A Song of Ice and Fire is a historical high fantasy series of novels written by George R. R. Martin who wrote the first book in 1991. Martin initially planned to have a trilogy, yet later announced that the series would consist of seven volumes, namely A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, The Winds of Winter, and A Dream of Spring. Family, medieval politics, religion, sexuality, death, violence, rape, and magic are some of the predominant elements in the series. Chapters of the books are narrated by different point of view characters, with Arya Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Tyrion Lannister as some of the popular characters for the readers.

Martin is currently writing the sixth book, The Winds of Winter and its release date is still unknown. The HBO made a television adaptation of the said series titled Game of Thrones based on title of the first book of the series.

A Game of Thrones

In the world of Westeros where seasons last for years, great Houses become engaged in a political fight to achieve ambitions, dominance, power, love, and honor. The first book revolved around three stories: politics in the Seven Kingdoms, The Wall, and the storyline of Daenerys Targaryen; yet it focused mostly on the journey of the members of House Stark. The shocking death of Ned Stark, the presumed main character in the series, has been the main highlight of this book.

A Clash of Kings

Following the death of Ned Stark, the war of the five self-proclaimed kings caused a growing chaos across the Seven Kingdoms. The Night’s Watch are headed on their journey north of the Wall while Daenerys Targaryen continues her journey to the Iron Throne. The defeat of Stannis Baratheon in the Battle of Blackwater is probably the main highlight in this book.

A Storm of Swords

A Storm of Swords is a whopping 992-page book with 82 chapters. Because of its massive pages, some countries split it in two, three, and even four volumes. Treacheries and deaths of many well-known characters including Robb Stark, Catelyn Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, and Tywin Lannister are notable in this book. Aside from war of the remaining self-proclaimed kings, other highlights in A Storm of Swords include Daenerys Targaryen gaining her Unsullied army, battle of wildlings and brothers of the Night’s Watch at the Castle Black on the Wall, and Jon Snow being the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.

A Feast for Crows

The events in A Feast for Crows took place simultaneously with the events in A Dance with Dragons, with different set of point of view characters. The absence of points of views of Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and Jon Snow caused negative feedbacks from the die-hard followers of A Song of Ice and Fire series during its release. A Feast for Crows focused on the happenings in the Seven Kingdoms, mainly the aftermath of the War of the Five Kings: in King’s Landing, Riverlands, Dorne, Iron Islands, and Eyrie; and Braavos.

A Dance With Dragons

It took five years for George R. R. Martin to finish this 1056-page book, the longest volume so far in the series which was released in 2011. It covers mostly the storylines of characters which were absent in the previous book, A Feast for Crows such as Jon Snow on The Wall, Tyrion Lannister across the Narrow Sea and Daenerys Targaryen in Slaver’s Bay. It also features some of the happenings in King’s Landing, the North, and Braavos. Most of the events are in the same time span of the events in A Feast for Crows.

The Winds of Winter

According to George R. R. Martin in one his interviews, The Winds of Winter is expected to be at least 1500 pages long, and as of now he might not reach the thousandth page yet. With lots of cliff-hangers brought by A Dance with Dragons and some of the sample chapters of The Winds of Winter released by George R. R. Martin, more fans have subjected their own theories to what will come next to their favourite characters as well as who will take the Iron Throne.

A Dream of Spring

What to look forward to: Well, for now let us wait for George R. R. Martin to finish The Winds of Winter first. A Dream of Spring is only just a dream, yet.

The HBO adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire series Game of Thrones will air its fourth season on April 6, 2014. In connection with the book series, Season 4 will cover the second part of A Storm of Swords and some of the events on the first parts of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. Meanwhile, for computer gamers, Telltale Games announced last December 2013 that they are working on a brand-new Game of Thrones video game. For the release of The Winds of Winter, G.R.R.M. has no definite time on mind on when shall it be finished. Maybe in 2020? Seven hells, let us hope not.