Game of Thrones

[samparnell]

The season finale was awesome. Can't wait for season two next year.

Until then, season four of Breaking Bad starts next month! :thumb:

[Mount-n-Groan]

The season finale was awesome. Can't wait for season two next year.

Until then, season four of Breaking Bad starts next month! :thumb:

As a HUGE Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice & Fire fan, I must admit...

HBO hit it out of the park with this!!! :clap:

It was a monumental task to even come close to the brilliance of the books, but I think they came as close as humanly possible. And, judging from the reaction of the non-readers and their desire to now go read the books it appears that they captured the same wonder, shock & anticipation that the readers felt after finishing the first book for the first time.

I imagine that the second book is being ordered at a furious pace today. The first 4 book box set is still #1 on Amazon, and the upcoming 5th book is #3.

So far, it's one of the greatest stories ever told, in my opinion, and HBO is off to a great start in doing the story justice.

Winter is.... here to stay!

[LordTrychon]

I will attempt to catch up with this sometime this summer, I think.

Have to get the wife into it.

:hehe:

[samparnell]

As a HUGE Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice & Fire fan, I must admit...

HBO hit it out of the park with this!!! :clap:

It was a monumental task to even come close to the brilliance of the books, but I think they came as close as humanly possible. And, judging from the reaction of the non-readers and their desire to now go read the books it appears that they captured the same wonder, shock & anticipation that the readers felt after finishing the first book for the first time.

I imagine that the second book is being ordered at a furious pace today. The first 4 book box set is still #1 on Amazon, and the upcoming 5th book is #3.

So far, it's one of the greatest stories ever told, in my opinion, and HBO is off to a great start in doing the story justice.

Winter is.... here to stay!

I know, man. Tyrian Lannister is Hand of the King? Robb Stark is King of the North? Knight's Watch is out from the wall in force? Gothraki cavalry just got an air force? Too cool!

[Mount-n-Groan]

I will attempt to catch up with this sometime this summer, I think.

Have to get the wife into it.

:hehe:

:hehe:

As soon as I read the first book I started recommending it to people. My wife was one of them, but I was unsure how she'd like it since she's about as far away from someone that would enjoy epic high fantasy as you can get. All I asked was that she read at least the first 100 pages of Thrones. She did so and I sensed some doubt, so I asked her to just finish it (knowing full well that it's extremely hard to stop after reading the first book). Well, she devoured the rest of it, and the next 3 books, and is now eagerly anticipating the release of book 5. She was extremely pleased - almost in a state of disbelief that she liked them as much as she did. Honestly, I think it was the plight of the children and the strong female characters that hooked her. That's the great thing about them; there's a little something for everyone in them - and each and every little something is written and developed masterfully.

HBO's program is a close yet distant second to the reading experience, but really all I'm seeing is throngs of people wanting to read the books now that they've seen the show. With that being said, the second season can't come soon enough.

[Mount-n-Groan]

I know, man. Tyrian Lannister is Hand of the King? Robb Stark is King of the North? Knight's Watch is out from the wall in force? Gothraki cavalry just got an air force? Too cool!

...and don't forget Arya.

She's probably my favorite character and storyline. I mean, who doesn't love a badass vengeful little girl with a sword?

[samparnell]

You got that right.

...and don't forget Arya.

She's probably my favorite character and storyline. I mean, who doesn't love a badass vengeful little girl with a sword?

Of all the Stark children, she may be the one who settles the most scores when it's over and done with.

[underrated29]

it just sucks that they are filming season two in july and we have to wait until next spring for more action.

I was hoping it would come out this fall.

[Vhailor]

Out of the books, was I the only one who didn't like Bran Stark? I could never like that kid.

[Mount-n-Groan]

Out of the books, was I the only one who didn't like Bran Stark? I could never like that kid.

There may be some slight spoilers in what I'm about to write so stop right now if you don't want to know some things.

.

.

.

.

.

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More than the character I love the exposition in his chapters: Meera & Jojen's retelling of the Knight of the Laughing Tree story, Blackhands, his dreams, warging, etc. His is probably the arc that is the least developed, but also the one with a very interesting future as far as The Others are concerned. It was already picking up quite a bit when we last saw him.

It's not that I don't like him, but I can understand those that don't because there's not much there (yet?) and the ambiguity of his situation/direction bleeds over into his character. Who/what is Bran? GRRM has said numerous times that Bran was the most difficult to write.

[tnedator]

I will attempt to catch up with this sometime this summer, I think.

Have to get the wife into it.

:hehe:

My wife started reading the books (after watching the first few episodes). So, I can't talk about the books, as I haven't read them. As to the series, it's definitely worth watching. Good characters. Good story.

I know it's going to be a long 9 months or so until the second season airs.

[Mount-n-Groan]

Game of Thrones: More popular than Tim Tebow? (and John Elway?)

http://trends.google.com/trends?q=game+of+thrones%2C+tim+tebow%2C+john+elway&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

:paper:

[Mount-n-Groan]

Interesting news:

"A Game of Thrones" is now #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.

The crazy thing is that that book is 15 years old. Perhaps even crazier still is the fact that Book 2 "A Clash of Kings" is #4. Oh, and Book 3 "A Storm of Swords" is #6. And, WTH... one more... Book 4 "A Feast for Crows" is #8. That's right... all of the first 4 books are in the top 10.

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-07-10/mass-market-paperback/list.html

Martin likes to talk about that first signing tour for AGOT. How at the St. Louis signing where the only four people in the cafe/bookstore actually left when he got up to speak, and the Dallas signing where he drew a dozen people while Clifford the Big Red Dog drew hundreds.

But, with Book 5 "A Dance with Dragons" just one week away from its release things have never looked so good for GRRM and his fans.

As for Amazon... "A Dance with Dragons" has moved into the top spot. It replaced the 4 book box set of "A Song of Ice and Fire" (which is currently #2).

Either there's a hell of a lot of geeky Thrones fans out there or this thing is really catching on and crossing a lot boundaries.

[underrated29]

Not to sound real bad here, but the guy is like 65 years old. He still has not finished 6 or 7.....

He needs to get cracking here. If he finishes his life before these books, I am going to flip out. I am totally addicted to this series and I have never heard of it until the show came out a couple months ago.

[Mount-n-Groan]

Not to sound real bad here, but the guy is like 65 years old. He still has not finished 6 or 7.....

He needs to get cracking here. If he finishes his life before these books, I am going to flip out. I am totally addicted to this series and I have never heard of it until the show came out a couple months ago.

It's a legitimate concern. Fans have been worried about this since shortly after A Storm of Swords was released in 2000. I know of a couple of people that have stopped reading the series because they don't think George will live long enough to finish it.

There were several snags after ASOS that I won't get in to now, but basically the general feeling is that it's all down hill from here. My personal opinion is the same. I don't think the story will be giving him fits like it has over the last 10 years. My main concern now is that the renewed success of the books (due mainly to the show) will bite in to his writing time. And, if HBO continues with the series he won't have the luxury to spend 4-5 years on the remaining books. They'll catch up to him if that happens.

...which leads me to another semi-popular concern: That the quality of the story will diminish if he's rushed to finish writing ahead of a pressing HBO schedule.

Who knows...

Here's an interesting (and somewhat famous) blog post from Neil Gaiman that touches on this subject. The meat of the post is his answer to a fans question.

Enjoy...

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html