Concerning Game of Thrones, I decided to watch the show before to read the books related to each season !

Can't have this discussion without linking this ;P

Great books, love 'em very much, but I really don't appreciate that martin goes on tour, makes himself busy with the series and comicon and the like instead of just sitting down and finishing his damned books >:( it just takes too friggin long.

I started reading them so excited. I love the history, the characters. No one is just good or bad. Then the dolar rised from 7 = 1 to 8. What happen? The price rised 100 more. So i quit to buy the others books. Now I just can see the tv series. Maybe someday i may buy the others for now the first it´s gathering dust in a corner.

I suffered for each of those :'(

I'm glad that I didn't, because I'm fricking loving the show.
I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much, after already knowing the story.

I take it you were reading one of the older editions. The 50th anniversary edition that you can get from Google is much better. It's divided into the original 6 books rather than 3 and a lot of the typographical and other errors have been fixed. I failed to complete the first book out of the 6 when I tried years ago, but that was a 1960s era copy with numerous problems.

The later editions are much easier to read.

Yeah I think the one I got is a latest edition probably released around late 2000s to now.

The beginnging of the book is such a beautiful portrayal of creation and fantasy. Eru (God) and the Ainur created the universe through music.

Reading that part made me think of Fantasia's Rite of Spring segment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7QRFGSLMBs

I only have an old massive tome XD

The Two Towers was the one I got through the fastest. Thought it was better then the third book.

I agree with you OP!
I'm not really much of a fan of the show, for much the same reasons you aren't (though I can certainly appreciate it), but the books, on the other hand are really good! Most of the changes made in the show are for the worse imo and it loses a lot of what made the books great.

With that being said, they're still far from my favourite novels, and the later books go really downhill.

I actually got into the TV series by a good friend of mine, who sort of semi warned me that a lot of plotting would take place in a brothel. Not a prob. What I debated with him was the "barbarian titty-dancing." That would be painful. I did not see the barbarian women as such fools, in fact.


And what about eroticised paedophilia, and all that rape? That was quite all right, meanwhile?

Daenerys was 13 in the book, if I correctly recall, when she purportedly quite so hotly and voluntarily whispered "yes" to Drogo fingering her after her bro had sold her. Should a 13 year old be sold to a horse lord, or anyone else? I think not, perso.

Also, I go as far as to state: a 13 year old is not exactly competent to express consent. Especially to a middle aged man.

And there was a lot of rape, besides.

But I am glad to say the books were lended to me - so the creepy Marin got no economic gain from me. But while I think he has story spinning abilities, his creepiness tipped the balanced somewhere in the third book for me.

meh, didnt find anything special in the book or the series to bother continuing, the lore is a miss mess

Shit the first one was not very pleasant.

Nor the second, that was worse.

Then the third.

Oh god its gonna get brutal isn't it?

*shrug* I actually quite enjoy both the books and the show for different reasons. The latter is missing a lot of depth of the former, but I quite enjoy its spectacle nonetheless, the location shots, and the acting is pretty good for the most part. Read the five books (in the summer of 2011) before watching the show - in fact, it was the show's existence that prompted me to check out the books, and I certainly didn't regret that - which I would definitely recommend to anyone who isn't averse to reading... a lot.

While I'm typically not into the whole grimdark thing, I do appreciate the fact that noone in this setting is guaranteed a happy ending. In fact, it tends to end up badly for quite a few of them no matter a character's morality. That is if he ever actually manages to finish the series. We'll see.

EDIT: Meanwhile at George R.R. Martin's... ;)

hehe, it's funny 'cause it's true... I guess >:/

Can I ask did any of the Middle Earth books developed the Orc/Goblins as a whole race with thier own culture rather than just mindless mobs in service of the evil gods?