Stop waiting for Winds of Winter. Read Dying of the Light.
The premiere of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms reignited the familiar question of whether George R.R. Martin will finish The Winds of Winter. Instead of replaying that cycle, try one of his pre-Game of Thrones novels: they’re self-contained and complete. My pick is his 1977 debut, Dying of the Light, a swooning, admirably nasty science fiction novel that contains many of the elements readers admire in Game of Thrones — minus the dragons.
The story opens with Dirk t’Larien deciding whether to answer a summons from his ex, Gwen. When they were together they shared “whisper-jewels” that would call the other with no questions asked; he sent his jewel after Gwen left, and months later her jewel arrives with no explanation.
Dirk travels to Worlorn, a rogue planet that was once an interplanetary pleasure fair; its abandoned cities and seeded biosphere are beautiful and doomed as the world drifts away from its star.