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

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by Angrist

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? 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]

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

[Teuthida]

Season 1 spoilers.

[Vampyr]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Angrist

If reviews are good, I'll definitely be watching this.

Originally Posted by Angrist

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:

Originally Posted by Angrist

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]

Hijacking this thread to recommend the Stormlight Archive 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]

So.. have you guys been watching season 6?

[Ginkasa]

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]

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]

How did you guys enjoy Battle of the Bastards?

[Ginkasa]

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]

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.

[Ginkasa]

Yeah, that could have been done better.

[BlueFire]

Did you watch the season finale?