A Game of Thrones

Anyone?

Series of books, first one is a HBO series that is coming out this month.

It's really involved, but a fun ride. Hard to describe it other than kick-ass.

The paperback description: "Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."

Doesn't really do it justice.

Still, awesome.

I am on book 3... love it.

-HECK!

The first 15 mins of the pilot were on HBO last night. Amazing.

10-episode season starts in a few weeks. Cannot wait.

-HECK!

Took long enough for them to show what's on the other side of the wall. The whole show's a slow burn. Books are too, but I'm not that far into them yet. I enjoy George R.R.R.R.R. Martin's writing style. ...R.R.R...

My uncle said that the R.R. stands for RailRoad. I agree.

The series does go slow, but it's not a slow read, if that makes sense. I love the journey. Not in a rush to see it over. The way it's set up and paced is perfect. I wouldn't change a thing... expect bring back a few characters. Sad.

-HECK!

These books are excellent! I watched the first two seasons of the show on HBO, and the start of the third season feels like it's way too far away. I started reading the first book after the second season ended, and the characters that I loved the most in the show are even better in the books (Jon, Arya, Tyrian). Can't say that I think much of Catelyn or Theon in the books, though. Which is fine with me, since I wasn't sure how I felt about them from the show.

I felt Jon was lacking in the second season of the show, so yeah... the book would be better. Tyrian is the best, nobody could deny it. I thought the show played it up because he became popular... but no! He was written that way. I was pleasantly surprised.

Arya's the best. I honestly wish there was more of her.

It seems everybody thinks the third book is the best. In fact, I read somewhere that the whole reason the show exists is because the producers wanted to film/create one particular scene from the third book.

I seriously forget who Theon is.

Theon is the douchy Greyjoy boy who was the ward of the Starks, and after he went back to his family in the second book he got teased for being a big softy compared to them, and so he went back to Winterfell and killed people and took over the city.

There are some lines in the show that were just perfect, and I'd thought that they were written just for the show, but nope, they are right there in the books. I just read Sansa saying that she doesn't want to marry someone brave and gentle, she wants Joffrey. Bahahaha, be careful what you wish for. I HATE Sansa.

I'm looking forward to the third book/season. After the man from Braavos, the guy from the society of Faceless Men, told Arya that he'd teach her how to kill everyone who wronged her, I was on the edge of my seat. That, and when the white walkers rode out at the series finale.

Yeah, book 2 Arya's not given much to do but you can see it building to something awesome.

Sansa, I don't exactly hate... I... pity her? Yeah, that's about right. Though that was kind of her own making, she also didn't have MUCH choice. Though she didn't need to be a bitch.

Okay, I totally know who Theon is. I felt sorry for him for parts of Season 2 of the show but I was also thinking he was a dweeb.

Where are you at now?

-HECK!

I stopped reading after the second book because I think that if I read the book THEN watched the season on HBO, I'd just complain about the show not being perfect. With watching the show before reading the book, I can enjoy both.

Though with the way that the second season ended, it's been tough to resist.

I'm into the third book, A Storm of Swords, and am caught up with the series. I'm interested to see where things go with Stannis and Melisandre. Don't think much of the red woman Melisandre, but it's an interesting story anyway.

This season of the TV show is really dragging for me. I mean, now that I think of it, so did earlier seasons... but it's affecting me more this time around.

I wish they had more of Arya. Or a sweet fight scene. The ending of last season was so good with the battle at King's Landing and the appearance of the White Walkers that it does seem slower with all the talking and plotting.

The scenes with Jamie and Brienne are great, though. God, can you imagine how much that hand would stink?

Have we all watched Red Wedding are what?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT GODDAMIT!

-HECK!

I watched it! I'm almost done with the third book now. Nobody in Westeros should get married EVER.

I know that there were some changes with the Red Wedding between the book and the show, but the only one that I think might be a problem later on was Robb Stark's wife getting killed. Isn't it theorized that she is pregnant with Robb's heir in the books? If she is and that baby becomes the Stark in Winterfell, there could be some problems in the show.

Other than that, wow! I thought that it was really well-done. Walder Frey is a Grade A jackass, but when he was like, "Meh, I'll get another" when Catelyn threatened to kill his wife, I thought it was pretty sweet. Way better than just killing off a lackwit grandson in a jester costume.

The growing sense of unease for Catelyn was well done, I thought. You knew that something was up. I'm glad that the show left in the bit with Grey Wind's head being sewn onto Robb's body.

I was just thinking about how the Red Wedding could have had an even more dramatic ending if Catelyn had gone crazy right before her throat got cut. Hysterical laughter, babbling about the blood tickling her and how Ned loved her hair. I'm glad that they left out her clawing her face, but man, I bet that the actress could do a great hysterical laugh/scream.

Okay, a few hundred pages into A Feast for Crows now. What is up with the names at the top of the chapters? And within the chapters, too. I just finished the one about the Soiled Knight and it took me half the chapter to figure out who his mistress was. It gets confusing with all the Iron Born and trying to figure out who the chapter is about. The Kraken's Daughter was easy, but The Reaver, and whatever the rest of them are, tripped me up.

Also, still on the names in this book, what's up with changing Arya's and Sansa's names? Alright, Arya I can understand because she is supposed to be shedding her identity, but Sansa just changed her name and colored her hair to avoid being found. She still knows who she is. What's up with her referring to herself by her fake name even in her head, and thinking of Littlefinger as "father"? This book might give me a headache.

Okay, onto Dance with Dragons now and I've changed my mind about the names of the chapters. With the characters that adopt different names, like Arya, Sansa and Theon, their identities have changed on a fundamental level to the point where they think (or try to think) of themselves as that other person. Littlefinger and The Kindly Man have good insights. If you are hiding your identity, you have to convince yourself of the lie until it becomes the truth, until you believe it even when you are alone. That makes more sense to me why the names at the top of the chapters changed, and when The Kindly Man says that a lie can be detected because even the best lies can not destroy the buried knowledge of truth, that explains why sometimes the characters true names creep in to their POV chapters, like when Arya bites her lip.

For the others, I think that the point of not using their names at the top of the chapter is because these characters are just pieces in the game of thrones. In the game, sometimes your role is more important than your name. What can you do for someone else, how might they be able to make use of you to further their position?

This last book will be a chore to get through, since Dany and her dragons aren't my favorite, but it's interesting how the "game" plays out in each book and over the course of the series.

I found the names at the top of chapters absolutely imperative. I'd be extremely confused if they didn't include that.

Not that I've read anywhere near as much as you. I've read half of 3 different books...