GOT - there will be spoilers
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@Paekakboyz said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
@Machpants poor phrasing of my meh there. I meant I'm meh about how we got to King Bran via the tv show. Think that the character arc in the books will make it much more satisfying.
Yeah same with Dani going totally loco, it was all far too rushed, making it feel unnatural to me. The things that really grated by the end were the rushed/forced nature (which affected character development & stuff like the realism of distance), and the Hollywood-ization (fan service stuff, the 'just saved in time' repetitive stuff). I wish they'd done a full 10 Eps for Season 7 & 8 - even another season! However, nerd rage aside, overall as a LotR/D&D geek from primary school, gotta be happy it's on TV. As you say - The books, I hope, will be much more organic and certainly will be helped by the PoV to give us insight.
I'm listening to the first book whilst exercising , so maybe Winds of Winter will be out by the time I'm done? Either way I shall have to re-watch the series, now it's done I feel less invested, one day as well.
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@Kirwan said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
What are people's thoughts on the books? Are they worth reading?
I see Baron didn't like the last one. I'm optimistic enough that GRRM will finish at least one more, and a ghost writer will finish the last one.
I thought they started great and got progressively weaker, to the point where i don't even care if any more come out.
Just on the hope that Martin gets his act together and finishes his story, i wouldn't hold your breath it will be the conclusion you are hoping for. The best fantasy series i ever read was the Malazan Book of the Fallen, a broad, sweeping epic of a series. After 10 very fucking large books, there were a lot of story threads that had seemed pretty freaking significant at the time, and had a lot of book time given to them, that were just sort of forgotten about.
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@Kirwan said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
What are people's thoughts on the books? Are they worth reading?
I see Baron didn't like the last one. I'm optimistic enough that GRRM will finish at least one more, and a ghost writer will finish the last one.
They are really long!
I’ve read the first 4, got through them pretty quickly but have stalled on book 5They are done as a POV as each chapter, ie Bran, Jon, Tyrion etc
I’m currently playing book 1 back as an audio book, 33 hours!The back of the books is the special part, GRRM has every house layer out with family, bannermen, knights etc. The detail is amazing.
The First book will be easy to read as the tv show followed it pretty closely, just the odd change here and there. Biggest difference perhaps are their ages, they are kids in the books ( Young Starks, Dani) -
I really like the books, Malazan one of my faves too. I think GRR has introduced a few too many story lines (the TV Series not enough) and is struggling with the complexity of sorting it out. I really don't see how he can do it with 2 more books, esp as the last one got split in two! But he is a very good writer, I recommend the series. But you have to want to put the effort in, it's not one to light read being so complex. Comes down to your taste in books, if you can enjoy 'working' at a book, go for it. If you want to relax a bit more, probably not a good idea - you'll give up.
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@Kirwan I read the first 1, then did the rest a mix of audio book and paperback as I was travelling alot for work, were the un-abridged versions too.
Think all bar one if done by the same guy (had a cameo in S1 I think) who was VERY good, doing something like 500 character voices, the other guy they went to was a bit meh, and then next book went back to the original IIRC.
Like most, the latter books were not as good as the earlier one.
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@taniwharugby said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
@Kirwan I read the first 1, then did the rest a mix of audio book and paperback as I was travelling alot for work, were the un-abridged versions too.
Think all bar one if done by the same guy (had a cameo in S1 I think) who was VERY good, doing something like 500 character voices, the other guy they went to was a bit meh, and then next book went back to the original IIRC.
Like most, the latter books were not as good as the earlier one.
The old fella?
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@Machpants said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
@Paekakboyz said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
@Machpants poor phrasing of my meh there. I meant I'm meh about how we got to King Bran via the tv show. Think that the character arc in the books will make it much more satisfying.
Yeah same with Dani going totally loco, it was all far too rushed, making it feel unnatural to me. The things that really grated by the end were the rushed/forced nature (which affected character development & stuff like the realism of distance), and the Hollywood-ization (fan service stuff, the 'just saved in time' repetitive stuff). I wish they'd done a full 10 Eps for Season 7 & 8 - even another season! However, nerd rage aside, overall as a LotR/D&D geek from primary school, gotta be happy it's on TV. As you say - The books, I hope, will be much more organic and certainly will be helped by the PoV to give us insight.
I'm listening to the first book whilst exercising , so maybe Winds of Winter will be out by the time I'm done? Either way I shall have to re-watch the series, now it's done I feel less invested, one day as well.
I wouldn't count on it. I really want to know what actually happens to Stannis. He was the rightful heir and Ned lost his head supporting his cause. No way he's getting decapitated by Brienne in the books. Hopefully he beats up Ramsay. Due to the winter he won't be able to get near Kings Landing so whatever happens down there will be between Dani and the other claimant Aegon. Dorn will likely support him and fight Dani.
Sansa I assume discovers Lil Finga is poisoning the Aryn kid and exposes him. Lil Finga then goes through the moon door. There's not really much scope for her to do much more because winter has set in and the Vale army can't move across Westeros.
Tyrion is already in Westeros with the Golden Company so not sure when he meets Dani.
I'm thinking Cercei actually blows herself up and takes all those people with her. No way she becomes Queen.
Bran may well become King but a shit load will have to happen. Right now he's basically connected to nature and it would seem the human world is no longer for him.
Farked if I know what happens to John. I presume he fights the white walkers but I don't think he becomes King.
And let's not forget that Catlyn Stark was reanimated as Lady Stoneheart, captured Brienne and is about to confront Jamie.
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I read the 5th book ages ago, from memory he kept adding new characters and story arcs which is a real bugbear of mine in already complex books (Wheel of Time anyone!). It felt like that, and the change in writing to focus on one person at a time started to fragment the story. Once I hear we have a release date for the next book I'll start a re-read but not until then.
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@Virgil yeah, was great, although IIRC he changed his character voices slightly in the last book?
I recall the chapter where Sansa was whisked out of KL and she didnt know who had got her out, and then you hear the voice and you could tell instantly it was LF.
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@Paekakboyz said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
I read the 5th book ages ago, from memory he kept adding new characters and story arcs which is a real bugbear of mine in already complex books (Wheel of Time anyone!). It felt like that, and the change in writing to focus on one person at a time started to fragment the story. Once I hear we have a release date for the next book I'll start a re-read but not until then.
My thoughts exactly. It was getting far too much, leading further and further away from a conclusion.
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@Paekakboyz said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
I read the 5th book ages ago, from memory he kept adding new characters and story arcs which is a real bugbear of mine in already complex books (Wheel of Time anyone!). It felt like that, and the change in writing to focus on one person at a time started to fragment the story. Once I hear we have a release date for the next book I'll start a re-read but not until then.
Yep, it becomes too complicated and you almost need reference books around you to follow who is who, where is where etc. The Quintin chapters in particular seem a waste of time, but maybe this was a way to get Dorn against Dani? You also had Baristan chapters as well.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel man I am hazy on details. I do like details (also a HUGE fan of the Malazan series) but I think you can still do it in an engaging way, otherwise it can just get too dense and slows things down.
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Aussie man reviews have been outstanding throughout. Good mix of a hilarious summary and then some deeper analysis.
Great quote in here, something along the lines of "GOT has done what its always done getting people angry that the plot didn't go the way they want".
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@Catogrande said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
Yeah, that jump from Drogon flying off, to the gathering of the great and good left a lot untold. Picking at nits here but I also felt underwhelmed by the Small Council meeting which was all a little too light-hearted for me, but as @Kirwan said, they were never going to satisfy everyone.
Overall a fantastic series, great cinematography, great acting and characters, great storylines, just brilliant, compelling TV.
Yeah - I don't have any problem with the way they've finished it up - I'm pretty sure George has given them a list of the main plot outcomes and the main things that will be missing are the details of how the various pieces have moved to the endgame. I don't expect significant changes in the main plot points if the books ever get written i.e. Bran will be on the throne, Jon will kill Dany, etc.
Main thing that has disappointed me is how rushed this last season has seemed - it's like we've been watching extended highlights of GoT, rather than the whole game, so to speak.
I was quite taken aback to jump from Drogon flying off to Sansa sitting in the middle of the meeting. A month has passed we discover. But, who stopped Grey Worm from killing Jon Snow (or Tyrion for that matter) - compare that with the amount of time spent on Jamie arresting Ned Stark and Ned in prison in the first series. Sansa has traveled from Winterfell to KL and nothing worth remarking about on the way. We had a whole season of Arya and the Hound touring about having adventures, but there's nothing worth showing of their trip to KL. They might as well have caught the bus.
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@Chris-B yep, that really killed the vibe mid-episode. Would have been good to see Jon get caught then a bit of a ruckus while they call the various lords together. Also unsure why Bronn would be on the council but not at the table deciding who was king?
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I swear theguardian.com is fast becoming my favourite parody news site
Game of Thrones has betrayed the women who made it great
Once you could have argued it was a feminist show, but now GoT is letting down its female characters in a shockingly tone deaf way – from ‘unstable’ Daenerys to weeping Brienne
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@Kirwan said in GOT - there will be spoilers:
Ok, thanks guys.
I liked this;
Oh and if your going to jump into the books I’d recommend going old school and getting ‘real’ books. I normally read via the kindle but for SOIAF it felt deserving of an actual book.
Got them in Hardback, very impressive too they are huge.
