Game of Thrones is one of the most eagerly-awaited series ever. It has joined the ranks of those shows about which friends fight and avoid each other lest they hear spoilers.

When novelist George R.R. Martin released an excerpt from his upcoming book The Winds of Winter this week, fans were all a-twitter. Finally they were going to get a glimpse of what is in store for the lands of Westeros and their favorite characters.

But Game of Thrones fans are divided into two camps: those who have read the books, and those who have not. Those who have not read the books and are only as informed as the latest episode of the HBO series tend to avoid the book-readers. Fortunately, most of the book-readers are also cultured enough to not spoil things for the TV-watchers.

Not so George R.R. Martin. And this is the trouble with hearing anything at all about the upcoming books. It;’s the little passages that ruin it for you.

Witness …

She was reading her little lord a tale of the Winged Knight when Mya Stone came knocking on the door of his bedchamber, clad in boots and riding leathers and smelling strongly of the stable. Mya had straw in her hair and a scowl on her face. That scowl comes of having Mychel Redfort near, Alayne knew.

The above-referenced “Alayne” is none other than Sansa Stark. So we know she lives, no matter what they throw at her in the HBO series.

No man can wed me so long as my dwarf husband still lives somewhere in this world. Queen Cersei had collected the head of a dozen dwarfs, Petyr claimed, but none were Tyrion’s.

Three names are mentioned in this excerpt: Queen Cersei (interestingly called only “queen” and not “Queen Regent”), Petyr (Baelish0, and Tyrion (Lannister). So we can ease our minds about any of those people dying in the HBO series between now and then.