Yeah, that "classic" high middle-ages look would seem to be about right for Westeros, although really full-on plate harness is (more-or-less) is also described in some parts of the series. I sort of like the idea of the enamelled and decorated plate that some folk seem to have - Renly's harness for example.

The men of the North come across as something between very Norman and early mediaeval (Crusades-ish, just with far more WARM clothing!! :p ). Much mention is made of hauberks and "half-helms" and the big greatswords like Ice seem to fit in with that too.

The Greyjoys and the Ironborn always seemed to be pretty much a rough lot, kinda viking-like with their furs and axes like but somehow incorporating later mediaeval things like coats of plates too.

The character portraits by Russian artist Amok http://amoka.net/eng/gal/ are actually pretty darned close to how I imagine many of them to look.

I'd love to see a decent movie series made of A Song of Ice and Fire - but it would have to be done well and the story is SO complex for the average movie-goer to follow...!

Just a quick update, the apparent US release for the next book is November 8th. Martin has it posted on his site.

True, but in the past when the book was unfinished the on-line sellers have been just dreadful at putting up random, unsubstantiated "publication" dates. :wtf:

GRRM always made a point of saying that any date given by Ama zon (or whoever) was meaningless unless he himself had actually come out and confirmed that he'd finished writing.

At least now we actually know from GRRM himself that the manuscript is done and that the the November publication date is the one given by the publishers. I'll still only believe it when I see the book in my hand but this information is at least much more concrete than anything we've had before.

:D

The publishing date for A Feast for Crows has been postponed again. According to Amazon, it will be coming out on November 8th. :mad:

Roger that was the only official publishing date that came out as far as I can tell, at least the only date Martin ever put on his site. Amazon has a nasty way of posting publishing dates months and even years before books are actually finished, which is what happened with this book.

Oh yeah, I remember... I said I'd never start reading an unfinished series again... dagnabbit!

Et tu, Brute? :\


At least the re-read value on this one is especially high! :lol:

Don't worry Russ, according to George the next book is about half written so there shouldn't be as much of a delay. The problem that arose with this one is that George had to completely restructure his narrative from what he had planned to do because it wasn't working. I trust the guy if for the simple fact that he's said he doesn't want to be Jordan.

There's no problem with criticizing the work guys, but let's make sure this conversation doesn't get personal.

Just a helpful reminder. :D

Incidentally does this mean that we get the whole book or are we getting a delayed data AND only half the book as was suggested earlier?

I too have read the first three Ice and Fire books, and after the wait for this one am wrestling with the idea of waiting till the series is complete and then reading all of them over again.
To get me through the wait, I started reading another in-progress series (D'oh!), the "Tales of the Malazan" books by Steven Erikson, but fortunately it has been consistent with a new book being released roughly each year. The series is slated for 10 books total, and number 6 is due out this month in hardcover. I'm reading #5 now in paperback. It's a fantastic series, and I highly recommend it to Martin fans who want something to read between Martin books. It now actually rivals the "Ice and Fire" series as my personal favorite. It is dark and complex, with multi-dimensional characters and interwoven storylines in a world rich with culture and history (the author is a scholared anthropologist and archaeologist).
Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's a link to the first book, and you can find info about it and the other books from there...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076531...48-5208915

Actually, here are some detailed reviews of the first five books, from SFSite:
Book 1: http://www.sfsite.com/06a/gard58.htm
Book 2: http://www.sfsite.com/09a/dg88.htm
Book 3: http://www.sfsite.com/01b/mi120.htm
Book 4: http://www.sfsite.com/02a/hc145.htm
Book 5: http://www.sfsite.com/08b/mt182.htm

Book 1 is good (I appreciated it alot more the second time I read it, due to the complexity of the story...), but Book 2 and 3 are the ones that really got me hooked...

I think Gordon hit the nail on the head. George was always very forthcoming on his website about the progress of the book, and repeatedly warned to pay no attention to Amazon's publishing dates. Yes he's decided to break the book in to two parts, basically because he wanted to keep the manuscript to a certain length. He's also said that because of this the next book is already half written so I guess that's one bright side to the story. It could be worse. Jack Vance waited twelve years or so to complete his Demon Princes saga.

Well there is that possibility :lol: