Now playing: 10 Minutes of HBO’s Game of Thrones: The Seven Kingdoms Are Coming

When it comes to the books in the Song of Fire and Ice fantasy series, winter is already here. We’ve been deprived of the next installment of the intense fantasy epic, Dance of Dragons, for years and, as a result, are working ourselves into a lather for the upcoming Game of Thrones (the first book in the series) mini-series on HBO. If we can’t have the next book, then at least we’ll have the mini-series to satiate our George R.R. Martin cravings. All signs point to a successful series: Sean Bean as Ned Stark being the pivotal cast member, fantastic and elaborate production design and, of course, an abundance of bloodthirsty battles, illicit affairs and nefarious motivations from well drawn and fully realized characters. What sets Martin’s series apart is that it’s a character-driven fantasy series and we’re counting on HBO to live up to that. Below is the official summary but, if you are unfamiliar with the series, we recommend picking up a copy or putting it on your Christmas list.

Summary: Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

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