Winter is Coming: Symbols and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones

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'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. 153 Frankel 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.

As a big GoT fan, this book was an interesting read to uncover some new theories. However, the format and overall writing was not phenomenal. I was confused and a little disappointed that the author vacillated between the book and the TV series. I would have preferred a focus just based on the books as they are the premise of the TV series.

The book explores points of insight that general fans of A Song of Ice and Fire series would be curious to delve into. Die hard fans of Martin's series might be bored with the speculation which is at times disorganized and rambling. The points of interest this reader enjoyed was learning about European history as it had influenced Martin in creating the epic story. Recommended only for the casual and curious Game of Thrones fan. Material covered goes up to the 5th book and inferences are made to plot line spoilers without blatantly stating it in black and white.

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.

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.

Rather poorly written and edited (not edited at all?) this is a superficial survey of potentially interesting aspects of The Song of Ice and Fire series. Based excessively on the tv series and insufficiently on the (far better) books, it is full of curious but also intriguing hypotheses about possible future developments and revelations. Worth a quick read but not serious engagement. Typos, spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes mar it further. For its entirety it refers to the Wildlings as Wildings. Hmm.

A must read for all Game of Thrones followers.This book is a great insight into the people, plots and subplots It 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

It was like a discussion about the books from several perspectives. There is SPECULATION everywhere about what will happen in the next two books and it is been fun to read a well put together piece. I t was easy to read and it gave me something to 're a d about the series while I wait for the next book, which I am told might take awhile.

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!

It is interesting to read and a lot of her speculation, and it is mainly speculation, makes sense but we have to remember that Valery Frankel's thoughts and possible insights are only the same as our own except being thoroughly researched into the books and Martin's comments, they are based on an depth of knowledge far superior to most of us fans no matter how addicted we are to A Game of Thrones.

Have actually not finished it yet but am really enjoying it.. I f you love Games of Thrones and want to understand it more then read this.