The Nature of Things

Now we come to the last in my series of reprises of my reviews of the books in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It's the last of my reviews and also the last in the series - so far. We've waited four years and counting for the sixth book in the series. Will it ever come? I'm not sanguine on the question.  Meanwhile, the television series, Game of Thrones , has already pushed beyond the events in this fifth book, so will there be any mysteries left for the sixth book to reveal to us? Only George knows, I guess.  ~~~ Saturday, January 14, 2012 A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5) by George R.R. Martin: A review George R.R. Martin is back on his game with this fifth volume in his A Song of Ice and Fire saga. He wastes no time in bringing us up to date on the charismatic characters, such as Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister, who were missing from the fourth book, a pale effort compared to the previous three.  This book follows those characters...

Continuing to reprise my reviews of the George R.R. Martin series A Song of Ice and Fire for "Throwback Thursday," we've now come to my least favorite book of the series. Number four, A Feast for Crows, just didn't have the oomph of the first three books . Although much of the action was drenched in blood, the author didn't seem to have his heart in the telling of it. It was merely a pallid shadow of what we had come to expect. At least that was my opinion. ~~~ Tuesday, January 3, 2012 A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) by George R.R. Martin: A review "A Lannister always pays his debts" is a refrain that we saw often repeated throughout the first three books of this series. But once Tyrion Lannister paid his debt owed to his father Lord Tywin near the end of A Storm of Swords , he disappeared and he did not reappear at all in volume four. That is unfortunate since he is easily the most interesting character created by George R.R. Martin in th...

For "Throwback Thursday," I'm continuing with the rerunning of my reviews of the books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, which I read beginning in December of 2011. This is number three in the series, A Storm of Swords . ~~~ Monday, December 26, 2011 A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3) by George R.R. Martin: A review This series just gets darker and darker. George R.R. Martin continues to show no compunction about killing off his characters. Of course, he's got about a million of them so there are plenty to spare! The clash of the kings continues in this volume. The five contenders for power in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros wage their wars across the face of the land and no one is safe or secure. Robb Stark still rules in the North and has not yet lost a battle. The execrable Joffrey Lannister still sits on the Iron Throne most recently occupied by his putative father, Robert Baratheon. Robert Baratheon's brother, Stannis, has ...

You say you missed all six seasons of Game of Thrones and you want to know what happened? Never fear. Samuel L. Jackson has got it covered.

HBO's superseries Game of Thrones  has now completely left behind the creator of Westeros and Essos. Television moves faster than that glacially slow writer George R.R. Martin and so the series writers are now creating their own scenarios and storylines, presumably in consultation with Martin. I mean he is still writing those books. Allegedly. He or his spokesperson has said that number six will be out before season six of the television series starts. Personally, I'll believe it when I hold it in my hands and read it. Of course, the series has always had some differences from the books. After all, television is different from literature. What can be explained in great and loving detail in a book has to be translated to a few seconds or a few minutes of action on the screen. Dramatic license applies here.  Some of the changes made by the series runners are not so easily explained away, however. That notorious rape scene between Jaime and Cersei last season springs immediately...

For all of us who are frankly obsessed with George R.R. Martin's convoluted fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire , one of the lines of the story that has fascinated us and been a source of much speculation has been the parentage of the character Jon Snow. He is supposedly the bastard son of Eddard Stark of Winterfell, but that just never seemed very likely. The uber ethical, moral, and loyal Ned Stark was never one to betray his vows, even under the most extreme provocation. What is the likelihood that he would have betrayed his marriage vows? So, after reading the fifth volume, A Dance with Dragons , I devised my own theory about Jon's parents. I thought I was being very clever and that I was probably the only one who had figured the whole thing out. Turns out I was only one of thousands. Maybe millions. And now that so many of us have worked out the "answer" to this puzzle, I think we can pretty well count on Martin to make sure it is wrong. Because that's just...

Ah, you've been so good this week, you deserve a treat. How about a mashup of a popular song and a popular TV show? It's really pretty much on point. I'm sure you remember the song from the movie "Frozen" that won the Oscar for best original song in a movie from 2013. That's right - "Let it go." And even if you don't watch it on HBO or read George R.R. Martin's books, you are probably at least aware of "Game of Thrones." So, how about we put them together and come up with a new winner? WARNING  - If you haven't watched season four through the third episode or if you haven't read The Song of Ice and Fire through book three: There be spoilers here!

HBO's blockbuster series Game of Thrones has spawned a lot of take-offs - and rip-offs - but I have to say this is the best one yet! Okay, all those other folks out there planning their GOT intros using kittens or puppies or duckies or whatever can just quit now. I don't think this can be topped. In the game of animal parodies of Game of Thrones, the House of Goats is the clear winner. And it was all done without nudity or incest and not a drop of blood shed!

Ever since the latest episode in the HBO series Game of Thrones , "The Rains of Castamere," aired Sunday night, the internet has exploded with fans' reactions, mostly with the shock, outrage, and grief of those who had not bothered to read the books. And all I can say to that is, why haven't you bothered to read the books? Personally, I had not read the books either until I watched the first season of the show. In fact, I confess, hard as it may be to believe, I did not know who George R.R. Martin was! But after watching that first season, I certainly was not going to wait until the next season to find out what happened next. My husband enabled my new addiction by purchasing a boxed set of the first four books. While I was plowing through the thousands of pages of those books, the fifth one came out, and I bought it. I finished reading them all before the second season started. So, I knew what was coming this season. Even having read the books and knowing the plot, t...

Apparently, girls are not supposed to like Game of Thrones , but don't tell my daughters - or me. I love Game of Thrones . Loved the books. Wish George R.R. Martin would get on with pushing that sixth one out. Love the HBO series. Plan my Sunday nights around it, in fact. It's the series that it is being assumed by some writers that girls don't like. There's all that gross stuff - incest, torture, dirt, guys getting hands or nipples or balls cut off. All those naked women - although they've tried to balance it with a few naked men this season. At least their butts. Unlike with the women, we don't get full frontal nudity. Plus, it's a complicated story that diverges in about seven different directions - just too much for our simple little girly brains, I guess. But the fact is that I and many other women and girls agree with Alyssa Rosenberg of Slate.com that it is "one of the most outrageously enjoyable shows on television right now." And a big pa...

HBO's blockbuster series Game of Thrones starts its third season Sunday night. You say you'd like to watch it but you missed the first two seasons? Never fear! If you've got nine minutes to spend, this video will catch you right up and you'll be all set to go on Sunday! Got all that? Of course, you do! Enjoy season three.

Okay, the second season of Game of Thrones on HBO is over, freeing up an hour of my time on Sunday nights to do...something else. At least until another HBO show comes along to claim my attention. It won't be True Blood which takes the time slot next Sunday. Not my cup of blood - er, tea. I had wondered how the writers were going to manage to squeeze all of the remaining action of the book into one episode and the answer was, they didn't. This season the writers and directors made significant changes to the stories of many of the characters . Moreover, some characters and several of the events of the book were dropped altogether. I suppose at least some of that was necessary to fit the time frames allowed by ten one-hour episodes. Which brings up another point. The books they are dramatizing are very, very long, and I really would like to see them expand the seasons a bit more, maybe to twelve episodes, so that there is a bit more time to spend on each character's story....

Yes, I admit it. I am addicted. I'm not quite sure how it happened. I didn't intend it to happen. I only did it really to placate my daughter who insisted that I should. I didn't know what I was getting into. I had never even heard of George R. R. Martin before I started seeing ads for the HBO series based on his fantasy series of books about the continent of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms. But I watched the first episode of " Game of Thrones " when it started on HBO back in April, and now I am hooked. And how do I know that I am hooked? Because I am suffering withdrawal. The last show of the season aired on June 19 and yesterday at the time that the show would normally have been on, "True Blood" started its season. No more "Game of Thrones" until next spring. At 8:00 P.M. last night, I started suffering severe depression. How will I ever survive without my weekly fix? Admittedly, GOT does not fit the profile of my usual choice f...