So obviously the third season is starting soon *yay*! I've read the first but not the second yet. Tesco has the third for £3.85 and I've got some 5 hours of travel tomorrow so I need something to read. For those who have read the book, will I be damaged if I miss the second book (read it at a later date) having seen the 2nd TV season and go on to the third book? Help me out!
If you're going to read the books, read them in order. The issue with the 2nd season compared to the book is some of the characters are missing and a few consistency issues that I can't recall off the top of my head. Characters that are important in the 2nd book aren't in the 2nd season of the show, and those characters are being introduced in the 3rd season, but I have no clue how they'll fit in unless they somehow merge into what they were actually doing in the 2nd book. If that confuses you, people who should be present in certain roles currently aren't, so this could mean the show is beginning to change the story.
I agree with Mansueto in that if you are to read the books then make sure you read in order as the TV show is highly edited.
I read the first book in school (2007), told myself I'd get the remaining ones, but forgot. In 2011, when I'm at uni, the show releases. It's been long enough that I don't make the connection between the names. Plus, I don't have cable, so I barely watch TV shows anyway (my loss, I know). At a friend's urging I finally watch the show, and instantly realise what it is. Now that I'm totally hooked on the show, I don't want to ruin anything, so am holding off reading the books entirely, until the show has run its course. Then I'll probably read the entire series together. TL;DR - wouldn't read the books if you like the show.
They need to be read in order, simply because the TV show does not give the detail needed to keep track of what is going on properly. I find the TV show is better after reading the books, because you understand more about the characters (that the TV show portrays very well) without the content being shown to you.
Read the books - all of the books. If anything you really get a sense of achievement at finishing them
So I got the third book, despite the protests in this thread! So far most things make sense, I was a bit confused at the start with there being a certain thing going on at the wall involving people I'd never heard of but mostly it's been good. The scene from Spoiler the endish of season two where Jaime and Brienne are heading to KL is obviously different with the other chap being there and the protracted boat chase and stuff being condensed into the 3 guys walking down the road in the series. I'm hoping Brienne has another chance to kick arse and prove her awesomeness to Jaime at some point like in the series, I also really hope those two get it on! But yes, 200 pages since this morning. Hopefully polish it off before the end of the weekend and get the next one .
I read most of book 1 after watching series 1, realised it was almost page for scene the same and stopped. That said I understand books 2 and beyond start to differ quite a bit. IGN have a good article summing up some of the changes (in a positive light) clicky That said I read the scripts for season 3 as quickly as I could get them sent to me so I wouldn't end up spoiling something major in backwards order during shooting. During season two one of the few days I did was Spoiler Theon hanging up the burned bodies, I thought this meant he had actually killed the Starks but then later discovered he hadn't but then later still discovered you were meant to think he'd killed them anyway, didn't want that happening again this year. I did accidentally read the back cover of book 5 once... Anyway, I decided not to bother with the books for now because it would take forever and I'd probably end up getting confused at some point.
Same experience with book 1 here, I found it tediously familiar. I would have loved it had I not seen the TV series first, I'm sure. They also just seem a bit boring to me, but I have a terribly short (and still shrinking) attention span for reading, I can't really get into anything longer than a summer holiday paperback any more. Huge fantasy and sci-fi tomes just seem daunting; they require such a huge time commitment.
I got halfway through the Wheel of Time once, took too long between books at one point and now I'd need to start again. But yeah, if the the GoT books had come first I would have been all over them. I'd like to think I'll come back to them at some point, probably once the shows finished.
There are some subtle things in book 1 that aren't in the show. There is the whole scene where Ned Stark is having a dream about someone yelling in a tower. It's importance is all speculation at this point, but a lot of people seem to think it's more of a hint at things to come. As for the Wheel of Time, I'm almost 1/2 way through book 5, and still enjoying it. I read the entire sword of truth series and that just got damn predictable and boring, and the writing slowly just declined. The absolute worst part of the entire series is the last book basically opens up the series with a new villain but apparently its all over. In other news I've heard the series The Name of the Wind which is part of a trilogy (only 2 books have been released) is really good so I think after A wheel of time I'll look into it. I need a change from super long series to something a bit shorter.
The books are the best thing I've read in a good while. There are some moments where I put down the book and had to go full fetal position for a good hour. I'll offer you some advice while reading, be prepared.
I was pretty annoyed for a full day after reading the script for 309, in the best way possible. Absolutely can not wait to see it.
Is that "the Red Wedding"? Someone who's read all the books told me to look out for that episode because it was "going to be a doozy" but he was keen to avoid spoilers.
It's gonna be insane. And thankfully I wasn't on the unit that did the main part of the episode so all I've seen is a few stills from the dailies. Although it would have been lots of fun to work on... You definitely don't want it spoiled - if they've done it right it should be a pretty awful thing to watch.
