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.