TV HBO picks up George RR Martin series - Game of Thrones (2 Viewers)

**** this series

- no real or specific spoilers below, only a general opinion but you might want to skip if you don't want any surprises spoiled when/if you read it -












This thread finally made me pick up this series after a lot of recommendations - I'm 2/3 through the 3rd book and I'm sick of it. It's very well written but I'm sick of the death. I'm tired of becoming invested in characters and -boom- dead.

I mean, I don't usually think that I am someone who has to have a happy ending - but damn...

I'm pretty much at the point of saying that any character I like is going to die. So whoever is left standing at the end - I'm probably not going to give a ****

I can't put the books down, but I also don't enjoy being ****** off and frustrated when I'm reading something I can't put down either

At least when Martin pulls a Jordan and dies before the series is finished it will be easy for some scrub to complete for him - all the "good" people, they die. Nobody makes it home. Ever. Bad people prosper.

I hope martin finishes! He has only been writing ADWD for 6 years+. When I first started reading I saw the characters more in good and bad. Martin does a great job of showing a character through multiple view points. You end up seeing most of the characters in shades of grey.
 
There are only really a few characters worth hating. Cersei tops that list for me, but the other Lannisters evolve down different paths as the books progress. It really becomes hard to distinguish good from bad...Littlefinger is a character I like very much along with Tyrion. Are either of them sparkling representatives of the good in humanity? No, but while Petyr is even more of a schemer and deviant than Cersei I find him a much more likeable person.
 
I buy the shades-of-gray argument for some of the primary players in the Lannister clan. I really like Tyrion. I find Petyr a terrible bore and not at all likeable - maybe that changes as the book(s) go on? So far, I've yet to see a single redeeming quality about him. Jaime is a gray Lannister for me. Cersei less so. Joffrey not at all. Tywin not at all. These last couple I easily hate.

But it's actually more the second tier characters that just bug the hell outta me and I see no nuance. The Freys. The Boltons. Greyjoys. One Clegane. The Bloody Mummers. Etc...

But the one absolute has been the silliness to which Martin resorts to perpetuate the misery of the North.
 
**** this series

- no real or specific spoilers below, only a general opinion but you might want to skip if you don't want any surprises spoiled when/if you read it -












This thread finally made me pick up this series after a lot of recommendations - I'm 2/3 through the 3rd book and I'm sick of it. It's very well written but I'm sick of the death. I'm tired of becoming invested in characters and -boom- dead.

I mean, I don't usually think that I am someone who has to have a happy ending - but damn...

I'm pretty much at the point of saying that any character I like is going to die. So whoever is left standing at the end - I'm probably not going to give a ****

I can't put the books down, but I also don't enjoy being ****** off and frustrated when I'm reading something I can't put down either

At least when Martin pulls a Jordan and dies before the series is finished it will be easy for some scrub to complete for him - all the "good" people, they die. Nobody makes it home. Ever. Bad people prosper.

This is the EXACT reason I stopped reading this series. It was going good and then boom, someone I really started to like died. I can see why a lot of people like the books, but it just isn't for me. I quit reading before Jon Snow dies. (I don't know if he does, but everyone else I liked died so why not him.)
 
I buy the shades-of-gray argument for some of the primary players in the Lannister clan. I really like Tyrion. I find Petyr a terrible bore and not at all likeable - maybe that changes as the book(s) go on? So far, I've yet to see a single redeeming quality about him. Jaime is a gray Lannister for me. Cersei less so. Joffrey not at all. Tywin not at all. These last couple I easily hate.

But it's actually more the second tier characters that just bug the hell outta me and I see no nuance. The Freys. The Boltons. Greyjoys. One Clegane. The Bloody Mummers. Etc...

But the one absolute has been the silliness to which Martin resorts to perpetuate the misery of the North.

I won't spoil things for you, but Martin likes to elevate bit characters at times, as I'm sure you have noticed. Immerse yourself in the world he has created rather than the characters, and you may find a more enjoyable reading experience. Believe it or not, Martin does actually have a plan for this series, unlike Jordan, who seemed to just keep on writing the same story endlessly. Martin is trying to establish a lore and history as it happens to his story, the pay off when it is finally done will be well worthwhile.
 
oh - I'll finish it - it just seems too predictable (and not in a good way - if ever there's a good way for fantasy to be predictable) to really enjoy

the point about enjoying the world instead of focusing on the characters is a good point, though - I think that's actually what keeps me going though I'd not thought about it before

I mean, there was never doubt I'd finish the series and I am enjoying it - but now that I think about it, it's the totality of the series and not the characters I get invested in. Maybe just think about that a bit more I guess.

But it's still annoying in its predictability-trying-to-be-unpredictable and the side on which despair often falls adds to that tedium

if that makes sense
 
oh - I'll finish it - it just seems too predictable (and not in a good way - if ever there's a good way for fantasy to be predictable) to really enjoy

the point about enjoying the world instead of focusing on the characters is a good point, though - I think that's actually what keeps me going though I'd not thought about it before

I mean, there was never doubt I'd finish the series and I am enjoying it - but now that I think about it, it's the totality of the series and not the characters I get invested in. Maybe just think about that a bit more I guess.

But it's still annoying in its predictability-trying-to-be-unpredictable and the side on which despair often falls adds to that tedium

if that makes sense


Interesting -- I don't really see it as all that despairing. It's a hard chaotic world, that's what he's trying to depict... people die, and without any real rhyme or reason to it. I don't find that tedious... I find it exhilirating, I really don't know who is going to live or die....





*Minor Spoilers*

Once I realized this was a book where characters you like die, I haven't really been able to pick out who is going to live or die. It seems like Jon, Tyrion, and Dani are the "main characters" who are going to make it to the end -- with Tyrion likely dying towards the end. But I can't predict that. It's a Song of Fire and Ice -- so I think Dani has to go a long way, she's the only "Fire" remaining. Jon seems to represent the "Ice", but it could be Bran... Rickon, who knows.

So, I'm just enjoying the characters while they're around, and I'm trying to figure out his end game. I find it fun.
 
I find it exhilirating, I really don't know who is going to live or die....

and that's the opposite of how I've felt for a while now - I don't see chaos and unpredictability - I see forcing the chatoic hand to the point of predictability
 
Interesting -- I don't really see it as all that despairing. It's a hard chaotic world, that's what he's trying to depict... people die, and without any real rhyme or reason to it. I don't find that tedious... I find it exhilirating, I really don't know who is going to live or die....





*Minor Spoilers*

Once I realized this was a book where characters you like die, I haven't really been able to pick out who is going to live or die. It seems like Jon, Tyrion, and Dani are the "main characters" who are going to make it to the end -- with Tyrion likely dying towards the end. But I can't predict that. It's a Song of Fire and Ice -- so I think Dani has to go a long way, she's the only "Fire" remaining. Jon seems to represent the "Ice", but it could be Bran... Rickon, who knows.

So, I'm just enjoying the characters while they're around, and I'm trying to figure out his end game. I find it fun.


My feeling is similar. I think for sure that Dany might be around for a while...she represents Fire well enough...but then again so does Melisandra. One of the Starks surely has to represent Ice, but don't discount Euron in that role either...or even Gilly for that matter.
 
and that's the opposite of how I've felt for a while now - I don't see chaos and unpredictability - I see forcing the chatoic hand to the point of predictability

I can definitely see your point there and Martin walks a very thin line. If it was totally nihilistic, or every character unlikeable, I couldn't read it. Like say Donaldson's books.

I really like the growth of Jaime's character. He was reviled in the first two books but he's slowly become likable and his relationship with the Maid is interesting and I'd like to see where it goes. Tyrion is also a unique character as well as Jon.

Just as good is sometime punished in his book, so is evil...not sure how far along you are in the third book so I won't spoil it for you. IMO, Martin has succeeded in crafting a very realistic and fully realized world. It isn't always pretty and it can get frustrating at times (the end of the first book was almost enough for me) but there is enough of a payoff where I feel rewarded at the end.
 
My feeling is similar. I think for sure that Dany might be around for a while...she represents Fire well enough...but then again so does Melisandra. One of the Starks surely has to represent Ice, but don't discount Euron in that role either...or even Gilly for that matter.

So you guys think the song of ice and fire is more then one person?

Possible Spoiler






I always thought it was John with Stark(Ice) & Targaryen(Fire) blood.
 
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Spoiler:





















Jon is a Targaryan.

This is going to be awesome.
I started reading this series in highschool.
And i have been waiting for this fat lazy man who plays with his knights and is the most beloved fan of the giants to finish this *** book.
He will not travel to far south on his tours because he doesnt like to deal with headstrong redecks.
Me and my friends often think of paying him a visit.
a very motivating visit to finish his book, so he wont die and leave it unfinished.
Last I read on his blog was how he got a new pet tiger.
Nothing on any of the books.
 
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I am through the third...fourth book? Whichever is the last. I read the reviews and people did not like the direction it took where it seemed to ignore the Wall and the Lannisters, which is one reason why I put it down. The other was because I do not like to finish a book and wait for the next. I try to wait until the series is over and buy the set so I can keep reading through it. I did not know when I bought the first two books that it was going to be more than a 3 book series. I am going to wait for the next book to finish the last one I started.

I have been filling in the time reading everything Sanderson.
 

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