Originally Posted by Lord
For a fan watching the show only, do you guys recomend picking up A storm of Swords or was there too much cut material?
You wouldn't be totally lost if you did that, however there are things that were shifted around that would confuse you a bit. Plus there are things in the books that were "done" better. For example Arya's storyline and Jon Snow's storyline. There are some things I like better in the show than in the books so it's a give and take kind of thing. Things like where the Reeds came from and a lot of the backstory stuff that they left out of the show might confuse you. Plus there's a character that shows up at the end of Dany's chapters of A Clash of Kings that they are most likely pushing to the beginning of this third season of the show that has a pretty big impact on things moving forward. If none of that stuff bothers you then dive right in on A Storm of Swords because it's the standard bearer of the series. The next season should be stellar.