[Auguste]

I would strongly suggest you read the novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire, instead of watching the TV show. Hours and hours of worth of detail had to be cut from the series to convert it for TV, and while they did a great job, you're left with little more than a highlights reel by comparison.

The novels are a must if you're after the detailed history and politics of the world the characters live in.

[skore]

I debated with myself whether I should read the books first, but:

On the other hand, I have read that some bookreaders recommend to first watching the TV series as while it does "dumb down" a couple of things, it really helps keeping an overall thread. Plus watching the series second might leave you more disappointed ("why didn't they include my favorite quote X!?") than the other way around ("I love reading more about this character that I already liked!").

[naturalethic]

watch the show first otherwise you will hate it... i made the mistake of picking up the books after season two and now watching season three is torture

[ichinco]

watching season three is torture either way

[youngerdryas]

If I read the book first I often don't agree with the casting of the characters, no problem the other way round.

[ajtaylor]

Agreed, the novels are so much richer than the TV show. The level of detail that Mr. Martin put into the world continually blows my mind!

I watched seasons 1 & 2 before I started reading the books, and now I'm more interested in finishing book 5 than I am in staying current on the TV episodes.