OT: A Song of Ice and Fire Series (spoilers inside)

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Autumn

It certainly ended better than it started (DoD). I don't expect to be wowed by further books anymore, though, not like the first three. Everything there was so perfectly wove, and going back and reading it again just made you realized how well planned it was. Now I feel like he's just winging it.

I got the feeling as well, but I have a feeling it will all come back together again as the series winds down. Sort of a I know how this starts, and I know how it ends, but how do I fill in the rest?

[stevew]

ThinkGeek :: Game of Thrones LIFESIZED Throne

[Zinto]

Well, I finished the A Dance with Dragons last night and I completely love the series. Afterwords I went and read some theories and stuff. Unfortunately now I have to wait forever for the next book, instead of being able to find out what happens almost instantly.

[MrBug708]

Obama won, so another four years at least

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Zinto

Well, I finished the A Dance with Dragons last night and I completely love the series. Afterwords I went and read some theories and stuff. Unfortunately now I have to wait forever for the next book, instead of being able to find out what happens almost instantly.

Welcome to the rite of passage.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by stevew

ThinkGeek :: Game of Thrones LIFESIZED Throne

Yeah - I want.

[BishopMVP]

Casting news for season 3 that confirms an event will take place

Spoiler

Roslin Frey has been cast, which means the Red Wedding will occur, probably to end the upcoming season.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Casting news for season 3 that confirms an event will take place

Spoiler

Roslin Frey has been cast, which means the Red Wedding will occur, probably to end the upcoming season.

Spoiler

I don't think there was ever a doubt it would occur. That it would occur this season, of course, wasn't a certainty, although I think it was a logical assumption it would be where you suggest it could be.

Good find.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Spoiler

I don't think there was ever a doubt it would occur. That it would occur this season, of course, wasn't a certainty, although I think it was a logical assumption it would be where you suggest it could be.

Agreed with your bit in the spoiler.

[spleen1015]

I can't imagine things happening any other way. It is made for tv.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I can't imagine things happening any other way. It is made for tv.

Yeah, when they said that the third book would go via 2 seasons, I figured the spoiler was exactly how it'd be done.

/tk

[PilotMan]

I still get pissed thinking about how all of that played out in the book.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by JAG

Welcome to the rite of passage.

i still hate TK.

[cougarfreak]

If you're a big fan of the series, I'd highly, highly recommend this set of maps. I received mine today, and they are fabulous. Quite the bargain now as well, the list price really is the list price:

The Lands of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones): George R.R. Martin: 9780345538543: Amazon.com: Books

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

If you're a big fan of the series, I'd highly, highly recommend this set of maps. I received mine today, and they are fabulous. Quite the bargain now as well, the list price really is the list price:

The Lands of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones): George R.R. Martin: 9780345538543: Amazon.com: Books

Nice - thanks!

[JAG]

A new sample chapter is up for Book 6 (albeit not a particularly thrilling one). No clue how long it has been there, but I hadn't noticed it before.

[JeeberD]

Link?

[MrBug708]

New Game Of Thrones Book: George RR Martin's 'The Wit And Wisdom Of Tyrion Lannister' Coming In December 2013

[IlliniCub]

Damnit my eyes only highlighted new game of thrones book and December 2013. My heart filled with joy for a moment before reality set in. We'll be lucky to have it in December 2020

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by IlliniCub

Damnit my eyes only highlighted new game of thrones book and December 2013. My heart filled with joy for a moment before reality set in. We'll be lucky to have it in December 2020

Funny, me too.

[DaddyTorgo]

Depending on how you look it, this is either good news or bad news.

I love the richly detailed history, so it's good news to me.

The World of Ice and Fire Encyclopedia Delayed to 2014, No Longer an Encyclopedia | Tor.com

News from the blogosphere for all you fellow George RR Martin fans out there - the author has been hammering out the pages of his companion to the Song of Ice and Fire series. According to a blogger at a recent convention attended by Martin, "he was supposed to write 50,000 words – he wrote 250,000", and "the premise of the [World of Ice and Fire] book is that it is a copy of a tome presented to [the character Robert Baratheon] just after the Rebellion".


I thought I'd check the details with Martin's publisher HarperCollins, and they tell me that actually, "the book's only likely to be around 100,000 words in length". Still sounds like fun, though, and as a Tolkien fan, and one who has even gone so far as to read some of The Silmarillion, I'm particularly pleased that, according to the blogger, the extra words "have been put in a file for a project they are now calling the 'GRRM-arillion'. ".


Martin himself has described the book as "the concordance … a compendium of the history and legends of the world of Westeros. A coffee table book, lots of gorgeous art from such talents as Ted Nasmith, Justin Sweet, and others", and said last summer that he was "making good progress on this one of late, lots of great historical stuff that I think my readers will enjoy. Never-before revealed details of Aegon's Conquest, the War With the Faith, The Dance of the Dragons, the Paramours of Aegon the Unworthy, etc."

The official line from Martin's publisher Jane Johnson is that The World of Ice and Fire will be out in spring 2014 – a bit of a delay, but "more to do with illustrative complications and global publishing schedules than the writing, and I certainly wouldn't want fans getting the impression that George is working on [it] at the expense of The Winds of Winter" – the next novel in the series and the book we're really all desperate for.

[IlliniCub]

I love how every side project he works on he always goes out of his way to assure people that it's not at the expense of the next book in the series. Oh well, I suppose he's earned the right to manage his time however he sees fit.

[DaddyTorgo]

Well he's apparently done with his part of the work on this side project, for whatever that's worth.

[ISiddiqui]

Is anyone surprised that the side project was also delayed?

[DaddyTorgo]

This is a classic "reader reads RW for the first time" blog post to get everyone ready for the shitstorm that will ensure on Sunday night/Monday.

A Read of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Part 30 | Tor.com

[MrBug708]

Someone has facebook

[DaddyTorgo]

LMAO - was that you that linked that? I thought it popped up from that group which I'm a part of independently for some reason.

Haha...yes...credit to you Bug.

[MrBug708]

No No...not me. I just saw it two seconds before I came here

[Neon_Chaos]

The biggest problem is they really never built him up in the entire TV show. so i dont think it will have the same effect.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

The biggest problem is they really never built him up in the entire TV show. so i dont think it will have the same effect.

I do agree that it might not have quite the same effect, because we really haven't spent as much time with him as even with say...Sansa, but from the standpoint of "how much bad shit can happen to a family that seems to be the good guys" I think it will have people freaking.

[ISiddiqui]

That's probably true.

Though the point stands. Also Cat was more sympathetic in the books and not such a moron.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

That's probably true.

Though the point stands. Also Cat was more sympathetic in the books and not such a moron.

Really? I though she was just as much of a moron in the books.

[ISiddiqui]

I think you may be the first person I've heard express that view.

Spoiler

I mean releasing Jamie just for the Hell of it, as she does in the show, is far dumber than releasing Jamie because she just heard her sons died and she's in a state of massive grief

[Coffee Warlord]

Eh, maybe the Starks in general jaded me. I honestly wonder that house stayed in power so long, considering they're almost all a bunch of complete idiots, who are utterly unwilling to compromise with reality.

It's my biggest complaint about the book series - the "good" guys lean towards absolute stupidity.

[ISiddiqui]

You don't think a lot of the "bad" guys are stupid (in their own ways) as well?

I mean Cersei is a moron. Joffrey is a cruel moron.

I mean there are really only a handful of smart folk in the entire series.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Eh, maybe the Starks in general jaded me. I honestly wonder that house stayed in power so long, considering they're almost all a bunch of complete idiots, who are utterly unwilling to compromise with reality.

It's my biggest complaint about the book series - the "good" guys lean towards absolute stupidity.

Given your signature at the moment, this is worthy!

[Coffee Warlord]

I got a chuckle out of that irony myself.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

You don't think a lot of the "bad" guys are stupid (in their own ways) as well?

I mean Cersei is a moron. Joffrey is a cruel moron.

I mean there are really only a handful of smart folk in the entire series.

Indeed. The difference being, some of them are still alive, despite rampant idiocy.

[Landshark44]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

This is a classic "reader reads RW for the first time" blog post to get everyone ready for the shitstorm that will ensure on Sunday night/Monday.

A Read of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Part 30 | Tor.com

I forget.... Who was "pink cloaked guy" ? Roose?

[Vince, Pt. II]

I want to say Black Walder, maybe? The asshole Frey?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Landshark44

I forget.... Who was "pink cloaked guy" ? Roose?

Yep!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I think you may be the first person I've heard express that view.

Spoiler

I mean releasing Jamie just for the Hell of it, as she does in the show, is far dumber than releasing Jamie because she just heard her sons died and she's in a state of massive grief

I've been surprised to hear the sympathy toward Catelyn as well. Sure, she has nothing but crap shoveled on her, but she is shown to be pretty weak and petty throughout. She has an incredibly hard time warming up to Ned to begin with, then even after she does she is a complete bitch to Jon. I think her rejection of Jon at all costs is especially damning because of Ned's sterling reputation. It seems so out of character for him to have done something like have a child out of wedlock, yet she buys the story anyway. She makes decision after decision while feeling sorry for herself, and most of them are ridiculous. I was way less disappointed in her death than I was Robb's.

[sabotai]

I was never a fan of Cat. She was never an interesting character. Sometimes I wondered why she was a viewpoint character and Robb wasn't. Many of her chapters just came off as exposition for what Robb and the others were up to.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I've been surprised to hear the sympathy toward Catelyn as well. Sure, she has nothing but crap shoveled on her, but she is shown to be pretty weak and petty throughout. She has an incredibly hard time warming up to Ned to begin with, then even after she does she is a complete bitch to Jon. I think her rejection of Jon at all costs is especially damning because of Ned's sterling reputation. It seems so out of character for him to have done something like have a child out of wedlock, yet she buys the story anyway. She makes decision after decision while feeling sorry for herself, and most of them are ridiculous. I was way less disappointed in her death than I was Robb's.

Very true.

[ISiddiqui]

I'm not entirely sure why we think its so horrible that someone from a Middle Ages mindset would be so aghast that her husband sired a bastard and then brought the bastard home and treated him like a son.

Ladies during the Middle Ages absolutely loathed when shit like that was done. When Henry VIII elevated Henry Fitzroy, his bastard son, Queen Catherine was ridiculously pissed.

[Vince, Pt. II]

It's less her reaction to it than it is her complete inability to question the veracity of it. It's sort of a Catch-22 - is Ned lying about something or did he sire a bastard - but this is a guy who is literally world famous because of his honor. Cheating on his wife is so completely out of character that you would think she could find a way to perhaps deal with it, if not question whether or not it's true.

Edit: Also, Ned had absolutely no designs on screwing with the lineage - he neither asked to legitimize Jon nor give him any part of the succession.

It's by no means a black and white, clear cut thing (which is why Martin was so good in the first three books), but it has always rung a little hollow to me that NO ONE seemed to be the least bit curious about Jon Snow's heritage. At least not enough to give a real hard look into it.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

This is a classic "reader reads RW for the first time" blog post to get everyone ready for the shitstorm that will ensure on Sunday night/Monday.

A Read of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Part 30 | Tor.com

my reaction to Chapter 51 was about the same..

WTF just happened?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by finketr

my reaction to Chapter 51 was about the same..

WTF just happened?

Yeah. I don't think I was ever as shocked by a book than when Ned was beheaded. After that, I didn't think anything could top it. Then I read this. I was so shocked, I couldn't move for ten minutes.

[Thomkal]

Don't read if you haven't read the last book yet-I'm probably the last one to do so though

Finished the last book a couple weeks ago and I have to say I was disappointed with it for the most part. Tyrion and Dany not meeting after Martin spends half the book it seems trying to do that, Brienne in a "drive by" after surviving being hung with no explanation given (though I assume she promised to bring Jaime Lannister to Catelyn Stark)

Ramsay Bolton still being alive and not killed in some horrendously horrible and painful way like with Tywin Lannister. I was totally disgusted by his chapters. Bran's seemingly endless and pointless transformation into a Greenseer. Cersei getting another chance to rule Westeros after a much deserved public humiliation and removal from power.

More characters "dying" especially Jon Snow at the end-you know he's going to come back, he's too important to the story not too. Enough already George, you've used that far too often. More and more characters being introduced-I can't possibly remember who half of them are because you take so damn long to write the books.

But my main beef with the last book is just how soul-less and depressing his world has become-it was just very hard to keep reading at times because horrible things after horrible things happen-life seemingly has no meaning, especially most everywhere outside Westeros-I mean who would want to live in these places like Meereen and the other Slaver Cities unless you were forced to or in power?

Where is the light, the goodness in this world? oh yeah it keeps getting snuffed out like poor Kevan Lannister there at the end-was actually a Lannister I could say I liked.

I have to say at this point I hope the Others take every last soul because I'm pretty disgusted with this world. I don't think I've ever said that about a fantasy series before, and while that's a point in Martin's favor, its also a big point against it for me.

There glad to get that off my chest.

[MrBug708]

JON SNOW IS DEAD?!?