Jump to content

A Game of Thrones Pilot Greenlit


asebastian0

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...
I've often wondered if that's where the name came from. I'm a big fan of the books myself so this is exciting news and even more so with the news that it's HBO.

The little guy is one of my favorite characters. I have a copy of an exerpt from the next book with his perspective but I've tried to resist reading it hoping the book will be released while I am still one of the living.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still haven't read the last book yet. I have it but I wanted to go back and reread the others to refresh my memory of them. Unfortunately my reading time has been very limited of late so it's taking me forever to get through anything.

I haven't read the last book either. I was kind of planning on waiting for the next book, so I could read them back to back, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on any POVs.

Another reason to love Malazan, Erikson knows how to release books. Seems like right when I'm finishing one, bam, the next one is published in HC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never read any Erikson, I must give him a try.

You might enjoy it. Not sure what your poison is when it comes to fantasy, but Malazan is definitely what I call "fat fantasy" (meaning epic fantasy spanning many volumes), with a militaristic bent, heavy on the magic. The complaint most often levied against him is his books are dense and complicated. He is a hell of a world-builder, but it can be hard to keep up with all the characters, races, nations, and types of magic.

Best advice is to start with the first one (Gardens of the Moon) and just read on from there. GotM is wonderful, but the series really starts to cook with the next two, Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice. Those two are primo fantasies, real classics of the post-Tolkien genre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Malazan is definitely what I define all-encompassing. You have this insane and detailed and mostly consistently mythos as only a hardcore anthropologist could craft. The only thing you are missing out is the whack wait time on RR Martin. The hot twincest. And yeah the characters are for the most part caricatures and not nearly as fleshed out or developed as RR Martin's work (But that is because there is 5 billion of them and most of them awesome).

I'm a big fan. If you like something that's a little bit lighter on the fantasy then check out KJ Parker he's my other big fantasy guy along with Erikson. Start with the fencer trilogy, then the memory(? I forget exactly what its called) trilogy then the engineering trilogy. His latest stand alone book isnt as stellar his trilogies but still pretty awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Malazan was on and off for me, some books were rubbish and some were quite good. I did like the beginning of book 4 and pretty much all of book 5, book 2 had its momens as well, but 1 and 3 were pretty much "disposable."

Erikson has no idea how to create a realistic character and uses archetypes instead, which is fine. Better than trying to create characters when you have no idea what you're doing and Jordaning it all up. He also has a pretty vivid visual imagination, and is a good storyteller despite being less than stellar as a writer. The density of the backstory I see as more of an anthropological curiosity... I'm not annoyed with it since it's interesting at least some of the time, but there certainly is a lot that could be cut out without any sacrifice in quality. He really does need a good editor.

The biggest plus though, and what keeps me reading, is his sense of humor. It's sporadic, and you don't see it all the time, but it's magical when it happens. Absolutely surreal absurdist humour that combines elegance, wit, and Monty-Python-esque insanity. Brilliant. Minus the fat fetish, but he's gotten over that (I think).

What turns me off, at the same time, is that he got into a "grandness" race with himself. Every book has to be more climactic, every ending has to be bigger, more tense, more surprising, and more densely plotted than what came before. That is a trap, and when an author gets into it, he tends to snowball and end up in firmly ridiculous territory just trying to outdo himself. Granted, so far he seems to *just* be steering clear of these waters, but signs of possible doom are everywhere.

I'd rate the series as "not bad." Several levels below Martin, though, at least if you only consider the first three books of Martin's series. 4 was decidedly mediocre and I don't think anything better is to come.

Try Greg Bear's "Songs of Earth and Power" for a very different take on fantasy. Not a series, but a good novel in two parts.

Oh, and the HBO rendition of Martin... I'll wait until I see it. I don't bother watching series usually since I rarely have the time. But it would be nice it if worked out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Preview looked good...I'm setting my DVR to record the series.

Really stupid question but I'm fucking serious about this: Are there really swords that are sharp enough to cut a head in one clean sweep? I mean I've always seen this shit on TV and movies but I've obviously never seen a beheading so I'm curious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Preview looked good...I'm setting my DVR to record the series.

Really stupid question but I'm fucking serious about this: Are there really swords that are sharp enough to cut a head in one clean sweep? I mean I've always seen this shit on TV and movies but I've obviously never seen a beheading so I'm curious.

Yes, it's possible with skill. However, more often than not, more than 1 swing was necessary. The same is true with an axe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it's certainly possible to behead someone with one swing - but as falkon mentions skill and type of sword (or axe for that matter) certainly play a part in that.

Really wishing I had HBO right now for this series. Oh well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.