Game of Thrones to Be Republished in Interactive Ebook Form

Will the enhanced editions of the fantasy epic mark a new wave of innovation for publishing?

Twenty years ago, George R. R. Martin published the first installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, which has become a cultural obsession thanks in part to the HBO adaptation Game of Thrones. In celebration of the book’s milestone anniversary, Martin, along with Apple and HarperCollins, announced “a new period in the history of publishing” with the introduction of the Exclusive Enhanced Edition of the first book, with the next four soon to follow suit.

According to the product page on iTunes, the digital books feature “interactive maps, author notes, glossaries, family trees, and illustrations,” which will heighten the reader’s experience and certainly help keep track of characters’ journeys throughout the whole of Westeros.

Martin is very excited about how the release will impact his readers. He says, “Anything that confuses you, anything you want to know more about, it’s right there at your fingertips. It’s an amazing next step in the world of books.” In other words, he’s thrilled people will have this resource available so they can stop bombarding him with questions.

For now, only A Game of Thrones is available on iTunes. A Clash of Kings will be released on October 27th, followed by A Storm of Swords on December 15th. A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons are respectively due in February and March of 2017. However you can go ahead and add them to your iTunes wish list as early as today.

One more note of excitement for diehard fans of the series: The enhanced edition contains an excerpt from the long awaited sixth installment, The Winds of Winter. It used to be up on Martin’s site, but now the sneak peak is exclusively in the iBook. So if the sigils, family trees, and glossaries weren’t enough, perhaps this added incentive will push you to purchase. There is still no word on an official release date for the forthcoming book, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it debuts in this avant-garde format too.