Well. I’ve finally finished.
It took over my life. I read constantly – in bed, in
the bath, on the tube, while I was supposed to be watching TV…I read for a good
solid month, I would say. I started speaking in a strangely old fashioned
manner and kind of forgot that Winterfell and Kings Landing weren’t real
places. But I’ve finally finished reading the Game Of Thrones.
I now feel slightly bereft and am not sure what to
do with myself. It’s a bit like the end of a relationship. I feel like I can’t
possibly launch into another book series so soon; it would be like breaking up
with somebody one day and leaping into a new relationship the next day – just all
wrong. I don’t want the relationship to be over. I want to ring up George R R
Martin and beg and plead with him to speed up the release of book number 6
(tenuously scheduled for 2014, but as he’s left up to seven years between books
previously, I’m not holding my breath).
When I first reviewed Game Of Thrones Book 1 (here)
I mentioned a few annoying niggles I had with the books – like the author’s
love of killing people off, for example – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve found a
couple more of those. An annoying propensity for throwing in a sudden twist,
making everything go wrong when it appears to be finally going right. Good guys
coming last. A slightly James-Bond-esque tendency for certain characters to
escape their fate in increasingly unfeasible manners. There are chapters on end
– even one entire book, in fact – where nothing really seem to happen at all,
and there are far, far too many paragraphs dedicated to describing snow.
But it doesn’t matter, and in fact as the series
goes on you start to enjoy these little tropes – even look for them. The series
is fantasy, and the apparently pointless chapters all add something little
which has meaning going forward – like tiny pieces of a giant puzzle. Either
that, or they’re false signs, and that’s half the fun. Just when you’re
convinced you know exactly what’s going to happen, something occurs to throw a spanner
in the works. I’ve never read a book quite so unpredictable – it’s brilliant.
I’m now going to allow myself to watch Series 2 and
3 of the TV show, which I’d banned myself from watching until the reading was
all done. I really enjoyed Series 1, so I’m now anxiously awaiting my Amazon
order in anticipation of a weekend spent with the curtains drawn and a pizza…
Have any of you read the whole series? What did you
think? Don’t leave any spoilers in the comments – we don’t want to ruin it for
everyone else (not that we know how it ends…!)
I've not long finished either, just finished last month before I went away. I'm very impressed you read them in a month, it took me about a year! Admittedly, not solidly at all - I don't read very much while I'm at uni.
ReplyDeleteWithout revealing spoilers, I found myself very angry with George R R Martin at the end of the last book for what I think he has done to one of my favourite characters - I'm sure you'll know what I mean :(
Season 2 & 3 are really good, I enjoyed them. I would say though that it doesn't follow the books nearly as closely as the first season, sometimes for the best and sometimes not. Let me know what you think it!
Rachel xx
http://weebitofrachel.blogspot.co.uk
I've watched all the series on tv, and I've really loved them. One of my friends read the books, but she had nothing good to say about it. But now I'm very tempted to start reading them!
ReplyDeleteI love Game of Thrones! Can't wait to read this :)
ReplyDeletexoxo Zoe
www.thatszoe.blogspot.com
Follow me, I follow back ;)
Sounds like a good book. Thanks for posting! :)
ReplyDeleteVISIT MY BLOG - I PREACH FASHION
I just started reading these!! I can't wait to get further on ahead. I hope you'll have a chance and stop by my blog. All about Beauty. Life. and DIY. If you ever have an OTD, LOTD, hair or nail tutorial, or a fun fashion DIY, I'd love for you to share it at "That's my Style" Link party TODAY (EVERY WEEKEND!). Don't have anything to share? Stop by anyway for beauty tutorial and fun DIY projects. Hope to see you there. :)
ReplyDeleteKarla @ www.MySerendipitousLife.com
I'm up to Feast For Crows at the moment, and it's moving a bit slowly. I'm persevering though! I can't wait to finish, but at the same time, I don't want them to be over! I just love them! I'm going to do the same thing as you when I'm done though, and have a bit of a TV marathon =) xx
ReplyDeleteSquares - Bookworm and Beauty Enthusiast