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OneThousandMonkeys posted:Having read only the first book: The first season is better than the first book character-wise. I think the show nails the Lannisters perfectly, better than the books. Other characters, like Ned, Robert, Arya, Robb, Sandor and Catelyn are also done better in the show than in the books. But most of the other characters are way better in the books, mostly due to the fact that the show doesn't have enough time to develop them, but acting ability also plays a role. I watched the first three seasons of the show before reading the books and I found myself enjoying the first book, but didn't really get hooked until I got to the second. I guess you can say this was mainly due to the fact that the second book is quite different from the second season and there was a lot more stuff cut out, but I also think it was because Martin's skills as a writer had improved. I think GRRM is a great author and the brilliance of the third book pretty much shows what he's capable of when he's really "on". The third book is by far the best. There is a drop in in quality in the fourth and fifth books, but they are still really good reads. I plowed through them so quickly. GRRM is an interesting author because he sort of combines two styles, that of fantasy and that of historical fiction. Yes, I know it's all fiction, but a lot of the political intrigue is, in tone, pretty close to what you would read in a Robert Graves' "I, Claudius", and the whole Lannister/Stark rivalry is earily similar to the War of the Roses Lancaster/York rivalry. When you compare him to other note-able historical fiction authors, ie. James Michener, he falls rather short. But when you compare him to other note-able fantasy writers, ie JK Rowling or Robert Jordan, he's pretty much at their level, maybe even above. He's way better than the average D&D fantasy writer, ie R.A. Salvatore. The only fantasy author I've read that clearly surpasses him is Tolkien. But, when you think of it, Tolkien was also writing his stories as historical fiction rather than as fantasy, only his method was much more old fashioned. Tolkien's fantasy books actually read like translated ancient texts that were part of a greater mythology. GRRM's fantasy books reads more like modern historical fiction and don't come across as a mythology. Just to be clear, I prefer historical fiction over fantasy, so perhaps my opinion is biased in that regard. But I don't think it's a coincidence that two of the most popular fantasy authors, GRRM and Tolkien, both chose to write their fantasy as historical fiction rather than straight up fantasy. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 02:30 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 00:58
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midnightclimax posted:Are the white walkers explained in the books (origins etc), or are they just "generic undead monsters"? The show has revealed more about them than the books have. Actually, in the books they're called "the others", but the show changed them to "white walkers" to avoid any confusion with the show Lost and their "others". I guess they didn't see Walking Dead coming. But they're not zombies. The white walkers are like a whole 'nother race of sentient beings that we know very little about. Don't confuse them with the Wights though, the undead zombies that Jon fought off in castle black. They seem to be your classic slow walking mindless zombies, but then you have a dude like Berick Dundarion who's undead but seems to be pretty human with some rad scars and some memory loss. Very little is known about how sentient the undead truly are in this show. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 02:33 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 01:46
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Xealot posted:I'd forgotten how much I loved the Tywin / Arya interaction in that season. It's actually a great counter-example to the argument that new plotlines written just for the show are bad; my understanding is that Arya never met Tywin at Harrenhal, and that whole plot was new. Not really. They just substituted Roose Bolton for Tywin for most of those scenes. But there was some new dialog, and I agree it was great.
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May 22, 2014 02:06
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qxx posted:Gregor1 was perfect. It really is a shame he couldn't hang in there. If we couldn't get Gregor1 back, I think I would have preferred Gregor2. Sure he's skinny, but he still looked imposing in armor and had a cool voice. He could probably act a lot better than Gregor3 as well. Although, I have a feeling Gregor3 will pull of the stunts required of him a lot better.
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May 22, 2014 02:09
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4000 Dollar Suit posted:like how many non book reader people completely guessed out of nowhere that it would be Oberon last thread. I think the title of the next episode gave that away.
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May 22, 2014 02:35
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Bobo the Red posted:Of course he could. That's not really the issue. People were talking about how Stannis has this consistent code about following the law (which is why he chopped Davos's fingers off like an rear end in a top hat). I think if he had such a code, he wouldn't have rebelled on someone's word, especially not someone who was labeled a traitor and then recanted his accusations. According to the rules (and the information he had) Stannis should've stayed put. Stannis knew Cersei's kids were incest bastards before Ned even got to King's Landing. Why do you think he left King's Landing in the first place? He was involved with Jon Arryn's investigation.
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May 26, 2014 18:13
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rypakal posted:Indeed, if anyone is confused Stannis outright says he learned it form Ned. e: Video doesn't allow embedding, so beware! He said "When Eddard Stark learned the truth he told only me, let's not make the same mistake." That does not mean that Stannis learned it from Ned. Book and show are the same in that Stannis knew along with Jon Arryn before Eddard arrived. Stannis didn't have proof (but neither did Ned), so he left King's Landing to see if he can rally support back on Dragonstone. I'm sure he was happy Ned learned the truth and supported him, but Ned's mistake was not making it widely known. All he did was sent a bird to Stannis. Had Ned made it widely known, more people would have supported Stannis since Ned, the hand of the former king, supported Stannis's claim. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 21:29 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 21:26
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:This is not the case on the show; that scene is one of the first times we even see Stannis and his knowledge of the situation. There is no scene in the show where Stannis discusses knowing this or investigating it. The Game of Thrones wiki, which primarily focuses on show information, even marks this as a significant change from the books. Well, if it wasn't shown in the show, than it's safe to assume that you can trust that events circumstances that led to Stannis leaving King's Landing are the same as they were in the book. It just happened off screen. As long as there's nothing that outright contradicts this, I don't see why it would be any different.
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May 26, 2014 21:40
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Android Blues posted:Because the show isn't the book and there's absolutely no indication anywhere that this is the case, and in fact there's a scene detailing how Stannis got a letter from Ned Stark telling him what was going on. The show is an adaptation based on the books, they're not identical in every respect and things that are true in one aren't necessarily the same in the other. But just because there's no indication doesn't mean that we can't make the assumption that background for a character that was laid out in the books doesn't apply to the show. For example, the background for Lysa Tully's character mentioned earlier explaining why she's as nuts as she is can be assumed to be her background in the show as well, even though it was never alluded to in the show. As long as the show doesn't outright contradict background facts, I think it's fair to assume it un-shown scenes of events that took place before the show happened as they were described in the books.
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May 28, 2014 03:14
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