Wednesday, April 20, 2011

HBO's Game of Thrones - TV Review


Once I heard this series had been greenlit, I decided to read the George R.R. Martin books. I knew it was based on a series that wasn't complete, but that's never stopped me before (curse you, Robert Jordan! and bless you, Brandon Sanderson!)

I burned through the four books in about three months. It's a rich, deep, dark fantasy world where good guys can lose and bad guys can change, and the magic is perpheral to the court politics. I've only seen the first episode, but it's lived up to my expectations about as well as a TV show possibly could.

Great casting for the most part. Sean Bean as the solemn Eddard Stark, Mark Addy as the drunken king Robert, Peter Dinklage as the sardonic Tyrion, Emilia Clarke as the fragile (for now) Daenerys, all are about how I pictured the characters as I read. Now quite sold on Lena Headey as Cersei yet, but we'll see. Can't wait for Episode 2.

2 comments:

Family Blog said...

I've tried to read the series twice, and set it down both times. Once I read what happened in Wiki, I knew it wasn't my kind of series. Don't even get attached to anyone. They all die--terrible deaths. And even bad guys who become too sympathetic are doomed. But my sons are rabid fans of the series and are so excited for this.

John said...

Series isn't over yet, but yeah, a lot of good guys die, and a bad guy or two becomes redeemable. No one tortures his characters like George RR Martin, but I'm hooked so far and hope the series doesn't end with the rest of the good guys dying. :)