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Referenced as the novels that preceded the TV series, discussing how dragons in the story start as eggs and hatch at the end of the first series

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Referenced when discussing the Black Dinner, noting that 'lots of fans of Game of Thrones will have heard of this because it provided the model for the Red Wedding'

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Explicitly mentioned as a fantasy novel that Martin embarked on a decade after visiting Hadrian's Wall in 1981, which inspired the Wall in his fictional world of Westeros

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Tom discusses reading the early books before the TV show started, describing it as 'one of the great reading experiences of my life' and mentioning he 'devoured' the first book and queued to get the second

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Discussed as fantasy novels that take elements from Wars of the Roses but with unpredictable outcomes