The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread (includes spoilers)

[theSTEREO.]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

Just finished A Feast of Crows. So is a Dance w Dragons out? Can I go pick it up today?

I'm really fucking pissed about this though. I hate serials that I can't finish. I like to be able to read a story from start to finish and now I know I'm going to have to wait for at least two books.

If Cat is your favorite, I guess you won't be that disappointed, but maybe weirded out. A Feast of Crows was ok, but I'm not a fan of how he split this book in to two. Most of my favorite characters will be in the next one I guess and since some of the characters kept taking on different names, I didn't know who I was reading about in a chapter for a second unlike most of the other books.

Once again there were some fucked up twists in the plot line that I can't wait to see unfold and not many characters died I guess. I didn't even know who Martel was until you told about him dueling with the Mountain. I now have it in my head that he's the red viper and I forgot about his true name.

Yeah Dance has been out since July. You can get it anywhere.

 

[Chris]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

Just finished A Feast of Crows. So is a Dance w Dragons out? Can I go pick it up today?

I'm really fucking pissed about this though. I hate serials that I can't finish. I like to be able to read a story from start to finish and now I know I'm going to have to wait for at least two books.

If Cat is your favorite, I guess you won't be that disappointed, but maybe weirded out. A Feast of Crows was ok, but I'm not a fan of how he split this book in to two. Most of my favorite characters will be in the next one I guess and since some of the characters kept taking on different names, I didn't know who I was reading about in a chapter for a second unlike most of the other books.

Once again there were some fucked up twists in the plot line that I can't wait to see unfold and not many characters died I guess. I didn't even know who Martel was until you told about him dueling with the Mountain. I now have it in my head that he's the red viper and I forgot about his true name.

Yeah Martin got kind of a raging boner out of creating aliases for the characters starting in AFFC. "The Drowned Man" "The Kraken's Daughter" "The Prince of Winterfell" etc etc. It doesn't really affect anything, as you usually realize who you're reading about a second or two into the chapter as you said.

And yes it's unavoidable that you will have to go ahead and join the epic long wait for the next book (and the final book after that) with the rest of us. Sucks, yep.

 

[MattyFos.]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

QD is burning through these books. Damn.

 

[Chris]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

QD is burning through these books. Damn.

Yeah, I bought them all at once and tore through them pretty quick, but with class and shit it took me about 2 months to finish the whole series. Still the easiest 5000 some pages I ever read, though.

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

Yeah, 4 since Christmas and I was in another book before I got into these so I'm tearing through them. I'm just going to have to find something good after the 5th book. I sort of like to have books forced upon me. If my ex girlfriend didn't get me these for Christmas, I never would have read them.

I just don't want to get in to another "series" of books after this. I don't mind them, but I miss reading a novel from start to finish and that's it. Also, WTF has happened to books in general. Can nobody write a 300 page novel anymore? It seems like everything is 1000 pages lol. I need to find some good books to get lined up for summer soon.

 

[Chris]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

Yeah, 4 since Christmas and I was in another book before I got into these so I'm tearing through them. I'm just going to have to find something good after the 5th book. I sort of like to have books forced upon me. If my ex girlfriend didn't get me these for Christmas, I never would have read them.

I just don't want to get in to another "series" of books after this. I don't mind them, but I miss reading a novel from start to finish and that's it. Also, WTF has happened to books in general. Can nobody write a 300 page novel anymore? It seems like everything is 1000 pages lol. I need to find some good books to get lined up for summer soon.

ASOIAF would suck if it was only 300 pages each. :chuckles:

Do you like sci fi? Hyperion and Ender's Game are classics, maybe you'll like those. I don't read a lot anymore so I don't know.

edit: Shit, just realized this is the ASOIAF thread not the Reading thread. :chuckles: Ah well.

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

No you're right on with the length of these novels, but it seems like everything has gotten this big. I remember when I thought Catch 22 was a huge book and it's dwarfed by all these novels now. It's like every book is as big as a Tolkien novel and they used to be the biggest books out there. Just an observation on the size of the average novel recently.

Probably going to buy book 5 tonight. I don't know everyones opinion on this, but I watched one episdoe of the HBO show and I thought it sucked compared to the books so I haven't watched more. Should I bother watching it now that I've read the books or is there any point? I can't see the show lasting either because the books aren't complete so I don't see it lasting to tell the entire story. It sounds like he takes a long time to come out with these so I should be done with the series when I'm 50

 

[theSTEREO.]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

No you're right on with the length of these novels, but it seems like everything has gotten this big. I remember when I thought Catch 22 was a huge book and it's dwarfed by all these novels now. It's like every book is as big as a Tolkien novel and they used to be the biggest books out there. Just an observation on the size of the average novel recently.

Probably going to buy book 5 tonight. I don't know everyones opinion on this, but I watched one episdoe of the HBO show and I thought it sucked compared to the books so I haven't watched more. Should I bother watching it now that I've read the books or is there any point? I can't see the show lasting either because the books aren't complete so I don't see it lasting to tell the entire story. It sounds like he takes a long time to come out with these so I should be done with the series when I'm 50

Gotta get about 5 episodes deep to really get into it. The characters are REALLY well done. Even the ones that differ a little from the book are really good

 

[Chris]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

I doubt the show catches up to the books until we're waiting for book 7. Then there may be a problem.

There are already hot rumors (and Martin himself backs this idea) that Storm of Swords will need to be TWO television seasons which will allow even more time for Martin to finish it.

Also. Not sure why you thought the show sucked. The show is an incredibly well done adaptation and easily the best show on TV right now in my opinion. Top notch acting, top notch writing, and the source material is near perfect. I mean, theStereo is right when he says things pick up around Episode 5, and the first half is backstory and stuff. But I only tell that to people that haven't read the books. If you've read the books, I'd imagine you'd be appreciating all the exposition and seeing your favorite characters on screen.

But I'm speaking as a die hard fan of the source material, not a casual reader of them, so obviously my opinion will be a bit different. The show has achieved a shit ton of acclaim though, so they are doing something right.

 

[theSTEREO.]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

I doubt the show catches up to the books until we're waiting for book 7. Then there may be a problem.

There are already hot rumors (and Martin himself backs this idea) that Storm of Swords will need to be TWO television seasons which will allow even more time for Martin to finish it.

Also. Not sure why you thought the show sucked. The show is an incredibly well done adaptation and easily the best show on TV right now in my opinion. Top notch acting, top notch writing, and the source material is near perfect. I mean, theStereo is right when he says things pick up around Episode 5, and the first half is backstory and stuff. But I only tell that to people that haven't read the books. If you've read the books, I'd imagine you'd be appreciating all the exposition and seeing your favorite characters on screen.

But I'm speaking as a die hard fan of the source material, not a casual reader of them, so obviously my opinion will be a bit different. The show has achieved a shit ton of acclaim though, so they are doing something right.

My brother never read the books, and I have been trying to get him to watch the show for a year. He watched the first two early on and thought it was decent, but he just now finished the whole season, and is claiming its a top 5 all time show.

 

[MD13]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

ASOIAF would suck if it was only 300 pages each. :chuckles:

Do you like sci fi? Hyperion and Ender's Game are classics, maybe you'll like those. I don't read a lot anymore so I don't know.

edit: Shit, just realized this is the ASOIAF thread not the Reading thread. :chuckles: Ah well.

Read Hyperion a few years ago, and I still think it's possibly the best sci-fi novel I've ever read. The sequels don't live up to the first one, but the first one is magic.

 

[Chris]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

Read Hyperion a few years ago, and I still think it's possibly the best sci-fi novel I've ever read. The sequels don't live up to the first one, but the first one is magic.

I thought Fall of Hyperion was beyond epic, if not a bit convoluted at times. I didn't bother to read the next two.

My brother never read the books, and I have been trying to get him to watch the show for a year. He watched the first two early on and thought it was decent, but he just now finished the whole season, and is claiming its a top 5 all time show.

Yep, I had a similar situation. He's reading the books now.

As a reader of the books, I thought the show was fantastic from start to finish, though. I catch every tiny line of dialogue and every small nod to the books, and appreciate every bit of it. Whereas someone who hadn't, would be like, "Where the hell is the action?" during the first few episodes.

 

[MalTalm]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

The standard agreement for a television contract in regards to books is that it gets priority for plot. That would leave Martin with 3 options:

1. He can publish all of his books before the television series catches up (obviously his and his reader's preference)
2. He can give the major story lines for the ending to DB Weiss and allow him to orchestrate it with his blessing. It's possible Martin has already revealed some or all of the ending to the series with Weiss; HBO may have demanded that in exchange for funding the pilot already, though I haven't heard anything to imply that, it's just speculation.
3. If Martin doesn't want to spoil the ending, HBO and Weiss would be left to take creative license and create their own ending for the story which may or may not bear similarities with Martin's eventual ending.

My guess would be option 2. By all accounts, Martin has been hands-on with the TV series, and is being careful about dialogue to make sure nothing said now will contradict the story in the future. It's the big reason I'm so intrigued by the Petyr Baelish/ Varys conversations. They never took place in the books, but they are obviously fleshing out each man's motivations in a way the books never really did.

Also Quad, if you like Martin, another good author to try out is Bill Pullman and the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. It starts with Golden Compass, which was a shit movie but a great book.

 

[Chris]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

Talm, I think it's already confirmed that Martin told Weiss and Benioff how it ends/where the characters end up. I would assume they are the only 3 people in the world who know, though. I'll see if I can find the link.

I don't want them making their own shitty ending or whatever, either. I am staunchly opposed to them taking creative liberty with this show, even though Martin sold it to them and they can do whatever they like if they want. Season 2 already looks like it takes some retarded liberties and it's making me mad. I don't want further ones.

 

[MD13]

Re: The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread

I thought Fall of Hyperion was beyond epic, if not a bit convoluted at times. I didn't bother to read the next two.



Yep, I had a similar situation. He's reading the books now.

As a reader of the books, I thought the show was fantastic from start to finish, though. I catch every tiny line of dialogue and every small nod to the books, and appreciate every bit of it. Whereas someone who hadn't, would be like, "Where the hell is the action?" during the first few episodes.

Fall of Hyperion was pretty good too, but I just loved the structure and worldbuilding of Hyperion. He tied in 6 completely unique characters with different stories, wrote in 6 completely different styles with 6 different voices, and somehow managed to tie their stories into one another perfectly. It's been a while, but if I remember correctly my favorite stories were the father and the Consul.