Spoiler It is rumored that they're casting Tony Curran to possibly play Edmure in season 2, but that is just speculation.
So far I'm halfway through this book (but haven't watched any episodes) and i can say it's AWESOME. This is the first time I've ever really read a fantasy genre book (though more on the realistic side). Is this truly the greatest book in the fantasy genre? Or is there something better, more hailed by popular opinion? Sure, people might mention LOTR, but I can't stand that book, read through some of it and I didn't like all the songs and stuff. I like the feel of Game of Thrones. With that said, I also want to get into the Sci Fi genre, and would like to ask what is the BEST and critically acclaimed book for that genre.
Game of Thrones was never my favorite book in The Song of Ice and Fire series. Storm of Swords might be. I have a few suggestions for you for other fantasy/sci-fi to read, but I think you might want to start a new thread for such a question.
the episode last night mentioned posion as a "woman's weapon", followed by "cravens and eunuchs" "Lord Varris is a eunuch" (castrated) was that Littlefinger they were talking about?
I tried reading LOTR but I could not get into the writing style. Story was great IMO from watching the movies. I have not read any of the Game of Throne books but I'm loving the series a lot. Im thinking of reading the books because the series is so good. I love Terry Brooks writing style. I read Sword of Shannara in 1983 and could not put the book down till I was done. The fist couple of chapters start out a little slow as he develops the characters but once it picks up its non stop. I have read the book a few times since and it never gets old. I love all of his books but Sword is my favorite. I highly recomend it.
Littlefinger's real name is Lord Petyr Baelish. Lord Varys (aka "the spider") is the bald creepy fellow on the king's counsel.
All the sexual scenes come off boring and stupid. Is there a lot of graphic sex in Martin's books? Are the sex parts on the same scale as Raymond E. Feist or Jeffrey Archer?
Most people will tell you Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. The series itself is fantastic. You could argue that it's the best. It's heavy reading though- not a 'beginner' fantasy series. Once you've read and appreciated it, it's almost impossible to read lesser fantasy-smut like Jordan or Goodkind. For beginners: I like the Runelords series from David Farland. He's super creative and the stories are cool with lots of battles. There's also D&D based (their lore is based on D&D games) books that are surprisingly good and not that heavy- the Drizzt books by Salvatore and the Dragonlance books by Weis and Hickman. I would stay away from Jordan and Goodkind- their stuff is awful. More experienced: There's also a new author named Joe Abercrombie who is absolutely awesome. Probably my favorite author lately. Martin falls in this category. Advanced: Once you've gotten acclimated to fantasy you can move on to 'hard-core' fantasy like Erikson and Bakker. They assume you're a fantasy dork and start throwing tons of crap at you. Some people don't like Erikson's writing, and I have to admit I wasn't enamored at first, but his world building is second to none. Bakker's stuff is mind-blowing and very adult (and his big series crosses over into sci-fi territory). Most of the time it's just alluded to. HBO may play it all up though- a good chunk of their audience likes the graphic sex.
I would suggest Dune by Frank Herbert. It's not "light reading" but if you like the political intrigue of Game of Thrones I think you would enjoy it. To expand on what xerobull said, Card's Ender's Game is good. The first book is pretty simple (it started out as a short story that Card expanded to be the prologue for the rest of the series) but the rest of the books are fantastic, especially the books that follow Ender.
You can try Guy Gavriel Kay. Another fantastic fantasy writer. Him and George RR Martin are my favorites. The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy Tigana A Song for Arbonne The Lions of Al-Rassan also good reading: Gene Wolfe The Book of the New Sun SciFi John Varley:Gaea Trilogy Titan Wizard Demon
damn good episode, cant wait for the next one....there are only 10 episodes per season? what am i going to do when the season is over?
Man, I got about halfway through The Blade Itself, put it down, and just haven't bothered to get back to it. I've seen some good and bad reviews of Abercrombie, but what I read just seems so...pedestrian. Martin seems leaps and bounds better than that. I *will* finish it, though. I'm hoping it gets better and maybe I'm just reading the worst of it. I'd love to dig through a new series.
Man, I hated Ender's Game with a passion. Everything about it was just too bland. Any other suggestions? Dune? hmm...
There are only ten episodes this season. Hopefully season 1 will do well enough that HBO would be willing to have more episodes in future seasons.
