Apple-exclusive enhanced 'Game of Thrones' ebook arrives on iBooks store

Random House has debuted the first volume in a series of enhanced editions of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels, exclusively on Apple's iBooks marketplace.

Each of the five titles in the series has a new watercolor cover, and includes more illustrations embedded in the text. Interactive character-specific maps start each chapter, detailing the surroundings of that section of the book.

The text is now annotated with running background details of Westeros, all approved by Martin. "Game of Thrones" audiobook performer and series actor Roy Dotrice narrates sections of the books as well.

"Anything that confuses you, anything you want to know more about, it's right there at your fingertips," author Martin said regarding the enhanced iBooks release. "It's an amazing next step in the world of books."

Appendices at the end of each book now includes family trees, details on the adornments of each house, glossaries, and maps of character travels throughout the course of the book.

A preview of a chapter from the sixth book in the series, "The Winds of Winter," is included after the appendix.

"A Game of Thrones: Enhanced Edition"Â is now available on iBooks for $8.99, and occupies 789 MB of storage regardless of platform. Enhanced editions of the other four books, and presumably the sixth as well, will be available in the coming months.Â

Random House has previously released enhanced editions of the "Harry Potter" series.

7 Comments

johnmcboston 17 Years · 201 comments

About 8 years ago

There's still iBooks store???

Rayz2016 8 Years · 6957 comments

johnmcboston said:

There's still iBooks store???

Yup, and I spend a bloody fortune in there.

auxio 19 Years · 2766 comments

johnmcboston said:

There's still iBooks store???

As opposed to what? Amazon/Kindle books (never owned a Kindle device, iBooks app is much nicer to use than the Kindle app imo)? Google Play books (not interested in donating my reading data to advertising)? Pirated copies of books online/torrent (not really something to brag about)?

Anyways, enhancing books like this sounds like a great idea if you can get publishers onboard (which Apple has the leverage to do).

seankill 15 Years · 566 comments

auxio said:

johnmcboston said:

There's still iBooks store???

As opposed to what? Amazon/Kindle books (never owned a Kindle device, iBooks app is much nicer to use than the Kindle app imo)? Google Play books (not interested in donating my reading data to advertising)? Pirated copies of books online/torrent (not really something to brag about)?

Anyways, enhancing books like this sounds like a great idea if you can get publishers onboard (which Apple has the leverage to do).

While I generally busy Apple items, Kindle has better variety and an ereader. I stare at LCDs enough at work... rather not at home just for a book. Plus the kindle app allows me to read it on my Apple devices. All that said, I understand why people generally don't know it doesn't exist because Kindle offers a large, cheaper experience.

seankill said:

auxio said:

johnmcboston said:

There's still iBooks store???

As opposed to what? Amazon/Kindle books (never owned a Kindle device, iBooks app is much nicer to use than the Kindle app imo)? Google Play books (not interested in donating my reading data to advertising)? Pirated copies of books online/torrent (not really something to brag about)?

Anyways, enhancing books like this sounds like a great idea if you can get publishers onboard (which Apple has the leverage to do).

While I generally busy Apple items, Kindle has better variety and an ereader. I stare at LCDs enough at work... rather not at home just for a book. Plus the kindle app allows me to read it on my Apple devices. All that said, I understand why people generally don't know it doesn't exist because Kindle offers a large, cheaper experience.

I'm just not really into single-purpose devices. I get that it likely does what it does better, but I don't like carrying a bunch of devices around with me. Same reason why I doubt I'll ever get an Apple Watch unless it can become the one device I carry.