Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sumiko's Reads ~ Desappearing Act




Hi! You may be wondering where I disappeared to post "Fever" - I have been reading - but mostly I have been re-reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I started the re-read in anticipation of HBO's
series based on the book and then when the publication date for A Dance With Dragons was announced I wanted to reread to be up-to-speed and ready to dive into ADWD as soon as it comes out.

I have to say that so far I am very pleased with the TV adaptation. This is based purely on the first episode. (Which, by the way, covers to only about page 71 in the hardcover edition of the book.) They are
planning on 10 episodes for the first book and they've just been renewed for another 10 episodes which, I believe, is going to cover the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire. (The Song of Ice and Fire is the name of the series of books - A Game of Thrones is only the first book in the series.) It is visually pleasing and well-cast and just fun to watch.

If you have HBO - I totally recommend it and if you don't have HBO definitely watch the DVDs or Bluray when they come out. (Probably not until just before the premiere of season 2!)

And if you haven't read the books: give them a try. They hooked me in with the first chapter. (There is a prologue and then a chapter.) Some haven't been hooked until approximately the chapter where the
pilot ended. These books are epic in scope - involving many characters and the characters are interesting and I have found that characters that at first I had very little time for became more interesting as time progressed. (Although two of my original favorites are still my favorites.)

One of the benefits of the media campaign for the show is that there are some good interviews with George R.R. Martin and Jame Poniewozick of Time Magazine has posted a 4-parter that is well worth reading. You can find links to each part at the link below:

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/tag/game-of-thrones/

The books are definitely worth a try: Martin doesn't make his world easy or pretty: evil isn't always obvious. He tells the story from a multiplicity of points of view so you get to know the "P.O.V." characters. I think this forces you to see the action from different sides so that you can't just dismiss any one side as good or evil.

And bonus: if you start reading now - you know you'll have five very long books to look forward to.


1 comment:

  1. I read the first of these a long time ago and I think it's time I gave them another try. Thanks for the recommendation!

    ReplyDelete

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