It’s been more than 20 years since the book A Game of Thrones was released, but mere hours since HBO’s eight-season show of the same name wrapped up. Fans have many feelings about the conclusion, and some book readers (OK, fine, maybe it’s just me and my friends) are holding out hope that this isn’t how the author wanted the story to end. We may never know.
For starters, GoT was not George R. R. Martin’s first book. By the time it was published in 1996, Martin was already a three-time Hugo Award winner (once each for best novella, novelette and short story), an established novelist and a screenwriter (including writing episodes for the 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone).
Five “official” books and eight HBO seasons later, we all know there’s *a lot* more going on in Westeros and Essos than most characters will ever realize.
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The official canon of A Song of Ice and Fire books (commonly referred to as ASOIAF) includes everything written within the main books, plus quite a few prequels, some excerpts and a couple of history and art books — plus the prerelease Winds of Winter chapters and the graphic novels based on the main book series.
In case you haven’t read the series, start there. Here’s a box set, or here they are in published order:
GRRM has been busy over the years. In between writing the ASOIAF series, he’s published other books, edited multiple sci-fi and fantasy anthologies, made numerous appearances at conferences and been quite involved with the HBO show.
To ease our pain at still not having any idea when book 6 TWOW will arrive (though GRRM gives updates occasionally) and for those Game of Thrones withdrawals, below is nearly every major related work, including some related only to the TV show. GRRM has long maintained that the series (even thought it started as a trilogy) will be seven books, with the final one rumored to be titled A Dream of Spring.
They’re broken down by book canon, show-related and some non-canon works that are just fun to check out. They’re not in order, and I’m not trying to say that you should read them in this order. Just have fun living in the sadness of the finale, OK?
Canon of the books
Writings by GRRM
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, aka the Dunk and Egg prequels: This book consolidates three previously published short stories about the adventures of Dunk (future commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Duncan the Tall) and Egg (future King Aegon V Targaryen) and are set roughly 90 years prior to the events of the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
- The Hedge Knight. Originally published in the 1998 anthology Legends, it currently exists for purchase separately only in its graphic novel format.
- The Sworn Sword. Originally published in the 2003 anthology Legends II, it can also be purchased separately only in graphic novel format.
- The Mystery Knight. Published in 2010 in the cross-genre anthology Warriors. It cannot be purchased separately at the moment in any format, though Random House previously announced plans to produce the graphic novel version of the novella almost two years ago.
- Plans for more of the Dunk and Egg’s adventures have been discussed by GRRM more than once.
Other released prequels, short stories: There have been a few published stories that take place in-world, and they’re also buried in published anthologies.
- The Dangerous Women anthology, published in 2013, features an abridged version of The Princess and the Queen, Archmaester Gyldayn’s story of the warfare between Targaryen women. You can read an excerpt here.
- The Rogues anthology, published in 2014, features Everybody Loves a Rogue, an introduction to the anthology, and an abridged version of The Rogue Prince, or, The King’s Brother. This story is a prequel to The Princess and the Queen, and is also “written by” Archmaester Gyldayn.
- Fire & Blood: A book of Targaryen history.
Novellas: These are essentially excerpts of chapters and were published in magazines, either ahead of or directly following the release of their book publication. If you’ve read all the books, you’ve probably seen these writings in an updated format, but I’ve included them for the sake of completeness.
- Blood of the Dragon, published in July 1996 in Asimov’s Science Fiction, the novella would appear the following month as a Daenerys chapter in Game of Thrones.
- Path of the Dragon, published in December 2000, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, this novella is based on a Daenerys chapter that had been published in that year’s Storm of Swords.
- Arms of the Kraken, published in August 2002 in Dragon magazine, this novella would later become the Iron Islands chapters of Feast for Crows that feature the Kingsmoot.
The Ice Dragon: A short story published originally published in 1980, it reads like an in-world fairy tale and is generally accepted as canon (but this is disputed by some).
Winds of Winter chapters: Ever since A Dance with Dragons was released, fans have been wondering when the next book will be published. While the pressure hasn’t sped up his writing, GRRM had previously taken to releasing some chapters sporadically on his personal website or reading others in person at certain appearances. Below is the list of the chapters, and here is where you can find them:
- Theon Greyjoy
- Arianne Martell (two chapters)
- Victarion
- Ser Barristan Selmy
- Tyrion
- Mercy
- Alayne
- Aeron “The Damphair” Greyjoy
Watch this:
Game of Thrones season 8 finale: Our watch has ended
6:42
Written with the involvement of GRRM
- The Lands of Ice & Fire. This is actually a collection of 12 poster-sized maps. In the same vein as the history book, it features depictions of cities and places not discussed in the books as of yet. It has been stressed that the maps herein do not to represent the entire world and are not intended to be perfect, instead they are more like depictions of the Maester-known world.
- Game of Thrones graphic novels. Four graphic novel volumes, each of which consists of six comics, adapting the story of the first book in the series. They offer no new information, but feature a preface by GRRM, as well as commentary from his longtime editor, Anne Groell.
Published order of canon stories
| Title | Release Date |
|---|---|
| A Game of Thrones (ASOIAF Book 1) | Aug. 1996 |
| The Hedge Knight (Dunk & Egg story 1) | Aug. 1998 |
| A Clash of Kings (ASOIAF Book 2) | Nov. 1998 |
| A Storm of Swords (ASOIAF Book 3) | Aug. 2000 |
| The Sworn Sword (Dunk & Egg story 2) | Sept. 2003 |
| A Feast for Crows (ASOIAF Book 4) | Oct. 2005 |
| The Mystery Knight (Dunk & Egg story 3) | March 2010 |
| A Dance with Dragons (ASOIAF Book 5) | July 2011 |
| The Princess and the Queen (Targaryen prequel) | Dec. 2013 |
| The Rogue Prince, or, the King’s Brother (Targaryen prequel) | June 2014 |
| A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Dunk & Egg compilation) | Oct. 2015 |
| Fire & Blood: (Targaryen Collection) | Nov. 2018 |
| The Winds of Winter (ASOIAF Book 6) | ????!? |
| A Dream of Spring (ASOIAF Book 7) | ?? Never??? |
The Night King came and went.
HBO
HBO show-related books
- 3D Pop-Up Guide to Westeros from Game of Thrones: A book of detailed pop-ups of show locations including Winterfell, King’s Landing and the Wall. (There’s also a more expensive limited edition that includes a collectible astrolabe.)
- Game of Thrones Storyboards: Collection of show storyboards from the series.
- Game of Thrones Sketchbook: Exactly what it sounds like, with each page containing some background designs.
- Living Language Dothraki: This is actually a book and a learning CD to help you pronounce and learn to speak Dothraki, and comes complete with basic phrases, step-by-step grammar guides and vocabulary exercises.
- Game of Thrones: In Memoriam: An account of all the show’s dead up to season 5.
- Game of Thrones: The Poster Collection Book, Volume II and Volume III: Exactly what it sounds like, these books are made up of removable posters, with the first including a detailed map of Westeros.
- Game of Thrones: The Noble Houses of Westeros Seasons 1-5: This book is an illustrated look at the show, with photography, sigils, profiles, and family trees and histories. It can only be found used on most sites around the web (including Barnes & Noble).
- Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones: Released in 2012, this book covers the production of the show through its first two seasons and includes a preface by GRRM, spectacular set photos and interviews with cast members.
- Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones, Seasons 3 & 4: Like the original, this 2014 book features behind-the-scenes look at the making of the successful show.
- Wit & Wisdom of Tyrion: Published in 2013, this funny book features Tyrion’s best one-liners paired with illustrations.
More related works
Like I said in the beginning, there’s a lot out there to (attempt to) satisfy you until either Winds of Winter is released or the Game of Thrones prequel arrives on HBO.
This post was originally published June 20, 2015, and is updated about as slowly as books are released.
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