GRR Martin's Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire) [Archive]

Angrist

03-08-2011, 07:32 AM

Apparently we lost the thread about this. Or maybe we shamefully never had one?

Who has read these fantasy books? I've read the first 3 and I absolutely adored them. When A Feast For Crows was split up into 2 books, I decided to wait for the 2nd half. That was 4 or 5 years ago. Now A Dance With Dragons finally has a release date: July 12 2011. I'm looking forward to it and I'll probably reread book 1-3.

In 40 days (the pilot of?) the TV series airs. The preview (http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html#/game-of-thrones/about/video/inside-game-of-thrones.html/eNrjcmbOUM-PSXHMS8ypLMlMDkhMT-VLzE1lzmcu1CzLTEnNh8k45+eVpFaUsDFyMjKySSeWluQX5CRW2pYUlaayMQIAUmYXOA==) I saw looked pretty good. If reviews are good, I'll definitely be watching this.

http://blastr.com/assets_c/2009/11/GameofThronesCover-thumb-550x304-28800.jpg

Vampyr

03-08-2011, 02:21 PM

Makes me sad I don't have HBO.

It'll be on Netflix eventually though.

I can't believe the next book is -finally- coming out.

Angrist

03-08-2011, 03:51 PM

I think I'll start rereading the books in a few months. If it goes as fast as the first time, I'll finish them in a few weeks, maybe 2 months.

Then I'll read FfC and DwD simultaneously (if still possible/logical). Then when the series has completed, I'll start watching that.

Ginkasa

03-08-2011, 07:04 PM

I've already started re-reading the series in anticipation of ADwD. Unfortunately, I don't have cable so I'll have to catch the show later on (or maybe online if HBO hosts new episodes on their website?).

Dylflon

03-22-2011, 09:39 PM

I've read all of the books.

Considered rereading them for the impending release of A Dance with Dragons but that's so much work...will probably have to read a synopsis.

The show looks pretty wicked.

Angrist

03-23-2011, 12:06 PM

I know, the books are huge. But I do remember I loved them and finished them incredibly fast. Well, that was mostly because I spent so much time on them...

I calculated that I read almost 22 pages per hour. That's around 34 hours per book.

Dylflon

03-26-2011, 01:45 PM

I don't recommend reading AFFC and ADWD simultaneously as some characters (or maybe just Arya) have chapters in both books. And since the books are set in different parts of the world, they won't effect each other that much so it's fine to read them separately.

Angrist

03-26-2011, 06:32 PM

Wait, that doesn't make sense. You say Arya has chapters in both books (I think you're right), AND they take place in different places?
Hm I want to know what GRR says about it. I've heard that AFFC was pretty boring, nothing really happened. Mixing it up with ADWD could really improve the experience.
I hope.

Dylflon

03-28-2011, 03:35 PM

GRRM said Arya had chapters in bother books because he was pretty sure fans would be upset about a book without Arya chapters. Arya's chapters in AFFC take place in the same part of the work as the chapters in ADWD. I think Samwell's do as well, actually.

Or thinking about it, maybe I'm confused about how he's splitting it up because I'm pretty sure Jon had no chapters in AFFC.

Angrist

03-28-2011, 04:56 PM

I think AFFC missed the best characters... Jon and Tyrion. Hm I forgot who he all killed off.
Again, I haven't read AFFC yet, but I do know my brother was disappointed because it was boring. And I remember that it was supposed to be 1 book but it got split in half...

Ginkasa

03-28-2011, 10:14 PM

From what I've read, ADwD is going past the split. So, we'll have chapters from all over including the continuing story lines of those in AFfC. I'm sure the majority of it will focus on the "not in King's Landing" characters, though.

Dylflon

03-29-2011, 05:24 AM

AFFC had a lot of good endings (Cersei, Jaime, and Sansa come to mind), but other than that was a bit of a slog.

It's pretty sweet that Cersei finally gets chapters because you think "maybe GRRM will humanize her" and then you learn that she really is just a crazy, crazy bitch.

Angrist

03-29-2011, 08:41 AM

For me, Theon Greyjoy was a disappointment in A Storm of Swords. All this time you were wondering what the heck was making him grin all the time (I think it was described "as if he knew some huge secret that nobody else knew." And then you finally get him as a main character... and nothing. So boring.

thatmariolover

04-10-2011, 05:04 PM

I just don't have confidence that he'll ever finish the series. But I've read what's out thusfar and plan to watch the show.

Neo

04-11-2011, 11:48 AM

I'm one of the few who couldn't make it through the first book. Too perverted and depressing for me. I felt awkward the whole time.

thatmariolover

04-18-2011, 10:48 AM

Did anybody see the premier?

I thought it was quite good, all things considered. Relative to other fantasy to film adaptations, it was very true to the book. In fact, I picked up on subplots I'm not entirely sure were well presented in the books (which explained a few questions I've had).

Angrist

04-18-2011, 03:06 PM

Oh the pilot is out? And it wasn't utter crap? :)

BreakABone

04-18-2011, 04:01 PM

I checked it out, seems like a fun show.

Though I hate having to remember so many characters. Though, I guess you could just break it up into families and be set.

Professor S

04-18-2011, 04:18 PM

All I know is that chicks are going to LOVE this show...

Dylflon

04-18-2011, 06:18 PM

All I know is that chicks are going to LOVE this show...

Titties and gore. For the ladies.

BreakABone

04-18-2011, 07:56 PM

Titties and gore. For the ladies.

And the forced anal sex

Typhoid

04-18-2011, 09:27 PM

Favourite part, summarized:

"Congratulations on the marriage, have this box of snakes."

But really, never read the books, know absolutely nothing of them - loved the first episode.

Vampyr

04-18-2011, 11:35 PM

Just watched the first episode a couple of hours ago. I've read the books, and I thought it was really good. :)

Watched it with my girlfriend and she enjoyed it as well.

I don't think nudity and gore is going to be a turn off for women. If you think that's the aspect of some media that offends women, I don't think you know women that well. It's when a women's role in something is only defined by her body.

There are several strong willed and cunning female characters in the book, even though they have to work within a patriarchal society. There are also plenty of misogynistic male characters in the books, but they're never painted in a good light either, so it's not like the story approves of them. Hopefully that will play out in the show as well.

I also don't get the people who are saying that the scene with Daenerys and Drogo is rape - it wasn't that way in the book and I don't think it was portrayed that way in the show either. It didn't really go far enough to make an assumption either way - but I think since the rest of the show was pretty true to the book, we can assume that that part would have been too.

Dylflon

04-19-2011, 04:06 AM

My fiance is pumped for this show. I'm not actually worried about the ladies.

thatmariolover

04-19-2011, 08:51 AM

I also don't get the people who are saying that the scene with Daenerys and Drogo is rape - it wasn't that way in the book and I don't think it was portrayed that way in the show either. It didn't really go far enough to make an assumption either way - but I think since the rest of the show was pretty true to the book, we can assume that that part would have been too.

She was very young and she was coerced into a marriage she didn't want by her brother. It's rape, even if it's not textbook. But that's not to say she doesn't grow into the relationship and learn to love him. Regardless, rape isn't exactly rare in ASoIaF.

If people are bothered by the tame depiction of a fictitious rape then they should avoid the show. It's only going to get more brutal.

On the other hand, if people just complained that it was misrepresented in the show as being more like rape, I would simply disagree. I thought it was borderline rape by our cultures standards in both.

But the fact is it isn't our universe, culture, or time. And imposing our moral expectations on the characters is unrealistic and burdensome.

Professor S

04-19-2011, 11:16 AM

Keep in mind, my opinions are based solely on the first episode. In the first episode the women are portrayed as jewelry, victims, and/or whores. Reading up on it, I know the tides change eventually, but just from that first episode I don't think you would expect NOW to lead the fan club...

Teuthida

06-20-2011, 01:57 AM

Goddammit that was awesome.

Vampyr

06-20-2011, 10:46 AM

Goddammit that was awesome.

Yes, yes it was.

Angrist

06-20-2011, 10:57 AM

So how many episodes have there been yet? I thought it was only the pilot last month...

thatmariolover

06-20-2011, 11:52 AM

So how many episodes have there been yet? I thought it was only the pilot last month...

It was a 10 episode season and we saw the finale last night. Season 2 is already gearing up. This one was really well done, I can't wait for it.

My biggest concern at this point is that there's no way he'll have more than 5 or 6 books finished even if they were to do a season each year. Either we won't finish it or we'll have a gap and have to decide whether to recast everybody.

If anybody has interest in reading the books, Amazon has a decent deal going for the first 4: http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-Boxed/dp/0345529057/

The 5th is out in a month.

Vampyr

06-20-2011, 01:53 PM

Well 5th is already done, so he has about 4 years to finish book six. He might make it, and for all we know he has some work done on six and seven already. So...there's a chance he could finish the series before the show catches up.

If not it will either have to go on hiatus or maybe he'll work with them to finish the show first. :\

Dylflon

06-20-2011, 01:54 PM

It was a 10 episode season and we saw the finale last night. Season 2 is already gearing up. This one was really well done, I can't wait for it.

My biggest concern at this point is that there's no way he'll have more than 5 or 6 books finished even if they were to do a season each year. Either we won't finish it or we'll have a gap and have to decide whether to recast everybody.

If anybody has interest in reading the books, Amazon has a decent deal going for the first 4: http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-Boxed/dp/0345529057/

The 5th is out in a month.

The third book might be two seasons because it's effing massive. That's what I heard, anyways.

Professor S

06-20-2011, 02:26 PM

I love this show, for one, because it is so well thought out. Example: In the first episode Ned takes the head of an innocent man, only to have his head taken as an innocent man in the 9th episode

Vampyr

06-20-2011, 03:31 PM

I love this show, for one, because it is so well thought out. Example: In the first episode Ned takes the head of an innocent man, only to have his head taken as an innocent man in the 9th episode

The man wasn't "innocent" though - he had broken his vows. I thought the better part of those two scenes was how Ned explained to his children that he had to be the one to swing the sword, since he cast the sentence.

Joffrey ordered Illyn Payne to do it right after casting the sentence.

Another good example is the whole thing about Dany not being able to be burned, while Visaeris was. This was shown several times throughout the season, like when Visaeris was in the bathtub and complained that the candle wax dripped on him hurt. Then he was killed by the molten gold.

thatmariolover

06-20-2011, 03:42 PM

My biggest problem with the Fantasy genre is that many authors seem to develop their stories and their characters separately. Just because you've conceptualized a provoking character, it doesn't mean they fit into the world you've imagined. Often times you end up with conflicts between what needs to happen and what the character should do. In the end the character bends to make the story work and you get a book that's a shadow of what it could have been.

Martin is different.

While it's easy to romanticize the characters, they're all distinct individuals with identifiable goals and ultimately things make sense even if you didn't see them coming. If you have an established character and something doesn't make sense or sticks out, it's usually for a reason that has either already been hinted at or will be revealed later.

There's just a lot less maneuvering to get things where they need to be. People do the things they would do and as a result the story progresses as it should.

magus113

06-20-2011, 09:28 PM

I'm currently in the middle of Storm of Swords. Great stuff.

Dylflon

06-21-2011, 12:24 PM

I'm currently in the middle of Storm of Swords. Great stuff.

Storm of Swords is the best book.

thatmariolover

06-21-2011, 12:56 PM

I'm currently in the middle of Storm of Swords. Great stuff.

I'm 40% into Storm of Swords as well. I've been trying to reread the series ever since the show premiered on HBO.

Storm of Swords is the best book.

Yeah, Storm of Swords was epic. The bigger issue is that Feast for Crows was missing some fairly key characters. After Storm of Swords, though, I imagine he was loathe to write another book that big.

Vampyr

06-21-2011, 01:16 PM

Since some of the books are missing major characters, I wonder if they'll just take the next 4 available and turn them into 5 - 6 seasons worth of episodes, and move things that were happening concurrently with the missing characters up into episodes alongside stuff that was actually happening in the book?

I don't see any other way they could do it that would make sense.

Professor S

06-21-2011, 03:49 PM

Before anyone starts planning out 5 or 6 seasons of Game of Thrones, keep in mind very few HBO series make it that long. Even Deadwood, one of the most beloved HBO series, was cancelled unceremoniously due to cost concerns. I imagine Game of Thrones would be almost as expensive to film due to the setting (same for Boardwalk Empire).

I hope to get 4 seasons out of them, followed by a movie or two to finish the story.

Angrist

06-21-2011, 04:20 PM

A movie or two to follow up the series... that's going to be terrible.
How long is each episode atm? 45 minutes? So that's 10x3/4=7h30 worth of screentime. A movie is what, 3 hours max?

Seth

06-22-2011, 02:25 AM

I am listening to Clash of Kings while I work. Been decent but I can not say that I like the repeats of character traits and plot progressions n whatnot. It is like TV... last time on ____ moments that totally break the narrative unnecessarily.

Terian(sp) has the most enjoyable chapters. I like how I am not even halfway through the books. long ass story

Ginkasa

06-22-2011, 05:01 AM

A movie or two to follow up the series... that's going to be terrible.
How long is each episode atm? 45 minutes? So that's 10x3/4=7h30 worth of screentime. A movie is what, 3 hours max?

Aren't the episodes a full hour? HBO doesn't do commercials.

The Germanator

06-22-2011, 02:20 PM

Episodes have usually ranged from 54:00 up to 1 hour and 2 minutes or so including opening and closing credits...

Angrist

06-22-2011, 05:23 PM

Terian(sp) Tyrion*. And yes, he's a great character.

The only thing I don't like (and I hope GRR also regrets) is his introduction in AGoT. He jumps from 6ft high, lands on his hands and makes a salto onto his feet. WHAT? :confused: That really gives such a wrong impression of him, especially because you later discover how his body isn't that agile at all.
So did they put that in the show or not?

Vampyr

06-22-2011, 08:55 PM

Tyrion*. And yes, he's a great character.

The only thing I don't like (and I hope GRR also regrets) is his introduction in AGoT. He jumps from 6ft high, lands on his hands and makes a salto onto his feet. WHAT? :confused: That really gives such a wrong impression of him, especially because you later discover how his body isn't that agile at all.
So did they put that in the show or not?

This did not happen on the show.

BreakABone

06-22-2011, 10:53 PM

Well if it helps, ratings for the show actually improved greatly from the series premiere to the season finale.

Teuthida

08-04-2011, 10:03 PM

Vampyr

08-04-2011, 10:16 PM

So I met George R.R. Martin on Tuesday. He was at a local book store here in Lexington, KY, doing a book signing.

I now have a signed copy of A Dance with Dragons. :)

Angrist

08-09-2011, 01:23 PM

I saw the book lying in Norwegian stores. It got me excited...

But that was the same store where I bought The Last Kingdom, which apparenlty has some good sequels as well... so I might read that first.

Angrist

01-10-2016, 04:46 PM

If reviews are good, I'll definitely be watching this. I think I'll start rereading the books in a few months. If it goes as fast as the first time, I'll finish them in a few weeks, maybe 2 months.

Funny how I never started watching the show... and how I never reread the books.

My current plan is: wait for him to finish his books (if ever), read through all of it, then watch the show.

It's weird though; I knew the books long before the show aired. Now most of my friends are huge fans, while I have paused my fandom. Right now I have to avoid spoilers from them, instead of the other way around.

Edit: The Last Kingdom... so I might read that first.And I did, it's a great series of books. And apparently it's getting its own series, BBC. You should look into it.

Acebot44

02-15-2016, 09:36 PM

Hijacking this thread to recommend the Stormlight Archive (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7235533-the-way-of-kings) series by Brandon Sanderson. Similar to GOT in that this is an epic series with 1000+ page books. Lots of intriguing politics, complex characters, and amazing world building.

Oh, and Sanderson churns out a new book in the series every 2-3 years. Easily my favorite author. Check out his Mistborn and Reckoners series too.

BlueFire

06-10-2016, 01:36 PM

So.. have you guys been watching season 6?

Ginkasa

06-17-2016, 10:25 AM

I have. Its a little weird now that its moved beyond the books. Like, I'm generally pretty okay with changes in adaptations. All the changes previously seemed like they served some purpose and were understandable in the needs of a show vs. the needs of a book, for the most part.

But now I don't know what the changes are supposed to be. I've been waiting 5 years since ADwD came out for these storylines to be advanced and they kind of are in the show, but is this really how it happens or what? Some of the changes from season 5 mean some of the characters are so far off from where they were in the books at that point. Does this mean the book characters will eventually converge to where they are in the show, or this is just completely different from what's going to happen in the books?

Its kind of an odd place to be in. Its like if there were an adaptation of the original Star Wars trilogy that came out in between the film releases of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi where the adaptation never has Han Solo being frozen in carbonite and taken to Jabba the Hutt and is just with the Rebels the whole time. So, does that mean he's going to get rescused in the movie version of Return of the Jedi, or has this adaptation just gone off the rails?

But, still, I'm enjoying it. Excited for the Battle of the Bastards.

Angrist

06-21-2016, 05:39 PM

I'm so sad that he didn't get to finish the books before the series caught up.

Well, that's not true. Instead I stopped caring. Even spoilers don't scare me anymore. I'll be interested in the books again when he finishes them.

BlueFire

06-22-2016, 10:58 PM

How did you guys enjoy Battle of the Bastards?

Ginkasa

06-25-2016, 09:33 AM

Pretty crazy episode. The battle was directed really well. It was pretty cool to see Our Hero really just another dude in the middle of a bunch of other dudes killing each other rather than the One Guy Who is Doing Anything Productive like a lot of other fantasy stories, and even GoT in previous battles, do.

On the flip side, I was kind of annoyed that they had literally everything go against Jon and Co. until Sansa's hidden army rode in to save the day in the nick of time. I'm not one to usually complain about plot armor. Of course our heroes aren't going to die; that's how a narrative works. But having literally everything go wrong and having so many specific moments where Jon probably shouldn't have survived and didn't stretched it a little thin for me. If the battle had been just the tiniest bit less one sided or if Jon had known about the Knights of the Vale and the plan was always to just hold out until they arrived I think they could have achieved the same Saving Private Ryan effect without making Jon and Davos and Tormund all surviving feel less ridiculous.

Also, I enjoyed they continued the Mereen storyline as well. I was a little worried they'd focus entirely on the North we'd have to wait until episode 10 to see the follow up to Dany's return.

BlueFire

06-25-2016, 10:37 AM

The Knights of the Vale showing up to perfectly save the day was to convenient, but it didn't annoy me as much as Arya's storyline resolution in episode 8. That was honestly the worst episode the season. When I saw her get stabbed multiple times in the gut at the end of episode 7, I just kept thinking "oh, what's going to be the twist? Something's gotta be happening."

And then at the start of episode 8, we find out that she WAS indeed stabbed viciously in her gut and managed to survive without bleeding out or succumbing to infection. She swam in a gross canal, had a day of rest, then ran across an entire city and jumped off roofs with serious stabbing wounds, lol. That episode was poorly written.