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Any point reading the books?

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 14,015 ✭✭✭✭Mc Love


    mjsc1970 wrote: »
    Yes.

    Yes - definitely read the books, a lot more detail than the TV show


  • Registered Users Posts: 155 ✭✭Geimhreadh


    There is so much more detail and gives you a greater understanding behind why the characters do what they do.

    He will finish them some day and you have 2
    years until season 8 so why not.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    OMG the Iron Islands chapters are a chore..


    Nearly 4 down. Enjoying them, well worth the read.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,915 ✭✭✭TheIrishGrover


    OMG the Iron Islands chapters are a chore..


    Nearly 4 down. Enjoying them, well worth the read.

    "GRRRR. We are vicious unlikable (not) Vikings with a boring and unlikely religion. Our ONLY defining feature is that we are vicious unlikable (not) Vikings with a boring and unlikely religion. Let's have a vote to see who is going to become the leader of a band of vicious unlikable (non) Vikings with a boring and unlikely religion."

    "Hey, could be worse. Could be Sand Snakes"


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,721 ✭✭✭Al Capwned


    I drive for a living and am listening to the audio books for a bit during most days while I'm on the road. Read by Roy Dotrice.
    I'm probably half way through the second one at the minute, enjoying it for the main part, even if the narrator's pronunciation of certain names and words is wrecking my head! :D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Seriously struggling on Dreams & Dust

    A lot of random characters and plot wandering in and out. Seems to be a lot of padding...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,571 ✭✭✭ Jayleen Freezing Wedding


    I loved AFFC, getting the Jaime and Cersei POVs were very interesting. The world building (especially of King's Landing) added an awful lot of depth to the story imo.


  • Registered Users Posts: 837 ✭✭✭human 19


    I read the books before watching the TV series, After reading 1 and a half books, I decided to watch a few eps of the series to see how they compared. I MUCH prefer the books. The TV series on only based on the books, not a faithful copy. When watching only 3 or 4 eps of the TV series, I noticed that the producers either changed scenes from the book or totally manufactured scenes which never occured in the original story.
    A lot of the characters are older in the TV version also. I assume this is to a) females: show tits. b)Males: hunk factor

    These amended or invented scenes in the TV series , IMHO, were made in the Eastenders-style antagonistic emotive style, designed to get the viewers gossipy outrage juices flowing. I found these scenes to be extremely annoying which is also why I gave up watching soaps years ago.

    I would therefore reccomend reading the books rather than watching the series


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,061 ✭✭✭leggo


    I'll often make a conscious decision not to read books before I watch TV/movie adaptations for the exact same reason: I don't want to have the 'book ****' view and it's hard not to when you have the emotional attachment to them first. For example, I love the Harry Potter movies now, but when they first came out I couldn't notice anything but the stuff they left out (when, in truth, the idea of a TV/movie adaptation is to condense source material into manageable output that works on screen).

    With the likes of GoT and The Walking Dead, I opted to watch the shows first then catch up on the source material later. As such, I could appreciate the shows for what they were and not what they were missing, then the books/comics were a nice supplementary add-on. I actually agree with most of GoT's decisions when it came to characters. Like if you look at Quentyn for example, you spend so long with him then it just comes to nothing (albeit a fairly spectacular/mildly hilarious nothing). That happens so often in the books with characters who got the chop from the show, I imagine Victarion's story is going to go similarly. I also don't know where GRRM is going with Sansa/Littlefinger, but the show did much better at keeping Sansa more central to the plot (whereas you could never hear from her again in the books and you wouldn't even ask questions). The fact is the books' twists and general plot are fantastic, but it could use an editor badly too when it comes to introducing extra characters and expanding the world (perhaps why he's struggling to then condense it and wrap it up now), whereas the show had to do that and for me is better for it.

    I think you've got to accept that if you read the source material of something that's getting adapted, your judgement of the adaptation is going to be skewed because the adaptation isn't made for you, it's made for the audience who haven't seen it and it's assumed you'll just follow along anyway because you've already bought in (which tends to pan out for the most part). The thing that makes books great is they're so deeply personal, right down to how we imagine characters look, when in truth we've no right to expect our deeply personal interpretation of them to be the universal interpretation.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,721 ✭✭✭Al Capwned


    leggo wrote: »
    I'll often make a conscious decision not to read books before I watch TV/movie adaptations for the exact same reason: I don't want to have the 'book ****' view and it's hard not to when you have the emotional attachment to them first. For example, I love the Harry Potter movies now, but when they first came out I couldn't notice anything but the stuff they left out (when, in truth, the idea of a TV/movie adaptation is to condense source material into manageable output that works on screen).

    With the likes of GoT and The Walking Dead, I opted to watch the shows first then catch up on the source material later. As such, I could appreciate the shows for what they were and not what they were missing, then the books/comics were a nice supplementary add-on. I actually agree with most of GoT's decisions when it came to characters. Like if you look at Quentyn for example, you spend so long with him then it just comes to nothing (albeit a fairly spectacular/mildly hilarious nothing). That happens so often in the books with characters who got the chop from the show, I imagine Victarion's story is going to go similarly. I also don't know where GRRM is going with Sansa/Littlefinger, but the show did much better at keeping Sansa more central to the plot (whereas you could never hear from her again in the books and you wouldn't even ask questions). The fact is the books' twists and general plot are fantastic, but it could use an editor badly too when it comes to introducing extra characters and expanding the world (perhaps why he's struggling to then condense it and wrap it up now), whereas the show had to do that and for me is better for it.

    I think you've got to accept that if you read the source material of something that's getting adapted, your judgement of the adaptation is going to be skewed because the adaptation isn't made for you, it's made for the audience who haven't seen it and it's assumed you'll just follow along anyway because you've already bought in (which tends to pan out for the most part). The thing that makes books great is they're so deeply personal, right down to how we imagine characters look, when in truth we've no right to expect our deeply personal interpretation of them to be the universal interpretation.

    That's a spectacularly well presented post for 5 to 6 of a Sunday morning. :)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,915 ✭✭✭TheIrishGrover


    human 19 wrote: »
    I read the books before watching the TV series, After reading 1 and a half books, I decided to watch a few eps of the series to see how they compared. I MUCH prefer the books. The TV series on only based on the books, not a faithful copy. When watching only 3 or 4 eps of the TV series, I noticed that the producers either changed scenes from the book or totally manufactured scenes which never occured in the original story.
    A lot of the characters are older in the TV version also. I assume this is to a) females: show tits. b)Males: hunk factor

    These amended or invented scenes in the TV series , IMHO, were made in the Eastenders-style antagonistic emotive style, designed to get the viewers gossipy outrage juices flowing. I found these scenes to be extremely annoying which is also why I gave up watching soaps years ago.

    I would therefore reccomend reading the books rather than watching the series

    Well, I think they were doing a decent job of compressing the books into a series. Obviously things had to change/characters dropped etc but I was OK with that up until
    Jon Connington. Now you know they are not going to have the huge impact they could have had

    I also had no problem with the aging up. I mean Dany was 13 when she was married to Drogo. While this would have been consistent with medieval thinking and was also so that the characters could age over the span of the books, it still made uncomfortable reading and would never have been done on TV


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭HandsomeBob


    OMG the Iron Islands chapters are a chore..


    Nearly 4 down. Enjoying them, well worth the read.

    I heard the II chapters were difficult reading before picking up the books, but I must be on my own in saying I enjoyed them. The Greyjoys are all nicely poised in the story as things stand and one of the things I'm looking forward to about the eventual release of the next book is seeing how they move forward.

    Meereen and Bravos were more frustrating for me personally.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,061 ✭✭✭leggo


    Yeah, aside from Tyrion's stuff I found Mereen a bit of a tease. Constantly on the brink of something big happening without anything big happening.

    Having said that, they do a much better job than the shows of explaining the threat. You really feel like Dany is trapped and her entire plan has gone tits up, whereas in the show you're like "yeah...the dragons are gonna sort this out fairly snappy soon."


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 55 ✭✭Cocksy


    good for brains


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    they're a bit different now in fairness.
    on the last book.
    ...keeping her lit.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Right, I'm done, all in all worth reading.

    Really enjoyed the last book, albeit with a few too many similar names.
    In fairness, the show did a good job of condensing the books, but he must be paid by the word. So much could have been left out, that added nothing to the story.




    that fcuking Patchface though, one of the most annoying characters I've ever come across.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,061 ✭✭✭leggo


    Right, I'm done, all in all worth reading.

    Really enjoyed the last book, albeit with a few too many similar names.
    In fairness, the show did a good job of condensing the books, but he must be paid by the word. So much could have been left out, that added nothing to the story.




    that fcuking Patchface though, one of the most annoying characters I've ever come across.

    Yes! Thank you! Him and his ****ing songs that you have to read in case they're ever important but they NEVER are! Is there nothing to be said for Ramsey taking him prisoner and killing him a horrific way to make a statement?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    leggo wrote: »
    Yes! Thank you! Him and his ****ing songs that you have to read in case they're ever important but they NEVER are! Is there nothing to be said for Ramsey taking him prisoner and killing him a horrific way to make a statement?

    Theres a fcuking clown with a cavity block tied to his ankles at the bottom of the sea under the sea


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭skippy15


    I loved reading the books before the series, so much more info in the books. When I read the red wedding I through book at wall and refused read book for week after,
    Few different tangents in the book, but well worth a read if your a reader and a real fan. have also just done GOT tour in Belfast also well worth a go,
    For a die hared fan it something you shouldn't have ask IMO but if not a reader books are quite lengthy


  • Registered Users Posts: 10 MatthewCurtis


    [font=arial, sans-serif][font=arial, sans-serif]I plan to start reading "The Song of Ice and Fire" after the season of "Games of Thrones" is over.[/font]

    [/font]


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  • Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭mjsc1970


    Yep. Missing GOT since S8 finished.

    So, I've re-read the Dunk & Egg novellas, which I'd forgotten. The Hedge Knight is good. The Sworn Sword a little tedious. The Mystery Knight really good. I thought re-reading them would confirm that they are ok for my 11 y/o to read. He can wait a year or 2. But GRRM does a good job putting us back in to Westeros about 100years before GOT.

    As for a Song of Ice & Fire, yep, started on Book 1 recently just picking it up now band again. Maybe yer man will finish Winds of Winter by the time I get through the lot. And sure if he never does I'll have enjoyed the ride again anyway.


  • Registered Users Posts: 319 ✭✭animalinside


    I recommend read book 1, which is great, and be done with it. Everything else is unnecessary when you've seen the tv show and kind of starts to dampen the quality.



  • Registered Users Posts: 20 ParkerLV


    So now I want to read the book.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,593 ✭✭✭eire4


    I actually read the books after having watched most of the TV show and loved the books as well as loving the TV show. My only gripe with the books is on how selfish GRRM is not having finished the series. I mean come on A Dance with Dragons was published in 2011. It is beyond ridiculous at this point.



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