Winter is Coming: Symbols and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones: (A Deeper Look Into Game of Thrones Book 1)

I've only seen the series so Frankel's book really helped me to understand and appreciate Game of Thrones in a deeper way. No movie can ever give you the depth of the book, but until I make my way through the five books, Winter is Coming: Symbols and and Hidden Meanings is just what I needed to make more sense of the four seasons I'd just watched.Swords seem to be much more than swords in the series, but until I read this book, I had no idea why. It's all about sacrificing something you love to earn/deserve something of great value. There's the story of the sword Lightbringer, and the legend of how it was forged. "To fight the darkness, Azor Ahai need to forge a hero's sword. He labored for thirty days and thirty nights until it was done. However, when he went to temper it in water, the sword broke. He was not one to give up easily, so he started over. The second time he took fifty days and fifty night to make the sword, even better than the first. To temper it this time he captured a lion and drove the sword int its heart, but once more the steel shattered. . . .he called for his wife, NIssa Nissa and he drove his sword into her breast, her soul combining with the steel of the sword, creating Lightbringer." loc. 153Frankel goes on to speculation who Jon Snow's father and mother might be which, according to Frankel is different in every book. Ned Stark says that Jon is his blood, yet Ned is an honorable man so it's unlikely that he had a child with another woman while his wife was pregnant so that could only mean that Jon is related to Ned in some other way. Maybe it's his nephew by his sister? And if Robert knew he'd have Jon killed because his father was is Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. I personally love the idea that Jon is a prince because he's so honorable and a natural leader.Frankel gives many more clues and lots of speculation that I imagine I wouldn't need if I'd read the books, but until I can get to reading them, this guide helped me to appreciate the series so much more. With excellent writing, Frankel gives the reader insight into the series without having to read the books.

I started reading this immediately after finishing book five, and after reading that bundled 5,000 behemoth of a series, this felt like the fastest read of my life. It was interesting to have all of the references laid out in convenient lists, because Martin definitely hinted at events to come in books six and seven, and there were some points I didn't catch at all or hadn't developed fully until reading this book.Okay now I'm not terribly history savvy, but a section of this book was about historical references throughout the series, and I knew that it was based off of medieval England, but I didn't know the extent to which Martin based his geography or even his characters off of it. Specific characters directly parallel the actions of actual Monarchs in medical England, and the Wall of the Night's Watch was based off of Hadrian's Wall (a bit small by comparison, but it's there nonetheless), which kept the savages and unknown world at bay. Frankel goes into a lot of detail about it, and it made me want to do my research and dive right into the dreaded history books.A short read, but it brought an interesting perspective and some new opinions into the discussion, and definitely opened my eyes about some lesser-known facts. Maybe not worth the $4 for the Kindle edition, just because it's so short, but it's interesting regardless.

I only gave this a four star rating because, having read (thus far) all five of G.R.R.M.'s books as well as watching the HBO series, Itseemed to leave everything to speculation... It also seemed in areas to be lagging behind, and answering things that anybody who has paid attention, already knew in the 1st & 2nd Season. The 3rd Season isn't scheduled for release yet until February, 2014, so it isn't even considered here... The only good news comes at the end of the book where Martin informs all that there is a sixth & seventh book to wrap this whole thing up. I don't know when they are due to arrive, but I am sure, like myself, everybody else is justitching to find out. It's anybody's guess.

A great follow-on read for those that are waiting for the next book. This book provides some real points to ponder and helps explain some of the not-so-apparent relationships that I missed in the books. I enjoyed the discussions on how closely some of the storyline in the books parallel with actual history. Most of all I liked how this book helps to explain additional details about some of the major characters and how Martin planted clues throughout the story of what may be coming. Since reading this book, I have much more respect for Martin's writing and may go back and read the series again to help pull more details.

I'd give this about 3.5 stars (I wish Amazon used a ten point rating system, I feel that would allow more exact reviewing). There were some interesting ideas in here, some analysis I hadn't thought of, and more comparison to Earth history than I have knowledge to do myself. Some reviewers think the history is inaccurate, that may be, but this isn't a matter of life and death (unless you are a character in the books), so I just accepted it at face value and enjoyed.

There are several very interesting theories & connections put forward in this book, though not all are solid. I know that histories in Westeros are very unreliable, but some of the historic information the author writes of is, from what I've read, inaccurate.All together I really enjoyed this book. It really gets you thinking of the many complex stories, characters and their connections. I would definitely suggest this book for every ASOIF fan.

Very interesting and gets you thinking about the themes in the books. Naturally it is the author's views and conclusion and I'm dubious about some of them but others make a lot of sense and reinforced my own thoughts about a couple of things, e.g. Jon Snow's background.Good value for the money and, as the title says, a good fix if you're a fan of the books and are getting restless waiting for the next one!

THIS IS JUST A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS HOUSES INVOLVED IN THE SEVEN KINGDOMS,IT WOULD BE BETTER IF YOU READ THE BOOK SERIES OF (GAME OF THRONES).STILL IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE BOOKS THEN THIS IS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR.

A must read for all Game of Thrones followers.This book is a great insight into the people, plots and subplotsIt also gives you pause for though to think along different lines as to what,where,who did what ,where,and when,to who when and where.... hope you are keeping up on all that lol

Useful addition to the George RR Martin books, although it was published a few years ago, and so isn't completely up-to-date. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading more about this fantasy world and some of its characters.

It's a good idea and many of ideas are sound and reasonable to assume but many are out of context