If you’re curious to know more about the world of the Game of Thrones series on HBO, now might be the perfect time to dive into George R.R. Martin’s bibliography.
While the television adaptation does a wonderful job of establishing Westeros and its political undercurrents, there’s still so much to know and explore from the novels. Sure, the first four seasons of Game of Thrones deserve the highest praise, but compared to the book series, they barely scratch the surface in terms of worldbuilding and narrative complexity.
Martin is a master of prose and characterization, bringing all these story arcs together in such a way that will only leave you asking for more. It doesn’t help, of course, that the last two installments in the main saga are still missing from action, but when better to start your Westerosi journey all over again than a period that seems to inch us closer to that inevitable and as-of-yet unannounced release window?
This is how you can read every book from A Song of Ice and Fire universe in order, starting with A Game of Thrones, which originally came out all the way back in 1996.
A Song of Ice and Fire
GRRM has planned 7 books for the main series, 5 of which have already been released in the order you see below.
- A Game of Thrones (1996)
The start of the story, with the introduction of the Starks, the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and Ned’s journey to discovering the truth about Joffrey’s heritage.
- A Clash of Kings (1998)
The beginning of the War of the Five Kings. The book ends with Stannis Baratheon’s assault on King’s Landing and defeat at the hands of Tywin Lannister.
- A Storm of Swords (2000)
The War of the Five Kings continues in the third novel and ends with the Red Wedding massacre. Jon infiltrates the Wildling army and convinces Mance to allow him to join their ranks. Daenerys buys an army of Unsullied and captures Meereen.
- A Feast for Crows (2005)
The fourth book continues the story, with Jon taking command of the Night’s Watch and Tommen Baratheon ruling the Seven Kingdoms from his seat in King’s Landing.
- A Dance with Dragons (2011)
The fifth book, released 6 years after the fourth one, doesn’t so much push the narrative as it expands it, dealing with a host of different characters scattered across the world. It ends with Jon Snow getting betrayed by his Night’s Watch brothers.
- The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)
- A Dream of Spring (forthcoming)
The story is expected to end with The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, though it’s unclear when the two sequels will be hitting the bookstore shelves.
Prequels and spinoffs to A Song of Ice and Fire
In 2018, Martin published an extensive prequel book called Fire & Blood, which deals with the founding of the Targaryen dynasty 300 years before the events of the main series. It also gets into the cataclysmic civil war known as the Dance of Dragons. A planned follow-up, titled Blood & Fire, is currently in the wings. (The new HBO series House of the Dragon is based on the first half.)
Martin has also released three novellas that deal with chunks of the same history. They are 2013’s The Princess and the Queen, 2014’s The Rogue Prince, and 2017’s The Sons of the Dragon, but the events of these are covered in the main books, so you can skip them in favor of Fire & Blood.
Lastly, we have the brilliant and often-overlooked Tales of Dunk & Egg trilogy, centering around the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire King Aegon V Targaryen. These novellas were released in 1998, 2003, and 2010, under the titles of The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight, respectively. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a collection of the three novellas which came out in 2015.
Companion books to A Song of Ice and Fire
Besides all the stories and narratives, there are several companion books that expand on the worldbuilding of the Seven Kingdoms and the shores beyond.
2012 saw the release of The Lands of Ice and Fire, which is a collection of maps that detail the different locations we visit in the series.
The most important companion book, however, is probably 2014’s The World of Ice & Fire, dealing with the “untold history” of Westeros.
Martin recently released another companion book in the form of The Rise of Dragon (2022), and it basically serves as a historical retelling of Aegon’s conquest and the subsequent Dance of Dragons civil war.
