Topic: George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire (1996 - ?)

[pandamonium]

Yeah, I could do less with the raping, but that's just me.

Yup.  But what happens to Theon really goes beyond the pale.  Far, far, far less of that would still be too much.

I know I read that part (I'm on book 4) but I don't remember it. :/

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You ain't seen nothing yet

Oh. Oh dear.

[stonesean]

I'm pretty sure the answer to this question is "no", but I don't remember......

Do the books ever mention if there is there a specific penalty for killing a brother of the Night's Watch? 

Surely with all their special statuses (obey no lord, etc) the realm must have agreed to grant them some special protection.....

[pandamonium]

I'm pretty sure the answer to this question is "no", but I don't remember......

Do the books ever mention if there is there a specific penalty for killing a brother of the Night's Watch? 

Surely with all their special statuses (obey no lord, etc) the realm must have agreed to grant them some special protection.....

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Not that I can recall. Most of what I remember reading, no one really cares about the Night's Watch except Ned Stark and the Lords of Winterfell. And Stannis only goes to help them, really, to help his political career--I mean, there is some semblance of "let's defend the realm from the undead" but his campaign doesn't really go anywhere in Westeros (that's the place name, right?).

There's definitely a sense that the Night's Watch used to be more respected, but it seems to have become a place for bastards and rapers. Not that there's anything wrong with being a bastard.

[Strudel]

So far the only people who seem to be respecting the laws are the nights watchmen themselves, which is why Jon decided on taking drastic action to defend the realm. Which of course resulted in u kno wat...

You can kind of understand what they did, misguided as it was, when someone like Yoren forfeits his life to uphold the Watch's integrity only to have some youngin' lord commander disregard it entirely.

[teethering]

"I could do with a bit less rape" reminds me of a conversation I had with a Mormon friend who said something to the effect "I've never seen a movie where I thought what's missing is more swear words" as an argument that cursing ruins movies.

The violence is part of the story.  If you need your reading material to be G-rated, you're reading the wrong books.

[Ah.hell]

"I could do with a bit less rape" reminds me of a conversation I had with a Mormon friend who said something to the effect "I've never seen a movie where I thought what's missing is more swear words" as an argument that cursing ruins movies.

The violence is part of the story.  If you need your reading material to be G-rated, you're reading the wrong books.

Sure the violence is part of the story, it being about war and what not but there does come a point where its just gratuitous.  I think the same story could be told with a little less rape, probably not without any rape but with a little less.  I'm sticking with it for now but IMHO, GRRM goes a bit too far and with a bit too much detail.  Which is pretty much the flaw through out GRRMs work.  See the previous discussion regarding lists. 

All that is only opinion mind you. 

[David E.]

"I could do with a bit less rape" reminds me of a conversation I had with a Mormon friend who said something to the effect "I've never seen a movie where I thought what's missing is more swear words" as an argument that cursing ruins movies.

The violence is part of the story.  If you need your reading material to be G-rated, you're reading the wrong books.

Sure the violence is part of the story, it being about war and what not but there does come a point where its just gratuitous.  I think the same story could be told with a little less rape, probably not without any rape but with a little less.  I'm sticking with it for now but IMHO, GRRM goes a bit too far and with a bit too much detail.  Which is pretty much the flaw through out GRRMs work.  See the previous discussion regarding lists. 

All that is only opinion mind you.

The more I read in this thread the better I feel about giving up the series at book 3.

[pandamonium]

"I could do with a bit less rape" reminds me of a conversation I had with a Mormon friend who said something to the effect "I've never seen a movie where I thought what's missing is more swear words" as an argument that cursing ruins movies.

The violence is part of the story.  If you need your reading material to be G-rated, you're reading the wrong books.

I don't need g-rated material, or less violence, far from it. but like ah.hell said, it feels gratuitous at times. and I'm generally uncomfortable reading or watching rape scenes.

fun fact: rape was not recognized by my kindle spell checker.

[Strudel]

Back in sixth grade my sister was asked to write "they wrapped the mummy repeatedly" on the chalk board, guess how that played out.

[Guillermo]

Just finished the first book. Just finished the first season. I love it. Great writing from GRRM. I love the changing POV.

As far as comparing the TV series and the Novel. Well, the TV series is an exceptional adaptation. I can understand if somebody likes it more than the book, and I can also understand it if the person likes the book more. It really depends on what type of person you are.

[pandamonium]

My roommates are watching the series and I happen upon the episodes randomly--I like guessing where they are in the story arc. There's some stuff that I don't remember from the books, but nothing too crazy. I think the casting is excellent. The actress who plays Cersei I first saw as a lesbian in "Imagine You & Me" though, so I can't help associating her two roles. It's amusing--the two characters are very different, what with Cersei being nucking futs.

[stonesean]

Just finished the first book. Just finished the first season. I love it. Great writing from GRRM. I love the changing POV.

As far as comparing the TV series and the Novel. Well, the TV series is an exceptional adaptation. I can understand if somebody likes it more than the book, and I can also understand it if the person likes the book more. It really depends on what type of person you are.

You're in for a real treat soon.   The action/pacing/plot of books 2-3 are the real highlight of a series that has been excellent overall.

[Guillermo]

Just finished the first book. Just finished the first season. I love it. Great writing from GRRM. I love the changing POV.

As far as comparing the TV series and the Novel. Well, the TV series is an exceptional adaptation. I can understand if somebody likes it more than the book, and I can also understand it if the person likes the book more. It really depends on what type of person you are.

You're in for a real treat soon.   The action/pacing/plot of books 2-3 are the real highlight of a series that has been excellent overall.

Can't wait to read (Listen) them.

[Rai]

Watching the series got me thinking again...

Am I the only one rooting for the wildlings?

I mean, they raid and murder and stuff but everyone else is doing that so that shouldn't exclude them. They also live in the most civilised, egalitarian social system, have emancipated women and have been screwed out of their land by the Andals so they have more claim to Westeros than anyone else.

Also, they have Tormund, who is tied with Duck for the title of "most awesome supporting character".

[PANTS!]

Probably not.  I am pretty sure there are some characters in the novel who feel the way you do.