A Song of Ice and Fire (some spoilers inside, watch for SPOILER warnings)

[instantdeath999]

I actually have a few Tad Williams books on my wishlist on amazon, have heard great things. I'm currently judging quite a few books, though... 6, I believe, though some of them, like Great Expectations, I take a short break after every few chapters. Dickens is a great writer, but not exactly one that will keep you on the edge of your seat

Seeing compassion when not expected and cruelty from someone unexpected is great because no matter what you think might happen it is convoluted and muddied, and thus, the unexpected happens.

I see what you mean; I was under the impression that Catelyn was a kind person, until she said those awful things to Jon. I'm not sure I would have had the strength to not respond to her.

[Sayburr]

I see what you mean; I was under the impression that Catelyn was a kind person, until she said those awful things to Jon. I'm not sure I would have had the strength to not respond to her.

Yep, that is what I really loved about the books. The characters are not set in stone, where "this is a good person" and "this one is a bad guy" and "this one is a fool"... the characters have a lot of depth.

I need to break those books back out now that a release date has been set for the fifth book. I need to re-read them so I can remember what in the world is going on.

I wonder how hard it would be to read Feast and Dragons at the same time so I can see what is happening in the world in the same time-line since both books take place at the same time.

[CrazyIvan]

There are at least 3 or 4 characters that you will swear you love/hate forever that will completely switch 180 degrees by the time you finish up book 4 (or 5, if you are still reading in July). Martin has an amazing ability to delve into the greyness of characters and find sources of redemption or evil in the most unexpected ways. My list of favorite and least favorite characters had literally swapped places by the end of book 4. It's amazing and one of Martin's true talents as a writer.

Oh,and I know it's been mentioned before, but it needs to reiterated that no character is sacred, especially from death. A certain death in book 3 almost made me vow not to read any further I was so pissed (the "Red Wedding" for those in the know). Another of Martin's talents... keeping you on your toes.

[Sayburr]

Yeah, I was very surprised by the "Red Wedding". Yep, gotta read these books again, I had almost forgotten about that... hell, it has been over five years since I read the last book afterall.

[Der_Lex]

What's interesting about the Red Wedding is that Dany has an almost literal vision of it in the previous book. It's something you can only make sense of on a second readthrough, though, the first time around it seems like a lot of weird symbolism.

[instantdeath999]

The same way you know a character is well written when you truly care about the character, when a character is so despicable that you want to enter the book itself to have the pleasure of killing him... that's a well written character.

Three guesses who I'm talking about? "Prince" Joffrey.

[CrazyIvan]

The same way you know a character is well written when you truly care about the character, when a character is so despicable that you want to enter the book itself to have the pleasure of killing him... that's a well written character.

Three guesses who I'm talking about? "Prince" Joffrey.

Amen. I've never wanted to throttle a fictional character nearly as much as I did with Joffrey. He's not a "love to hate" character... just plain ol' "hate to hate".

[instantdeath999]

Yes, I'm not sure redemption is possible for Joffrey, he has to die in the most humiliating fashion possible XD

Anyone watch the premiere? I enjoyed it, it's going to be fun to read enough to stay ahead of the TV series (a down side to reading tons of books at the same time, takes forever to finish them). Followed it very well, though I wasn't aware there was going to be so much nudity (though I should have guessed, considering the content of the story), since I let my young brother watch. It's not like it's going to mentally scar him, though, and there's always the "turn your head away" maneuver

[Sayburr]

Nudity on HBO? I am shocked!

I have not gotten to see the show, I really doubt I will get to see it this week either because I am working on building the 30x36 garage behind the house. Lots of work! But, I do look forward to seeing it.

[instantdeath999]

Nudity on HBO? I am shocked!

I have not gotten to see the show, I really doubt I will get to see it this week either because I am working on building the 30x36 garage behind the house. Lots of work! But, I do look forward to seeing it.

Ah, I forgot to mention that up until last week, I haven't watched cable TV in close to five years . Just got cable in my room. I of course knew the name HBO, but it was just as meaningless as all the other TV acronyms. Call me naive, but I was still under the impression that certain things weren't allowed to be shown or said on television XD

I was also surprised at the lack of commercial breaks.