Reddit reviews Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons
We found 9 Reddit comments about Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
>Adam is the creator of The Wertzone, a ten-year-old blog dedicated to all things Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is also a moderator at Westeros.org, is the retired founder of the Game of Thrones Wiki and has worked with HarperCollins on their Song of Ice and Fire website and mobile apps. He is the author of "An Unreliable World", an essay in the "Beyond the Wall" collection, and is currently writing "A History of Epic Fantasy". As well as A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones he writes widely about science fiction and fantasy in print, on TV, in film and in video games.
>Some of you all from /r/asoiaf might know Adam from some of his work on ASOIAF such as:
South of the Frostfangs, you have "The Gorge"
This is essentially a Grand Canyon-style gorge with a river at the bottom. In short, climbing the wall would be easier than repelling down the gorge, sailing across the river, and then climbing up the other side.
Westwatch-By-The-Bridge is not named so for shits and giggles. It is the site of the Bridge of Skulls. The Bridge of Skulls has a long history of being the source of many wildling vs. Night's Watch battles (and where the Lord of Bones began his famous uniform). For years, the NW has held off the wildlings in this funnel of a bridge that crosses the gorge.
As far as sailing goes, it becomes a bit tricky, logistically, for White Walkers (Others). The Others have minions called "Wights". These are people who have been turned to the Others' cause via death and reanimation. They're semi-intelligent zombies with no recollection of their past. In order to sail a fleet across the Bay of Ice, they'd expose themselves to those northern waters that are very treacherous, as well as risking a landing among the Mountain Clans of the North (landing on Mountains is not fun). They would need to sail much further south in order to make it worth while, putting them very near to Winterfell loyalists and again, being met with opposition.
Finally, you have the Bay of Seals. This bay is notoriously awful to cross. The waters are choppy and sink ships brave enough to conquer it more often than not, and there are rumors of beasts living in the waters there. If anyone were to brave the waters of The Bay of Seals, they would be seen by the towers at Eastwatch and met on shore with forces.
In short, The Wall works in conjunction with several "natural" barriers preventing Wights, White Walkers, and Wildlings from going around it. The only sure-fire way into Westeros is to go through The Wall.
EDIT: For more in-depth looks into the geography, literary context, and connections in the books, check out Beyond the Wall. It's an excellent read that can answer a lot of questions you might have about the series/lore.
You should read "Beyond The Wall" by James Lowder. It's a collection of work analyzing the ASOIAF universe, one of the essays covers PTSD in the book series. I highly suggest it to any fan.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Wall-Exploring-Martins-Thrones/dp/1936661748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375998654&sr=8-1&keywords=beyond+the+wall
Edit: added a link
It's as real a book as any of the other related/companion texts, like the cookbook, atlas, show production guide, art book, etc.
Seems likely.
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1936661748/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
It's a collection of essays that discuss several themes and ideas that emerge in ASOIAF. They are just brain food really. Not totally necessary but they are good if you want to take in several analyses of the work. For instance Romanticism in GoT, or PTSD in soldiers that have witnessed gruesome battles or feminism within Westeros, etc.
I was about to buy it, but the customer reviews on amazon made me change my mind. People seem disappointed by a lack of good content. Hopefully this isn't true, let us know if you enjoy it!
Yeah so supposedly GRRM was working on a companion book with the guy that runs westeros.org.
But apparently it ended up being an anthology of sorts with essays about ASOIAF from various writers. The reviews don't look that good.
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Wall-Exploring-Martins-Thrones/dp/1936661748/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1345217859&sr=8-17&keywords=a+song+of+ice+and+fire
There's also a map book coming out this Fall.
But really, most things about the series including a lot of the background info can be found in the wikis.
I haven't read it myself, but I suggest Beyond The Wall. It isn't a narrative or anything, just critical analysis of themes and characters within the ASOIAF universe. It's on my list of things to read. Though I guess if you come to this subreddit enough, you could get critical analysis for free!