How To Read Game Of Thrones

or how to read George R. R. Martin’s staggering, cumbersome epic without getting traumatized by the torture, rape, incest, and murder, thwarted by the medieval language, lost in his vast, invented world of strangely named cities and surrounding geography, muddled by the epic history and mythology, confused by the excessive cast of characters, or bored by the details of custom and culture.

CAUTION: There are some minor spoilers below, but they are worth it if I can get you to visit these books. Besides, you’ll forget about them as soon as you get into it.

Hipster Three-eyed Raven

HOW TO READ GAME OF THRONES

Journeys of Frodo: An Atlas of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings by Barbara Strachey [which I found to be even more confusing than just reading the trilogy alone]

I have a confession to make: I never finished reading The Lord of the Rings. I tried it a few times, and somewhere amidst The Two Towers I just couldn’t sit through another meeting where old songs and myths were discussed or ancient languages were dissected. I wanted to get back to the orcs and the goblins, the wizards and the elves — the adventuring! (To be fair, I was only twelve when I gave it my best effort. I might have the patience for it now, thirty years later.) What I really needed was an interactive guide (like the ambitious LotrProject) — detailed journey maps, cultural…