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

[Man Called X]

I only made it through about five of the Wheel of Time books before I lost interest. Not sure I would call it a masterpiece. Also, it did get finished, just not by the original author.

I wouldn't call it a masterpiece either, but it was shaping up to become one. It's like reading Tolkein's son's books. They try to be his dad, but they just aren't. WoT suffered from the same problem. Have a feeling we're going to run into the same thing here.

 

[Chris]

I'm still holding out hope that HBO execs will pressure D&D to stretch out the show a season or two longer. Its not like they are lacking great material to work with and I trust them wholeheartedly when it comes to adaption. I am actually worried that them trying to cram a shit ton of plot into only a few seasons will have seriously negative effects on the overall integrity of the show. I'm sure people will argue that we would only be getting the "exciting parts" or the highlights but those moments are not as impactful if you are missing the supporting plot lines that made it possible.

It is so rare for me to wish a tv show would slow down and pick up some of these other plot lines that are being thrown to the side, but GOT is one of those rare gems where nearly everything they put out is gold.

It could happen, but would 1-2 seasons even be enough?? Might get us to TWOW being released, but even if TWOW comes out in 2016 (earliest it will, IMO) then ADOS won't be out until the 2020s. THE 2020s!!!!

God, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that. It could theoretically take this guy 30 years to write 7 books when his full time job is to fucking write books.

Also I'll be honest with you I give D&D a ton of credit for producing the show but GRRM gets the most credit. As harsh as I am on his speed of writing, the story he has crafted is why this TV show is so good. Notice the second it strays from the books, the quality very often drops a notch. That's very telling.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I wouldn't call it a masterpiece either, but it was shaping up to become one. It's like reading Tolkein's son's books. They try to be his dad, but they just aren't. WoT suffered from the same problem. Have a feeling we're going to run into the same thing here.

I mean, Sanderson finished the Wheel of Time books and I'd prefer him to Robert Jordan any day. I actually really like all of the Sanderson books I've read. If you guys aren't familiar, I'd definitely recommend the Mistborn series and the Stormlight Archive. It's not fantasy, but I'd also definitely recommend the Reckoners books. Honestly, I haven't read the later WoT books, but I would rather read Sanderson than Jordan.

I think the real problem with Wheel of Time was that Jordan was starting to lose it long before he died. The first few WoT books were awesome, but after that I just couldn't keep reading. It just started to drag.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

If you really want to laugh, look at the list of books fellow fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson has released since 2011:

• Mistborn: The Allow of Law
• Infinity Blade: Awakening (novella)
• The Emperor's Soul (novella)
• Legion
• Infinity Blade: Redemption (novella)
• Steelheart
• The Rithmatist
• The Wheel of Time: A Memory of Light
• Mitosis (short story)
• Legion: Skin Deep
• Words of Radiance
• Firefight

Firefight came out at the beginning of this month and he's got another Mistborn novel coming out in October. So that will be nine novels, three novellas, and a short story in five years while there still isn't even a release date in sight for Winds of Winter.

In fairness to Martin, he's also been involved with a TV show, helped write that bloated (or incredibly detailed, depending on your POV) "World of Ice and Fire", and edited a bunch of short story collections. But yeah, he's much slower than when he was younger.

 

[Jack Brickman]

In fairness to Martin, he's also been involved with a TV show, helped write that bloated (or incredibly detailed, depending on your POV) "World of Ice and Fire", and edited a bunch of short story collections. But yeah, he's much slower than when he was younger.

Yeah, he did write a couple of short stories and do some editing work, but it's still an insane lack of productivity from a professional writer. I don't know how involved he is with the show, but he has only written one episode a season the past four years (which probably takes about a week), so I doubt it's all that much, perhaps outside of being available to answer questions if need be.

I think his real problem is that he just permits too many distractions. He makes appearances he doesn't need to make. He stops writing to watch football. He decides to edit short story anthologies. He got involved with that World of Ice and Fire book you mentioned that really shouldn't have been released until after the series was finished. He just seems incapable of keeping one thing on his plate and sticking with it.

It's telling to me that almost all of his contemporaries release books at a pace of one every year or two while he can take over half a decade between books. They have the work ethic and self-control to stick with a project and manage their own time. In fact, I think Martin's real problem might be that he became too powerful and wealthy to have to worry about deadlines, which I imagine a lot of his fellow fantasy writers have to deal with.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

In fact, I think Martin's real problem might be that he became too powerful and wealthy to have to worry about deadlines, which I imagine a lot of his fellow fantasy writers have to deal with.

His pace was slow long before the HBO series, though, before he was that powerful or wealthy. And really, it's the pace of these books in particular that is so slow, and at least according to him, it's largely because there are very "dense" books. Word count wise, some are more than twice the size of the average genre book, and the complexity of the storylines, etc.. is almost unrivaled. I can't really think of any other series that has that much going on. He also says he gets "stuck" fairly often, so that's another issue. I think they must be pretty wearing/tiring to write given the quality that is expected, and all the subplots he's got to keep going.

 

[Jack Brickman]

His pace was slow long before the HBO series, though, before he was that powerful or wealthy. And really, it's the pace of these books in particular that is so slow, and at least according to him, it's largely because there are very "dense" books. Word count wise, some are more than twice the size of the average genre book, and the complexity of the storylines, etc.. is almost unrivaled. I can't really think of any other series that has that much going on. He also says he gets "stuck" fairly often, so that's another issue. I think they must be pretty wearing/tiring to write given the quality that is expected, and all the subplots he's got to keep going.

I think Martin had become powerful enough to not worry about deadlines before the HBO deal. I think that happened after the completion of the third book. He obviously didn't have any deadlines for the fifth book and has none for the sixth. He's in the Valve "when it's done" class now.

If I had to guess, I would say his original ASoI&F publishing contract called for three books (it was originally planned to be a trilogy, so this would make sense). When they were successful, he had the leverage to get some concessions in his contract for the remainder of the series.

 

[Sebastian]

He's averaging a five year hiatus since book three, though, I'm hoping he's doing meaningful work on seven concurrently with Winds.

 

[theSTEREO.]

He's averaging a five year hiatus since book three, though, I'm hoping he's doing meaningful work on seven concurrently with Winds.

This is my secret hope too. I hope the long wait is because they'll sneakily say "TWoW is done. Oh and also ADoS is gonna follow right behind it." Like, maybe a year apart.

I'd be in heaven.

 

[Chris]

This is my secret hope too. I hope the long wait is because they'll sneakily say "TWoW is done. Oh and also ADoS is gonna follow right behind it." Like, maybe a year apart.

I'd be in heaven.

And then we woke up.

 

[kosis]

New trailer is upon us.

Update: Official version from HBO. Much to discuss.

 

[Sebastian]

The IMAX showing was a blast. The screen and sound adds a whole new dimension to Episode Nine. White knuckle stuff even after seeing the episode several times.

About that trailer....

 

[Jack Brickman]

I'll need to watch the trailer again after work to comment more on it. It looked interesting last night but I don't remember enough of it to really talk about it.

The best part of the Imax showing was when the little kid shoots Ygritte and then gives Jon the ridiculous head nod. The entire crowd laughed. It was great.

 

[Chris]

Will comment more on the trailer later after class but my first thought was that this season is actually not going to storm ahead of the books as originally thought.

 

[kosis]

My initial thoughts:

Pretty evident that Varys is supporting Daenerys' claim. We kinda knew it already, but no Aegon.

Really interesting bit with Littlefinger and Sansa. He tells her she needs to take revenge and they later show the arms of Arryn marching... is Sansa taking the Lady SH role?

What's the NW/wildling battle? Hardhome?

No sign of Northern houses as far as I can tell.

Arya's arc is really the only one that I have a handle on this season.