How long did it take for you to get hooked on ASOIAF?

Why is it that only now, after you've said this Boaz, that it become so blindingly obvious that that needed to be said!
 
Oh yeah, Mark, from someone in his thirties who elected not to go to university thinking that three years experience would be just as good: FINISH YOUR DEGREE. And work your arse off for at least a 2:1. And be glad you're going now, before Dave hikes tuition fees AGAIN...
 
Oh yeah, Mark, from someone in his thirties who elected not to go to university thinking that three years experience would be just as good: FINISH YOUR DEGREE. And work your arse off for at least a 2:1. And be glad you're going now, before Dave hikes tuition fees AGAIN...
Let me qualify this... Mark, get a degree that will get a JOB/CAREER. I elected to go to university AND graduate school so I spent 7 years and $160,000 getting a law degree and I can't get a job to save my life. I might go to work at Costco (Tesco for the Brits) and have no hope of ever paying off my student loans.

University is only worth your time and money if you have some idea what you want to do with your degree and are obtaining a degree employers want. If you're just going to "find yourself" or study literature/books/humanities... get a job and join a book club.

*edit* since you called it uni, I suspect you might not be an American. In that case, you can disregard most of what I said, because as far as I know Europe does not have the problem of bankrupting all its citizens that go to college by saddling them with crushing student debt!
 
Britain really does now, most undergraduates now have to borrow about £50,000 for a three-year bachelor's. But now Dave is in sole control that's only going to get worse.
 
Let me qualify this... Mark, get a degree that will get a JOB/CAREER. I elected to go to university AND graduate school so I spent 7 years and $160,000 getting a law degree and I can't get a job to save my life. I might go to work at Costco (Tesco for the Brits) and have no hope of ever paying off my student loans.

University is only worth your time and money if you have some idea what you want to do with your degree and are obtaining a degree employers want. If you're just going to "find yourself" or study literature/books/humanities... get a job and join a book club.

*edit* since you called it uni, I suspect you might not be an American. In that case, you can disregard most of what I said, because as far as I know Europe does not have the problem of bankrupting all its citizens that go to college by saddling them with crushing student debt!
Meaning, go get a bachelor in Maths and then Masters in Stats. ahahaha
 
Narky, I walked away from my master's when all I had to do was my thesis. That was a very, very, very poor choice.
 
I first read A Game of Thrones in 1999, before it was a big deal (A Clash of Kings had only just been published). It didn't take on the first try. I got about one-third of the way through the book, and then set it aside. I was reading a lot of history at the time, and I found the anachronistic behavior of some of the characters in AGoT offputting.

About eight years later, I decided to give it another go. With a different mindset and expectations, I found it much more agreeable than the first time. I immediately started on the second book, then the third. If there was anything in AGoT that encouraged me to feel the series would be worthwhile, it was when the action picks up with Caetlyn's capture of Tyrion and their journey through Mountains of the Moon, along with the scheming in King's Landing, which seemed likely to bring peril to the Starks.
 
MWagner, the defenestration and the second execution were the big surprises for me in AGOT. But as you've mentioned, Tyrion's POV's against the totality of the Stark perspective on the Seven Kingdoms really piqued my interest... that... and the fact that after the prologue introduced demons, everyone enjoyed staying ignorant of their encroaching doom.
 
MWagner, the defenestration and the second execution were the big surprises for me in AGOT. But as you've mentioned, Tyrion's POV's against the totality of the Stark perspective on the Seven Kingdoms really piqued my interest... that... and the fact that after the prologue introduced demons, everyone enjoyed staying ignorant of their encroaching doom.

I think that was a really clever play by Martin. Introduce the White Walkers in the prologue, then wait what, another 2 books before showing them again? I guess we had some Wights to deal with, but we don't see white walkers again until the great ranging.

certainly there is enough political intrigue to keep you occupied but there is always that nagging sensation that we are missing the real story, the real threat, which is the Others.
 
I was very hooked at first but I begin to wonder now if Martin will ever finish. I'm glad to know that the video says it will end at season 7 but I wonder if that will be a disappointment as it may not be Martin's ending and consequently could miss the whole idea of the story.

The Others story and the coming Winter are very important. I think it would be very disappointing if it just turned out to be another seasonal change and everything goes back to being as it was for the last 8 millennia at the end.
 
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@Joan, i still got my hopes up GRRM will be able to finish it. Since Winds of Winter should be the second to last installment. And i've got a feeling he's nearly done with that one. It will all depend if he can wrap up enough storylines during Winds of Winter to make the last intended book really the last.
 
My first thought reading some of these responses is that I'm OLD!! Luckily there seems to be a few other oldies. I picked up AGOT because the Blackrider on the Black Horse on the White snowing background looked neat. I was really in the bookstore looking for Blood of the Fold.
Bran getting thrown off the tower, after catching the twins, as well as the wolves, is what caused me to read the rest of the book. Neds death hooked me on the series, since then I've checked out and waited for ACOK, ASOS, AFFC and ADWD as hardcovers in the bookstores.
It has been entertaining watching the book covers transition from being all about the cover art, to having GRRM's name as the most dominant feature.
It has been less then entertaining waiting for the books though.
 
Is it strange i dislike loud cover art, and prefer minimalistic covers?
 
I just go by reviews. I've read terrible books with really good covers and I've read good books with awful covers. It is true what they say "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."
 
Is it strange i dislike loud cover art, and prefer minimalistic covers?

Not strange at all. The Harry Potter and Song of Ice and Fire series saw sales soar when they released editions with simple covers.
 
I just go by reviews. I've read terrible books with really good covers and I've read good books with awful covers. It is true what they say "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

Oh I don't choose books based on their cover (at least not often) but I do prefer a book to have a simple cover.
 
Same here, i'm in the mids of reading Hobb's latest entry concerning her farseers and liking the book well enough. The story doesn't blow you away, but those books have a way of dragging you into Fitz his world. Now first thing i did was remove the hardback flap, and am reading it like that. Not that the cover art bothered me , i just preferred it sleeker.
 

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