First. There is some important shit in the first book that didn't make the show that will make the books more enjoyable for you.
the show isnt the same as the books at all. first off, the show won't be around when george rr martin finishes writing the books which will be like 10 years so they are leaving some things out and changing some things to make the show reach a climax quicker. leaving out a lot of small details and great dialogue that will be huge later in the series.
Definitely the first. You'll be lost if you don't and miss out on a lot. GRRM was actually a television writer at one point and hated the business aspect of it, so he intentionally made the books difficult to translate to a TV series and impossible to translate to a movie.
if the shows rushes past the books and spoils the ending for me I will be extremely pissed. once the show catches up with the books I should probably stop watching.
Yeah I would read all of them anyways. If you start on book 3, there is a very good chance that you will want to go back and read 1 & 2 anyways after you are done with ADWD. A man should read them in order.
to be honest, I'm pretty upset about this realization. fuck whoever brought it up. now I hope the show fails and gets cancelled.
that'll never happen. it will be 10 years before the story is completed, and that's if he doesnt add another book which many think he will. the show is sticking close to the books, but it will eventually completely change. martin won't let the show ruin what he will have spent 30 years on.
what was that whole rap where the show directors already know martin's ending? i havent even thought about what happens when the show finishes earlier than the books. hopefully by the time the show finishes the 5th book then atleast the next book will be out.
Been thinking about this. Season 3 - April 2013 Season 4 [book 3 part 2] - April 2014 Season 5 [book 4-5 part 1] - April 2015 Book 6 - April 2016 [5 years after Dance with Dragons] Season 6 [book 4-5 part 2] - April 2016 Season 7 [book 6] - April 2017 This is where it's obviously gonna get tough. I think he could finish both books at minimum 8 years after the release of book 5 so 2020 and maybe a more accurate ending in 2022. Now they could do 4 and 5 in one season instead of 4-5 one year and mostly 5 the second year which would put season 7 out at the same time as book 6 comes out. That's not really a problem. They could also do something like Season 3 - April 2013 Season 4 [book 3 part 2] - April 2014 Season 5 [book 4 part 1] - April 2015 Book 6 - April 2016 [5 years after Dance with Dragons] Season 6 [book 4-5 part 2] - April 2016 Season 7 [book 5 part 3] - April 2017 Season 8 [book 6 part 1] - April 2018 Season 9 [book 6 part 2] - April 2019 Book 7 - April 2020 Season 10 [book 7 part 1] - April 2020 Season 10 [book 7 part 2] - April 2021
Damn lol. That bastard will be dead by then. Wonder how many shows HBO will make. At some point will they go in their own direction to shorten it up?
100 episodes of an HBO show of this kind is asking a fucking lot. kinda wish he'd just sit down and say "welp, 6 is a good number to end on" and that way everything would time out perfectly. otherwise the series will likely end on book 6(if it goes that far) unless he sits down and really works hardcore with the TV people for what book 7 will be about and lets the series finish before the books. I mean, it's not as if he's staying away from the show so it might not be so crazy for him to give them a blueprint of sorts for how he wants it to end if they reach that point.
HBO has said to GRRM that they'll keep doing the show as long as he keeps writing. Obviously this is them just saying what they need to but it's not like you're gonna lose that many viewers. I mean the numbers would be astronomical if this wasn't the most pirated show on tv. Right now it's do a couple years then hbo talks with grrm and the writers and then do another couple years and they talk again. That seems to be the plan right now. No point in worrying about this until book 5 has been covered on the tv show which will be anywhere from 2015-2017
id rather HBO just have a gap in the seasons rather than the show writers wrapping things up themselves. fuck that.
I doubt the actors, producers, directors, etc. would all come back if there was a big gap between productions.
Plus you can't pause too long between series (to catch up with GRRM's writing) because of characters like Arya getting too old. Although, I guess she'll be pretty old by the time they even get to season 5
Showfags, I promise you: if you get to about pg 50 of the first book and aren't hooked then you should probably just give up on life.
Its not like HBO hasn't been known to take a year off between seasons or switching when the show is thus making the gap between seasons longer. I think they did this twice with the Wire.
Also, I'm not suggesting to skip the first book, but you MIGHT be able to skip that and not be confused as hell. However, theres no way you could skip book 2 and read book 3.
Just started book one tonight. About 75 pages in and already hooked. Figure I can probably do all 5 before fucking April of next year. Will probably start a thread when I have questions.
I was instantly hooked when Jaime pushed Bran out the window. I figure any book series that contains incest and the attempted murder of an innocent child in the first 75 pages has got to be worth reading.
It's a little weird in that I know what's going on with the main plot and already know things about the characters he introduces, but still very entertaining. And the little details you learn, for example why Dany was named Stormborn
Yeah, the show (like any such production) can't come close to capturing the complexities of the characters that the books do. It's what hooks people in the series (that and the :ohholyshit: moments), and it's what will keep the showfags around.
Gotta say. I love the show, and loved reading books 1-3, but I'm struggling big time to get through book 4 right now...
Seeing Jaime push Bran out the window hooked the fuck out of me in the first episode. Then I was halfway through the second book before the second episode came on the next Sunday.
Only 200 pages left in ASOS, I need to order the rest with the quickness. I don't even know where a Barnes and Nobles is by my place.
Yeah I don't think I am going to be finished in the next couple days anyways as I have some shit going on this weekend.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345529057/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M2C_ST1_dp_1 I definitely went paperback and I got all 4 for 25$. A steal in my opinion
Forgot I had a gift card in my Amazon account from a bet I made with ohhaithur, so that was a nice surprise to make it cheaper.