Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons

My take on this book is considerably more positive than most of those posted here. On the other hand, I was expecting a book that looked at the work critically, as opposed to being "support material" created by fans. The contributors to this volume all come from different areas of expertise and I found it considerably better than the web-page superficiality I was expecting. That being said, here is my summary.

Robert A. Salvatore's "Foreword" to Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons sets a near-perfect tone for this entire book of criticism on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. He says all of those things we'd like to say to those who demean the fantasy genre in specific (and fiction, in general) and he says it all with his particular flair. I must take slight issue with his description of Martin's work as the "tapestry of Westeros, filled with resonating characters who see the world through a different and sometimes magical prism." (p. xi) Rather, I would suggest that Martin's work is a mural of Westeros, carved brutally out of stone and violently defaced as the story progresses by the artist's own and deliberate hand in accordance with the tragic ebb and flow of various factions. I don't dispute the foreword's observation about resonating characters and the truth of the human condition, I merely have trouble with a metaphor about needlework when Martin is so much more effective when wielding an axe (or, at least, a chisel). But even my contention about this one elegant line in a foreword should communicate something of the strong, visceral reaction to be experienced when reading, contemplating, or dissecting Martin's magnum opus.

Bookending this introduction was a concluding essay regarding the establishment of Martin's work as "authentically" literary as opposed to "mere" genre (albeit the author of the essay offers significant evidence that "genre" is merely a retail conceit). I loved the Rousseau quotation resurrected by Ned Vizzini in this essay to demonstrate the denigration of imaginative fiction: "The real world has its limits, the imaginary world is infinite. Unable to enlarge the one, let us restrict the other." (p. 207) Citing a caustic comment on the work of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island by Henry James (Portrait of a Lady, Turn of the Screw, Daisy Miller, etc.) to the effect that such work was juvenile, Vizzini notes that the "...persistence of cliché in fantasy allows critics in the Jamesian tradition to continue to dismiss it as writing for children." (p. 207) Vizzini contends that Martin "fights the genre wars by sidestepping them" (p. 216) and, "In doing so, he elevates other fantasy with his own." (p. 217).

For a work of such magnitude, it is surprising that it took so long for a work of criticism to appear. Fortunately for fans of the work, Ben Bella's "Smart Pop" imprint was willing to take the risk--even though it does not have the marketing machine of the European parent to Martin's publisher to blaze the trail of awareness and expectation. So, fellow pilgrim in the shared semiotic construct known as Westeros, it is up to reviews from unknown admirers and critics to inform you as to whether plumbing further depths in Martin's tomes is a fruitful exercise. Frankly, if you're looking for consensus as to this challenging corpus of literature (yes, literature!), I doubt this is the anthology of critical essays you want. If you are looking for intellectual stimulus to help you extrapolate the feelings engendered by the story (history?) and cogitate upon, Beyond the Wall makes an excellent beginning to an overdue dialogue between fans of different stripes and sensibilities.

For example, I personally don't buy the arguments in the essay on Romanticism. The authors, Ms. Antonsson and Mr. Garcia, are gifted academics and are quite right to consign human nature's tendency to idealize the past (p. 2), revere the individual spirit (p. 6), and expect great things from "great persons." (p. 11). However, I cannot resonate with their confidence in Martin's "belief in the indomitable human spirit." (p. 2) To the contrary, it seems to me that Martin offers a cynical and cautionary view toward human nature.

One case in point is the evidence presented about the idealizations of the "Watch" on p. 3. Yet, they quickly offer counter-examples to their own point. Do these not arise as representative of Martin's own view that there is an entropic decay in every organization and organism? They cite Robert's idealization of Lyanne (p. 4) but since they immediately mitigate their evidence with Eddard's view (p. 5) and their own observation of Robert's superficial adoration of Lyanne compared to his actual behavior (p.5), do they not suggest that Martin clearly wants the reader to know that the "golden age" (from any perspective) is not nearly "golden" from any perspective?

They do a marvelous job of presenting Ser Jaime, the Kingslayer, as a Byronic hero (p. 9) but one wonders if Jaime wouldn't have created some sense of social stability and been perceived with some level of respect if he were, indeed, a hero? After all, he had saved the kingdom from Aerys' idea that he could let everything be destroyed and think he could rise from the ashes like some draconic phoenix. More troubling was the effort to present Tyrion as a Byronic hero (p. 10). Weren't certain aesthetics of beauty considered a vital part of the whole Byronic milieu? Frankly, while Tyrion is often able to make fertilizer out of manure, he sure spends a rather inordinate amount of time in the latter to be a Byronic figure.

As for Martin being heavily influenced by the "Great Man Theory" (p. 11), this hardly seems plausible when every individual (whether Daenerys' social engineering to free slaves, Jon Snow's reforms designed to replenish the ranks fo the Watch, Cersei's machinizations on behalf of her son(s) to keep the throne, and Quentyn Martell getting roasted rather ironically after appealing to his ancestral blood ("The hero never dies, though. I must be the hero." Ironically, he is burned but does not rise from the ashes as his ancestor expected to be.) in A Dance with Dragons. Indeed, perhaps the most damaging argument against seeing Martin as a romanticist is Antonsson's and Garcia's own comment on p. 13 of this anthology: "Martin has a way of undermining idealizations."

I found myself resonating more with culture blogger and contributor to The Atlantic, Allyssa Rosenberg. Rosenberg took issue with superficial criticism of the amount of torture and violence in general and sexual violence in particular in Martin's work. In fact, I believe she defends the nature of the work better than Martin himself (as quoted on p. 16). As a male, I thought for many years that rape was about sexuality and, specifically, about sexual frustration and perversion. In reality, it is an expression of violence and a statement of power. If you ever doubted this, Martin's work makes it clear. In these novels, rape is primarily understood as "...a weapon of war." (p. 19) In speaking of Daenerys' focus as sexual assault, Rosenberg notes that the program ends up marking "...Daenerys as a vulnerable ruler, someone who is unable to practice the kind of total war favored by other successful warlords on the continent." (p. 20) After citing numerous examples of murder and social atrocities precipitated by rape and marital rape, she notes: "Even when rape isn't being used as an excuse to start a war or a way to manipulate court politics, a tolerance for rape and the failure to provide justice to its victim's deforms Westeros and its enemies alike." (p. 26)

What really would have been interesting in this collection would have been some type of response by Caroline Spector concerning Rosenberg's essay and Rosenberg's reaction to Spector's essay. Both come to the same basic conclusion. After Spector (yes, the wife of famous game designer, Warren Spector, and a novelist in her own right) delineated the important female characters from a feminist perspective, she concluded, "Martin has created a subversively feminist tale." (p. 187)
Spector described the female cast as follows: 1) Sansa equals the passive pawn and traditional fantasy princess who demonstrates through her victimization "...how fanciful myths hide--and perpetuate--a fundamentally oppressive social structure" (p. 176); 2) Arya's willingness to throw off her gender "...demonstrates her understanding of the workings of power in her world." (p. 177); 3) Brienne shows how women who dare to take power are judged and treated in conventionally patriarchal societies (p. 180); 4) Cersei sleeps with her brother to usurp the line of succession and use the tools of patriarchy against itself, yet is judged negatively (p. 182); 5) Daenerys learns ways to manipulate Drogo sexually but becomes less compassionate as she gains power (p. 185).

If you are a fan of graphic novels and you are fascinated by the creative process, Daniel Abraham's notes on adapting the series to graphic novel format is fascinating. Did you know that they had to "age" Daenerys for the graphic novel due to the strictures of the PROTECT Act of 2003 because the presentation of Khal Drogo's marital rape of his child bride would have been considered promoting child pornography? Did you ever consider how dialogue that worked well in prose form would come off very boring if presented with talking heads and word balloons? (p. 35)

My other favorite essay (among the many) was Adam Whitehead's essay about considering the work as history. He notes that "accounts of time and history in the book are not to be trusted, with doubts raised over when events happened, or even if they happened at all." (p. 44) Really? And that's different from the problem of history in the real world, how? Whitehead cites a disparity in the commander list discovered in Feast of Crows where Jon believes he is supposed to be the 998th commander and Sam can only find 674 listed commanders (p. 45). This reminds me of problems in genealogies and king lists (including the ones in the Bible) where unimportant figures are sometimes excised in order to shape a better narrative or more symmetrical list.

I liked the idea that Whitehead suggested that the technological problem (that is, if Westeros is so old, why is it still in the medieval period when our world is where it is?) is partially answered by the idea that magic retards technological development. However, he wonders why it plods along in Martin's relatively low magic world (p. 48). He concludes that "...nothing is certain, not the world's history and not the history of any individual in it." (p. 50) Isn't he simply suggesting that Martin is postmodern in his approach to the history of Westeros?

Another essay considers Martin's prequels to the series in the light of Northrup Frye's idea of four seasonal mythoi (spring = comedy, summer = romance, autumn = tragedy, and winter = satire and irony) and suggests that, since the epic is clearly moving toward "winter," Martin wished to deal with a lighter era in the world he had created (p. 57). Gary Westfall has provided some nice interpretive charts of this (pp. 58-59), but argues his way to a delightfully different conclusion (p. 70).

Myke Cole looks at Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome in A Song of Ice and Fire by observing what happens when (according to the Cooper Color Code) people in relatively safe and peaceful conditions (p. 75) known as Condition White are forced into sudden exposure to trauma. Some go to complete panic or denial (Condition Black--p. 78) and some go to a vigilant state with continual conditional awareness (Condition Yellow--p. 78). He pictures Arya as living in Condition Yellow and this seems particularly true in her street life depicted in A Dance with Dragons. Her life fits the description of, "hyper-vigilance, coldhearted decision-making, rapid reactions to dangerous situations, extreme attention to personal safety, commitment to training and lifestyle decisions that ensure reading for future traumatic events." (p. 78) He sees Arya as being empowered by her traumatic experience while Theon Greyjoy went to Condition Black. Those undergoing Condition Black are, "Detached from a world that has come to terrify them, they may engage in suicidal levels of risk-taking or push away loved ones who try to help." (p. 82) Seen in this manner, his seizure of Winterfall is classic Condition Black--highly risky behavior where one flails out in reaction to the traumas one cannot handle. (p. 84)

Susan Vaught's idea of morality in the books as being tied completely to the idea that Winter is coming and anyone who isn't preparing to stave off those negative effects is evil or immoral (p. 92) works on several levels. I did have a question about her assertions about "sin" in other behaviors in Westeros, however. She asserts that "...incest itself likely does not constitute grievous sin in the cosmology of Westeros..." (p. 101). If so, why do Jaime and Cersei so assiduously try to guard the secret parentage of Joffrey? Why is Cersei stripped and humiliated in the latest book? I just think there is a slight overstatement there.

In addition, contributors like Andrew Zimmerman Jones argue that both magic and religion in Martin's work have very postmodern perspectives: "Characters believe or disbelieve in the gods based on their own temperaments, not because they typically have any real reason to think that one has more validity than others." (p. 114) The bulk of the narrative attempts to use Martin's work as a means to suggest that all religious perspective is "confirmation bias." (p. 107) Religion is simply humanity's excuse for creating a narrative that makes sense--whether or not it is true. I'd like to explore this further, but I doubt this is the place. I will simply suggest that it would have been nice if he had been able to read Caroline Spector's essay to discover at least one more valid symbolism to the direwolves that he devalues in his discussion. Spector sees the death of Sansa's wolf as significant; Jones does not.

Matt Stagg's essay on Littlefinger as a psychopath with no feelings for others (p. 145), a tendency toward manipulation (p. 146), and a sense of entitlement (p. 148) seemed quite convincing. I also enjoyed Jesse Scoble's essay on magic, though I didn't find any particular new insights. I relished Brent Hartinger's analysis of the number of "outsiders" in Martin's story. He noted that at least half of the major point of view characters violate gender or social norms (p. 154). Most importantly, he argues that the insiders tend to be easily manipulated fools, manipulated of course, by the "outsiders." (p. 165)

If these summaries of most of the essays in Beyond the Wall don't pique your interest, this isn't a book you need. If, however, you believe in the value of thoughtful consideration of so-called genre works which do not get sufficient respect, this volume is a must-read. Perhaps, just as the success of A Song of Ice and Fire is helping many other fantasy novels out of the genre ghetto, Beyond the Wall can spawn a methodology of criticism for fantasy and science-fiction that will take these works out of the "stepchild" category. My enjoyment of Martin's work was significantly enhanced by reading these essays. I suspect I won't be the only one.

Johnny L. Wilson

This book is not what it claims to be.

A typical "companion" to a well-received and award-winning series should delve into insights in the background, the characters, maybe even enlighten us to mysteries or prophecies which permeate the series.

Not so. Instead we get a rambling opening article (I refuse to use the word "essay") that honestly tries to place Martin's writing in the era of "Romanticism", not even once analyzing or comparing Martin's prose to an author of said era. The history of art is bent to it's utmost just to try and put Martin on the same pedestal as Coleridge or Keats. No scientific evidence is given - what we get for an analogy are Yoren's words on how the Night's Watch has been ever so much more in the past - just any other reminiscence older folks like: everything tinged slightly pink. This does not constitute evidence.

It goes downhill from there.

On the themes of sexuality, rape and homosexuality: please read Craig West's review. This guy is so spot-on, I quote: "The next essay is about the "adult" portions of the series, particularly rape, that also failed to hit the right note. I think that the previous reviewer, Johnny Jay, sums it up well by saying the essay tries to paint the multiple rapes that occur in the series as important to the plot and not just gratuitous rough sex. I'd never even considered that was an issue, as I thought the rape scenes were unpleasant but essential to the story. Why that essay was included in the series is puzzling . After reading the essay, though, I actually think that there are gratuitous elements in how Martin presents those scenes. So, obviously, that essay did not work well."

That being said: this book could have used an editor. Preferably a native English one. To publish a book, being ESL without having someone native/perfect copyedit it, is downright unprofessional.

INTRODUCTION: As a huge series fan and also as I own the art books inspired by the novels, I was very curious about this essay book since I heard about it some months ago.

While the recent A Feast of Ice and Fire is a bit "too out" for my interests, the upcoming map book "The Lands of Ice and Fire" is another huge asap, so this year we will have been treated with a lot of ASOIAF material, from the excellent HBO series, to three related works including the one discussed here!

Note that Beyond the Wall contains spoilers about the series up to and including A Dance with Dragons, though I will avoid such below.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Beyond the Wall" contains 16 essays including the foreword from RA Salvatore and the introduction from the editor, both worth reading by themselves too and they group naturally in a few categories:

The fan explorations of the wonderful ASOIAF universe which are the core of the book and are excellent and make the book totally worth reading. Here we have exceptional contributions:

from Adam Whitehead on the mythical nature of Westeros' chronology:

"In A Song of Ice and Fire, characters live in a world whose very history is uncertain and ill-defined, where myth and legend are hopelessly and inextricably entwined with accounts of real events.The predominant feature of Westerosi history is vagueness.",

from Linda Antonsson and Elio Garcia on the perennial Lyanna-Rhaegar question and more generally on romanticism in a Byronic sense:

"The most prevalent manifestation of romanticism is the view of the past espoused by many characters in the novel. It seems a part of human nature to idealize the past, to suppose things were somehow "better" in days gone by. The same can be said about how characters view the past of Westeros, citing examples of how the realm was once better off and has now declined.",

from Andrew Zimmerman Jones on the multiple and quite intricate religions of the series:

"In fact, the religions portrayed in A Song of Ice and Fire are reflections of the religions in our own world. They require a leap of faith, because the effects of belief are so intangible. The religions of Westeros claim to dictate absolute, perfect truths through imprecise, flawed institutions and beings--just like the religions we encounter every day",

from Jesse Scoble on the way George Martin uses magic in the series:

"What's intriguing about this is that Martin's world of the Seven Kingdoms is steeped in magic. But it is not used in a "traditional fantasy" sense."

and from Gary Westfahl on the Egg and Dunk stories, essay which starts a bit ponderously with some generic talk about types of tales as seasons - talk that is very vague and even self-contradictory - but then rights itself with a wonderful appreciation of the three prequel stories to date and of course noting how GRRM actually does not really fit in such a rigid schemata anyway:

"Interestingly, there is evidence in the third novel of A Song of Ice and Fire, A Storm of Swords, suggesting precisely such a desire to heighten the import of the Dunk and Egg stories."

There are also three essays that are on the border between the pretentious and the interesting, but overall they fall on the interesting part mostly because they do not follow a particular pet-theory or ideology of the essay author, but stick to discussing the books and their universe.

In Men and Monsters, Alyssa Rosenberg tackles quite reasonably the nature of sexual violence in the series - as I note below, imho, any (faux) medieval world is a world steeped in violence especially in times of trouble as surely we have in Westeros at the end of Robert's reign and men are also tortured and mutilated casually - as we see vividly in the books and the essay author to her credit points this out and makes the discussion more balanced.

In "The Brutal Cost of Redemption", Susan Vaught has a good discussion of the moral nature of the series and I really liked this passage which summarizes my feelings too:

"Westeros is not built upon a shifting foundation of chaos. True, there is no clearly marked, brightly lit path to salvation. Yet characters face a painful retributive justice, born of moral absolutism, that lends reality and depth to the medieval society portrayed in the series."

Actually this topic is one of great interest as I think here the divide between the nuanced fantasy of GRRM and the "four legs good, two legs bad" fantasy especially pre-Martin but also today, is clearest.

In "A Different Kind of Other" Brent Hartinger discusses the role of freaks and outcasts in ASOIAF, and while the essay starts very anachronistically (hey the world of ASIAF is an aristocratic one where even the handsomest man or the most beautiful woman does not really count unless they have the noblest blood) with:

"Who doesn't love an underdog? As humans, most of us seem to be instinctively drawn to outsiders, to the excluded. At least on some level, most of us sympathize with those who are denied even the opportunity to prove their full worth. We recognize that's just not fair."

After this very 21st century quote which denotes the author's lack of experience of any society beyond the wealthy modern western one, the essay gets better and has some good stuff to say about its topic, but the beginning jarred badly.

Then there are three essays following a pet modern theory (feminism, PTSD, pop-psychology) which imho are both useless and anachronistic. While they contain the occasional gem they generally read like debating angels on a pin as for example people in a world like Martin's have an exposure to violence which is almost infinitely higher than ours in the modern world so we cannot really comprehend their mindset from that point of view.

Similarly the world of ASIAF is a world where the powerless and the fallen from power are treated with no mercy and women and children (and the poor and non-noble) are part of the powerless, so feminism which is a modern western doctrine has very little relevant to say about the books beyond what can be said about any "realistic" faux-medieval stuff. Pop-psychology mercifully has not been invented in Martin's world so notions like psychopaths are just silly.

Of course such essays by Mike Cole, Caroline Spector and Matt Stags may appeal to some, so from that point of view their inclusion broadens the book despite that I found them quite uninteresting.

Finally there is general stuff like the Foreword, the Introduction, the essay about where ASOIAF stands in the "genre wars" - the usual bellyaching and moaning of some sff writers that they are "disrespected" by the literary establishment, when imho the correct answer is let the generally mortified canon die in peace and celebrate the vibrancy of genre - which actually here is treated quite well and rationally by Ned Vizzini:

"Martin thus fights the genre wars by sidestepping them. Working from within the system, refusing to apologize for what came before, he writes books that are too bloody, unexpected, and relentlessly story-driven to be ignored. In doing so, he elevates other fantasy along with his own."

Here I would also include the niche essays about adapting ASOIAF to graphic form by Daniel Abraham and the one about collecting the books by John Jos. Miller, neither of which are of particular interest to me, but they provided a good overview of the respective issues.

Overall Beyond the Wall exceeded my expectations and it's a highly recommended book of 2012 and a great companion to any lover of the series though keep in mind the spoiler note above if you have not read all five books to date!

Note: this review has been originally published on Fantasy Book Critic and all the links and references are to be found there

First, this is not a book about autism or Asperger syndrome. The subtitles of both this book and the Beyond the Wall that does discuss autism clarify this.

Second, this is not a guide to A Song of Ice and Fire (ASoIaF). It does not claim to be. This is a book that offers fans of ASoIaF a chance to deepen their understanding of the series through an exploration of a variety of themes and character types utilized by George R.R. Martin. The essays it contains do an excellent job of elaborating upon motifs, such as that of brutal violence, which gives the reader a greater appreciation for Martin's storytelling.

If you are looking for a lexicon of characters, settings, and events, this book will disappoint you.

If you are looking for an autobiography told from the perspective of a man with autism and Asperger syndrome, this book will greatly disappoint you.

If you are looking, however, for a collection of essays that sheds light on the intricacies of the ASoIaF series, you will be pleased.

I was amazed reading the prior reviews of how many reviewers gave this book low grades for failing to be something it does not claim to be. This is a book of essays, some of which are literary criticism and some of which explain how to translate GoT into others media and properties [RPG, graphic novel, etc.]. I am not per se a fan of literary criticism but found those essays easy to follow and felt they definitely added to my understandings of the series even when I disagreed with the frame being used [this shows talent on the part of the essayists and editor as I find most literary criticism a silly in-game between tenured academics]. The adaption essays I will treasure, both professionally and personally, as I have been involved with such adaptions in my professional life and found the approaches taken helpful and insightful.

Thanks BenBella Books and Smart Pop Books for providing me a review copy of Beyond the Wall. If you are a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire then you will definitely love the essays in Beyond the Wall. Each essay explores a different facet in A Song of Ice and Fire with contributors ranging from some of the biggest names in modern Fantasy to experts on the series.

My favourite essays were the ones that looked at things in the series that a casual reader would miss. Such as in "An unreliable World", Adam Whitehead talks about how unpredictable seasons affect the ability for people to tell time. Due to this uncertainty, people in Westeros rely on personal anecdotes as a scale on history.

Daniel Abraham has a wonderful piece in this book detailing the difficulty in the story's transition from book to comic. I always thought this is something very trivial to do and never imagined so much work must be put in to ensure there is a climax in each comic issue. Reading his essay also made me realise why the characters in the HBO series is a lot older. This is because the producers cannot legally show children in brutal situations.

In "Art Imitates War" Myke Cole analyses the series from an angle that I never thought of before, which is how the characters in the series deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it empowers or destroys them. I've never been to war myself so it was extremely fascinating to read about the different conditions that people go through to cope with crisis and how the characters in the book mirror them.

This is a wonderful companion book to A Song of Ice and Fire series and is highly recommended to any fan who wants to dig deeper into the series.

Fantastic and professionally done companion piece to the growing multitude of Game of Thrones supplemental works. Very insightful. I was pleased to find that many of the contributing authors explored and analyzed theories and themes I myself have pondered. A warning though, this books is definitely only for those who have thoroughly read the Ice and Fire novels; it is too esoteric and erudite for the casual fan who had only watched the HBO series.

A fun read. It's really a collection of op-ed journal pieces that touch on some major themes and challenges the saga faces. Great because you can pick any essay and not be lost in the flow of the book. I was expecting it to provide some solid, unbiased reasoning to backup some of the more mysterious things. And there are a.. couple essays where the option of the author is grand standing. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys more than just the story and/or tries putting ideas about what's next. It's thought provoking and well written about tangible things real life offers (It's just easier to face in a fantasy world)

James Lowder's fascinating book "Beyond the Wall" tells its readers everything they want and need to know about George R R Martin's sprawling epic 'A Song of Ice and Fire' as we all wait with bated breath for book six 'Winds of Winter'. This is almost like Harry Potter for adults as we eagerly await the next installment.
But I must warn you all, if you've only seen the great series on HBO and you haven't read the novels this book is chock full of spoilers so if you don't want to know what's happening or is going to as the cable series progresses then stay away from the book. But, those of you that have also like Yours Truly and you'd a like a refresher course then this is the book for you.
It delves into the Landscape of the continents of Westeros and Essos and we meet all the major characters; this wonderful books is also divided into sections one which praises the intelligent and strong female characters in this fantasy world and you'll also learn about the Houses great and small and the people behind the political machinations of what is occurring as the novels progress.
Martin doesn't keep his readers waiting on purpose he's an admitted slow writer and me thinks he's got to stay at home behind his computer and keep at his work so that he'll soon churn out another Masterpiece.
James Lowder keeps the pace with this book and it's a fast, intelligent and fascinating read into the world of Martin's grand fantasy epic and will answer many questions that you might've forgotten or want to relive as we all continue with the great books already published and yet to come. Just two to go with "A Dream of Spring" to be the concluding volume.
Order 'Beyond the Wall' and keep and eye out for the White Walkers that may be lurking about.

This book is very interesting for both first time readers as well as total ASOIAF nerds like me. I've thought about a few of the subjects covered before, and the essayists fleshed these out and took them in new directions. Highly recommend.