Game of Thrones Season 4 (Books and Other Discussion Thread)

Serious Business 111 replies 3,131 views
Heretic's avatar
Heretic
Posts: 18,820
Jun 3, 2014 11:48am
A PAC;1622190 wrote:Um..... Stop reading this thread?
Lol, yeah.

"I'm reading this series of books, while reading a thread all about talking about the books that spoils everything about the books, at least in comparison to the TV show. Man, now I don't want to read the books."
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Manhattan Buckeye
Posts: 7,566
Jun 3, 2014 12:46pm
The first 3 books are amazing - definitely worth reading even if watching the show.

The 4th and 5th? Ugh and really ugh. The Quentyn storyline was the most pointless waste of my 2.5 hours ever.
ernest_t_bass's avatar
ernest_t_bass
Posts: 24,984
Jun 3, 2014 1:44pm
Heretic;1622191 wrote:Lol, yeah.

"I'm reading this series of books, while reading a thread all about talking about the books that spoils everything about the books, at least in comparison to the TV show. Man, now I don't want to read the books."
Not because of the spoilers. Because it sounds like the books drag on, and get boring.
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 4, 2014 11:45am
ernest_t_bass;1622223 wrote:Not because of the spoilers. Because it sounds like the books drag on, and get boring.
There was little resolution at the end of each. They started as one book, then split, had parts added to each, then Dance with Dragons got split again before it was released. GRRM's "editor" convinced him to push the Battle of Meerrene (or however you spell it) into the 6th book.


There is a way to make them more enjoyable. Read the chapters for certain characters all in a row. for example all of Ayra's, then all of Jon's, or all the chapters pertaining to Dorne, etc. That's pretty much how I did it. I "finished" the books back in January but there are several Ironborne chapters I haven't read yet and won't until after Winds of Winter gets released. And even then I'll decided whether or not I actually need to.
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Manhattan Buckeye
Posts: 7,566
Jun 4, 2014 12:14pm
"Little resolution"? How about none and 20+ plots with cliffhangers that aren't particularly exciting. Who is going to care about the Battle of Meereen given that Dany is back in the Red Waste? Brienne is still wandering searching for a maiden of 4 and 10, Tyrion is wondering where whores go, Jaime has done little and less wandering around, Cersei got her comeuppance but appears to still be in charge, Samwell is going to be a maester in a pointless quest, Bran is a tree, Sansa is still in the Eyrie, and Arya is pointlessly killing people in Braavos.

God, the last two books sucked.
ernest_t_bass's avatar
ernest_t_bass
Posts: 24,984
Jun 4, 2014 1:06pm
Manhattan Buckeye;1622514 wrote:"Little resolution"? How about none and 20+ plots with cliffhangers that aren't particularly exciting. Who is going to care about the Battle of Meereen given that Dany is back in the Red Waste? Brienne is still wandering searching for a maiden of 4 and 10, Tyrion is wondering where whores go, Jaime has done little and less wandering around, Cersei got her comeuppance but appears to still be in charge, Samwell is going to be a maester in a pointless quest, Bran is a tree, Sansa is still in the Eyrie, and Arya is pointlessly killing people in Braavos.

God, the last two books sucked.
See, it's shit like this that makes me not want to read them. Seems boring as fuck.

Seems like the show is going to have to bypass a TON of stuff, b/c there is no way the audience will want to sit through 2 more seasons with Dany doing nothing, not heading to King's Landing.
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Manhattan Buckeye
Posts: 7,566
Jun 4, 2014 6:21pm
ernest_t_bass;1622569 wrote:See, it's shit like this that makes me not want to read them. Seems boring as fuck.

Seems like the show is going to have to bypass a TON of stuff, b/c there is no way the audience will want to sit through 2 more seasons with Dany doing nothing, not heading to King's Landing.
The South Park guys hit on this straight on in their hilarious (IMO) 3-part episode parody with Butters complaining about GRRM, wieners, and the lack of any plot development.

GRRM has a chapter out with Arya, and again a big part of it focuses on wieners and rape, albeit fictitious. There is something wrong with that guy.
Fly4Fun's avatar
Fly4Fun
Posts: 7,730
Jun 4, 2014 7:16pm
Manhattan Buckeye;1622666 wrote:The South Park guys hit on this straight on in their hilarious (IMO) 3-part episode parody with Butters complaining about GRRM, wieners, and the lack of any plot development.

GRRM has a chapter out with Arya, and again a big part of it focuses on wieners and rape, albeit fictitious. There is something wrong with that guy.

I've read 1-4 recently (really started to struggle once I hit 4 and with 5 I've lost a lot of interest).

The first thing I thought when I started reading this series is that the author is pretty twisted sexually. He seems to enjoy going into detail about the statutory/regular rape and incest, but just completely ignores any potential "normal" sexual encounters that could be happening within the confines of the story.

It seems like it started to either become a money grab (drawing it out) or the editor lost control and the author is just making it unnecessarily long with details/story lines that aren't necessary nor intriguing.
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Manhattan Buckeye
Posts: 7,566
Jun 4, 2014 7:34pm
^^^

My wife got into the books, a bit. Until halfway through the second book she couldn't handle it any longer. I think it was the rape of Lolly's by 50 men she couldn't take it anymore.
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 5, 2014 7:10pm
TedSheckler's avatar
TedSheckler
Posts: 3,974
Jun 9, 2014 5:04am
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't last night's episode the one where Stannis comes to save the day? Or is that after they name Jon the Lord Commander?

I know they've gone way off the books at the wall. Ygritte was supposed to die long ago.
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 9, 2014 7:02am
Stannis saves the day but after Snow meets Mance again.
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 16, 2014 7:20am
The message boards at westeros.org are in serious meltdown mode over changes from the books.

No Lady Stoneheart
Jojen dead
no did not shit gold line after Tywin's death
No Cersei ******* Moon Boy from Tyrion to Jamie
No Tysha confession from Jamie to Tyrion.

Stoneheart - An eye-rolling moment in the books for me so don't really care either way. Could still show up and meet Brienne in season 5. However, audition leaks from season 5 suggest Jamie is off to Dorne instead of the Riverlands so LSH may be out completely.

Jojen- Who cares...he only existed in the books to explain warging to Bran and get him to Bloodraven. Mission Accomplished. His part in the tale was done anyways.

The "shit gold" line - Was not a running joke on the show as it was in the books. Had those last few scenes been taken straight from the books, it might have fit better. Didn't really work given how things were played out on the show.

Cersei ******* Moon Boy - Without the Kettlebecks and Moonboy on the show, Tyrion would only have been able to spill the beans on Lancel. And since the fall-out of that for Jamie is pretty much played out in his head, that would be darn near impossible for the show to pull off,

No Tysha confession - Either way...Tywin was gonna take his last shit that night. And since Tyrion and Jamie are more than likely never going to see each other again in either the show or books, what good is their estrangement if there's never any resolution? To quote Stephen King's The Stand...no great loss.
TedSheckler's avatar
TedSheckler
Posts: 3,974
Jun 16, 2014 7:31am
And I don't remember Brienne and The Hound fighting. Am I wrong? I though The Hound died from the wounds he got a few episodes ago.
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 16, 2014 7:55am
Brienne and the Hound never fought in the books. As for the Hound's death. One theory is he survived his wounds and is living out his day as a gravedigger on the Quiet Isle (One of the places Brienne visits during AFFC.)
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Manhattan Buckeye
Posts: 7,566
Jun 16, 2014 8:18am
Looking forward to watching the episode tonight:

'The message boards at westeros.org are in serious meltdown mode over changes from the books."

Well it appears that the HBO showrunners have their work cut out for them because GRRM crapped the bed in books 4 and 5. And I have no faith that he'll finish the books. The show killed off Pyp and Grenn whereas GRRM just sort of forgot them so that happened. The ironborn are boring, and maybe the showrunners cn do something out of Dorne, but overall we've seen the most exciting bits of the series.
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 16, 2014 8:30am
MB,

The meltdowns over there are comical to read. Of course those are where the hard-core book lovers reside. I like the books but I'm not married to them like some of those people are. And the meltdowns will only get worse from here on out because, 1, the showrunners are gonna take an axe to books 4/5 and blast thru them and 2, the hard core book walkers can continue to deny it all they want----the show will pass the books, and GRRM is never gonna finish it anyways.
TedSheckler's avatar
TedSheckler
Posts: 3,974
Jun 26, 2014 2:02pm
Sounds like it will be better than the last two books.

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2014/06/26/george-r-r-martin-winds-winter-tease/
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bigorangebuck22
Posts: 186
Jun 26, 2014 5:39pm
Tom Wlashiha, who played Jaqen H'gar in season 2, is coming back in season 5. Presumably training Arya.
Fly4Fun's avatar
Fly4Fun
Posts: 7,730
Jun 27, 2014 9:07am
bigorangebuck22;1630499 wrote:Tom Wlashiha, who played Jaqen H'gar in season 2, is coming back in season 5. Presumably training Arya.
Makes sense, I always wondered if he was the guy training Arya while reading the books (or wondered if he at least went to the temple every once in a while).

Also, while I don't think Brienne ever fought the Hound, she did fight that biter guy who had the Hound helmet (iirc).
TedSheckler's avatar
TedSheckler
Posts: 3,974
Oct 28, 2014 11:27am
I wish he would finish the book we actually WANT to read.
Belly35's avatar
Belly35
Posts: 9,716
Mar 25, 2015 12:31pm
I can't find this on cable to record,,
Can I buy the series?
Ytowngirlinfla's avatar
Ytowngirlinfla
Posts: 2,295
Mar 25, 2015 12:39pm
Belly35;1716247 wrote:I can't find this on cable to record,,
Can I buy the series?
Come on Belly lol. You know you can buy the DVD's or Blu Rays. Plus if you have HBO it should be on demand. Not sure though.
TedSheckler's avatar
TedSheckler
Posts: 3,974
Mar 25, 2015 12:41pm
Why would you want to record a book on cable?

Wrong thread.

Now go post in the TV show thread and ask the question.