As I eagerly await "The Winds of Winter", any one fancy whiling away the time by ...

[StepInTime]

joining in a Theon Greyjoy-bashing session and/or forming a Tyrion Lannister fan club with me?

Yes me
I have nearly finished ADWD - will probably finish it tonight as I only have a couple of chapters left.

Have you been watching the TV series ? Series 3 comes out next March so that gives us something to look forward to, I will probably hold off on re reading everything until there is a release date then I can go straight on to TWOW.

Yes Theon Greyjoy - what an utter arse, although I feel a little sorry for him now, especially if he falls in to the Boltons hands again.

Tyrion is lovely, I really hope he dosnt get killed off because I am really attatched to him.

God I love Tyrion a ridiculous amount. He is the ultimate politician. I feel he was a bit wasted in the last book and needs to get back to the centre of the action.

I do feel sorry for Theon. GRRM's writing in the last book changed my opinion of him utterly.

Is there any word on when The Winds of Winter will be released. Hopefully it's not another 7 year wait...

I think 2015 is the earliest we can expect anything - probably longer though. GRRM is working on lots of ASOFAI related projects so it could be something else comes out first.

I stumbled on the first series on TV quite by accident and thought "hang on, this looks like it could have come from a book" and as I am one for always reading a book rather than seeing the film or reading before seeing the film (so that, amongst other things, I can smugly and self-riteously say "Aha! that never happened in the book!-what a deviation!") , I instantly switched it off and hunted down the books - so no, I haven't watched the first or second series. I have started to record the first series on Sky Atlantic to watch later when the sprogs are back in school after the half-term.

I was never really a fantasy kind of person (apart from Tolkein's Lord of The Rings which I devoured), historical novels were more my thing (think Bronte, Austin, Elliot, Katherine Jarman, Antony Trollope, Philippa Gregory, WM Thackaray and when i'm on a high and feel the need to be brought quite low and extremely miserable - Thomas Hardy!), but GRRM has me totally hooked!

Ah, but I digress, Theon has gotten much more than his just desserts to be fair, but talk about biting the hand that literally (and metaporically) fed him! Stannis should end his misery once and for all....

I rather suspect that as we grow increasingly attached to Tyrion, GRRM would swoop down and snuff him out in an instant, just as he did Eddard Stark (my treacherous heart be still!- Sean Bean is my not-so-guilty pleasure)! -
Seriously, If he does that, it would cripple the storyline completely and traumatise me for ever !

I dont think Tyrion will go, I wonder if Dany, Jon and Tyrion are the 3 headed dragon in the prophecy.......maybe I am reading to far in to but there is a possibility they could all be Targaryens......Who knows I hope more will be revealed in TWOW.

In my head, I would love for Tyrion to find Tysha and live happily ever after in castle rock, I cant see it happening though.

I think Stannis will kill Theon, he will probably burn him which dosnt seem right after what he has already been through, unless he looses to the Boltons......

Yes, but I wouldn't wait too eagerly, it could be years

I think Jon is a Targaryen for sure, there are vague hints about Tyrion though tbh if you think about it too much you start wondering if everyone is a Targaryen (e.g. some people suggest Jaime/Cersei are) :)

And what about Young Griff/Aegon - fake Targaryen?

jon is certainly the product of lyanna and rhaegar.

I cant wait. I dont think that aegon will come to much, tbh, we are too invested in dany.

Aegon may end up toast like poor Quentyn once he actually meets the dragons. Though the whole Quentyn thing was desperately sad, I thought.

I can't wait to see Dany and Tyrion finally meet. And Lady Nym arriving at Kings Landing/meeting Cersei . I am worried about Bran and the creepy tree/warg thing he has going on.

I think Jaime and Brienne will end up together. Jaime's clearly going to kill Cersei, isn't he? Cersei has her prophecies all backwards (worrying about Tyrion and Margaery, when it's Jaime and Dany she should be watching out for.)

Poor Theon...

I feel sorry for theon too. he made bad decisions because he is both a weak man, and a sad, lonely little boy.

I want the ghost of Eddard to appear for some Sean bean gratuitous thrills! On a more serious note, I can't wait to see how Sam will feature! Love his character!

Am also worried about the bran tree thing, I fear that won't be a happy outcome!

I am also seriously creeped out by Bran 'taking over' Hodor's body when he feels like it, especially combined with his unrequited attraction to Meera. I really hope GRRM is not going to go there.

Arya worries me too.

I loved the thing where Jon thought Arya was heading for the wall, and we the readers got to feel all clever thinking 'ah, but we know it's actually fake Arya/Jeyne', and then suddenly BAM it's Alys Karstark, FOOLED YOU ALL! GRRM I love you. But please don't do that Bran/Hodor/Meera thing.

Yes Ephiny I was smuggly sure I knew what was happening and then - bam WTF ?????

Ooooooooooooooh yes I hope Jaime and Brienne end up together, I thought that she was going to deliver him to Cat and her Brotherhood without banners, and that they would hang him.
I love the Jaime killing Cersei theory.

The Bran/tree thing wont end well. There is something very eerie about it and I wonder how many characters will die there.

I feel a little lost now, can anyone reccomend something to fill the void ?

I hope the Jaime killing Cersei theory is true.

I also love Sam and hope all works out well for him.

Re other recommendations- I haven't found anything as good as GRRM but Brent Weeks (especially Lightbringer even though it's not finished yet), Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson are all worth a look.

If you have a lot of patience (about 14 books worth!) Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time started brilliantly (first 5 or 6 books), went off the boil for a few books and seems to be finishing well (last few books written by Brandon Sanderson as RJ died). The last one is due to come out next year.

TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN!!!

I've already read all but ADWD twice over, I may have to start again soon.

I expect you've probably seen this but it makes me smile :)

I guess we'll have season 3 (and 4?) to keep us going, though as we don't have Sky (or indeed a TV) we are still waiting for season 2 to come out on DVD. I second the Patrick Rothfuss recommendation, enjoyed both his books this year, hope the third one comes out soon.

Thanks for the recommendations - I will check them out.

Love the song.