Winter is Coming: Opinions on (A) Game of Thrones

When my roommate put a gun to my head and forced my watch HBO's Game of Thrones, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't read the books. Why read a book when you've already committed the worst crime possible against said book by seeing the film adaptation first? By insisting that I would never hold in my hand a copy of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books, I felt that I was excusing myself from any blame.

And after ten plus hours of lying on our stomachs staring at a laptop screen on the longtime un-vacuumed carpet in our South Oakland living room, I fell in love with the show. But I stuck with my convictions: I loved the TV series, but I felt a strong responsibility to never read any of the books.

Fast forward several months and the rest of Season 2 and I've added Game of Thrones to my favorite TV show list on Facebook. And then the roommate whose fault it is that I even gave this show a chance comes to visit Jake and me in Boston and finishes reading the first installment of the series while here. Something came over me and I borrowed it from her. The horror!

And then I read it.

I think it's fair to say I wouldn't have picked it up organically in a bookstore. It's fantasy through and through, thus not my usual taste. Though, I have been adapting to the genre a little. It's arguably "high" fantasy, but I'm dealing with it by focusing on its historical and literary borrowings. For example, it has a lot of hints of Arthur, the War of the Roses, and Lord of the Rings. All of those things I am able to stomach.      

                 

That being said, the book was long, but I found that the HBO series was near faultless in its rendering of the first novel. The various points of view translated very well to screen. That impressed me. Otherwise, I felt only a small urgency to continue with the series (in terms of reading, not watching). I did buy the next book in the series, A Clash of Kings, from Target. I fear I won't get to it until December (winter is coming...).

All in all, I would suggest the series if you are a) really into fantasy, b) really into British history and literature, or c) if you really need to know what is going to happen next. When it comes down to it, I certainly plan to read the rest of the series within the next 365 days. I'm glad I picked up the book, but for a gal like me, it seems that this is the one instance in which the television series seems to have given the book its necessary justice.