A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post debating the serious issue of whether or not I should read the Song of Ice and Fire series after watching Game of Thrones. A large consensus had the notion of definitely reading A Game of Thrones [book one] was a good idea after watching the series to pick up on hidden motives and other subplots. And after crushing the book in two weeks, I came to the real dilemma of spoiling the entire season 2 series by reading the second book.
There was a larger amount of debate than I would’ve imagined, specially mentioning Bryan Christiansen who wrote quite a moving argument against spoiling the show, him being a veteran Song of Ice and Fire reader, I took it into deep consideration as well as the other comment [you can read the whole comment on the post in the link above]. There were pros and cons to both sides. Reading the book first would allow me to be immersed in a more detailed universe, but disappointment to the TV show is almost guaranteed. Watching the series first would allow every ounce of excitement I felt in Season 1, but it would’ve required me to wait as long as an entire month or more. Decisions, decisions. But let me tell you what I did instead below.
The above picture was taken February 16th, when I ordered the first two books from Barnes and Noble online bookstore [the hardcover versions only $21 online compared to the $35 in-store price, and spending more than $40 bucks earns you free shipping!]. I wanted to just buy two because in case I wouldn’t be into the series [who am i kidding right?] I didn’t necessarily want to drop $100 plus tax on a book series I didn’t want to read. Being in the midst of school, finding time to read was hard and it took a while to finish A Game of Thrones [I’ll get into the differences between the book and series in later posts]. But I eventually finished the first book by mid March.
After finishing the first book, I strongly considered on whether or not I should continue. The book was there, in my room, waiting to be read. And after reading the final pages of A Game of Thrones, I more than wanted to start reading. I took a quick peek at my debate post and heavily considered the details. More than a majority claimed that waiting to watch the entire series and then reading the book would be the optimum experience. And I can vouch for reading A Game of Thrones that could be very true. The biggest recommendation was to wait for each episode in season 2 to come out, that I follow along and read the corresponding chapters and possibly do the same thing for season 3/A Storm of Swords. Two problems arose with this: If each episode left on a cliffhanger, the urge would be too much to read on and I would eventually spoil it anyways. And even if I did read the book after/throughout the season, it would mean I would have to wait an ENTIRE year for season 3 before I could read A Storm of Swords. Which is something I just wouldn’t be able to do.
Don't you dare die on us you overweight, 68 year old basterd. You will leave the world with a void that no one will ever be able to fill
So I told myself, if I’m not going to wait for season 3/A Storm of Swords, why would I wait for season 2/A Clash of Kings. And I began reading A Clash of Kings, it was luckily spring break, so I essentially crushed the entire book in one week. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. I simply couldn’t stop. And immediately/throughout the reading, I would rewatch trailers and try to find the matching scenes to the events in the book. And based on hindsight, I would tell you I don’t regret it. And I’ll tell you again when the season’s over about my thoughts on my decision, but I can already tell you that I wouldn’t regret it for a couple more reasons. The first being is that I can start A Storm of Swords which I’ve been told is a heavy favorite among fans. Simultaneously, I can compare events from the book and the series with a relatively fresh mind from the book with each episode. These will make some of my more interesting posts [I hope].
So there’s that. I’ve further immersed myself in an new universe that I highly recommend you do to. Starting to read the book is a decision I do not regret and I hope I fully conveyed my reasonings in this post.
A pre-Bean Eddard Stark
Banana Scoop 
That Eddard picture is way flattering if we stay true to Martin’s description of Ned as being plain faced or something.
And it gives me nightmares to think of a world where the series A Song of Ice and Fire is incomplete because GRRM died. He declared that there won’t be anybody to write the other books if he died because all the notes were in his head and would not be following Robert Jordan’s trail where a fan (B. Sanderson) continued the book after Jordan died. To quote him, if he dies while the series is incomplete, “We’re all shit out of luck”.
I’ve read somewhere that he actually told Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss the ending so they could piece it together…but yeah, it’s a common geek fear that if G.R.R. Martin died, a void in our heart would be unfillable.