I'll give you credit, DBJ. You're a smart guy and deserve it. I haven't been watching the series, mainly because the shockers will be lost on me. And risking a spoiler alert myself, I don't know why they would be following a couple of young orphans this closely if they weren't important to the plot.
So, I've got two non-spoiler questions (or they are at least generic enough that they are very mild spoiler questions) for the book readers or people who follow GRRM. First, from what I read on wikipedia, it took GRRM 5 years to write book 5. If there are 7 planned books, how are they going to keep the series going while waiting for GRRM to finish? Second (and this is another reason I didn't read the books), I saw on amazon that books 4 and 5 are not as favorably reviewed as 1-3. Are we heading for a disappointment for the next few seasons (or are the reasons why they aren't well reviewed, things that are easily fixable in a TV adaptation)?
As long a GRRM can get a book out every 2-3 years or so we should be fine, hes made some progress on winds of winter but we still have no idea when it will be actually out. IF the show does catch up to the books I bet some part of the contract says that writers can adopt an ending to the series based on GRRMs notes.
Books 1-3 were definitely better than the 4th book. The 5th book was ok. But I can see how they can adapt and make it more interesting in the shows.
Anything after book 3 would have been rated lower, due to the sheer number of Holy Shit moments in book 3. He couldn't keep that pace up and needed to do more plot building. I think the main reasons for the disappointment in books 4 and 5 was the format. His reasoning was that when he was writing book 4, it got so big that he decided to split it in two. But he did it in an unorthodox manner. Both books follow the same timeline, with book 3 following one set of characters, and book 4 following the remaining characters. The characters in book 4 IMO were largely less compelling than the following book. And in the afterword, GRRM said that book 5 was mostly written, and should come out the following year. 5 years later, it was published, and while it was good, it contained mostly plot devices and not a lot of Holy Shit moments. Anyway, I think he spent much of that five years working on selling and seeing up the HBO series and sitting on book 5 to give himself some time, and maybe even working on book 6, which he is probably sitting on right now. I think that 4 and 5 will probably end up being combined, and split into at least two seasons, if not three. GRRM made his name in television, and I think he had been planning on adapting these books the moment he put pen to paper, which is why it translates so well. Hopefully that answers both of your questions.
I believe GRRM told the writers for GOT how the books are supposed to end, so supposedly they will be able to finish the series if he dies (not sure what happens if they catch up to him). Just my not so humble opinion, but I don't think there is ANY way that GRRM wraps this series up in 2 more books. Without any spoilers, nothing really happened in books 4 and 5 and too much remains to happen for the series to end (and I have no idea how it will end). On a different note, I think this season has been the worst so far. GRRM said that when he made this book, he wanted to include so many characters, you wouldn't be able to make a show/movie. I do not think the books are translating well to the screen. Most of the big moments from book 3 (Mormont dying, Arya almost getting back to family, Jon Snow's entire plotline) mean almost nothing to me watching the show. I personally think the next few seasons of TV are going to be very difficult for them to pull off. Again, no spoilers, but Arya only has a few chapters in the remaining books...how are they going to keep her relevant to the story? How are they going to make people care about her character? I think I've rambled on enough. Basically, I think the show will catch up to GRRM, and they will just keep going because HBO doesn't particularly care to wait for him. I also think GRRM will not finish the series in 7 books (and not in a mean way, will probably die before he finishes the series).
I don't believe the writers know the ending but they have definitely been clued in to certain events. This is evident in the killing of Talisa (aka Jeyne Westerling) at the Red Wedding in GOT and her still being alive in ASOIAF. Or how Gendry is now taking the place of Edric Storm. I also agree, I don't think there's anyway he can finish the series in 2 books with the format in which he writes. With the immense attention to detail, all the back/side stories, his overall desrciptive manner, detailing historic events, innerworkings of politics, detailing political and military strategies. This is just to name a few, he can fill up an entire page with just the single "thought" of one character. In the books GRRM builds a relationship between you and the characters that leaves you with a sense of empathy and understanding that makes you see things through their eyes. Which inturn immerses you further in the story. So when they show these scenes on HBO like Mormont dying and Arya at the twins it's certainly anticlimactic. They could fix this issue but the only way to do so would be to make either A) 20 episodes per season or B) make each episode 2 hours long. I hope now with the growing popularity of the GOT series HBO will at least add about 5 more episodes per season. While this won't fix the problem it sure would help a great deal. Even if they had to do it where they aired one season in two parts a few months apart, like they've done on The Walking Dead. As for DBJ's question about books 4 and 5. I, among other people found book 4 AFFC a bit.. duller if you will. Not utterly lacking in substance like some will make you believe but after book 3 it was just hard for it to follow up without as much excitement. It's a lot of plot building and political schemes so I guess all the ADD type of people can't sit through it. On the other hand I found book 5 ADWD to be awesome, and it is filled with much more interesting charaters as someone has already alluded to.
I think he knows the ending, he just doesn't know what happens in between (hence he is still writing the books). As far as AFFC and ADWD: I liked AFFC, although it didn't add much to the story except more POV (point of views). I HATED ADWD. Yes it was everyone's favorite characters, but they accomplished very little and weren't that interesting. Just my opinion. Not sure if I'll be able to (I think I will since I did it with Wheel of Time), but I don't plan on reading anymore of these books until he finishes the series and thanks to Mr. Martin, I won't read anything that is an incomplete series. I only hear good things about The Name of the Wind, but I'm not reading until it is finished!
Good call. I've read it, it was a fantastic two books. But being stuck between waiting for this as well as ASOIAF? Blurgh. At least WoT finished finally.
Haha, I don't want to get too sidetracked, but I stopped reading WoT in college (either book 7 or 8) and I waited very patiently for the last one to come out, re-read all the books together and they were enjoyable. Jordan really went down some horrible side plots (cough cough GRRM cough) but for the most part, the story was excellent. I am looking forward to the GOT finale. See where they end everyone's story for the season.
lol ive been reading dance with dragons since it came out. Still like half way through that book reading at a snails pace
Saw George RR Martin on Conan last night...He said he writing alot nowadays. Next book will be 1500 pages. He knows in broadscope how it all ends...Just building the road to it. So if anything, if he dies he will leave it behind for the tv writers. However he pointed he is writing now because the show is catching up fast and that is getting his fat ass motivated [youtube]GR36slEw7aU[/youtube]
Jorah Mormont or Samwell Tarly lands on the iron throne in the end. I think GRRM wrote Samwell as himself.
For those that have read the books: Someone had mentioned that the 3rd book is split into 2 seasons 3 and 4. Is this confirmed? From what I have seen so far and read, it almost seems like this season covers almost 3/4 of the 3rd book. Some major things were either changed or completely omitted thus far, so not sure how they are planning to make a 4th season with 1/4 of the 3rd book. Anyone with insight? Is my book missing pages? lol
There's still a lot that happens for the rest of book three. Plenty for an entire season of the show.
