Agree about the first book! My order was: - Saw the first season, said, "holy shit this is good" - read all 5 books before the second season came out. - watched the rest of the series as it came out. The fact that the first book tracked the show so well (the other way around actually) didn't bother me at all, and actually helped.
A Game of Thrones is the first of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, an epic fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on 6 August 1996. The novel was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award, and won the 1997 Locus Award.The first novel, " A Game of Thrones ," introduces us to the world of Westeros, where dragons once flew, magic lurks in mysterious places, and a number of great noble houses scheme for power