history) and will make a valuable additional to anybody's bookshelf. It's an entertaining way to spend a few hours and the good stories easily make up for those that are a bit more mundane. The book is a real collection of talent and won't leave many readers feeling cheated!

Upcoming anthology: 'Rogues' by George R. R. Martin et al

Hi all,

Here's a quick message to all of you fantasy fans out there, who might be interested to learn of a new anthology that will be released soon (although there's no publication date as of yet). The anthology is called Rogues and features 21 stories from some of the biggest authors in the fantasy genre, including a new Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin and a piece by Patrick Rothfuss himself!

The full list of featured authors (as it stands at the moment) is:

• George R. R. Martin
• Patrick Rothfuss
• Joe Abercrombie
• Daniel Abraham
• David W. Ball
• Paul Cornell
• Bradley Denton
• Phyllis Eisenstein
• Gillian Flynn
• Neil Gaiman
• Matthew Hughes
• Joe R. Lansdale
• Scott Lynch
• Garth Nix
• Cherie Priest
• Steven Saylor
• Michael Swanwick
• Lisa Tuttle
• Carrie Vaughn
• Walter Jon Williams
• Connie Willis

I'm certainly going to keep my eye on this one and will let you know once a release date has been set!

Chronological reading list for A Feast for Crows & A Dance with Dragons

WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS. THIS POST SHOULD ONLY BE READ BY THOSE WHO ARE UP TO DATE WITH A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE

Just to be absolutely clear, I'm going to warn you all again - this post contains spoilers for ASoIaF so only read it if you're up to date with the series and have read A Dance with Dragons.

Okay, so that's my disclaimers over and done with now and I can get on with the rest of this post! I hope I don't to sound too angry in them, by the way, but I know how annoyed I'd have been if someone foretold ASoIaF for me and I don't want to see anybody leaving comments beneath this post moaning that I've given stuff away! So I'm going to assume that everyone reading to this point has now read A Dance with Dragons...

As you have, will have undoubtedly noticed that its chronology is weird and actually overlaps with A Feast for Crows. As I understand it, this is largely due to problems that George R. R. Martin had while he was writing the series. Following A Storm of Swords, Martin had originally wanted the series to jump ahead by a few years and had actually started writing Feast as if it had. He had only gotten a short way into the book, however, before he realised that this idea wasn't going to work and had to start again (which was a factor in the length of time it took to complete the novel). So Martin re-planned his concept for Feast,  but found that while the time jump didn't work for some characters, it did for others. Furthermore, he found that he had too many characters to write about simultaneously and, hey-presto, we've ended up with two chronologically overlapping books.

Obviously this has led to certain PoV characters being completely absent in one of the two books, which some fans think has 'staled' their storylines somewhat. Many have also suggested that this takes some of the power away from certain revelations because the initial shock has worn off and we've had time to become accustomed to the plot twist. A good example of this is Tyrion Lannister's descent into alcoholism after he murders his father and flees Westeros. By the time we get to read of his fate, we're all long accustomed to his exile!

In response to this, many fans of the series have begun to develop ways of reading Feast and Dance together as one book - we do, afterall, have both of them available now. There have been many problems with this though, which is largely due to the complexity of the story - let's face it, aside from Martin himself, I think we all struggle to comprehend everything that's going on to some degree!

Sean T Collins, however, is one such fan and seems to have had some success with this idea - managing to restructure both of the books into one so that the entire story flows chronologically (at least roughly). And while I'm not really a fan of this idea and will always reread the books exactly as Martin wrote them, I think that the idea sounds fun and has merit. So, if you are interested in this and would like to reread the series in a custom, chronological order, please see below for the chapter list (as it appears on Sean's website). Enjoy!

1. Prologue (Varamyr): ADWD 1
2. Prologue (Pate): AFFC 1
3. The Prophet (Aeron I): AFFC 2
4. The Captain of Guards (Areo I): AFFC 3
5. Cersei I: AFFC 4
6. Tyrion I: ADWD 2
7. Daenerys I: ADWD 3
8. Brienne I: AFFC 5
9. Jon I: ADWD 4
10. Bran I: ADWD 5
11. Tyrion II: ADWD 6
12. The Merchant’s Man (Quentyn I): ADWD 7 ^
13. Samwell I: AFFC 6
14. Jon II: ADWD 8
15. Arya I: AFFC 7
16. Cersei II: AFFC 8
17. Jaime I: AFFC 9
18. Brienne II: AFFC 10
19. Sansa I: AFFC 11
20. The Kraken’s Daughter (Asha I): AFFC 12
21. Tyrion III: ADWD 9
22. Davos I: ADWD 10
23. Jon III: ADWD 11
24. Daenerys II: ADWD 12
25. Reek I (Theon I): ADWD 13
26. Cersei III: AFFC 13
27. The Soiled Knight (Arys): AFFC 14
28. Bran II: ADWD 14
29. Tyrion IV: ADWD 15
30. Davos II: ADWD 16
31. Brienne III: AFFC 15
32. Samwell II: AFFC 16
33. Daenerys III: ADWD 17
34. Jon IV: ADWD 18
35. Jaime II: AFFC 17
36. Tyrion V: ADWD 19
37. Cersei IV: AFFC 18
38. Davos III: ADWD 20
39. The Iron Captain (Victarion I): AFFC 19
40. The Drowned Man (Aeron II): AFFC 20
41. Brienne IV: AFFC 21
42. The Queenmaker (Arianne I): AFFC 22
43. Arya II: AFFC 23
44. Alayne I (Sansa II): AFFC 24
45. Cersei V: AFFC 25
46. Reek II (Theon II): ADWD 21
47. Jon V: ADWD 22
48. Tyrion VI: ADWD 23
49. Daenerys IV: ADWD 24
50. The Lost Lord (Jon Connington I): ADWD 25
51. The Windblown (Quentyn II): ADWD 26
52. The Wayward Bride (Asha II): ADWD 27
53. Brienne V: AFFC 26
54. Samwell III: AFFC 27
55. Jaime III: AFFC 28
56. Tyrion VII: ADWD 28
57. Jon VI: ADWD 29
58. Davos IV: ADWD 30
59. Cersei VI: AFFC 29
60. The Reaver (Victarion II): AFFC 30
61. Daenerys V: ADWD 31
62. Melisandre I: ADWD 32
63. Jaime IV: AFFC 31
64. Brienne VI: AFFC 32
65. Reek III (Theon III): ADWD 33
66. Tyrion VIII: ADWD 34
67. Cersei VII: AFFC 33
68. Jaime V: AFFC 34
69. Cat of the Canals (Arya III): AFFC 35
70. Samwell IV: AFFC 36
71. Cersei VIII: AFFC 37
72. Brienne VII: AFFC 38
73. Jaime VI: AFFC 39
74. Cersei IX: AFFC 40
75. The Princess in the Tower (Arianne II): AFFC 41 ^
76. Bran III: ADWD 35
77. Jon VII: ADWD 36
78. Daenerys VI: ADWD 37
79. The Prince of Winterfell (Theon IV): ADWD 38
80. The Watcher (Areo II): ADWD 39
81. Jon VIII: ADWD 40
82. Tyrion IX: ADWD 41
83. The Turncloak (Theon V): ADWD 42
84. The King’s Prize (Asha III): ADWD 43
85. Daenerys VII: ADWD 44
86. Alayne II (Sansa III): AFFC 42
87. Jon IX: ADWD 45
88. Brienne VIII: AFFC 43
89. Cersei X: AFFC 44
90. Jaime VII: AFFC 45
91. Samwell V: AFFC 46
92. The Blind Girl (Arya IV): ADWD 46
93. A Ghost in Winterfell (Theon VI): ADWD 47
94. Tyrion X: ADWD 48
95. Jaime VIII: ADWD 49
96. Jon X: ADWD 50
97. Daenerys VIII: ADWD 51
98. Theon VII: ADWD 52
99. Daenerys IX: ADWD 53
100. Jon XI: ADWD 54
101. Cersei XI: ADWD 55
102. The Queensguard (Barristan I): ADWD 56
103. The Iron Suitor (Victarion III): ADWD 57
104. Tyrion XI: ADWD 58
105. Jon XII: ADWD 59
106. The Discarded Knight (Barristan II): ADWD 60
107. The Spurned Suitor (Quentyn III): ADWD 61
108. The Griffin Reborn (Jon Connington II): ADWD 62
109. The Sacrifice (Asha IV): ADWD 63
110. Victarion IV: ADWD 64
111. The Ugly Little Girl (Arya V): ADWD 65
112. Cersei XII: ADWD 66
113. Tyrion XII: ADWD 67
114. The Kingbreaker (Barristan III): ADWD 68
115. The Dragontamer (Quentyn IV): ADWD 69
116. Jon XIII: ADWD 70
117. The Queen’s Hand (Barristan IV): ADWD 71
118. Daenerys X: ADWD 72
119. Epilogue (Kevan): ADWD 73

A Dance with Dragons - George R. R. Martin

RATING: FIVE STARS

Unfortunately, I read most of the books in A Song of Ice and Fire before I became interested in writing reviews and, as a result, any reviews that I post now won't be a fair assessment of them as they've all blurred into one big mess inside my head! Because of this, I plan to hold off reviewing them until I reread the series (which I undoubtedly will at some point), and for now, will just have to live with most of the titles being absent from my blog. Luckily A Dance with Dragons, the rather meaty fifth instalment of the series, was one of the first reviews I posted on Goodreads and I've decided to improve the review and repost it here!

So, enough waffle and let's begin! And, as you may already know, George R. R. Martin decided to overlap the chronology of A Dance with Dragons with that of the fourth book in ASoIaF (A Feast for Crows) due to the its staggering complexity and split the events unfolding around his POV characters accordingly. Thus, A Dance with Dragons predominantly deals with the characters that Martin had neglected in A Feast for Crows and mostly tells of the events unfolding around Jon Snow and Stannis Baratheon in the north, along with those of Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark and Tyrion Lannister in the east. It's worth noting however, that towards the end of the book Martin passes the events in A Feast for Crows and continues to advance the story of ASoIaF as a whole by including his entire ensemble of POV characters to set the scene for The Winds of Winter.

I wont tell you anything about the plot of the book though (because I don't want to spoil it for you), expect to say that it is every bit as gripping as its predecessors and is filled with the typically unpredictable plot lines that I have come to except of Martin. Furthermore, the book contains his usual vividly descriptive narrative that adds depth to his prose and its brutal violence, promiscuous sex and the political intrigue of the scheming lords and ladies throughout a vast array of locations helps to keep the book fresh and makes it extremely difficult to put down - something that became a great problem for me since I foolishly started reading A Dance with Dragons just before I sat some of my final year exams!

I can safely say to any fan of ASoIaF that you won't be disappointed with A Dance with Dragons though and it's certainly a worthy instalment of the series, being both fast moving and shocking so you're left routing for certain characters, hating others and fearing for the lives of many more in the true style George R. R. Martin! And, by the end of the book, the events have begun to boil up in a manner that is going to make The Winds of Winter a very exciting read! Thus, I would recommend reading A Dance with Dragons to anyone who is a fan of the series (both of the books and HBO's TV show) and recommend beginning ASoIaF as a whole to anyone who hasn't read it before. Be warned though that the book takes a long time to read and could easily take over your life!

'The World of Ice and Fire' release date

Although the next instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire doesn't look to be finished any time soon, George R. R. Martin does have some good news for us and on the 29th October 2013, The World of Ice and Fire is set to be released.

The book, which is written by Martin along with the help of Elio M. Garcia and Linda Antonsson from westeros.org, is an account of the official history behind ASoIaF and describes the first Dance of Dragons - a fratricidal civil war between King Aegon II Targaryen and his half-sister, Rhaenyra.

Martin has announced that he is writing the book, which will also describe a rich and detailed history of Westeros in general, through the eyes of several POV characters just as he does in the rest of ASoIaF. These characters are known to be a variety of maesters, since using their educated viewpoints will allow Martin to have a greater level of creative freedom to tell the nation's expectedly bloody history through multiple and custom viewpoints.

Although announcing The World of Ice and Fire's release date isn't quite as exciting as announcing the one for The Winds of Winter will be, the book certainly looks intriguing and is already on my 'to read' list - promising to sate my appetite for ASoIaF at least for the time being. Martin has said that the book has "turned into a monster" and I expect that it will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable companion for any 'hard core' fan of the series, much like J. R. R. Tolkien's Silmarillion is for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

GRRM releases new excerpt from 'The Winds of Winter'

The release of The Winds of Winter, the sixth instalment of George R. R. Martin's spectacular A Song of Ice and Fire series, is still a long way off and so far, hasn't even got an expected publication date. But Martin is undoubtedly making progress with his writing and has just released a new sample chapter from the novel (click here)! 

The chapter, which focuses around Princess Arianne Martell of Dorne (who was first introduced as a POV character in A Feast for Crows), is a perfect tease for the upcoming book and replaces the earlier excerpt Martin released based around Theon Greyjoy.

But I won't spoil the excerpt for you - just enjoy it! I certainly did!

The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr - George R. R. Martin

RATING: FOUR STARS

I must confess that I've not read many short stories in my time, mainly because I prefer to invest in long novels that I can really sink my teeth into and presumed that this would not be possible in a shorter piece of work. However, my finances have been a bit strained lately and I've found myself looking more and more at some of the short stories written by my favourite authors - mainly, due to their cheaper price!

And so I was quite surprised when I downloaded The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr onto my Kindle and found that many of my assumptions about short stories were wrong! Written in the same gripping and masterfully vivid prose that I have come to expect from George R. R. Martin, The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr is a delightfully interesting short story about a mysterious woman who is able to walk between different worlds using special gateways.

As she passes through countless worlds, she is constantly searching for her lover, a young man who was taken from her by the powerfully evil Seven many years before. And so, it is on one of these worlds that the woman stumbles upon Laren Dorr - an exiled and rather lonely god who has long been prophesied to love her. The mysterious woman decides to stay with the god, at least until she's recovered from her many injuries, and learns that the god loves her - suspecting that he will try anything in his power in order to keep her there with him...

Final Thoughts

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr, finding that it was every bit as detailed as many other 'full-sized' novels that I've read. In fact, the short story painted a satisfyingly vivid picture of a perfectly beautiful, yet sad world that any fan of fantasy and science fiction will appreciate and enjoy - making it a perfect way to kill a spare hour!