George R.R. Martin/Game of Thrones

[the wicked child]

Funny thing with those books is how up and down they can make you. It's a nice balance of **** yeah and WTF.

[IrishEyes]

The highs are only marginally high, though, and the lows are the lowest.

[the wicked child]

Spoiler:

I may or may not have done the dance of joy when Joffrey died.

[ajh2298]

Is there a listed order for the books? I am out of work and have been keeping my son home since we cant afford daycare anymore and these would be nice to read while he naps or if I take him to Ikea to play or something.

Thanks,
Anthony

p.s.
Also would I need to read Game of Thrones if i watch all the episodes on HBO?

[PensFanInDC]

Is there a listed order for the books? I am out of work and have been keeping my son home since we cant afford daycare anymore and these would be nice to read while he naps or if I take him to Ikea to play or something.

Thanks,
Anthony

p.s.
Also would I need to read Game of Thrones if i watch all the episodes on HBO?

No you dont NEED to read it as the TV show does a really good job of portraying the book but I do recommend it as it's a good read

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons

If you look at the book titles you can see where the story is headed:

Spoiler:

Political change
Political disagreement
War
Aftermath
Crap starts to hit the fan

[eddysnake]

Is there a listed order for the books? I am out of work and have been keeping my son home since we cant afford daycare anymore and these would be nice to read while he naps or if I take him to Ikea to play or something.

Thanks,
Anthony

p.s.
Also would I need to read Game of Thrones if i watch all the episodes on HBO?

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons

Althought the show was pretty faithful, I would recommend reading the book. Theres more character development that will pay off in the later books. There is probably some smaller storylines that the show couldn't get into, it's been a while since I've read it though

[eddysnake]

It's been months since I picked up Dance with Dragons to finish the 2nd half. Without spoilers, what was the general consensus amongst you all? Did you like?

[PensFanInDC]

Never even started it. While I love the story enough to eventually read it I don't like his writing style. Dude goes on and on describing food. We get it, there was food there.

There is a really great site that summarizes each chapter from each book.

http://towerofthehand.com/books/guide.html

This is how I "re-read" GoT before watching the TV series. It is probably how I will "read" Dance with Dragons

[the wicked child]

My general reaction was disappointed. I don't feel like the story moved along enough, and some of my favorite characters were locked in storylines that were less than thrilling at times.

There are some questions in my mind about what "really" happened in a few cases... But I won't get into those since they are pretty big on the spoiler side.

[eddysnake]

Season 2 preview

[youtube][/youtube]

[the wicked child]

Cannot wait.

[the wicked child]

Season 1 Blu-ray review

[eddysnake]

Season 1 bluray on sale for $35 on Amazon

[Gaucho]

Seen Season 1 a couple of weeks ago. Was entertained and didn't regret it, but definitely didn't make me want to read the books. Straightforward fantasy of the standard, seen it all before variety with lots of pointless sex and violence.

[IrishEyes]

Seen Season 1 a couple of weeks ago. Was entertained and didn't regret it, but definitely didn't make me want to read the books. Straightforward fantasy of the standard, seen it all before variety with lots of pointless sex and violence.

Le wat?

[Gaucho]

It was visually appealing.

[the wicked child]

Seen Season 1 a couple of weeks ago. Was entertained and didn't regret it, but definitely didn't make me want to read the books. Straightforward fantasy of the standard, seen it all before variety with lots of pointless sex and violence.

Lol.

[Gaucho]

Did I offend the disciples of G.R.R.?

[the wicked child]

Did I offend the disciples of G.R.R.?

Offended? No. Let's just say that the story is anything but standard as it moves forward.

[Shyster]

Seen Season 1 a couple of weeks ago. Was entertained and didn't regret it, but definitely didn't make me want to read the books. Straightforward fantasy of the standard, seen it all before variety with lots of pointless sex and violence.

HBO inserted a fair number of sex scenes (many of them particularly gratuitous, like the “practice” scene in the brothel) that do not appear in the book. Also, I must disagree that the violence was pointless. I’m having a hard time thinking of any violence in A Game of Thrones that did not advance the plot or serve as character exposition.

[Gaucho]

As I said, I only know the TV show, not the books, and hence only a fraction of the story. And it's not that I disliked it, I quite enjoyed it, in fact. I'm just saying that dragons, knights, medieval feasts, contested realms and the like are nothing new really. Which is not a complaint at all.

[PensFanInDC]

Did I offend the disciples of G.R.R.?

Offended? No. Let's just say that the story is anything but standard as it moves forward.

To say the least

[Shyster]

You have a point. Taken at a distance, ASOIAF does involve elements that are fairly standard from a fantasy perspective. Personally, I think the books are much better than the TV series, and what makes ASOIAF unique is the quality of Martin’s writing. For example, the Harry Potter series involved magic wands, wizards, trolls, centaurs, and other similar devices common to fantasy writing. But IMO it would be a mistake to dismiss the series simply because it contains those features. It was the quality of Ms. Rowling’s writing and the way she employed those familiar devices that made the books so good. And I believe Martin does the same with his work. The television adaptation obscures the quality of the underlying source. I didn’t like the Harry Potter movies for the same reason.

[the wicked child]

As I said, I only know the TV show, not the books, and hence only a fraction of the story. And it's not that I disliked it, I quite enjoyed it, in fact. I'm just saying that dragons, knights, medieval feasts, contested realms and the like are nothing new really. Which is not a complaint at all.

Yeah. All I can say is that the story gets a lot bigger starting with the second book. And at some point you realize that there is a lot more to this story than the Game of Thrones.

[Gaucho]

I'm sure going to watch Season 2.