BOOKS: A Song of Ice and Fire

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Read the first couple when they came out. My husband has read most of othem.

We both really enjoy the tv show and my husband typically hates adaptations of material he loves.
 
It wasn’t that I thought the show was different from the books, I just didn’t particularly like the casting, the sets, the direction, the cinematography, the gratuitous sex and violence…it was just a cheap show on many different levels in my opinion.
Well the books have quiet a bit of sex in them, thats for sure.
And violence as well.

As for the cast… I have to admit, while I haven’t seen the whole first season, I think that Ned was the only one who I truly did get a good visual for. Drogo in the sereis looks nothing like what I expected from the book.

Tyrion is a perfect choice of good casting. I totally saw and see him in the actor they hired. While he’s a snake in the book, I can’t help but feel he is indeed my favorite character. And Cat is just annoying to me, but that could just be me.
 
Loved the show, especially Sean Bean and Peter Dinkledge (sp?). I have the first book on my nook, but I’m not sure I really want to start readin the books till the author is finished with the series. Someone told me he waited nine years to release this last one. That would be torture for me to wait thatmlong between books:p
 
Loved the show, especially Sean Bean and Peter Dinkledge (sp?). I have the first book on my nook, but I’m not sure I really want to start readin the books till the author is finished with the series. Someone told me he waited nine years to release this last one. That would be torture for me to wait thatmlong between books:p
It was actually six years after being promised in one year. Life is tough if you’re a George RR Martin fan; in the words of Tom Pett, “the waiting is the hardest part”.
 
Currently reading the fifth. Can’t wait for the new season on HBO. Love Dany and Tyrion’s stories, but I really love them all. such awesome books!
 
The newest book was much better than A Feast For Crows but not as good as the first three IMO.

I agree, Ned was extremely well cast, although Sean Bean is considerably older than Ned was in the books (50 vs 35ish).

It is my hope that GRRM actually finishes the series. He has 3 books left, is a slow writer, and is not getting any younger…
eveytime i put the book down, i hope he has some apprentice or someone who knows where the story is going just in case.
 
eveytime i put the book down, i hope he has some apprentice or someone who knows where the story is going just in case.
He has been very clear on his blog that no one knows the story but him and that he does not have it written down anywhere. This basically means that if something were to happen to him we would be left in the dark.
 
I would also add that GRRM is very accessible to his fans. He goes to numerous conventions and does a lot of book signings. I went to a signing where he gave a talk back when book 4 came out. Even though there were over 200 people there he took the time to shake my hand and talk to me for a short time as he signed my book.
 
In my opinion he does not have a very high regard for his fans.
 
Just the fact that he waits so long inbetween books (and I heard he was writing other books at the time). And as someone else said, that he hasn’t left anything saying where the series is going should something happen to him.
The author of The Wheel of Time left info with his family where they have been able to continue the series after he died.
I just don’t see that as being very considerate of his fans.
 
Just the fact that he waits so long inbetween books (and I heard he was writing other books at the time). And as someone else said, that he hasn’t left anything saying where the series is going should something happen to him.
The author of The Wheel of Time left info with his family where they have been able to continue the series after he died.
I just don’t see that as being very considerate of his fans.
I respectfully disagree with you. I do find it frustrating, don’t get me wrong, but Martin takes as much time as he feels he needs to complete a book. He doesn’t owe anyone anything. His books are extremely complex and it is clear that he puts a lot of work and care into each one. I don’t think he wants to put out a sub-par product. I would be disappointed if he were to pass away without finishing the series, but I wouldn’t want someone else to finish it. It is really a product of Martin’s imagination, and even if someone else were to finish it based on his notes it would not have the same original vision. He has said himself that he isn’t always sure of what will happen in the story when he sets out either.

I’m personally not a fan of the Robert Jordan route.

If you read Martin’s blog he really does like to interact with his fans and seems like a genuinely nice guy.

Here is an interesting defense of Martin by fellow author Neil Gaimen. WARNING, there are some expletives in this blog entry, but if you read Martin you shouldn’t be offended as it is mild compared to him!

journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html
 
I’ve read through the series twice and there is plenty of gratuitous sex and violence in the books as well. The HBO series did add a few sex scenes, but overall I think it was quite faithful to the books.

There were a few character names changed in the show; for example, Robert Arryn appears in the HBO series as Robin because the producers thought having two Roberts (King Robert and little Robert) would be too confusing to viewers.
I thought the sex scenes were an interesting way to add narrative they couldn’t add anywhere else. the characters could give insight to the prostitutes they wouldn’t share with other characters. like littlefinger’s scene that is really an internal memory in the books.

Also, i keep hearing this, but in the books, Robert Arryn is nicknamed SweetRobin by his mother, so people would call him robin.
 
Just the fact that he waits so long inbetween books (and I heard he was writing other books at the time). And as someone else said, that he hasn’t left anything saying where the series is going should something happen to him.
The author of The Wheel of Time left info with his family where they have been able to continue the series after he died.
I just don’t see that as being very considerate of his fans.
I don’t want to start an argument either, but I have to disagree.
First the length of the finished book means massive rewrites and reeditions before you can get the finished project. Second there are a good deal of writers who, especially if the collaborate on thigns, work on more than one book.
Third the author of the Wheel of Time family may have had family members who were talented writers too. Or had the chance to be, where as he may not.
 
I don’t want to start an argument either, but I have to disagree.
First the length of the finished book means massive rewrites and reeditions before you can get the finished project. Second there are a good deal of writers who, especially if the collaborate on thigns, work on more than one book.
Third the author of the Wheel of Time family may have had family members who were talented writers too. Or had the chance to be, where as he may not.
I agree with you, and as I said before I wouldn’t want someone else to finish his books. No matter how good someone’s notes may be, the work would probably go in directions it wouldn’t have under the original author. Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of Time wasn’t actually finished by a family member, but another author. I personally haven’t read Jordan but have friends who are fans. I’ve heard mixed reactions from them about another author finishing his work.
 
I have a love-hate thing for GRRM. I like his novels, but I find them triggering at times, plus, the guy can’t seem to write really credible female characters. With the exception of Catelyn Stark and Brienne of Tarth, they have this fetishy feel about them, it’s hard to describe unless you’ve read the books. Plus, I have a gal friend who met him at a sci-fi convention and who says he gave her this really uncomfortable vibe, like that archetypal creepy uncle.

That said, I’ve yet to watch the HBO series, but I keep meaning to. And while I have a hard time recommending the books to some people due to the sexual content, I love how he takes the typical pseudo-medieval Europe setting that a lot of fantasy is cast in and makes it feel like a real country with real political struggles.
 
I agree with you, and as I said before I wouldn’t want someone else to finish his books. No matter how good someone’s notes may be, the work would probably go in directions it wouldn’t have under the original author. Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of Time wasn’t actually finished by a family member, but another author. I personally haven’t read Jordan but have friends who are fans. I’ve heard mixed reactions from them about another author finishing his work.
Thank you. And I have heard that while they’re good, the books that follow the Dune series were no where near as good as the original author ment for them to be. Though I’ve heard the writers who continue with Issac Amisov (mispelled that i believe) Foundation books are just about on par as the Issac’s works were.
 
I have a love-hate thing for GRRM. I like his novels, but I find them triggering at times, plus, the guy can’t seem to write really credible female characters. With the exception of Catelyn Stark and Brienne of Tarth, they have this fetishy feel about them, it’s hard to describe unless you’ve read the books. Plus, I have a gal friend who met him at a sci-fi convention and who says he gave her this really uncomfortable vibe, like that archetypal creepy uncle.

That said, I’ve yet to watch the HBO series, but I keep meaning to. And while I have a hard time recommending the books to some people due to the sexual content, I love how he takes the typical pseudo-medieval Europe setting that a lot of fantasy is cast in and makes it feel like a real country with real political struggles.
I kind of see that. Cersei is the conniving, sexualized incesterized woman. Dany was the innocent doe taken in by a ‘pedophile’ type situation. (though in the middle ages early teens did marry to older men.

Still I do prefer Dany and Anya to any of the other females in the book. Sansa has her head in the clouds. Catelyn I had a dislike for, as I see her as a boor a bit.
 
I kind of see that. Cersei is the conniving, sexualized incesterized woman. Dany was the innocent doe taken in by a ‘pedophile’ type situation. (though in the middle ages early teens did marry to older men.

Still I do prefer Dany and Anya to any of the other females in the book. Sansa has her head in the clouds. Catelyn I had a dislike for, as I see her as a boor a bit.
Sansa always bothered me, but I think she is learning the realities of the world and will become a much deeper character. I like Arya a lot but I don’t know if I’m a fan of the direction she is going in (won’t spoil it for others). I think Cersei has developed in interesting ways over the course of the series.
 
Sansa always bothered me, but I think she is learning the realities of the world and will become a much deeper character. I like Arya a lot but I don’t know if I’m a fan of the direction she is going in (won’t spoil it for others). I think Cersei has developed in interesting ways over the course of the series.
I will have to keep an eye on all of that… I am only on the second boo. Though I’ve cheated and looked at the appendinces of the other two books after a clash of kings.
 
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