Post by Robin Hood on Feb 4, 2012 0:57:20 GMT -6
If any of you have watched the HBO series The Game of Thrones, this is the book series it is based on.
I got turned on to this by watching the HBO series... needless to say I am impressed with the HBO series and now that I have started reading the book series I am even more impressed with both the books and the series. I don't think I have ever seen a TV show/movie that followed the book so closely. I am only through the first book so far... but OMG!!! This series has tons of gratuitous violence and sex (rape and incest are common) so it is not a series for the faint of heart or anyone young.
A Game of Thrones is told through the eyes of 9 characters. Enabling the reader to see the point of view of all the sides of the conflict. This is the first series that I have read that does this and I absolutely love it. Being able to see all the viewpoints of the conflicts in the story is very interesting. Martin also does a very good job in surprising the reader. There are two areas in particular where Martin does an excellent job. He is more ruthless to his characters than Steven King. No one is safe. No one. Almost all of his main characters are quite well rounded. They can surprise you. One character, for example, commits a horrific crime early in the series, and is known to have committed another. As the books go on and the portrait of his character develops, however, it becomes more difficult to pass a simple judgment because he begins taking actions the reader wants to admire him for. I had to keep reminding myself of what he had done before, and that, as someone says in one of the books, sins can be forgiven, but crimes must still be punished. The good guys aren't simply good, and the bad guys aren't simply bad.
I bought the first four books as a box set for the Nook. It truly is an EPIC... NOT a book to take on vacation... you won't get any vacation in... cause you can't put it down.
"When you play the games of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."
I got turned on to this by watching the HBO series... needless to say I am impressed with the HBO series and now that I have started reading the book series I am even more impressed with both the books and the series. I don't think I have ever seen a TV show/movie that followed the book so closely. I am only through the first book so far... but OMG!!! This series has tons of gratuitous violence and sex (rape and incest are common) so it is not a series for the faint of heart or anyone young.
A Game of Thrones is told through the eyes of 9 characters. Enabling the reader to see the point of view of all the sides of the conflict. This is the first series that I have read that does this and I absolutely love it. Being able to see all the viewpoints of the conflicts in the story is very interesting. Martin also does a very good job in surprising the reader. There are two areas in particular where Martin does an excellent job. He is more ruthless to his characters than Steven King. No one is safe. No one. Almost all of his main characters are quite well rounded. They can surprise you. One character, for example, commits a horrific crime early in the series, and is known to have committed another. As the books go on and the portrait of his character develops, however, it becomes more difficult to pass a simple judgment because he begins taking actions the reader wants to admire him for. I had to keep reminding myself of what he had done before, and that, as someone says in one of the books, sins can be forgiven, but crimes must still be punished. The good guys aren't simply good, and the bad guys aren't simply bad.
I bought the first four books as a box set for the Nook. It truly is an EPIC... NOT a book to take on vacation... you won't get any vacation in... cause you can't put it down.
"When you play the games of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."