Reading along with 'A Clash of Kings' and season two of 'A Game of Thrones' will be fairly challenging, but each week I'll let you (as spoiler-free as possible) know how far ahead you will have needed to read to stay just ahead of the series.

The premiere of the second season of Game of Thrones has finally come and gone. Joffery is still a jerk, Ned is still dead and, naturally, Winter is still coming. Carla has chimed in from her non-book-reader perspective, and my partner-in-crime Bob and I have shared our observations from the A Song of Ice and Fire fan perspective. Now it is time to look to the second episode, “The Night Lands.”

Each week – as long as HBO sends us advance screeners – we will attempt to let you know exactly how far one would have to read to stay ahead of the series. The goal is to make these posts as spoiler-free as possible, just sharing information on which chapter you’d have to read. Also, I’ll be leaning on Tower of the Hand, a great reference for fans of ASOIF and Game of Thrones – their spoiler filters are ingenious – as a touchstone for which chapter I’m referring to.

For the second episode, “The Night Lands,” one would need to have read through Chapter 25: Theon II. This is likely the last chapter where this question will be easy to answer. Next week, and especially the following, things aren’t as cut and dry.

Photo Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO