A Song of Ice and Fire (A Dance with Dragons)

Just curious as to whether or not there are any fantasy nerds or people drawn in by HBOs Game of Thrones out there on this forum. Just finished the final book and am craving someone to talk to about it. Very angry at some things that transpired near the end and not ready to admit that I won't have anything in front of me for at best a few more years.

Edit: Let's keep things vague in here in terms of what has/has not happened yet for the sake of people who are not caught up. I don't want to be that guy that gave something away like when I read about Ned's fate prior to watching it on the TV show....

I'm halfway done with A Dance With Dragons...so no spoilers. Lets see, where am I at exactly, Jon Snow just took new recruits to the forest to become sworn brothers and they ended up coming back with a giant.

Yes please no spoilers!!

Although I have watched the HBO series in it's entirety and have epub versions of all three books I have not had a chance to start them. I have a bunch of paper to read before I start in on my digital stuff.

As a sideline and for those that have watched the series and read the books, how far did HBO deviate from what Martin wrote?

Dahoov said:

Yes please no spoilers!!

Although I have watched the HBO series in it's entirety and have epub versions of all three books I have not had a chance to start them. I have a bunch of paper to read before I start in on my digital stuff.

As a sideline and for those that have watched the series and read the books, how far did HBO deviate from what Martin wrote?

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Well, as far as no spoilers...we are talking about book 5 of the series.

As far as the show is concerned, I have only watched season one as that is what is available on Netflix. So far I would say it is probably one of the best book to film adaptations I have seen, they stay extremely close to the story line...minor changes like making the Daenarys older than 12 for obvious reasons...but, pretty close IMO.

Ah the giant is pretty awesome. Well, all the giants are pretty awesome IMO but Wun Wun provides an interesting addition to Castle Black.
What do you think of the book so far? For me everything has seemed slightly downhill and drawn out (although still good) since A Storm of Swords. But then again it is hard to top what was the s***storm of action and death that happened in that book. I feel like Martin's been laying the groundwork to another book like that for the last three books.

Sumbitch!! Now that I look at my e-reader I actually have 4 of the 6 currently available books. Maybe I better change tacks so I can participate intelligibly in this discussion. PAPER BE DAMNED!! Thanks Bensiff for upsetting my current balance.

Yeah, there really does seem to be a lot of filler material going on. It also seems like things are getting spread too thin with too many characters. Hell the last two books all take place in the same timeline he just has so many stories going on at once it required almost 2000 pages to go over it all. I really hope he starts pulling everything together so its not so convoluted. But right from book one some of the deaths have blown me away, clearly no one is safe and I also like that there is no great build up to their death, its war and people just die almost randomly.

Dahoov said:

Sumbitch!! Now that I look at my e-reader I actually have 4 of the 6 currently available books. Maybe I better change tacks so I can participate intelligibly in this discussion. PAPER BE DAMNED!! Thanks Bensiff for upsetting my current balance.

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Your welcome...We'll see you in about 6 months when you get through those behemoths

Bensiff said:

Your welcome...We'll see you in about 6 months when you get through those behemoths

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Lol, I just read that he plans on the next two books being roughly 1500 pages a piece so if you think they've been big so far....

inhousebrew said:

Lol, I just read that he plans on the next two books being roughly 1500 pages a piece so if you think they've been big so far....

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Ugh, he might start losing readers...who has the time to read that much anymore especially when it keeps going into details about what everyone is eating, wearing, or a detailed list of all who were attending an event. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading the begets in the Bible.

I've read them all and seen the first season except the last episode. I love the books, especially the Arya story line. The show is cool, but I've got too much other stuff going on to keep up with a story I already know.

He lost me as a reader. Loved the first 3 books the 4th was eh. But making me and the rest of the fans wait 7 years for a book is unforgivable a book that was almost written when feast came out. I didn't even read it. And from what I've heard, I didn't miss anything.

If I remeber a review on amazon said the was 2 pages about a charactor taking a piss. Really? 7 years? For that?

crosschk said:

He lost me as a reader. Loved the first 3 books the 4th was eh. But making me and the rest of the fans wait 7 years for a book is unforgivable a book that was almost written when feast came out. I didn't even read it. And from what I've heard, I didn't miss anything.

If I remeber a review on amazon said the was 2 pages about a charactor taking a piss. Really? 7 years? For that?

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Yup, like I said, too much detail wasting time to make the book thick, people will get bored and stop reading.

He's lost his way with this series and its going to take all the writters tha HBO can throw at it to make it passed 3 seasons.

BTW if you have not read it yet and watching the show book/season 3 is Awesome!

Esentially he has wasted close to 10 years and nothing has happened and the story has not progressed

I'm a big Wheel of time fan and that was starting to loose its way as well but Brandon has turned it around. I look forward to readng the end of that

crosschk said:

He's lost his way with this series and its going to take all the writters tha HBO can throw at it to make it passed 3 seasons.

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You know they will just start throwing more boobs into the show to keep viewership up :rockin:

Bensiff said:

You know they will just start throwing more boobs into the show to keep viewership up :rockin:

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It will not make the books any better. Btw my wife calls it game of porn

I've heard that they are splitting up book three into seasons three and four of the TV show. There is just so much good stuff to cover in that one and it gives him some time to potentially finish some books. I think the show will also probably incorporate books four and five into one or two seasons without splitting up the story lines geographically so it will be more interesting than the books. Viewership will be fine and people will watch

As for loosing his way, I don't think that is the case. I think people feel like he's lost his way because of the loss of characters we loved who have only been used as tools to advance the plot to where the story is going. Because of this, he needs to introduce new characters and basically start over by laying more ground work to push things along. Traditional story lines in writing and film have us stuck in the mindset that this is all about the battle for the iron throne so when we loose a few characters in that particular story line we get bummed out but I really don't think that is what these books are about. By the end I don't think it will matter who sits on the Iron Throne if that even exists any more. I seem to remember reading somewhere that he know's how it ends along with the fate of all the main players but it's just taking him a while to get there.

crosschk said:

my wife calls it game of porn

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When I get really deep into reading it my gf likes to say it gives me a raging Game of Throner.

DoD was solid, although I did not enjoy the ending. Don't get attached to any character you actually like - That's really the first lesson with G.R.R.M. It helped to tie up a lot of the loose threads in Feast for Crows, but he only has two books left in the series to clean up everything and I don't really see how he's going to do that.

I watched Season 1 of Game of Thrones and enjoyed it, but you really miss a lot of the back story from the books. My hope with the HBO series is that it puts a fire under Martin's ass to get the rest of the series done. As many fans have pointed out to him, he's fat and getting older and they don't want him to pull a Robert Jordan.

I'm looking for a replacement series for a Song of Ice and Fire - any suggestions? I read The Way of Kings a few weeks ago by Branden Sanderson and really liked it but apparently the 2nd book in that series hasn't yet been released.

Darwin18 said:

I'm looking for a replacement series for a Song of Ice and Fire - any suggestions?

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Not really in the same genre exactly but the Dark Tower series by Steven King was pretty solid. Seven books, one through four are terrific, five through seven are decent enough although rushed. He pounded those out in a few years while the first four took him 20 years or so to get through. It follows Roland, the last of the gunslingers and his fellow travelers from other dimensions as he quests for the Dark Tower which is a pillar of sorts that supports all dimensions and is being slowly being destroyed by the Crimson King.

Brandon Sandersons Mist Born I thought was very good

inhousebrew said:

Not really in the same genre exactly but the Dark Tower series by Steven King was pretty solid. Seven books, one through four are terrific, five through seven are decent enough although rushed. He pounded those out in a few years while the first four took him 20 years or so to get through. It follows Roland, the last of the gunslingers and his fellow travelers from other dimensions as he quests for the Dark Tower which is a pillar of sorts that supports all dimensions and is being slowly being destroyed by the Crimson King.

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I'm reading that for the second time now. Love this series

inhousebrew said:

Not really in the same genre exactly but the Dark Tower series by Steven King was pretty solid. Seven books, one through four are terrific, five through seven are decent enough although rushed. He pounded those out in a few years while the first four took him 20 years or so to get through. It follows Roland, the last of the gunslingers and his fellow travelers from other dimensions as he quests for the Dark Tower which is a pillar of sorts that supports all dimensions and is being slowly being destroyed by the Crimson King.

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Ah yes, Dark Tower series. I read that during a winter while floating around the Kensico reservoir in West Chester trying not to freeze my ass off. It was alright. I found it irritating when Stephen King wrote himself into the series and the ending was very disappointing to me, however I do respect how difficult it was to actually write the ending.

I'll have to give Mistborn a shot.

Darwin18 said:

I found it irritating when Stephen King wrote himself into the series and the ending was very disappointing to me, however I do respect how difficult it was to actually write the ending.

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Yeah, like I said, the last few books don't live up to how good the first four were IMO. And in regards to the ending, did you read the afterward alternate ending that King started by warning you not to read? Don't want to ruin anything for others, but I wish I hadn't read that part... The story is about the journey, not the conclusion.

Darwin18 said:

I'm looking for a replacement series for a Song of Ice and Fire - any suggestions? I read The Way of Kings a few weeks ago by Branden Sanderson and really liked it but apparently the 2nd book in that series hasn't yet been released.

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Its a little older, but The Black Company stands out as one of the best series I have ever read in the fantasy realm.

I have not read any posts because I don't' want spoilers in the show. I'm saving the books until after the series is over so I can avoid ruining the show for myself.

I'd really recommend reading the books so you have a better idea of what is going on in the show. The show skips over a lot of the back story and history of the 7 Kingdoms in the interest of twincest.

Yeah I was surprised about how much extra sex they added. I'm not sure it helps the story but does make it more interesting to watch. The scene on the boat with the Theon Grayjoy, I think was his name, was actually better in the book

Darwin18 said:

I'd really recommend reading the books so you have a better idea of what is going on in the show. The show skips over a lot of the back story and history of the 7 Kingdoms in the interest of twincest.

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Second this. More than anything I think they skip the deep history of the Kingdom which I think is why the books are so long at parts but also what makes them so interesting. I mean, you could easily exclude a majority of the history before the Stark's come to Kings Landing and still have a cool story, it just wouldn't have much depth. Also, books are always better than their film adaptations.

But then again....there is some stuff that I wish I could have witnessed in the show with our Game of Thrones posse rather than angrily in my room by myself. I'm thinking mostly everything at the end of Storm of Swords, that will make good TV.

I keep telling my brother that. Book/season 3 is gonna be awesome

inhousebrew said:

But then again....there is some stuff that I wish I could have witnessed in the show with our Game of Thrones posse rather than angrily in my room by myself. I'm thinking mostly everything at the end of Storm of Swords, that will make good TV.

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Yep. That damn wedding made me throw the the book across the room.

Darwin18 said:

Yep. That damn wedding made me throw the the book across the room.

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That was crazy. Made it impossible to put the book down. Its all down hill from there folks

crosschk said:

That was crazy. Made it impossible to put the book down. Its all down hill from there folks

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I had to read that page probably four or five times just to make sure I got it right. And then I wanted to throw the book out of the window. Instead, I just anger read the next three hundred pages...

inhousebrew said:

I had to read that page probably four or five times just to make sure I got it right. And then I wanted to throw the book out of the window. Instead, I just anger read the next three hundred pages...

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Anger read rofl

Darwin18 said:

I'm looking for a replacement series for a Song of Ice and Fire - any suggestions? I read The Way of Kings a few weeks ago by Branden Sanderson and really liked it but apparently the 2nd book in that series hasn't yet been released.

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I saw someone already suggested The Dark Tower series, I loved books 1-5, book six was decent and book 7 was pretty solid until the last 30% or so.

Also check out 'The Name of the Wind' series by Patrick Rothfuss. I also enjoyed the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey, but while enjoyable, they're not a deep story like song of ice and fire, or dark tower.