A wise man once said, “Sleep is good. Books are better.”
For those who have not read George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire, the books upon which HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones are based, you might not realize that quote was said by a small man who can cast a very large shadow.
Fans have the opportunity to read those books for free through Libby, a mobile app popular with local libraries in the U.S. for e-books and audiobooks. Note that Libby is available for smartphones and tablets, but not electronic ink devices like the Amazon Kindle.
While there has been somewhat of a divide in the fan base between “book readers” and “non-book readers” (meaning, people who have only watched the TV adaptation), members of the latter camp might be looking for another fix once the eighth and final season wraps up this spring. After all, there is plenty more material in the books—a good deal of which is quite different at this point in the TV show—and the series isn’t even over yet in print form.
Five books have been published so far, the most recent of which was the publication of A Dance With Dragons (Bantam Spectra) in 2011. Martin says he is in the midst of writing the sixth installation, The Winds of Winter, although fans have been waiting for that one with disappointing news year after year. The seventh and book is said to be entitled A Dream of Spring.
Regardless, here are the spoils already available for the taking:
E-Books
Audiobooks
After all, as that same wise man also said, “A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”