Arriving In Westeros; or, I Just Started the Song of Ice And Fire Novels

[Satan's Onion]

So, after being driven mad by the constant and neverending internet praise seeing quite a few people online recommend it, I was finally persuaded to try the novel A Game of Thrones. As it turns out, it's not too shabby.


I was somewhat impressed by the decision to off Ned Stark near the end, but not necessarily that surprised. After seeing him basically try and use shame, of all things, on Queen Brotherfucker I decided he was too stupid to live.
Arya's a pretty cool kid, isn't she? I hope she grows up to be the bitchinest rapier-wielder in Westeros. ...Of course, now that I like her, she's probably gonna end up raped and murdered, isn't she?
Similarly, I kind of like Tyrion--he's like a smaller version of Edmund Blackadder from Blackadder II. So he's probably going to do something absolutely reprehensible that spoils my enjoyment forever, right? That's generally how this goes.
Fuck yeah, Daenerys. She really took off as a character once she finally got shed of her pissant brother with what I can only snickeringly refer to as a "golden shower". She's another one I like/expect nothing but horrible things to happen to because this is grimdark serious fantasy, dammit.
Catelyn Stark--this book's Marge Simpson. "Oh Homie Eddard Robb, you really shouldn't do that." Not that she's not right most of the time, but that doesn't make her a very compelling character.
Joffrey's a shit. I know he comes by it honestly (from both parents, ahem) but still.
Man, Martin doesn't half like to write some sex scenes, doesn't he? And when there's no sex, there's usually somebody just strutting around bare-ass nekkid for the flimsiest of reasons. Man, I don't even know.


So, anybody else read these? Anybody else like these? Any insightful critiques of the series? Favorite characters? Are we taking bets on how many years it takes before the latest installment actually gets finished?

[Krylo]

Arya's a pretty cool kid, isn't she? I hope she grows up to be the bitchinest rapier-wielder in Westeros. ...Of course, now that I like her, she's probably gonna end up raped and murdered, isn't she?



Not necessarily in that order!

[Fifthfiend]

There is pretty much no way I am reading these books until the author has officially finished the last one, and by that I mean the actual author, not "the author dies before he finishes the goddamn series and they get some entirely different dude to write the end instead".

[The Wandering God]

So, after being driven mad by the constant and neverending internet praise seeing quite a few people online recommend it, I was finally persuaded to try the novel A Game of Thrones. As it turns out, it's not too shabby.
To be fair, a lot of the first book is just setting things in motion. By the time book three rolls around, it get's pretty damn compelling.



I was somewhat impressed by the decision to off Ned Stark near the end, but not necessarily that surprised. After seeing him basically try and use shame, of all things, on Queen Brotherfucker I decided he was too stupid to live.
Arya's a pretty cool kid, isn't she? I hope she grows up to be the bitchinest rapier-wielder in Westeros. ...Of course, now that I like her, she's probably gonna end up raped and murdered, isn't she?
Similarly, I kind of like Tyrion--he's like a smaller version of Edmund Blackadder from Blackadder II. So he's probably going to do something absolutely reprehensible that spoils my enjoyment forever, right? That's generally how this goes.
Fuck yeah, Daenerys. She really took off as a character once she finally got shed of her pissant brother with what I can only snickeringly refer to as a "golden shower". She's another one I like/expect nothing but horrible things to happen to because this is grimdark serious fantasy, dammit.
Catelyn Stark--this book's Marge Simpson. "Oh Homie Eddard Robb, you really shouldn't do that." Not that she's not right most of the time, but that doesn't make her a very compelling character.
Joffrey's a shit. I know he comes by it honestly (from both parents, ahem) but still.
Man, Martin doesn't half like to write some sex scenes, doesn't he? And when there's no sex, there's usually somebody just strutting around bare-ass nekkid for the flimsiest of reasons. Man, I don't even know.

*Well, just remember that it was Joffery's idea. The queen wanted to keep him alive as a pawn. That Joffery is a pretty cool guy, eh? He executes people and doesn't afraid of anything.
*Arya is one of my personal favorites. I think she certainly has the most unique of the storylines.
*Your enjoyment of Tyrion (my personal favorite) depends greatly on how well you can sympathize with someone who wants things to be nice and peaceful so he can entertain the ladiez.
*Dany is hit or miss for me. I tend to like the supporting characters around her more than herself.
*Catelyn Stark's strengths are shown more as time goes on. The first book doesn't really give her anything to work with. But her character is always very much a mother figure.
*You have not yet begun to despise him.
*I see what you mean, but it's usually because that is usually something people do. It's just that Martin treats it as part of the scene.
So, anybody else read these? Anybody else like these? Any insightful critiques of the series? Favorite characters? Are we taking bets on how many years it takes before the latest installment actually gets finished?
I really like the series. It manages to deftly weave together a large cast into a coherent narrative that rides roughshod over the characters. Even when characters survive, they bear scars and memories of what happened.

The novels are "inspired" by the War of the Roses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses) so it certainly has a lot of rich material to draw from. Oh, and zombies, ice demons, and sorcery to make for some interesting twists in the fabric.

My favorite characters are Tyrion, Arya, and, surprisingly, Jaime (though it takes a while).

And I like to think that the tv series will hopefully spurn the author to finish by 2016(HA!).

[Menarker]

Hehe, also worth noting the incredible emphasis on the detail of the feast scenes that are frequent in the story. Apparently Martin doesn't have any type of food he dislike he something. :3

Anyhow, things are going to take a long time according to TVtropes. Martin started this series because he wanted something he could write about for a long time, but the story exploded on him and now it's not something he's 100% inspired about. Fans have pestered him about not writing on the books 24/7 and saying he has a responsibility to get the series done quickly as opposed to the most current situation with the most recent book taking around 5 years, when he's getting burned out with the series.

Also, the fourth book is quite different from the other three (it only features half the normal cast of main character POV) because he wrote so much that the contents couldn't fit in the bindings, even with the tiny font and all. So he shelved many of the characters including some of our favorites for the next book. Which is one of the reasons for the fan's dismay, considering they haven't read anything great about Tyrion or Daenerys since book 3. It's taking toll on their patience...

Although not mine, since I only started like 3 months ago. ^^

[Magus]

Anything I could say would probably spoil things, let me just say that by the end of A Clash of Kings Tyrion is the baddest motherfucker in existence, and by the end of A Storm of Swords Arya is on her way to becoming the baddest motherfucker in existence.

Also, as for the sex scenes, I think a lot of weird fetishes kind of work their way out of Martin's head, especially Martin's penchant for nipple twisting. And breast milk, in one scene from A Feast of Crows that will gross you the fuck out--but you can't look away!

A little in-joke of mine regarding character deaths is that whenever you see Martin having a character's nipples twisted, you know they're going to be around for a while! Otherwise he wouldn't bother having them get their nipples twisted.

[Satan's Onion]

Just started A Clash of Kings a few days ago. I'm not finished, of course, but one first impression that stood out so far: When you get right down to it, Shae and Tyrion actually have a pretty good series of transactions relationship (no matter what he tells himself).

[Osterbaum]

On a scale of 1-10, how much should I feel compelled to read these novels?

[The Wandering God]

Just started A Clash of Kings a few days ago. I'm not finished, of course, but one first impression that stood out so far: When you get right down to it, Shae and Tyrion actually have a pretty good series of transactions relationship (no matter what he tells himself).
It does provide some very good insight into his character.

On a scale of 1-10, how much should I feel compelled to read these novels?
1 if you don't like political intrigue, hardcore fantasy (meaning both very swords and magic, but also with many adult themes), or well written characters.

10 if you are interested in some damn good books.

And now is a good time since the latest is due out in a few months.

[Osterbaum]

10 it is.

[Satan's Onion]

So I've been reading more.


Oh, Brienne. I realize that a society like that in Westeros has no real concept of "gaydar", but still. She is terrible at getting a damn clue.
I've officially moved from "Who the fuck is Theon Greyjoy?" to "Now that I know who the fuck Theon Greyjoy is, may I please see him punched in the face repeatedly?"
Hey, look, Catelyn's doing stuff! For realsies!
Tyrion, you amazing, magnificent asshole. I almost have a crush. He's just that preposterously awesome. :dance:

[Magus]

My favorite character is, of course, Darkstar. He kills people and doesn't afraid of anything.

On a more serious note, Brienne appears to be the woobie of the universe, perhaps to even a greater extent than Sam. You'll see what I mean eventually.

[Satan's Onion]

Sooooo it's been a while, hasn't it?


Not to put too fine a point on it, but seriously. Tyrion's the bestest. He runs the kingdom leads epic charges into battle outwits his sister slaps that little shitstain Joffrey ( :dance: ) and doesn't afraid of anything except maybe the prospect of anyone hurting Shae. D'awwwwwww.
You know, Jaime's kind of a cool dude, as long as you don't think too hard about HE FUCKS HIS SISTER WHAT THE SHIT IS WRONG WITH HIM GODFUCKINGDAMMITTOHELLFUCKSHIT
Arya's still pretty cool, even if she apparently got trapped in a revenge thriller by mistake. I like to hope that all this is simply to hone her into the baddest ass that ever badassed it badassly who isn't Tyrion.
Looks like Theon bit it, which makes me kind of sad. Now I'll never get that scene I keep imagining where he gets held down and repeatedly punched in the balls with a mailed fist for being a giant pouty whiny self-centered turdmine.
In that fantasy, the rest of his family are getting genital-punched too. The apple doesn't fall very far from the cockbite tree in that family.
Does Stannis keep that flaming magic sword he made up his butt to save the cost of a sheath? That'd explain why he's such a humorless shitmunch.
Also: Were the last bits of this possibly written by Michael Bay while GRRM wasn't looking? Just sayin', there's a whoooole lot of pyrotechnics going on up in there.


I've just started A Storm of Swords, of which more eventually.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Has anybody been watching the tv series of this? Is it any good? I ask because I've been hearing a lot about the books but never read them myself, so I was wondering if the show would be a good substitute instead.

Or should I just go out and buy the books instead?

[Satan's Onion]

There's a thread about it somewhere on the second page of this subforum, actually. I'd have thought it would be more active, what with the Big Huge Gigantic Momentous Plot Event Thingy that went down in the latest installment (according to the recaps--I don't have that fancy-pants cable teevee).

And while I'm told the TV series is accessible to newbies, the books themselves are awesome enough in their own right that I'd recommend them to you anyway. See if you can get the first, A Game of Thrones, from the library or something to see if his style is to your taste or not.

[Magus]

The books are much more detailed and involving. The series is a pretty good adaptation, though, probably as good as you could get (probably coulda went the whole 12 episodes instead of just 10 but hey you can't have everything, it hits all the important stuff).

As for why people haven't been posting in it, I dunno. I posted in it through episode 6, if I remember correctly.

[Satan's Onion]

It turns out that I got the Song of Ice and Fire series for my birthday, a bit early 'cos it was too hard to hide. Flipped though A Feast for Crows, just 'cuz, and didn't see a single Tyrion chapter. No Daenerys or Arya either. Didn't even see Sansa, for fuck's sake. Did see an awful lot of Brienne, though, and Cersei for some reason. I suppose I'm intrigued to see how much mileage there is to be wrung from "blahdeblah duty duty duuuuuty" and "blahdeblah I'm the meanest woman in Westeros" respectively, but overall I'm not looking forward to it :crossarms: .

[synkr0nized]

Has anybody been watching the tv series of this? Is it any good? I ask because I've been hearing a lot about the books but never read them myself, so I was wondering if the show would be a good substitute instead.

Or should I just go out and buy the books instead?

If you're not doing both you are doing it wrong.



Heads up to folks in the States looking to purchase the novels: Make use of online storefronts. For example, Barnes and Noble is selling all four for ~17 bucks on the site, but it's twice that in the store itself. Just purchase it online and select in-store pickup and *poof* it's 17 bucks in the store, basically. That's about the same sale price Amazon has right now.

[Mr.Bookworm]

It turns out that I got the Song of Ice and Fire series for my birthday, a bit early 'cos it was too hard to hide. Flipped though A Feast for Crows, just 'cuz, and didn't see a single Tyrion chapter. No Daenerys or Arya either. Didn't even see Sansa, for fuck's sake. Did see an awful lot of Brienne, though, and Cersei for some reason. I suppose I'm intrigued to see how much mileage there is to be wrung from "blahdeblah duty duty duuuuuty" and "blahdeblah I'm the meanest woman in Westeros" respectively, but overall I'm not looking forward to it :crossarms: .

AFfC definitely does drag a bit on, yes. AFfC and A Dance with Dragons were originally one book, but the manuscript imploded and formed a small black hole, so Martin cut it into half. Then if I'm remembering my GMMR shenanigans correctly, he completely rewrote ADwD a couple of times, and it's been five fucking years jesus christ how hard is it to write one goddamn book.

The upshot of all of this is that ADwD is apparently focused on the parts of the cast that didn't get screentime in AFfC, sooooo, Tyrion, Arya, Daenerys and everyone else who's totally bitchin' (Darkstar lolitrollu).

[Magus]

Man, I can't wait to see the return of all our favorite A Feast for Crows characters in The Winds of Winter, like Areo Hotah, Podrick Payne and Darkstar. 2017 can't come fast enough!!!

On a more serious note, I actually like A Feast for Crows insofar as it's fairly short (if you look at the typeface and page count in comparison to A Storm of Swords it's really something like half as long), has a lot of mysteries regarding the fates of certain characters that will keep you guessing, wraps up a couple of plotlines (while introducing a crapload of new ones, of course), and new developments that are actually fairly interesting regarding the fates of long running characters, and I personally have only had to wait a couple of years to read A Dance with Dragons which is coming out next month, so unlike the longtime fans I'm much more forgiving of A Feast for Crows.

[Bells]

i bought The Name of the Wind not knowing it's a Series, now i'm waiting for at least book 2 to show up here so i can start 1. How many novels are planned for this series?

[Satan's Onion]

i bought The Name of the Wind not knowing it's a Series, now i'm waiting for at least book 2 to show up here so i can start 1. How many novels are planned for this series?

We-ell, the second book in that series is already out (although it probably hasn't been for very long; I borrowed it from my library but my copy is quite new); it's called The Wise Man's Fear. Not bad at all, although it plays into standard fantasy tropes more than Martin does.

edit: But seriously, you can start it. Each book stands alone reasonably well, and why deprive yourself?

[Magus]

It's only going to be a trilogy, this is pretty much 99% set in stone because Rothfuss originally just wrote it as a long book (The Song of Flame and Thunder) but the editors wanted to split it into three because of length (also the original title sounded like...A Song of Ice and Fire!) I'm not sure if that's the point where he invented the framing device of the story being told over three days or if that was just a convenient coincidence.

EDIT: Also due to the fact that it was originally just a full book number 3 is coming out just next year, I believe, so unlike the majority of series, in writing it all at once it reduced the publishing turn around extravagantly.

[Satan's Onion]

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7270/robbstarkkingofhonor.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/269/robbstarkkingofhonor.png/)

[synkr0nized]

Book two of the series, A Clash of Kings or -- it's lesser known but more appropriate title -- Tyrion Is Better Than Everyone Else So Fucking Much Ha Ha the Imp Is Amazing Like You Don't Know, is good, for sure, but there was a lot of italicized thought being written down that I don't remember from the first one. It didn't get annoying, but it made me think of Dune.

Watch out for people in red. They give birth to weird things.

[Satan's Onion]

Inorite? In Clash of Kings Tyrion basically keeps the court--and by extension the entire kingdom--from imploding on itself and creating a black hole of short-sighted greed. And what does he get for his troubles? Almost killed by Cersei's creepy knight and his nose hacked off, that's what. Poor dude. Storm of Swords is almost the opposite of Clash of Kings in terms of things-happening-to-Tyrion.

[Magus]

I'm not sure how it is the opposite? It just seemed like an extension of bad-things-happen-to-Tyrion. But I guess you'll see that soon enough when you are done reading.

[synkr0nized]

Oh yeah I forgot to post how the scene in the show wherein Caitlyn chats with Jaime and he says all kinds of I'm-Awesome-Even-Though-I'm-Only-In-Like-Three-Scenes things was put in the last episode of this first season despite taking place near the end of the second book. Hmm.

[Magus]

Apparently they are going to shoe-horn in scenes with him throughout the next season so we don't forget he exists, plus maybe move some stuff up, as I'm pretty sure some of the first chapters of A Storm of Swords was chronologically occurring at the same time as the Battle of the Blackwater. So Catelyn will probably let him go about episode 6 or 7 or something in the show.

[synkr0nized]

For someone who appears on only like ten pages out of ~1500 [the first two books] in person he somehow is still awesome. Weaving him into the show a little more is probably a good idea with respect to keeping his character involved and relevant, as the show cannot benefit from characters' thoughts and off-hand references in the same way the books can.

I wonder if they'll also spend extra time with Dany and her dragons. She had plenty of chapters, sure, but she didn't do a whole lot that I felt was interesting in Kings. Though to be fair seeing the warlocks could be interesting, dragons are always cool, and I don't dislike Jorah doing stuff.

I am quite looking forward to battle scenes actually being shown on screen. I hope they do that. There are a lot of them.

[Solid Snake]

I am very disappointed that the Blackfish does not appear where he is supposed to appear in the HBO show.

[Magus]

They figured since his only appearance would be a two minute scene to say hi to Catelyn as she rode to the Eyrie it would save money and make it easier to cast the part for later seasons to just wait until season two to introduce him. Basically if they show him in season 1 they have to find that actor again for season 2, 3, etc...unless we forget what they look like by the time they show up again. Like I kind of doubt that Beric Dondarrion will be the same dude they showed in that one scene in season 1 for like two seconds, but maybe he will be...kind of weird that they never showed Thoros of Myr either. It would have been easy enough in that scene to be like "I charge you, Beric Dondarrion, with hunting down Gregor Clegane and bringing him to justice" and then Thoros of Myr going "I too shall help Ser Beric with his quest", etc.. People are probably going to be rather confused as to who he is when all he got in the entirety of the first season was a mention by Cersei or somebody, I forget who...then again that is true of a lot of characters, I guess.

As for Dany I'd say you automatically have at least six episodes worth of stuff to go over, which is probably about as much as was in this season (I don't think she was in every single episode, only most of them, but I can't remember), between wandering through the desert, introducing us to Qarth and its factions, the Warlocks, the prophecies in the house, meeting Belwas and Arstan, etc.

[Red Fighter 1073]

So apparently GRRM is coming to a Barnes and Noble near me in Massachusetts for A Dance With Dragons book-signing, which is pretty damn rad, considering the fact that I never seem to see cool shit like this happening. Not sure whether I'll go because I've only just started Clash of Kings, and I hate waiting in lines, but still cool nonetheless =)

[Satan's Onion]

Still workin' on Storm of Swords, partly 'cos I've been busy and partly 'cos I'm too antsy for Dance with Dragons to concentrate on Westeros for very long.

A minor realization: All the Lannister kids (Tywin's kids, at least, although Joffrey fits in here too) have significant impulse-control issues. Jaime channels his into swording things until they fall down and mouthing off at Brienne, Cersei's apparently incapable of making anything like a rational decision regarding men or marriages (including but by no means limited to Jaime), and Tyrion just can't stop himself from saying totally hilarious, awesome, and completely true things that still end up being the wrongest thing he could possibly say at that moment.

Actually, now I think about it, Tyrion sort of got the best of that particular character flaw--or that flaw was tempered by the fact that he's not physically capable of swording his problems away like his older brother. His talking has gotten him out of as many predicaments as it's gotten him into; but you can't un-fuck or un-sword a dude.

[Kim]

Without reading the thread for fear of spoilers, just thought I'd mention that apparently Martin is now planning the series to be eight books long instead of seven, or so I hear. Dunno how much this is actually news but hey.

[Solid Snake]

Without reading the thread for fear of spoilers, just thought I'd mention that apparently Martin is now planning the series to be eight books long instead of seven, or so I hear. Dunno how much this is actually news but hey.

...If that's true, now I'm certain we'll never see the ending, or at least an ending written by Martin. =/

EDIT: Never pre-order a book from Borders, people. BORDERS IS EVIL

[Odjn]

Jesus shithead ADWD wasn't worth the wait. It's good, but not that good.

[Solid Snake]

Jesus shithead ADWD wasn't worth the wait. It's good, but not that good.

DO NOT SAY SUCH LIES
...I will not tolerate them
I will not tolerate you breaking my heart Odjn

[Magus]

I enjoyed the book but Martin's inability to have even a partial conclusion to things has chafed ever since the end of A Clash of Kings which while clearly a book in need of five more sequels has a clear climax. This book's climax appears to be set for the beginning of the next book (the battle for Meereen with Daenarys leading Khal Jhoqo's Dothraki down on the Yunkai'i rear, with some Tyrion maneuvering to get the Second Sons on her side), which is kind of silly...Martin probably would have needed a mere 150 pages to bring this to a great conclusion, and if it couldn't be had by adding more to it due to length, vast swathes could have been cut from it. It is padded as hell (especially in regards to Theon. We get it Theon, Ramsay cut your dick off. We don't need to hear you talk about your state of affairs for entire chapters at a time).

THAT BEING SAID, I enjoyed it and it has certainly whet my appetite for the concluding volumes.


Without reading the thread for fear of spoilers, just thought I'd mention that apparently Martin is now planning the series to be eight books long instead of seven, or so I hear. Dunno how much this is actually news but hey.

That is a gigantic twisting of his words. He said, "Seven kingdoms, seven gods, seven books--seven books would be the perfect number. But you never know. I won't know until I'm partway through the next one" in a recent interview (paraphrasing, as I can't remember the site that had it).

There MIGHT be eight books but it is incredibly far from set in stone and doesn't seem to be what he'd prefer. In fact he seems intent on making sure it reaches at least seven books by padding the length, if this book is any sign of it.

[Solid Snake]

That is a gigantic twisting of his words. He said, "Seven kingdoms, seven gods, seven books--seven books would be the perfect number. But you never know. I won't know until I'm partway through the next one" in a recent interview (paraphrasing, as I can't remember the site that had it).

There MIGHT be eight books but it is incredibly far from set in stone and doesn't seem to be what he'd prefer. In fact he seems intent on making sure it reaches at least seven books by padding the length, if this book is any sign of it.

"...And the Riverlands!"
...There, that's his excuse if there's eight. :P

[Odjn]

I enjoyed the book but Martin's inability to have even a partial conclusion to things has chafed ever since the end of A Clash of Kings which while clearly a book in need of five more sequels has a clear climax. This book's climax appears to be set for the beginning of the next book (the battle for Meereen with Daenarys leading Khal Jhoqo's Dothraki down on the Yunkai'i rear, with some Tyrion maneuvering to get the Second Sons on her side), which is kind of silly...Martin probably would have needed a mere 150 pages to bring this to a great conclusion, and if it couldn't be had by adding more to it due to length, vast swathes could have been cut from it. It is padded as hell (especially in regards to Theon. We get it Theon, Ramsay cut your dick off. We don't need to hear you talk about your state of affairs for entire chapters at a time).

THAT BEING SAID, I enjoyed it and it has certainly whet my appetite for the concluding volumes.

It's really that he does his best to not divulge any info about what we want to know about, i.e. Jon's parentage, the Others, the shit that happened at Summerhall, Mad Aerys' reign... even when other characters who know perfectly well what happened talk to other characters who want to know, like Jon asking Tormund about the wights or Barri offerring to tell Daeny all about her crazy ass dad, we get a shit excuse not to hear it. The most we learn out of this book is 1. Aegon isn't dead, 2. Some (but not a lot) about greenseers and the children, 3. Ashara's bastard by Neddie miscarried so it wasn't Jon, 4. Wylla was a ship captain's daughter who got Ned safely home from the Vale, 5. Giants are cool but they're going to die out just like unicorns and all the other cool stuff north of the Wall."

He seems to not have realized it's perfectly ok to answer some major question even partially if it's not the penultimate book or final book.

Oh well, maybe in five years.

[Magus]

Actually that wasn't a reference to Wylla, it was just one more rumor that exists about who Jon's mother is, a separate woman. Basically there are rumors it was Ashara Dayne, Wylla, the boat lady, etc.. The multitude of rumors are in and of themselves rather telling, since there seem to be way too many for any of them to be even close to the truth and were probably deliberately spread by Ned to disguise Jon's true parentage. Which we all know is...wait, do you want to hear fan theories or not? They are technically spoilers if they turn out to be true in the future.

As for Summerhall and other things in the background, Martin is going to cover those in the separate Dunk and Egg novellas. I think he wants to maintain the mysteries in the main series and slowly reveal stuff via the stories, much like he did with Bloodraven/Brynden Rivers, for instance

[Satan's Onion]

you guys

it's here

it's here!

And the first chapter's a Tyrion chapter, yesssss

[Solid Snake]

How did the show only score 13 Emmy nominations
I WANT THEIR HEADS ON PIKES

[Satan's Onion]

Aw, c'mon, Snake. One of 'em's for Peter Dinklage. Surely that means we could settle for cutting off their manhoods and feeding them to goats?

[Solid Snake]

Aw, c'mon, Snake. One of 'em's for Peter Dinklage. Surely that means we could settle for cutting off their manhoods and feeding them to goats?

Dinklage definitely deserved the nom, but so did Sean Bean (for Best Dramatic Actor), Michelle Fairley (Actress) and Maisie Williams (Supporting Actress). I'm guessing Sean Bean got overlooked because of "Boromir 2.0" (nevermind the fact that Ned Stark is a far more nuanced character, sorry Tolkien) and...I really can't think of a good justification for leaving Catelyn or Arya out, really.

I stand behind my belief that Michelle deserved it more than Lena, BTW. Lena's performance was fine but I was really, really pleasantly surprised with Michelle, who gave some of the best nonverbal acting at certain moments throughout. I've never been a huge fan of Cat in the novels, but found myself really rooting for the show's interpretation of her, and Michelle was a huge reason why.

(I also found Michelle more attractive than Lena and Emilia, despite the fact that she's certainly older and less physically attractive, which made Littlefinger's obsession with her so believable.)

I could totally see Conleth Hill as deserving of a Supporting Actor nom, too. One of the best surprises for me in the series is how it completely reversed my preference for the advisers. In the books, I always gravitated towards Littlefinger and found Varys less intriguing by comparison. In the show, I found Hill's portrayal far more captivating, despite the fact that he was up against Aidan Gillen.

Aside from that, the nominations were by and large fine. 13 for a fantasy series isn't bad.

[Satan's Onion]

So...no goat-feeding?

I'll just...put away this knife, then.

[Magus]

Well in the realm of spoilers involving dick removal...

Is it a spoiler to say that in A Dance with Dragons Ramsay apparently decided this was the way to deal with Theon?

Yeah that's probably a major spoiler don't click it! DON'T CLICK IT--ah, look what you did to yourself!

EDIT: Yeah the chick who played Cersei (didn't she play Number Six in Battlestar Galactica?) wasn't very good. I felt they failed at translating Cersei's innate "hilarious and inept over-the-top villainy" to the screen. While they were attempting to make it feel more nuanced, it was just flat.

[Satan's Onion]

Y'know what? I personally don't even care that that was a spoiler, because that's the best fucking news I've read all day.

:dance: :dance: :dance:

Couldn't have happened to a nicer shithead.

[Solid Snake]

EDIT: Yeah the chick who played Cersei (didn't she play Number Six in Battlestar Galactica?) wasn't very good. I felt they failed at translating Cersei's innate "hilarious and inept over-the-top villainy" to the screen. While they were attempting to make it feel more nuanced, it was just flat.

Nah, she had no role in Battlestar Galactica, but she was Sarah Connor in that Terminator Chronicles TV show that was a thing for a season or two there.

Regarding Lena and her portrayal of Cersei, I just felt the directors didn't know whether to play her as sympathetic and tragic or downright unlikable, and so Cersei got stuck in a grey area of 'neither likable enough to love, nor truly sinister enough to love to hate.' The show's portrayal of Cersei led me to believe that her outplaying Ned in their 'Game of Thrones' subsequently said far more about Ned's stupidity than Cersei's cunning.

[Magus]

Huh. Well I guess that explains her fairly flat acting ability, then, since that show wasn't anything to write home about in the end. Wonder why I confused her with the Battlestar Galactica lady, though (probably the blonde hair)...

I think for season two she should focus on hamming it up a little.

[Osterbaum]

I've been reading the saga and I've gotten totally into it. I am now at the second half of the third book A Storm of Swords and all I've got to say is: Lord Frey, House Frey, Roose Bolton, King Joffrey, Cersei Lannister, Ramsay Snow, Ser Gregor Clegane, Tywin Lannister... Valar morghulis.

[Magus]

Valar dohaeris.

[Satan's Onion]

In similar news: Poor Tyrion and his forced journey into a whole new level of psychological devastation and self-loathing marriage to Sansa Stark. Why, that must be the worst wedding in the entire book--I can't possibly imagine how a wedding could be more awful than that! It's just not possible, nosiree.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I have the first 4 books sitting here right now, but I need to finish reading the Horus Heresy before I start them. I did get my mum hooked on the series though.

Really I was quite lucky, happened upon the whole series in asda where they were doing 3 for £10 on all books. Bought the whole series and some other books for £20. In waterstones that would've cost £35!

[Osterbaum]

They sold the third book in two parts here. I am yet to buy A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons but I will do so soon enough.

[Solid Snake]

In similar news: Poor Tyrion and his forced journey into a whole new level of psychological devastation and self-loathing marriage to Sansa Stark. Why, that must be the worst wedding in the entire book--I can't possibly imagine how a wedding could be more awful than that! It's just not possible, nosiree.

(Storm of Swords Spoilers)

Fortunately, not every wedding in the book has a horrifying ending! You have to go through the terrible weddings first, but the last one makes up for it in spades.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

They sold the third book in two parts here. I am yet to buy A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons but I will do so soon enough.

Yeah I know, when I said 4 I meant all 4 books, including both parts. So it was really 5 Song books, plus 2 more, so 7 books in the 3 for £10 for a total of £20. If that doesn't add up it's because the other 2 books were sold together and counted as 1. Yeah, asda does really wierd stuff with book offers apparantly, I should go there for books more often.