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Rania
User ID: 1711124
Aug 2nd 0:57 AM
When will the book be considered as officially released? I guess when the first person on this board receives it from Amazon? or ifthey are lucky enough to live in England goes and buys it from the nearest bookstore?
Arend
User ID: 2449714
Aug 2nd 8:22 PM
There was an item in the news section of this weeks Science Fiction Weekly (www.scifi.com/sfw/) on GRRM. Nothing much new, vaguely spoilerific for those sensitive to these things, but GRRM said he is planning to start on DoD within the month! Also that there has been no interest so far in bringing the series to any kind of screen.
Lannister
User ID: 0136334
Aug 3rd 3:25 PM
I think that AGoT was better than ACoK, but then again I don't think anything is as good as AGoT. Probably an unfair comparison...
Rania
User ID: 9043333
Aug 3rd 3:40 PM
Lannister,
Why do you think so? AGOT was a lot pleasanter and much less grim than ACOK, but I dont think that it was better.
Ants
User ID: 2240694
Aug 3rd 7:22 PM
I'm with Rania here.
Keelyn
User ID: 0889114
Aug 3rd 7:27 PM
I think AGOT is better than ACOK too, but I don't know why???
Lannister
User ID: 0770504
Aug 3rd 7:37 PM
Well, good question, Rania. One thing I really liked was that there were three really great dramatic scenes in AGoT. Ned meeting Cersei in the Godswood, Varys speaking with Ned in his cell and Ned's execution from the eyes of Arya. Each of those scenes were so fabulously done that it seemed hard to top. Ned as the tragic hero was also done in classic Shakespearen-style which I loved. Ned's tragic flaw being his unbending belief in honor. Only when Ned made the decision to lie (and thus break his honor) in order to save the life of his children did he suffer the consequences. It was very ironic, very dramatic. Those three scenes were mind-blowers to me. I kept thinking "they can't kill Ned, no, even Joffrey knows they can't do that. Oh my God, he's doing it. Right in front of Sansa." I was totally stunned after Ned's execution and that's when it hit me. No one is safe in these books, anything can happen. I can't predict the storyline and the good guys may not even win. That was friggin powerful writing.
Now, that's not to say A Clash of Kings didn't have it's share of moments. The scene in the cell with Catelyn in Jaime was unreal. I read the chapter over twice before continuing with the book. It was eerie and disturbing and the cliffhanger was painful. Yes, GRRM, if you're reading this, you got me. I thought you'd killed Bran and Rickon. I remember putting the book down when I thought Theon had killed Bran and Rickon. I stared at the ceiling in disbelief. I really liked Bran and thought his character was really going places. I'm not ashamed to say it, I was honestly, really depressed about it. Over a character in a book! I was totally despondent. There was this little niggling doubt in my mind that pushed me to keep reading. The deaths of Ser Rodrick and Maester Luwin were very sad. I'll never forgive Theon for what he did, I don't care what sort of spin GRRM puts on it. Theon's on my permanent character "sh#t list."
Even though ACoK had more shocks and plot twists I think that AGoT had the most amzingly well-thought out, dramatic scenes.
Rania
User ID: 1891784
Aug 3rd 10:29 PM
Lannister,
While the scenes you describe from AGOT are terrific, they were not the reasons that I loved AGOT. I loved it for its unblinking description of reality... and ACOK takes us even further down that road and away from the climactic scenes of the nobles and towards the day to day life of ordinary citizens living in a civil war.
The blinkers are being slowly lifted and the ugliness of life in a civil war is being revealed, even to Sansa and that takes a lot of doing.
Jim
User ID: 9077913
Aug 3rd 11:30 PM
I hope to god that GRRM never sells the TV or movie rights to ASoIAF. Even one book is far too complicated to translate well into a movie. ASoIAF would never work on screen. It would just be ruined. But, then again it would give us something to complain about on this board.
Jaeger
User ID: 8430353
Aug 4th 0:13 AM
It'ld be a retched movie, but if he could garuntee 6 years(a year for each book) of hour long TV series the product might translate well. Though, the narative style wouldn't translate well...
Rania
User ID: 1891784
Aug 4th 1:08 AM
It would so cleaned up and politically correct that you would never recognize the characters or the plot.
Jim
User ID: 9077913
Aug 4th 2:08 AM
Think of the costs involved in doing a 6-year hour long tv series. It'd either go bankrupt in a year or be a cheap piece of crap. Rania's right also, it'd be cleaned up unless HBO or Showtime picked it up and they'd probably make it raunchy "Real Sex 44: King Robert' Bedroom" or "Cersei's Red Shoe Diaries."
Jeff
User ID: 1536664
Aug 4th 8:09 AM
Can't put these books in a movie or TV without losing something I wouldn't want to see lost.
The first time I read ACOK, I thought it wasn't as good as AGOT. Upon rereading, I think they're about equal. I think AGOT had a few more stellar moments, while ACOK had more depth.
I also wonder if my initial preference for AGOT was that it ended on a more uplifting note than ACOK. The birth of Danys' dragons and Robb's proclamation as King of the North had the "good guys" on top. But in ACOK, Winterfell has been destroyed, the Greyjoys have betrayed the Starks, the Lannisters are triumphant, and it appears that Robb is going to be betrayed by Roose Bolton as well. Kind of a downer that might explain the reactions of some.
Lodengarl
User ID: 0798784
Aug 4th 8:49 AM
Good points Jeff...Lannister, the scene from AGoT that stands out for me is early on, when Bran gets heaved fromt he window; that is when I knew GRRM was not messing around. That scene had me blown away and cautious reading forward. I initially thought AGoT was better than ACoK, but after reading ACoK again, it seems to me they are equal...Arya's transformance and spotlight was awesome in ACoK and Tyrion's spotlight as the Hand was also amazing...as was the whole Theon/BoB, destruction of Winterfell.
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