A Song of Ice and Fire Reading Order: Books, Novellas, and Fire & Blood

Most people know about the five main A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Fewer know about the Dunk & Egg novellas set 90 years before the main series, or Fire & Blood, the Targaryen history book that became the basis for House of the Dragon. Here’s how it all fits together.

The Main Series

George R.R. Martin began publishing A Song of Ice and Fire in 1996. Five of a planned seven books have been published:

1. A Game of Thrones (1996)

2. A Clash of Kings (1998)

3. A Storm of Swords (2000)

4. A Feast for Crows (2005)

5. A Dance with Dragons (2011)

The sixth book, The Winds of Winter, has been in progress for over a decade.

A Note on Books 4 and 5

A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons are parallel books — they cover roughly the same period but follow different characters. Martin split what was meant to be one enormous book into two. Some readers prefer to read them in a combined, chapter-by-chapter sequence rather than back to back. Both approaches work; the interleaved version is more immersive but requires a reading list to follow.

The Dunk & Egg Novellas

Set 90 years before the main series, the Dunk & Egg tales follow Ser Duncan the Tall (a hedge knight) and Egg (secretly Aegon Targaryen, future king). These are lighter in tone and excellent entry points for readers daunted by the size of A Game of Thrones.

• The Hedge Knight (1998)

• The Sworn Sword (2003)
• The Mystery Knight (2010)
• The Hedge Knight is now adapted as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO

Read the novellas after A Game of Thrones for maximum resonance — you’ll recognise the historical references.

Fire & Blood and The World of Ice and Fire

The World of Ice and Fire (2014) is an illustrated history book of the Seven Kingdoms.

Fire & Blood (2018) is a full history of House Targaryen, covering the century before the Dunk & Egg stories.

Fire & Blood is the source material for HBO’s House of the Dragon. It reads like a real history book — deliberately dry in places — rather than a novel. Best approached after the main series, when you have context for the Targaryen names and events referenced.

The Show vs the Books

HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–2019) follows the books closely for the first four seasons, then diverges significantly from Season 5 as it outpaced the source material. The controversial final seasons represent Martin’s outline of his ending — but compressed and without the subplots that would justify the conclusions.

House of the Dragon is more faithful to its source (Fire & Blood) but necessarily invents scenes and dialogue that the history-book format omits.

Recommended Reading Order

For new readers:

1. A Game of Thrones
2. A Clash of Kings
3. A Storm of Swords
4. The Hedge Knight (novella — good breather here)
5. A Feast for Crows + A Dance with Dragons (interleaved or sequential)
6. Remaining Dunk & Egg novellas
7. Fire & Blood and The World of Ice and Fire for lore enthusiasts

Should You Wait for the Series to Finish?

This is the perennial question. The honest answer: nobody knows when The Winds of Winter is coming. Readers who started in 1996 have been waiting 28 years for the conclusion. If you want to read the books, read them now. The first three are among the greatest fantasy novels ever written, and they’re complete in themselves even if the larger story isn’t.