A Song of Ice and Fire TV show!

[Dreamer_D]

Anyone else as excited as I am to FINALLY see the classic George RR Martin series coming to HBO as a series??!?

They are calling it "Game of Thrones" and it looks awesome. Starts April 17. I am tempted to get HBO just to watch it. I love the books and always thought it would be great on TV.

Anyone know when the next book is coming out?

 

[GamerGirl]

This has me excited too - I was definitely wondering if I needed to order HBO!
I think the next book is slated for July? Although with Martin you never know if that date is going to move.

 

[GamerGirl]

Anyone watch it??

I thought it was pretty good - It has been a LONG time since I have read the first book but from what I remember it was pretty close. I'm not sure that I loved the actresses who played Sansa or Arya but they weren't in it that much yet so I'll give them a chance

I thought Daeneys (sp?) had a good look and her brother was suitably evil.

I'm still excited to see where they go with this!

 

[HopeDream]

As far as I know Dances with Dragons is coming out July 12th, and 2 other books are planned after it.

 

[mrscushion]

I'm incredibly excited about this show as well. I haven't seen it yet because of the time difference to Europe and because I've been traveling, but I'll watch the opener this weekend. It got good reviews so far.

Yes, the fifth book is coming out on July 12. I don't think that date will move. You can pre-order it on Amazon (which I did... <-- huge dork!). There are supposed to be two more in the series after that one. If the show is successful, I hope HBO lights a fire under GRRM's behind to stick to faster schedule than these many-year intervals he's been keeping!

 

[GamerGirl]

Well - HBO did already order a second season.I'm just hoping that worrying about the TV show doesn't distract him from finishing the books!!! If you ever look at his website/blog (huge dork too! ) he spends loads of time not writing the book and getting all involved with other things. First episode was good I thought - but next few will decide if I love the series or stick with it only out of dorky loyalty!!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

I haven't seen the pilot yet, but I'm going to tonight!

SO excited for the fifth book, and I'm hoping it really is coming out July 12 like Amazon says. Now, I have to go reread the other four though!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I thought the show was really good and a great match to the book so far. I love when they stick to the source material.

I am beyond happy about the new book, but will believe it when I see it

 

[mrscushion]

Dance with Dragons is coming out tomorrow! Is anyone else excited about this? (I am... )

 

[lizzyann]

I must have missed this thread! Dh and I watched Game of Thrones on HBO and loved it. I have never read the books though, so I couldn't believe it when Ned Stark was beheaded!!! That little twit Joffrey (sp?) annoys me!!

 

[annadragon]

I must say the HBO series is fantastic! The shows have been true to the book; most likely due to the fact that George R.R. Martin has written the screenplays for many of them.

A Dance with Dragons will be available to the public tomorrow and I can not wait! If you haven't read the books go pick up Game of Thrones today, you won't regret it. However, if you haven't read the books don't go get A Dance with Dragons and think you can just start reading it and understand. Martin weaves an incredibly complex world with story lines running parallel and perpendicular and intersecting; it gets complicated! And I will warn you Martin is a bit of a homicidal maniac with his characters - no matter how beloved or despised "in the game of thrones you win or you die"

 

[lyra]

I wasn't around when this was posted. I loved Game of Thrones!! I'm just starting book 3 of the series and love the books even more than the show. I don't usually go for this genre, but it's so well done.

 

[pierreone]

So excited -- I just picked up my copy at lunch. I'm planning a long evening of nothing but reading.

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

Loved the first season of the show. The books are captivating, but I'm a bit irritated that he doesn't seem to be wrapping things up. I was hoping this fifth book would be the last, but I hear he plans on writing two more, which means I'll have to wait fifteen years for an ending at the rate he writes. Also, if little Arya Stark doesn't have a happy ending, I will write Mr. Martin a strongly worded letter.

 

[GamerGirl]

I must say the HBO series is fantastic! The shows have been true to the book; most likely due to the fact that George R.R. Martin has written the screenplays for many of them.

A Dance with Dragons will be available to the public tomorrow and I can not wait! If you haven't read the books go pick up Game of Thrones today, you won't regret it. However, if you haven't read the books don't go get A Dance with Dragons and think you can just start reading it and understand. Martin weaves an incredibly complex world with story lines running parallel and perpendicular and intersecting; it gets complicated! And I will warn you Martin is a bit of a homicidal maniac with his characters - no matter how beloved or despised "in the game of thrones you win or you die"

I think he only wrote one episode this season and one for season two. (at least that is what he said in an interview I read - yes I am a big geek and I read his interviews!) That being said, he has had a say in who gets cast for the roles and participates in all decisions when things have to be changed from the books -- and he has said a couple of times in interviews that he got really lucky with the team that is involved with this project, they all love the source material and want to be as true to it as possible. I love what they have done so far. I totally want to reread the whole series now - there were a couple of characters that played things in a way that I thought wasn't quite right but it could totally be that I haven't read the first book in years and I am remembering what the characters are like later in their stories instead of how they were in the first one!!

I'm really excited that the new book came out but I'm going to be waiting as long as I can manage before picking it up. He said in an interview that he has only just started the next book which means we could be in for another 5 year gap before it is out.

 

[mrscushion]

I'm really excited that the new book came out but I'm going to be waiting as long as I can manage before picking it up. He said in an interview that he has only just started the next book which means we could be in for another 5 year gap before it is out.

I hope the show will continue to be a success, as this will put some pressure on the man to keep on publishing!

 

[GamerGirl]

I'm really excited that the new book came out but I'm going to be waiting as long as I can manage before picking it up. He said in an interview that he has only just started the next book which means we could be in for another 5 year gap before it is out.

I hope the show will continue to be a success, as this will put some pressure on the man to keep on publishing!

I wish that were the case, but I seriously think that he goes at his own pace and nothing will move him to go faster. What peeves me is that before Feast for Crows came out (is that the last one before the newest one?) he was saying that Feast was the last but that he had so many pages he was going to break it into 2 books - then it took FOREVER for Feast to come out and another 5 years for this new one to come out and now there are 2 more books! I fear we are headed into Wheel of Time territory here.

Not to mention that as successful as the show is - he is now doing promo stuff for the show and the new book which means all that extra time he is NOT spending writing the next one.

 

[mrscushion]

I guess the man works in his own way. I have confidence in our entertainment industry to exert a lot of pressure, but you may be right. He does already have a couple of chapters written for Book 6, though, because they were supposed to be in Book 5, but then didn't make it in.

Random side comment: did you guys see his wedding pics, by the way? The two of them are so adorable! http://grrm.livejournal.com/196160.html

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

I would have MUCH preferred that he write one set of books with the original set of characters, from beginning to end. Then, write more books with all these additional characters. Like the Iron Islands story line that's going on now, or the business with the Dornish people... I DON"T CARE! Well, it's not that I wouldn't care to read it later, but more like I'd rather just deal with the Starks and Lannisters and Littlefinger and Daenarys and the Wall first, and then go back in time and focus on the other people in a later book. Like tell me how it all ends with a little info about these side characters, and then revisit the same time period with the additional stories filled in. I know he's going to tie all together, but I'm sick of only getting so far in the timeline because he's telling so many tales concurrently. Not that this series is anything like Anne of Green Gables, but I'll use it as an example. There was the part of the series that dealt with Anne and her children, and there were also two book called Chronicles of Avonlea that had other characters' stories that happened at the same time and were interesting to read as well. I don't even want to read this book that jsut came out because I know I'll have to wait another five years for the next one. I'd rather just make up my own ending and be done with it for now. Then when George Martin either says he's done or dies, I'll read them all at once.

 

[GamerGirl]

Hmmm, I don't know. The multiple story lines going on at the same time was one of the things I really liked about the stories. It gives me the feeling that I am actually experiencing things in the world he has created as they are happening. And with his penchant for killing off main characters I'm not sure how well he would be able to accomplish a single story line per book - ha!
Maybe cause I'm not really one of those folks that goes back and rereads stories - once I know the ending it is SOOO hard for me to concentrate. I'll have to reread this series (since I started it YEARS ago and don't remember a lot) but it is going to be tough.

I just wish I could sit him down, hit the fast forward button and get all the books at once

 

[Dreamer_D]

Dance with Dragons is coming out tomorrow! Is anyone else excited about this? (I am... )

FINALLLYYYYYY!!!!!! MUST GO BUY IT NOW!

 

[Selkie]

Once I knew the HBO series was coming out, I decided to read as many of the books as I could beforehand. I got through the third one, and started the fourth. Then the series started, and I started re-reading the first one so I could see how well they compared! I guess I really should finish the fourth and start DwD before getting side tracked again.

The casting was phenomenal, and looks to continue that way. They just announced the casting of Brienne, who is one of my favorite secondary characters (Tyrion and Arya hold top honors).

I see GRRM almost as an anti-Tolkien, though in so many ways he obviously emulates the LOTR books. Tolkien's characters are almost without fail completely good or completely evil, and there never seems to be any doubt that "good" will prevail. Martin, on the other hand, is ALL about the shades of gray, and takes a lot of cues from English history. "You win or you die."

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

Hmmm, I don't know. The multiple story lines going on at the same time was one of the things I really liked about the stories. It gives me the feeling that I am actually experiencing things in the world he has created as they are happening. And with his penchant for killing off main characters I'm not sure how well he would be able to accomplish a single story line per book - ha!
Maybe cause I'm not really one of those folks that goes back and rereads stories - once I know the ending it is SOOO hard for me to concentrate. I'll have to reread this series (since I started it YEARS ago and don't remember a lot) but it is going to be tough.

I just wish I could sit him down, hit the fast forward button and get all the books at once

I also like the back and forth between characters, just not the addition of NEW characters in the later books with huge storylines - like the Onion Knight and the Red Witch lady. meh.