Game of Thrones - Show and Books Discussion

[Kant]

The script for the pilot have been released, it is

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B-rAJktBqis9YjQ1ZThjM2MtYzJkOC00MzgyLWFmMTYtNDlmNmJjOTNjMjI3&hl=en_US&authkey=CJCZwdoH

Personally, I'm excited.

[Tee See Em]

Here I was thinking that we didn't have a Game of Thrones thread. Good thing I did a search. :V

I've been watching the show since it came out. I've been really enjoying it, but it has felt like there's too much material to fit; there's this epic world but so much of it is only referred to briefly, not fleshed out at all.

My brother has been listening to the audiobooks and filling me in on some of what I've been missing, which had left me feeling that I need to read the books. After a few months I finally found my Kindle last night, and have started reading. That has also been going well.

[LegendShark]

I just started reading the book, which has been in my possesion for years. Don't watch tv.

[Tee See Em]

Does anyone else use a Kindle except for me? I can't remember.

If you download the free sample "first chapter" of the four-book combo (http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-Boxed/dp/0345529057/), it actually gives you the first 20 chapters, because of the overall length.

That's how much I've read so far. I just downloaded the rest now (I'll buy it later (http://www.amazon.com/gp/wishlist/22ONEQ7OB6KA0/)).

[Tee See Em]

The complete missing history of GoT on this TS:

First post in the latest "paste here" thread:Just hit whatever you have as keyboard shortcut to paste. I lately set a mouse middle click to do this in firefox, though it's usually Ctrl+V.

Game of ThronesFrom the StarCraft 2 thread (edit: no, a different Sc2 thread):What this reminds me of is George R R Martin. He has a new TV show out, based on Game of Thrones. What I'm saying is, "get back to work on the five year late book!".

Distractions!

[Fonzy]

I'm listening to the audio books!

:teach:

[Tee See Em]

I'm listening to the audio books!

:teach:I've been alternating between them and reading on the Kindle.

Just started the third book. The pacing slowed down after the first book, but aside from that it's continued to be great.

[Fonzy]

I wound up ditching the audiobooks. I was trying to listen to them at work but it turns out I couldn't focus on both at the same time. I think I can read slightly faster than the audiobooks as well, so I'm totally on the analogue version now.

I watched the show, too. It was ok. Not terrible.

[Naga]

So A Dance With Dragons came out two days ago.

Holy shit.

[Tidal Kraken]

it is july 14th and amazon has yet to send a dance with dragons by george raymond richard martin to my kindle. fuck.

[Tee See Em]

it is july 14th and amazon has yet to send a dance with dragons by george raymond richard martin to my kindle. fuck.thepiratebay.org

[Tidal Kraken]

why are these books so long

are you to the part about glistening manhoods yet?

[Tidal Kraken]

No, I'm not reading them. Don't really have an interest in them, even though I know it's right up my alley (seriously, medieval political intrigue and the lack of a 'protagonist'?). Besides, I've got other things I already own that I should read, first.

EDIT: seriously though why are these books so fucking long, it really is a turn off

Not all lengthy works are like this but when a book series is this long it makes me think there's a lot of bloated, unnecessary stuff in them, like most movies over two and a half hours long.

Yep. There are a lot of boring descriptions of heraldry, food and other assorted crap to pad the books. The stuff about the lineage of a character can be important at times but jesus I don't need to know about every lamprey pie and lemon cake Sansa eats.

[Tee See Em]

I think the first book was better paced. If you're going to watch the show it might be worth reading, even if you don't plan to read the whole series now.

[Kant]

The first book is pretty good about pacing, and after the first there are several POVs which just serve to flesh out other things about the metaplot, for instance Bran's dreas in the first book make it so that later

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS


He starts to experience magic returning to the world.
Also fuck the Greyjoy plot

By the 4th book, which is really the start of a new trilogy, I was only reading the Lannister POV's really

Beyond that, once you get used to his style the books are quick reads

[Fonzy]

Well I, for one, am greatly enjoying the read so far.

It seems like occasionally I get to the point where he ends a chapter at a climactic point in one sub-story and then moves abruptly to another story (standard issue fiction narrative device, I know), and I'm thinking goddammitsomuch I don't give a fuck about this other character right now I just want to find out what happens next with the one I was just reading about. But then I find myself getting engrossed with the storyline he switches to. The Danearys (sp) storyline is the prime example.

Also, fuck, I hope he doesn't take 10 years to write the last two of these things.

[Tidal Kraken]

Well, call me a philistine if you want, but since the TV show is a mostly faithful, well done adaptation, I feel like I can watch that and not need to read the books.

Not that I'm saying they're bad or anything. Just not for me.

Also,

What the fuck is with Sean Bean and getting stuck with characters that get killed in the first fucking act? I knew about his death long before the show started, so I thought it was funny he got the part.

That should be fine. The books flesh some things out more, but nothing major is missing as far as I know. Disclaimer: I haven't finished the tv series yet.

Though some comments from the producers are kinda making me think they may divergee somewhat from the source material in season 2.


As an aside, was House Bolton's freaky weird banner ever shown on the series? I don't remember it but that would be one of those things that is easy to overlook.

[Fonzy]

As an aside, was House Bolton's freaky weird banner ever shown on the series? I don't remember it but that would be one of those things that is easy to overlook.

Does he show up before the second book really? I mean they might talk about him, but I didn't think he really factored in until Harenhal.

[Naga]

Does he show up before the second book really? I mean they might talk about him, but I didn't think he really factored in until Harenhal.

Well he was one of the Starks' important bannermen, so his banners should at least have been there, even if his character wasn't casted yet.

[Tidal Kraken]

Does he show up before the second book really? I mean they might talk about him, but I didn't think he really factored in until Harenhal.

iirc he led the army that attacked Tywin while Robb captured Jaime.


I found the picture I was looking for though!

http://i.imgur.com/ZN6Ym.jpg

[Kant]

So apparently the new book

not entirely important spoilers
sucked. At this point with the new HP movie, it looks like Fukuyama's new book is the only undissapointing thing to happen this summer, book wise

[Tee See Em]

...

I seem to have had the misimpression that the Hugo award was worth a damn.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won it in 2001, beating out A Storm of Swords.

what.

edit: I just finished a Storm of Swords, btw. It continued to be mostly great and have irritating pacing. Toward the end of the book there a were few plot elements that felt somewhat award/forced. Starting the next book now.

[LegendShark]

Halfway through reading Game of Thrones. This shit is brilliant.

[Fonzy]

So apparently the new book

not entirely important spoilers
sucked. At this point with the new HP movie, it looks like Fukuyama's new book is the only undissapointing thing to happen this summer, book wise

I just finished it. It's not horrible, it's just setting up for things to happen in later books, I have the feeling. Seems to fit in with the series pretty well so far, since we get a book of action, book of setup, book of action, then book of setup (since AFFC and DWD were originally supposed to be one book).

[Tidal Kraken]

hahaha oh man Alfie Allen is going to have fun if the series ever makes it to ADWD.

[Kant]

To be fair, fuck Theon.

[Fonzy]

I felt like GRRM did a good job making Theon fairly sympathetic. More so than Jaime even, in my eyes. I still think Jaime's a douche.

[Kant]

Huh, I always like Jaime more than Theon, I felt that Theon's urge to please made him less sympathetic considering the shitty things he was doing, while Jaime was just straight up trying to redeem himself

[Fonzy]

See I dunno, I see Theon's lack of a real father figure and his desire to please as his tragic flaw. He wants to be a Stark but is rejected because he's a Greyjoy, then wants to be a Greyjoy, but gets rejected because he's too much a Stark, then tries to take Winterfell so he can be both a Stark and a Greyjoy and ultimately fails at that too. It's only when Ramsay takes advantage of Theon's flaw and twists him into Reek that Theon starts to reject the idea that acceptance comes from adopting the identities his "fathers" force on him. His decision to escape from Winterfell is the first thing he does in the whole series that isn't driven by a desire for a father figure's acceptance.


Jaime's story is more like, "hey guys i'm a badass dickhead whoops i lost my hand lol i guess i have to be less of a jackass now"

His transformation has nothing to do with his primary character flaw (which is probably his hubris) and it's not even something he chooses - it's forced upon him. After he loses his hand he physically lacks the ability to be the same person he used to be and has to adapt in order to survive. I definitely get the sense that if he hadn't lost the hand, he'd probably wouldn't have changed at all. He might have eventually rejected Cersei, but she's long been at the point of being a crazy bitch that absolutely no one likes and even a cocksure (lol) swordsman like the Kingslayer probably would have had a, "Bitch, please", moment sooner or later with her.

So I guess in that sense, I like Theon better because he seems like a deeper character to me who's changes come more from internal struggles, whereas Jaime's changes are as a result of external events forced upon him, to which he has no choice but to adapt.

[Tee See Em]

I'm 67% of the way through A Feast for Crows. It feels like nothing has happened.

Apparently he put all of the stuff nobody cared about so the good stuff could be in A Dance With Dragons instead.

[Fonzy]

I'm 67% of the way through A Feast for Crows. It feels like nothing has happened.

Apparently he put all of the stuff nobody cared about so the good stuff could be in A Dance With Dragons instead.

Kind of, but kind of not. There's a bunch of slow chapters in DWD, too. I feel like with some forethought and judicious editing, he could have left several stories out and kept those two books together in one book.

So, did Daenerys really just start her period in A Dance With Dragons? If so, how the fuck did she get pregnant?

No, she had it before, I think that her hitting puberty was the reason she was wed to Drogo in the first place. In DWD, she was just surprised to get it while wandering out in the wilderness because it wasn't her time of the month yet. There's a theory going around online that it was actually a miscarriage and that the "prophecy" the Maegi gave her in the first book about Drogo coming back and her womb being able to bear children again has come true. I'm not sure I agree, but it does seem strange that GRRM makes sure to point out both that she got a bloody vag and that it wasn't her time of month.

[Fonzy]

Yeah, it's a shame he was forced to rush it out so quickly after the previous book. :V

I'm of the opinion he may have had too much time to think about it.

[Fonzy]

On the other hand I may fall completely in love with his writing style and universe so much so that I'll gobble the books up in a week and be upset that it's not finished. Double-edged sword, really.

It is pretty immersive. I think you'd probably dig it. Plus it's not like it would take more than a couple weeks to catch up. I read them in 6 weeks or so amongst having lots of other shit going on.

My biggest regret is that I started reading now and not after the series has ended. I'm really not pleased with the prospect of waiting another decade or so to see how that fat fuck decides to wrap things up. And let's not even talk about if he pulls a Robert Jordan and kicks it before he finishes

[Fonzy]

On an unrelated note, have you ever seen his hilarious Geocities-esque website?
http://georgerrmartin.com/

I mean, a web ring for god's sake?