Oberyn Martell vs Gregor Clegane
 

Well, that fight certainly made a splash.

It was a real eye opener.

It was mind blowing.

Impressive.

Deviating from the puns, I finished the third book a few months ago and it still took me by surprise, it's an excellent adaptation.

I stopped reading them after the third book in 2000. I figured Martin would die before he finished the series. He hasn't died yet but he has a long way to go and he's morbidly obese. Fingers crossed.

The TV series is awesome. After 14 years, it is almost all new to me.

So this isn't an MMA thing?

Nope... Game of Thrones

And I agree. Adapted well from book. Can't say that about all of the series, but I understand having to make things flow in a TV series.

Nah I think he's got enough in him to finish the series, unhealthier people have lived longer, he's only 65 and still pretty sharp with what he pays attention to.

Even if he does drop dead tomorrow the TV show will finish out and I think it will end on good terms. Although I do think it will outpace the 7th book.

Gotta get back to reading the 4th one, I haven't heard great things though, mostly that it needed a harsh editor and by all counts the 3rd is the peak, the next two episodes should be good.
:popcorn:

4th and 5th books are trash.

Meh, I bet I've read worse because I got hooked on the characters early on.

And yes, I know the 4th book focuses on a bunch of new characters that many dismiss as pointless and omit fan favorites.

Again from what I've heard, there's good in #4 & #5, it's just buried under a pile of meandering storylines that are ultimately unimportant and it can really be pared down to one book. If you've got something more interesting to say than 'it's trash' I'd like to hear it. Spoiler free of course.

Meandering unimportant storylines that leave the plot stagnant are why 4 & 5 are two crappy books instead of one good book, that's about all there is to it. A few big/cool things do happen across the two books, sure, but wasting your time between them with stuff that does not move the plot at all? I want my time back.

Omit the shit, quit killing ALL the characters, and get back to focusing on a core of interesting characters that you occasionally kill.

Like I said, I'll wait until the series is done. :)

Wait to read the books or watch the shows?

Wait to read the books. Nothing I hate more than starting a series, learning to love it, and then never seeing the ending. The War Against the Chtorr series will forever mark my soul. The next book in the series is set to be done in 2011, at least according to the FAQ.

Definitely an episode full of heartbreak... I felt so bad for The Hound. Poor dude can't seem to catch a break. And Jorah...damn.

The major problem with book #4 and #5 is that they occur over roughly the same timeline, but they each visit different characters, and #4 has 1/2 the characters, and #5 have the other half. They should have been 1 super book, but obviously it was too big to publish.

The other problem is that the scope and timeframe of book #4 and 5 are so huge that you can't really grasp how everything fits together, and Martin doesn't really use a calendar, and the lack of pivotal events and information travel throughout the land and character make understanding their present location difficult.

I'm sure there are times where certain characters were supposed to come within earshot of the other (to create suspense and interest) but since you read that so and so was at location a in chapter 2 of book 4 and this other person was AT THE EXACT SAME LOCATION 1/2 day earlier, but you read about it in chapter 95 of book 5, you didn't make the connection... Martin is typing away at book #6 laughing maniacally at his own cleverness and the anticipated praise, but everyone is aloof because of the above problems.

Too many characters, too much time (literally between books, and in the story), too much detail, too much geography, and too few significant events that effect all story lines, for the reader to create a mental picture of the situations.

Don't get my wrong, I love this story. But I love like 6 out of 1,000 characters, and 1/30 chapters are really good. I've read other epic fantasies, (Sword of Truth, LoTR, part of Dark Tower, if the last can be included) all of those had more pages, and possibly larger physical worlds, but I felt less lost. Sword of Truth might have also had more characters, and was also certainly more complicated, but was just better written.

Andy Greenwald over at Grantland has done some really good recaps of the TV show (and he never read the books). For example:

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...-the-red-keep/

The weekly "Ask the Maester" at Grantland is pretty good, too:

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...-combat-jorah/

And here's Tyrion with a mullet:

http://i.imgur.com/IU0AZOp.jpg