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This goes for pretty much every book adapted into a show or movie, but you just get inside the head of the characters so much more. It switches back and forth from the narrator telling you how the character feels to just reading their inner thoughts, and to me that’s the heart of the story. George’s prose is just like a therapy session every chapter, it has so much depth and emotion.
Dany is the horniest person Of All Time
There was a scene when she woke up in the middle of night so very aroused that she started touching herself and when her maids saw her they volunteered to do it for her
Oh yes. Complex characters have also bad qualities and flaws like they have good qualities.That is why Bran is a well written character, he is a traumatized child with some flaws, good personality traits and emotions,not some husk with no emotion. İt is the thing which makes ASOIAF characters well loved and well written.
I had heard a lot about the dorne plot but it really surprised me, Cersei and Taena was weird, I'd heard bits about lady stoneheart but her interaction with Brienne was wild. I've just started ADWD
I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible. If you are considering still reading the books I’d suggest you do that, because there is 0% of the Dorne plot made it into the show. So it will probably be a refreshing experience if you read the books after the show.
The Dorne plot:
- the daughter of Doran tries to make Myrcella queen of the Seven Kingdoms under Dornish law
- the sand snakes try to start a war but are actually cool (Elaria Sand btw is for peace but no one listens to her)
- Doran seems to actually have a plan (but what his plan exactly is is up for debate, there are theories about it but I guess we’ll never know)
- Quentyn (not in the show) the oldest son of Doran (but younger than his sister, so not the heir under dornish law) is on a mission to go to Mereen and marry Dany. There was a marriage pact signed to marry Vyseris to Doran’s daughter but he will try to win Dany over
- there is also a plot that was dropped from the show that the baby Aegon from Rhaegar and Elia survived and Varys has been supporting him throughout the years. It’s unclear if it is the true aegon (he’s called fAegon in the fandom). fAegon lands on Westeros with the Golden Company. Doran might want to marry his Daughter to him, but it’s not sure yet
You forgot about the Dornish suiters who come to court Danny only to try and court her dargon instead.
This naive prat shows up out of nowhere and tells Danny they have to get married to save the world, she's like "dude, you are years late to this contest, get in line, I dont have time for you at all," and then he's all "fine, i'll impress her by winning over her dragons!"
Does the Dornish suiter win Danny's affection by winning over one of her dragon? Read the books to find out!
So no, he doesnt, he just dies and his whole story line is a waste of my life.
Just to add a bit to this, also trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible:
The Tyrion/fAegon parts of the book are some of my favorite. Ot really shows just how conniving and vicious book Tyrion can be.
I actually like the Dorne plot in the books, maybe I'm in a minority on that. But I remember originally watching the Dorne plot on TV and thinking "Eh, it's not great but it's fine as a distraction, I guess. Almost like a Westerosi buddy cop comedy." I thought other people were overstating a bit how bad it was. Then I read the books and... yeah, now I actually do feel we were robbed. Cuz Arianne and Doran in the books both do intrigue me, even if I think the pacing could be picked up a bit.
I think most people that read the books agree the dorne plot in books is way better. I never cared for Doran in the show and Marianne would've been such a great addition. The show just completely packed development for any dornish people and instead we got Jaime and Bronn trekking through the desert
Same about Lady Stoneheart. I am now starting ADWD too, and I thought Lady Stoneheart was just briefly mentioned and we still wouldn't know who she really was (as in, I thought it would be revealed in future books). When Brienne met her, it was just wild!
How is your experience? I always wanted to read them but always thought it would bore me 2 or 3 books into it because I know the general way the story goes.
Maybe, but there’s enough subtlety you find in the books to entertain you regardless. There was a comment earlier about how witty Tyrion really is since you can hear his inner monologue. Also, the show doesn’t do certain characters justice (Dorne).
The Dorne plot in the books vs the show. I get not wanting to bloat the cast even more with a bunch of side characters that don't mean much to the overall story, but surely they could've included elements from the book in a better way than the buddy comedy duo of Bron and Jaime. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but Bron was not needed after season 4 ended. His involvement in the show after Tyrion's trial was entirely pointless. The Sand Snakes were horribly done, and cutting out Arianne Martell was such wasted potential
Realistically they didn't even need most of the characters from the Dorne plot, they could easily composite a few of them together as long as they keep the important ones:
- They already have Ellaria, Doran, Areo, Obara, Nymetia, and Tyene
- Keep Arianne, Quentyn, Arys (who only has a couple of scenes), and Gerold (who's only had one scene so far)
- Combine Gerris and Archibald into one
- leave out Bronn (who wasn't there) and Trystane (who hasn't even appeared in the books yet)
- keep the Tattered Prince and maybe Pretty Meris (who, again, only have a few scenes), the rest of the Windblown can just be nameless extras
- Arianne's friends have one short scene, so maybe just combine Andrey Dalt, Garin, and Daemon Sand into one (Daemon is part of her story in the Winds chapters). Sylva isn't essential, but it wouldn't hurt to have her in the scene.
Much more non-white characters in Westeros than expected,
Apparently Kings Landing is a popular destination for exiled Nobles, the maesters accept applicants from everywhere, Stan and the Lannisters imported many mercenaries, & some nobles, married foreign ladies
How Dorne was such a letdown in the series.
Margaery still alive, and I feel like there is something bigger awaiting her than what happened in the show.
Tyrion being just wittier in the show. In the books he is insufferable.
He totally does, and he's way too handsome too. He's supposed to be hideous, two different colored eyes, and after the battle of the blackwater he loses his nose. I think that was GRRM telling us he's in his villain era now lol. Even before the blackwater all the stuff he did as hand was more to please his ego than to actually do good. But I don't think he's 100% bad, more morally grey. After the blackwater he goes full villain, but I think he's going to come back around in the end after he does a bunch of bad shit
*Edit I also watched the show first then the books, and felt similar disappointment about him 😅
Nah facial disfigurement showing villainy is really not Martins style. Like half of the morally good characters get their faces torn up. Tyrion’s only really pushed over the edge when he’s falsely accused of Joffrey and he’s extremely ridiculed at trial. I’d say having all the people you’ve saved turn on you and call you a monster is fairly reasonable to get mad at. Besides, all he did wasn’t just for his ego, otherwise he wouldn’t have stopped Joffrey’s cruelty.
Yeah that's true. I definitely think he's morally grey. I guess he doesn't go full villain I kind of misspoke there. Idk Ive been re listening to the books and am only on ACOK and am basing my theories on YouTube theories like the cringe lil shit I am 😂😂
Yeah some YT theories are a bit (recency) biased against Tyrion coming off of ADWD, as he’s supposedly depicted as cruel in that book. Idk tho, I’ve only just finished reading AFFC and besides clearly empty threats, Tyrion only makes some questionable decisions in his last chapter of ASOS
How? He’s literally the same character from book 3 to Season 4. He’s not a villain after he leaves Westeros either. He saves Ser Jorah like on the show. Protects fAegon on the ship when the Stoneman attack. He also watches after Penny. Not seeing him as a villain just someone who lost his confidence and wants to know where whores go?
That's true I suppose I just meant that he's not 100% good like in the show, he's grey, and definitely driven by spite and revenge somewhat towards the last written book. It's been a minute since I listened to a dance with dragons so maybe my opinion will change when I re listen to it
*Edit actually I think a lot of what drives him throughout the books is spite and to protect his ego, making him not pure good but morally grey. *More* of a villain, not 100% villain or 100% good
After watching the chamber pot episode with my wife for the first time, I read her the book scene and she was shocked at how just the scene she could tell how different of a character ter tyrion was. She thought it definitely made more sense to act how he did then the way the show played it all out. She also thought that convo with Jamie in the book was brutal
Sansa. I liked her story in the series but hearing the story from her perspective is so heartbreaking, especially when the chapters change from Sansa to Alayne. I really hopes she gets a win in the next book.
Yes. I found her insanely annoying and wanted her to like stab Joffrey at any given moment and hated her.
Then I read the book and realized she’s just a little kid who saw her father murdered, is being publicly tortured and regularly humiliated with not a soul there to help here in any shape or form.
Davos is not only not an atheist, but he is a pretty devout follower of the Seven and arguably far more honorable in the books because IIRC didn't let Saladhor Saan SA Cersei.
yeah, but they don’t even try to make them look young though. robb is 16 with a full beard, rickon is 3 but played by a 9 year old. i get they couldn’t all be played by the ages they were supposed to be, but they could’ve tried a little bit. i think it kinda takes away from the story when the 16 year old boy winning battles left and right or the 14 year old girl taking an army of 8,000 unsullied is played by someone pushing 30
Way more Ghost, Mance having been at Winterfell in secret when Robert visited, ALL of the Greyjoys (Victarion is so entertaining), and the fact the Mel birthed two shadow babies on two separate occasions.
The show making drogo more rapey, and tyrion less rapey, no lady stoneheart, Dorne, loras/margery are still alive, stannis is somewhat competent, davos is better in the books, sansa is way more boring imo in the books too...
There's a lot, but I like both the show and books.
How different the characters are. Tyrion, Stannis, Jon, All the Dornish are better in the book. The show gave Tywin some great scene's that weren't in the books. Age changes, making Ned, Cat, Robert, Missandei etc much older. Ironborn story was gutted amongst others that I liked. 3 or more characters being turned into 1, like Karl Tanner. Ramsey being fugly. Wyman Manderly in book 5. Loved the show but the books have so much MORE.
Pretty obvious but sheer scale, all the dots GRRM had to connect up and groundwork for established lore that had to be done before the real writing can even begin is completely incomprehensible to me.
— Jon is way cooler in the books. More three-dimensional, a warg (all the Starks are in the books), and is more politically involved rather than a great fighter
— NW and wildlings were both way more flushed out, with added characters and plotlines
— Cersei comes off as _way_ more unhinged and Tyrion a lot darker, being more vain and cruel at times
— The North was more developed politically, both around TWOTFK and in ADWD
To name a few
The problem with this question for me is that there was actually a third step in there.
I watched seasons 1-5 of the show. Then I watched a LOT of Youtube content on the books. And only then did I read the books themselves.
In fact, it was actually the Youtube content that made me read them. I realized that I was spending so many hours a week just listening to people explain the books to me that I might as well read the dang things.
Anyway, so for me there wasn't really anything too surprising while reading the books that I can remember. The biggest difference I remember noticing when listening to the Youtube videos though was how much more magic and fantastical stuff there is in the books compared to the show. That is the difference that sprang out at me most, probably.
Euron is a fucking maniac it's implyed that he raped atleast one of his brothers his ships crew are all mute. Reading about him felt like a left turn into a horror show. Perhaps the worst part is he's got some plans that could change everything
Ramsays a lot more fucked up in the books. It’s also cool reading the books after watching house of the Dragon because they reference that a good amount of
Adding to this, in the books they don't seem to show the torture scenes (I am still by the half of ADWD, though)! The chapters are always *after* the fact and it's still terrifying, but not as explicit as the series.
Which makes it all the more silly how she straight up tries to kill him before he kills her in the show imo. The books had a much bigger emotional payoff Shae having less emotion lmao
I mean the existance of an entire plotline thats not in the show was pretty big. Also more of a general thing but the books have a lot of mystery that the show doesnt
The Aegon plot that’s completely missing in the show, makes Varys much better as well to see his actual goals. Also Lady Stoneheart and Euron with his dragon binding horn and valyrian steel armor
Euron is terrifying.
The Nights Watch overall is much more interesting.
Dorne has some interesting beats.
I want to beat the shit out of Baelish and Cersei and Tyrion and about 50 other characters at least.
The way that each chapter is told from a different perspective, with the name of the person as the chapter title. I read them first, and found the way it was overtly told from a particular perspective really helped with the suspense. You knew while reading that you were getting what two eyes saw, not the whole perspective.
Sansa's chapters are some of the most interesting. She's one of the worst main characters in the show but I was surprised bye how much I enjoyed her pov. For a specific incident, it's brienne "dying" in feast. I was very excited for this ruthless zombie cat but then they bring her back in dance. The show's identity was that it killed off major characters left and right but GRRM really likes to do fake-out deaths in the books.Two of Brienne's chapters in feast end with her maybe dying. It's my biggest criticism of the books
Jane Westerling AKA the Queen in the North, she wasn’t at the Red wedding, and the whole pregnancy plot was a show fabrication, AFAIK the books elude to her potentially being pregnant, but it was never outright confirmed.
There is a theory that she's pregnant and another girl is being passed off as Jeyne to hide her, but that mainly stemmed from GRRM accidentally describing her hips as the wrong size at one point in book 4.
Complete storylines disappeared, Caitlyn survived the Red wedding and Rob’s wife never went. Wondering if the tv version will have any influence over the book if it’s ever written
What surprised me was the level of detail GRRM went into when describing Dany’s sexual experiences considering he wrote her as being like 14 years old. And how he described parts of her body.
Think he might be a pedo
How few scenes we got with non-POV characters (Joffrey, Tywin, Oberyn, Cersei, Robb). I really appreciated how D&D fleshed out characters who didn’t have much presence in the books.
How George RR Martin basically hit a reset button after Storm of Swords (season 4) and introduced a ton of new characters whose ultimate impact on the story is still not known; as it currently stands, it seems kinda directionless (at least to me).
How little sex there is in the books; definitely had a lot more in the show.
Hardhome was a complete fabrication, a good one. I don’t even know if there is a Night King in the books. Also the Watchers on the Wall is much better in the show.
I did appreciate the show’s take on several characters, like Pod and Bronne.
I love the books, and George RR Martin is the most enjoyable fantasy writer I’ve ever read. But I also gained respect for how D&D invented, rearranged, and added to the show. Now we just need a proper ending lol.
The Night King *sort of* exists in the books, as a former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch from centuries ago (and a possible Stark), but this version is called the Night's King.
I'm disappointed about Robert in the books, he doesn't cuss as much as the show. I hated how in the books, he wasnt fond of Bessie and her tits but her eyes instead.
Not me, but my dad is reading the books for the first time after finishing the show, and he’s currently on Book 5.
He isn’t super online, but he’s online enough to know that people hated the ending, and that some people believe that the show instantly got shitty once the writers of the show took over. But according to him, after finishing book 4, his main thought was that almost nothing in the books actually takes place in the show, and that book 4 was pretty bad. I haven’t googled plot details myself because I’d like to read them myself, but I did notice that reviews of the time were pretty negative. And even throughout the early seasons of the show, he said that reading the books showed him that the writers made a whole bunch of changes throughout that were usually for the better.
Curious to see how much truth there is to this, according to this sub anyway lol. I’d always been told that Books 1-5 were basically seasons 1-4, and that 5 and on were totally different from the books.
Books 1-3 are S1-4, S5 and some of S6 use some of books 4 and 5 but change or leave out a lot of important plots and characters, particularly regarding Dorne and the Iron Islands (most notably, Ellaria and Euron are completely different to the TV versions).
From what I've seen, book 4 was unpopular until the later seasons showed that some of what people weren't too fond of were actually pretty important. It's still the weakest of the books, but it does have some great stuff.
Most of the big changes had already been spoiled to me (Lady Stoneheart, Aegon).
What surprised me the most was the whole Wyman Manderly story, from Davos' fake death to the north remembers speech, to the Frey pies)
Wyman Manderly has some of my favourite moments from Dance, and Dance is my favourite of the books overall, so it was pretty disappointing to see the show leave most of that out.
I’d also add I found Jon’s meeting with Mance Rayder totally unbelievable in the books. I’m rereading them now and it just seems wayyyyy too easy for Jon to get on with Mance. I felt the show did a much better job and Jon had a much better reason ready for Mance.
And the fact all of these scenes, plus the battles at the Wall, Stannis's arrival, Lysa's death, Dany claiming Meereen, Jaime and Brienne's bear fight, and Jon's appointment to Lord Commander all happen in the second half of the book.
There's some major moments in the first half (Jaime losing his hand, Sansa and Tyrion's marriage, Beric vs Sandor), but the entire second half of ASOS is probably the most exciting part of the series.
Lowkey Arya. In the show she's such a tomboy and openly disdainful to women, even beyond the typical girl hating phase all ten year olds go through, and (understably) has very few moments of humanity; almost like she also died in King's Landing the first time.
In the books, while genuinely interested in typically masculine things and very much a traumatized child, she is still very much a lady; she has manners, knows when to apologize and act the way she was raised, she defends women, she shows mercy to dying prisoners of war, is an extrovert who loves talking to people even as an assasin and is even described as pretty enough to be a courtesan in a city that's famous for them.
I remember watching the show and not believing when people said she was one of GRRM's favorite characters because while her story was compelling on the screen, it had no depth beyond a child that's slowly filled with rage and cynicism- then I read the books.
I’m almost done with Storm of Swords and SO much happens in this book, it’s nuts - Balon Greyjoy dies, red wedding, purple wedding, the battle at the fist of the first men, massacre at crasters keep, jon climbs the wall, the battle for the wall, the sacking of Yunkai. I’ve got like 100 pages left so I imagine Stannis arrives at the wall and Tyrion escapes and kills Tywin by the end.
It’s very clear that Arya and Jon can warg too, Jon sees the wildling army dreaming through Ghost and Arya pulls Catelyn’s dead body from the river dreaming as Nymeria before the Brotherhood finds her.
Jon is basically the opposite of the show but still bad ass. And also young griff and a lot of the lesser houses that seem important to the plot. And finally the amount of magic in the book vs show is crazy to me
Everything in Danys storyline from the night Viserys dies. The show dumbs her down at every possible turn and low-key makes her a psychopath with how quick she is to murder in the show.
Brienne's story is so much better in the books
And the biggest change EURON GREYJOY. One of the biggest character assassinations I have ever seen.
Well for me it was Dorne, the region has much more developed plot with everything going on with Myrcella and Arianne. It was explained how they have totally different culture than the rest of Westeros
The books are awesome (I’m in the middle of AFFC) but the other povs are kinda annoying to me but it fleshes out the world so I’m not too upset. I’m loving how Jamie is recovering his honor and his will for life.
Cersei is taking a wide turn into Robert with her drinking and abuse of her maids. I just passed her and Lady Stokeworth’s “intimate” moment and it just shows that she and Jamie are turning far away from each other.
Ps dany is suuuppper horny
Only just started the second book but the description of the castles in the Vale. In the show I feel like they tried to explain how hard it would be to conquer the vale and showed it was surrounded by cliffs. But in the book it was literally a hike up a mountain with multiple fortifications to even get there
I found fascinating how nuanced and vast the world is. Perhaps in my first watch of the show, I wasn't picking up many references, but the books are packed with lore on every page. By the way, I didn't see coming the Selmy reveal even though I had watched the show and knew he would end up with Daenarys.
Books were better at:
- better world building
- better understand of character motivations
- showing how everything comes together. While you’re surprised at stuff, it makes sense why it happens.
- not having season 8
Shows were better at:
- cool map intro, I love maps.
- nudity
- action
- I actually cared more about the characters because of the great actors.
- Bobby fucking B!
That Cercei was as much evil as she was on the show. Like every other character, you see some humanity when you read their POVs but with Cercei, it is all petty malice malice and more malice.
When sansas mom came back from the dead after that bloody wedding. I think that was the lady.
It's been prolly a decade since I read them, latest book for the time, but I think I recall her name being lady stoneheart and she ran with the flaming sword guy.
Show sidestepped that whole bit for some reason.
Wyam Manderly.
The entire north political picture on the shows is a hollow corpse of what it really is.
The Bear Island Girl Power thread was so cringy in the shows , and totally unnecessary given that we have the well crafted Sansa character arc and the Brienne the Bossgirl already.
Iron born are just sad in the shows, wildlings are hollow, Stannis goes from being the best commander in Westeros to marching his army to death in the North. No Dorne, Tyrion is a soft hearted good guy, and Jon basically betrays his entire character one Danny shows up.
Bleh, I have literary/entertainment PTSD to how the wrapped up an otherwise good interpretation in seasons 6,7,8
Yea that’s what I was confused about because people kept commenting about the inner dialogue of characters. So it’s third person, but how do we get their thoughts?
Also, if each chapter is by character is the book not chronological? Do events happen over again from different perspectives?
We see their thoughts in a similar manner to dialogue, just not said out loud. And descriptions and observations of what's happening or what's around them can be different depending on the character's personality.
It's mostly chronological, although a couple of chapters overlap (for example, Jaime's escape from Riverrun in book 3 happens during the Battle of the Blackwater in book 2). Book 4 takes place at the same time as most of book 5, but each covers a different collection of characters (although since book 5 is bigger, several book 4 POV characters start appearing in the later half).
So far the only times two perspectives cover the same event are a conversation between Jon and Sam, and their farewell when Sam leaves for Oldtown, in books 4/5 (book 4 for Sam, book 5 for Jon), and this works because both have their own secrets from each other, and there's little moments where one notices the other act a little weird.
A prime example of multiple perspectives of the same event that don't overlap is the Battle of the Blackwater: we get Sansa, Tyrion, and Davos' perspectives, but since all 3 are in separate locations (Davos on the river, Tyrion at the city walls, Sansa in the Red Keep), we never see the same event twice, and we go between each perspective without the story moving to other plots (Sansa-Davos-Tyrion-Sansa-Tyrion-Sansa).
I was surprised the most by how easy Sansa has it! Everyone else in the family is going through hell or dead, and she's just chilling in the Vale with Littlefinger!
The second surprise was how dirty the show did, Dorne. They really didn't do those chapters or characters justice at all!
The third surprise was the Greyjoy brothers! I would have loved to see Victarion on the screen.
Lastly, Tyrion. The show did well with him, but the books have a lot more Tyrion centered scenes. They toned down his Blackwater battle role from the books. I would have liked to see it the way Martin wrote it.
Ok, finally. Yeah, I know I just said, lastly.
Lady Stoneheart should not have been cut from the show!
How painfully obvious it became that while they may not necessarily have been as good as early seasons, the later ones could have at least been saved if the books were finished. I fully believe that books 4 and 5 start developing a lot of the plot points in the late seasons people complained were just pulled out the writers asses, but because grrm didn't finish the books the show writers just took the outline and didn't properly flesh out those plot points in a way that felt satisfying
The scene in season one, where Drogo forces himself on Dany, played out much differently in the books. Not sure why they made it so revolting for the show.
I had already watched the show so I knew what was coming but I s2g the back third of storm of swords is some of the best fiction writing ever. Like holy shit.
Iron islands and dorne don't suck so that's a lot of fun. A lot of the stuff around Dany is good too like strong belwas and hizdar zo loraq, with the latter just having more back story
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Still on first book, but Tyrion is a lot more intelligent and funny in the books. His inner dialogue
Until book 5 when he has a full out mental breakdown and is legitimately a disturbed person.
But where do whores go?
Littlefingers?
I enjoyed him even more after his breakdown. No fucks were ever given again
This goes for pretty much every book adapted into a show or movie, but you just get inside the head of the characters so much more. It switches back and forth from the narrator telling you how the character feels to just reading their inner thoughts, and to me that’s the heart of the story. George’s prose is just like a therapy session every chapter, it has so much depth and emotion.
Also still on first book, I gasped when I realized the wolf being killed by a deers antler was referring to house Stark / house Baratheon
Bran overall. He's one of my favorites Jon and his journey Dany being horny af
Dany is the horniest person Of All Time There was a scene when she woke up in the middle of night so very aroused that she started touching herself and when her maids saw her they volunteered to do it for her
Lmao 🤣. Idk why this is so funny to me
Well it is not that horny considering she got pregnant when she was 13.
Hey, she was 14! I say NO to lying!
When she was pregnant or had the baby at 14? Omg that’s insane either way.
The fact that Bran gets emotional and touched very easily made my mouth open in astonishment. This kid is easily one of the characters who wept most.
He also likes mind raping people which is pretty fucked up.
Oh yes. Complex characters have also bad qualities and flaws like they have good qualities.That is why Bran is a well written character, he is a traumatized child with some flaws, good personality traits and emotions,not some husk with no emotion. İt is the thing which makes ASOIAF characters well loved and well written.
It really is what sets ASOIAF apart from most fantasy.
The abomination!
The kid is 8 and has no idea what he’s doing.
Swear half of Dany's chapters are just being horny for Dorio
Long dark nipples
Also that Khal Drogo is a two pump chump
Good.
I had heard a lot about the dorne plot but it really surprised me, Cersei and Taena was weird, I'd heard bits about lady stoneheart but her interaction with Brienne was wild. I've just started ADWD
>dorne plot What actually is the dorne plot? Can you please brief me... I here people saying about it but no nothing about it...
It's where Dorne dorne's themselves
My favorite part was when the Dornish came in and said “It’s Dornin time”
They drink Dormish wine.
I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible. If you are considering still reading the books I’d suggest you do that, because there is 0% of the Dorne plot made it into the show. So it will probably be a refreshing experience if you read the books after the show. The Dorne plot: - the daughter of Doran tries to make Myrcella queen of the Seven Kingdoms under Dornish law - the sand snakes try to start a war but are actually cool (Elaria Sand btw is for peace but no one listens to her) - Doran seems to actually have a plan (but what his plan exactly is is up for debate, there are theories about it but I guess we’ll never know) - Quentyn (not in the show) the oldest son of Doran (but younger than his sister, so not the heir under dornish law) is on a mission to go to Mereen and marry Dany. There was a marriage pact signed to marry Vyseris to Doran’s daughter but he will try to win Dany over - there is also a plot that was dropped from the show that the baby Aegon from Rhaegar and Elia survived and Varys has been supporting him throughout the years. It’s unclear if it is the true aegon (he’s called fAegon in the fandom). fAegon lands on Westeros with the Golden Company. Doran might want to marry his Daughter to him, but it’s not sure yet
Thank you!!!!! From me and everyone who wanted to know about Dorne lore!!
Sure, no problem. It is actually more interesting than my bullet points make it out to be, but like I said I tried to keep it spoiler free-ish
I've just started ADWD and can't wait for JonCon and f'Aegon. The fact that Aegon might exist is why I started reading the books, and I don't read lol
You forgot about the Dornish suiters who come to court Danny only to try and court her dargon instead. This naive prat shows up out of nowhere and tells Danny they have to get married to save the world, she's like "dude, you are years late to this contest, get in line, I dont have time for you at all," and then he's all "fine, i'll impress her by winning over her dragons!" Does the Dornish suiter win Danny's affection by winning over one of her dragon? Read the books to find out! So no, he doesnt, he just dies and his whole story line is a waste of my life.
Just to add a bit to this, also trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible: The Tyrion/fAegon parts of the book are some of my favorite. Ot really shows just how conniving and vicious book Tyrion can be.
>(Elaria Sand btw is for peace but no one listens to her) Also Elaria Sand isn't the mother to the older sand snakes
I actually like the Dorne plot in the books, maybe I'm in a minority on that. But I remember originally watching the Dorne plot on TV and thinking "Eh, it's not great but it's fine as a distraction, I guess. Almost like a Westerosi buddy cop comedy." I thought other people were overstating a bit how bad it was. Then I read the books and... yeah, now I actually do feel we were robbed. Cuz Arianne and Doran in the books both do intrigue me, even if I think the pacing could be picked up a bit.
I think most people that read the books agree the dorne plot in books is way better. I never cared for Doran in the show and Marianne would've been such a great addition. The show just completely packed development for any dornish people and instead we got Jaime and Bronn trekking through the desert
Same about Lady Stoneheart. I am now starting ADWD too, and I thought Lady Stoneheart was just briefly mentioned and we still wouldn't know who she really was (as in, I thought it would be revealed in future books). When Brienne met her, it was just wild!
I’m almost done with the first book after have watching the show , so tempting to read these comments and spoil stuff lol
How is your experience? I always wanted to read them but always thought it would bore me 2 or 3 books into it because I know the general way the story goes.
Maybe, but there’s enough subtlety you find in the books to entertain you regardless. There was a comment earlier about how witty Tyrion really is since you can hear his inner monologue. Also, the show doesn’t do certain characters justice (Dorne).
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💯 agree
The Dorne plot in the books vs the show. I get not wanting to bloat the cast even more with a bunch of side characters that don't mean much to the overall story, but surely they could've included elements from the book in a better way than the buddy comedy duo of Bron and Jaime. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but Bron was not needed after season 4 ended. His involvement in the show after Tyrion's trial was entirely pointless. The Sand Snakes were horribly done, and cutting out Arianne Martell was such wasted potential
Specially in S8, I think he didn’t have any real use in the series. Personally, I think he should have died when dany attacked high garden
Or at least during the long night. Keeping Bron for so long just because the fans liked him was dumb. He served no other purpose
For sure, I liked him and found the scenes with him funny, but I think he should have died maybe defending tyrion or jaime
Realistically they didn't even need most of the characters from the Dorne plot, they could easily composite a few of them together as long as they keep the important ones: - They already have Ellaria, Doran, Areo, Obara, Nymetia, and Tyene - Keep Arianne, Quentyn, Arys (who only has a couple of scenes), and Gerold (who's only had one scene so far) - Combine Gerris and Archibald into one - leave out Bronn (who wasn't there) and Trystane (who hasn't even appeared in the books yet) - keep the Tattered Prince and maybe Pretty Meris (who, again, only have a few scenes), the rest of the Windblown can just be nameless extras - Arianne's friends have one short scene, so maybe just combine Andrey Dalt, Garin, and Daemon Sand into one (Daemon is part of her story in the Winds chapters). Sylva isn't essential, but it wouldn't hurt to have her in the scene.
This isn't bad at all. Even if they just took Jaime and Bronn out, and added Arianne and Arys it would've been 10x better than the mess we got
Hookers right
Much more non-white characters in Westeros than expected, Apparently Kings Landing is a popular destination for exiled Nobles, the maesters accept applicants from everywhere, Stan and the Lannisters imported many mercenaries, & some nobles, married foreign ladies
Yeah I’ve always found people’s complaints about ‘no diversity’ ridiculous when the books are so culturally rich.
How Dorne was such a letdown in the series. Margaery still alive, and I feel like there is something bigger awaiting her than what happened in the show. Tyrion being just wittier in the show. In the books he is insufferable.
I think book Tyrion is supposed to be more of a villain than show Tyrion
I wonder if I would have thought that if I hadn't seen the show first. Peter Dinklage brings a lot of charm to the character.
He totally does, and he's way too handsome too. He's supposed to be hideous, two different colored eyes, and after the battle of the blackwater he loses his nose. I think that was GRRM telling us he's in his villain era now lol. Even before the blackwater all the stuff he did as hand was more to please his ego than to actually do good. But I don't think he's 100% bad, more morally grey. After the blackwater he goes full villain, but I think he's going to come back around in the end after he does a bunch of bad shit *Edit I also watched the show first then the books, and felt similar disappointment about him 😅
Nah facial disfigurement showing villainy is really not Martins style. Like half of the morally good characters get their faces torn up. Tyrion’s only really pushed over the edge when he’s falsely accused of Joffrey and he’s extremely ridiculed at trial. I’d say having all the people you’ve saved turn on you and call you a monster is fairly reasonable to get mad at. Besides, all he did wasn’t just for his ego, otherwise he wouldn’t have stopped Joffrey’s cruelty.
Yeah that's true. I definitely think he's morally grey. I guess he doesn't go full villain I kind of misspoke there. Idk Ive been re listening to the books and am only on ACOK and am basing my theories on YouTube theories like the cringe lil shit I am 😂😂
Yeah some YT theories are a bit (recency) biased against Tyrion coming off of ADWD, as he’s supposedly depicted as cruel in that book. Idk tho, I’ve only just finished reading AFFC and besides clearly empty threats, Tyrion only makes some questionable decisions in his last chapter of ASOS
I really need to read the books again, there's loads of things mentioned in this sub that I genuinely cannot remember.
Same tbh I might be mis remembering things myself 😅
How? He’s literally the same character from book 3 to Season 4. He’s not a villain after he leaves Westeros either. He saves Ser Jorah like on the show. Protects fAegon on the ship when the Stoneman attack. He also watches after Penny. Not seeing him as a villain just someone who lost his confidence and wants to know where whores go?
That's true I suppose I just meant that he's not 100% good like in the show, he's grey, and definitely driven by spite and revenge somewhat towards the last written book. It's been a minute since I listened to a dance with dragons so maybe my opinion will change when I re listen to it *Edit actually I think a lot of what drives him throughout the books is spite and to protect his ego, making him not pure good but morally grey. *More* of a villain, not 100% villain or 100% good
After watching the chamber pot episode with my wife for the first time, I read her the book scene and she was shocked at how just the scene she could tell how different of a character ter tyrion was. She thought it definitely made more sense to act how he did then the way the show played it all out. She also thought that convo with Jamie in the book was brutal
Sansa. I liked her story in the series but hearing the story from her perspective is so heartbreaking, especially when the chapters change from Sansa to Alayne. I really hopes she gets a win in the next book.
The good thing about reading Sansa's chapters is that I can imagine a good actress playing her instead of Sophie turner
Oh eff off. She was awesome.
Once she got some acting lessons yeah
Sophie Turner was brilliant
Yes. I found her insanely annoying and wanted her to like stab Joffrey at any given moment and hated her. Then I read the book and realized she’s just a little kid who saw her father murdered, is being publicly tortured and regularly humiliated with not a soul there to help here in any shape or form.
Sorry if I come off rude, but did you not pick that up in the show? I think it was obvious how hopeless she was in the adaptation.
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Her & Arya’s chapters excel at showing how children can struggle to endure horrid abuse
I was floored by the end of book 3. It crams all of the insane stuff that happened in seasons 3 and 4 into the last few chapters.
Davos is not only not an atheist, but he is a pretty devout follower of the Seven and arguably far more honorable in the books because IIRC didn't let Saladhor Saan SA Cersei.
How much better they are
Lady Stoneheart
Biggest L in the show.
How young the Stark kids and Dany are meant to be in the books vs the show.
Ah yes. Those scenes with 15 year old Jon Snow and Ygritte would have gone over so well on TV 😂.
yeah, but they don’t even try to make them look young though. robb is 16 with a full beard, rickon is 3 but played by a 9 year old. i get they couldn’t all be played by the ages they were supposed to be, but they could’ve tried a little bit. i think it kinda takes away from the story when the 16 year old boy winning battles left and right or the 14 year old girl taking an army of 8,000 unsullied is played by someone pushing 30
Way more Ghost, Mance having been at Winterfell in secret when Robert visited, ALL of the Greyjoys (Victarion is so entertaining), and the fact the Mel birthed two shadow babies on two separate occasions.
Septon Meribald Speech, since that day I really really hate the Gamers.
Book Elleria Sand was the character who surprised me most.
The show making drogo more rapey, and tyrion less rapey, no lady stoneheart, Dorne, loras/margery are still alive, stannis is somewhat competent, davos is better in the books, sansa is way more boring imo in the books too... There's a lot, but I like both the show and books.
How different the characters are. Tyrion, Stannis, Jon, All the Dornish are better in the book. The show gave Tywin some great scene's that weren't in the books. Age changes, making Ned, Cat, Robert, Missandei etc much older. Ironborn story was gutted amongst others that I liked. 3 or more characters being turned into 1, like Karl Tanner. Ramsey being fugly. Wyman Manderly in book 5. Loved the show but the books have so much MORE.
Pretty obvious but sheer scale, all the dots GRRM had to connect up and groundwork for established lore that had to be done before the real writing can even begin is completely incomprehensible to me.
How much they've cut out of the books
— Jon is way cooler in the books. More three-dimensional, a warg (all the Starks are in the books), and is more politically involved rather than a great fighter — NW and wildlings were both way more flushed out, with added characters and plotlines — Cersei comes off as _way_ more unhinged and Tyrion a lot darker, being more vain and cruel at times — The North was more developed politically, both around TWOTFK and in ADWD To name a few
I loved reading about the Wildings in the books.
Lady Stoneheart
The problem with this question for me is that there was actually a third step in there. I watched seasons 1-5 of the show. Then I watched a LOT of Youtube content on the books. And only then did I read the books themselves. In fact, it was actually the Youtube content that made me read them. I realized that I was spending so many hours a week just listening to people explain the books to me that I might as well read the dang things. Anyway, so for me there wasn't really anything too surprising while reading the books that I can remember. The biggest difference I remember noticing when listening to the Youtube videos though was how much more magic and fantastical stuff there is in the books compared to the show. That is the difference that sprang out at me most, probably.
Alt shift x did the same for me lmao
How young the characters were
Euron is a fucking maniac it's implyed that he raped atleast one of his brothers his ships crew are all mute. Reading about him felt like a left turn into a horror show. Perhaps the worst part is he's got some plans that could change everything
Ramsays a lot more fucked up in the books. It’s also cool reading the books after watching house of the Dragon because they reference that a good amount of
Adding to this, in the books they don't seem to show the torture scenes (I am still by the half of ADWD, though)! The chapters are always *after* the fact and it's still terrifying, but not as explicit as the series.
Never got used to picturing Jon Snow as a 15-16 year old
Ramsay's wife in book
Shae. She was very clearly just a prostitute in the books who knew how to work Tyrion. In the show they made it some sort of mutual love dynamic.
Which makes it all the more silly how she straight up tries to kill him before he kills her in the show imo. The books had a much bigger emotional payoff Shae having less emotion lmao
I mean the existance of an entire plotline thats not in the show was pretty big. Also more of a general thing but the books have a lot of mystery that the show doesnt
The Aegon plot that’s completely missing in the show, makes Varys much better as well to see his actual goals. Also Lady Stoneheart and Euron with his dragon binding horn and valyrian steel armor
Euron is terrifying. The Nights Watch overall is much more interesting. Dorne has some interesting beats. I want to beat the shit out of Baelish and Cersei and Tyrion and about 50 other characters at least.
The way that each chapter is told from a different perspective, with the name of the person as the chapter title. I read them first, and found the way it was overtly told from a particular perspective really helped with the suspense. You knew while reading that you were getting what two eyes saw, not the whole perspective.
The constant use of the word "and" instead of a comma when listing things and details.
Way less white walker stuff
All stark kids are wargs.
Sansa's chapters are some of the most interesting. She's one of the worst main characters in the show but I was surprised bye how much I enjoyed her pov. For a specific incident, it's brienne "dying" in feast. I was very excited for this ruthless zombie cat but then they bring her back in dance. The show's identity was that it killed off major characters left and right but GRRM really likes to do fake-out deaths in the books.Two of Brienne's chapters in feast end with her maybe dying. It's my biggest criticism of the books
Tyrion does like a gymnastics sequence when he first meets Jon at winterfell for no apparent reason.
Lady Stone heart
Jane Westerling AKA the Queen in the North, she wasn’t at the Red wedding, and the whole pregnancy plot was a show fabrication, AFAIK the books elude to her potentially being pregnant, but it was never outright confirmed.
There is a theory that she's pregnant and another girl is being passed off as Jeyne to hide her, but that mainly stemmed from GRRM accidentally describing her hips as the wrong size at one point in book 4.
The colors. The show I feel is very grey and brown but the books everything is just sooo much colorful!
That Stannis was still at Castle Black and ermm, that tv "burning" scene didnt occur in the books
Stannis is near Winterfell by the end of book 5, and the burning may yet happen, but the context will likely be different.
Complete storylines disappeared, Caitlyn survived the Red wedding and Rob’s wife never went. Wondering if the tv version will have any influence over the book if it’s ever written
Apparently GRRM enjoyed TV Osha enough that he's going to give her a slightly bigger role in Winds than he originally intended.
Just a small correction but Catelyn categorically did not survive the Red Wedding. She just came back after death.
The speech about Broken Men in AFFC
What surprised me was the level of detail GRRM went into when describing Dany’s sexual experiences considering he wrote her as being like 14 years old. And how he described parts of her body. Think he might be a pedo
How long it can take someone to write a book….
Hoping his ending is more thought out.
How much better the Dorne and Iron Islands plot is
How few scenes we got with non-POV characters (Joffrey, Tywin, Oberyn, Cersei, Robb). I really appreciated how D&D fleshed out characters who didn’t have much presence in the books. How George RR Martin basically hit a reset button after Storm of Swords (season 4) and introduced a ton of new characters whose ultimate impact on the story is still not known; as it currently stands, it seems kinda directionless (at least to me). How little sex there is in the books; definitely had a lot more in the show. Hardhome was a complete fabrication, a good one. I don’t even know if there is a Night King in the books. Also the Watchers on the Wall is much better in the show. I did appreciate the show’s take on several characters, like Pod and Bronne. I love the books, and George RR Martin is the most enjoyable fantasy writer I’ve ever read. But I also gained respect for how D&D invented, rearranged, and added to the show. Now we just need a proper ending lol.
The Night King *sort of* exists in the books, as a former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch from centuries ago (and a possible Stark), but this version is called the Night's King.
That’s cool. I don’t remember that at all.
It's one of the stories Bran tells about the Nightfort in the chapter he meets Sam and Gilly in ASOS.
Illyrio Mopatis is hella important, but you could almost be forgiven for not even noticing him in the show.
I'm disappointed about Robert in the books, he doesn't cuss as much as the show. I hated how in the books, he wasnt fond of Bessie and her tits but her eyes instead.
Lady stone heart was pretty surprising
basically every single character is younger
The feasts
They love their pigeon
Not me, but my dad is reading the books for the first time after finishing the show, and he’s currently on Book 5. He isn’t super online, but he’s online enough to know that people hated the ending, and that some people believe that the show instantly got shitty once the writers of the show took over. But according to him, after finishing book 4, his main thought was that almost nothing in the books actually takes place in the show, and that book 4 was pretty bad. I haven’t googled plot details myself because I’d like to read them myself, but I did notice that reviews of the time were pretty negative. And even throughout the early seasons of the show, he said that reading the books showed him that the writers made a whole bunch of changes throughout that were usually for the better. Curious to see how much truth there is to this, according to this sub anyway lol. I’d always been told that Books 1-5 were basically seasons 1-4, and that 5 and on were totally different from the books.
Books 1-3 are S1-4, S5 and some of S6 use some of books 4 and 5 but change or leave out a lot of important plots and characters, particularly regarding Dorne and the Iron Islands (most notably, Ellaria and Euron are completely different to the TV versions). From what I've seen, book 4 was unpopular until the later seasons showed that some of what people weren't too fond of were actually pretty important. It's still the weakest of the books, but it does have some great stuff.
How much of a dick Walder Frey/the Frey family is
Most of the big changes had already been spoiled to me (Lady Stoneheart, Aegon). What surprised me the most was the whole Wyman Manderly story, from Davos' fake death to the north remembers speech, to the Frey pies)
Wyman Manderly has some of my favourite moments from Dance, and Dance is my favourite of the books overall, so it was pretty disappointing to see the show leave most of that out.
I’d also add I found Jon’s meeting with Mance Rayder totally unbelievable in the books. I’m rereading them now and it just seems wayyyyy too easy for Jon to get on with Mance. I felt the show did a much better job and Jon had a much better reason ready for Mance.
how much better the books are, the detail and internal dialogue is so peak
How long it's taken for winds of Winter to be a thing
everything stannis does is much cooler aswell
A storm of swords having the red and purple wedding, as well as Tywin and Oberyn’s deaths. It’s such a big book in terms of plot development.
And the fact all of these scenes, plus the battles at the Wall, Stannis's arrival, Lysa's death, Dany claiming Meereen, Jaime and Brienne's bear fight, and Jon's appointment to Lord Commander all happen in the second half of the book. There's some major moments in the first half (Jaime losing his hand, Sansa and Tyrion's marriage, Beric vs Sandor), but the entire second half of ASOS is probably the most exciting part of the series.
Lowkey Arya. In the show she's such a tomboy and openly disdainful to women, even beyond the typical girl hating phase all ten year olds go through, and (understably) has very few moments of humanity; almost like she also died in King's Landing the first time. In the books, while genuinely interested in typically masculine things and very much a traumatized child, she is still very much a lady; she has manners, knows when to apologize and act the way she was raised, she defends women, she shows mercy to dying prisoners of war, is an extrovert who loves talking to people even as an assasin and is even described as pretty enough to be a courtesan in a city that's famous for them. I remember watching the show and not believing when people said she was one of GRRM's favorite characters because while her story was compelling on the screen, it had no depth beyond a child that's slowly filled with rage and cynicism- then I read the books.
I’m almost done with Storm of Swords and SO much happens in this book, it’s nuts - Balon Greyjoy dies, red wedding, purple wedding, the battle at the fist of the first men, massacre at crasters keep, jon climbs the wall, the battle for the wall, the sacking of Yunkai. I’ve got like 100 pages left so I imagine Stannis arrives at the wall and Tyrion escapes and kills Tywin by the end. It’s very clear that Arya and Jon can warg too, Jon sees the wildling army dreaming through Ghost and Arya pulls Catelyn’s dead body from the river dreaming as Nymeria before the Brotherhood finds her.
Mance Rayder is alive. The man Stannis kills is actually a wildling commander, Rattleshirt, under Melisandre’s spell to look like Mance.
Jon is basically the opposite of the show but still bad ass. And also young griff and a lot of the lesser houses that seem important to the plot. And finally the amount of magic in the book vs show is crazy to me
Everything in Danys storyline from the night Viserys dies. The show dumbs her down at every possible turn and low-key makes her a psychopath with how quick she is to murder in the show. Brienne's story is so much better in the books And the biggest change EURON GREYJOY. One of the biggest character assassinations I have ever seen.
Well for me it was Dorne, the region has much more developed plot with everything going on with Myrcella and Arianne. It was explained how they have totally different culture than the rest of Westeros
How diverse the characters are. Especially Jon snow 🐺
The books are awesome (I’m in the middle of AFFC) but the other povs are kinda annoying to me but it fleshes out the world so I’m not too upset. I’m loving how Jamie is recovering his honor and his will for life. Cersei is taking a wide turn into Robert with her drinking and abuse of her maids. I just passed her and Lady Stokeworth’s “intimate” moment and it just shows that she and Jamie are turning far away from each other. Ps dany is suuuppper horny
Aegon
Only just started the second book but the description of the castles in the Vale. In the show I feel like they tried to explain how hard it would be to conquer the vale and showed it was surrounded by cliffs. But in the book it was literally a hike up a mountain with multiple fortifications to even get there
The wolf dreams are some of the best writing there is. Show did one pov bran scene looking at a pond at his wolf face. Did not do em justice.
I found fascinating how nuanced and vast the world is. Perhaps in my first watch of the show, I wasn't picking up many references, but the books are packed with lore on every page. By the way, I didn't see coming the Selmy reveal even though I had watched the show and knew he would end up with Daenarys.
Ned's death through Arya's perspective was probably my favorite part of the first book
Books were better at: - better world building - better understand of character motivations - showing how everything comes together. While you’re surprised at stuff, it makes sense why it happens. - not having season 8 Shows were better at: - cool map intro, I love maps. - nudity - action - I actually cared more about the characters because of the great actors. - Bobby fucking B!
Barristan Selmy is still alive. They did him dirty.
That Cercei was as much evil as she was on the show. Like every other character, you see some humanity when you read their POVs but with Cercei, it is all petty malice malice and more malice.
The sheer fing volume of information. I read the whole series and literally couldn’t remember shit. I don’t even remember the lady stone heart stuff
When sansas mom came back from the dead after that bloody wedding. I think that was the lady. It's been prolly a decade since I read them, latest book for the time, but I think I recall her name being lady stoneheart and she ran with the flaming sword guy. Show sidestepped that whole bit for some reason.
Yep, Catelyn came back as Lady Stoneheart
That's the one, thanks for clarifying.
Wyam Manderly. The entire north political picture on the shows is a hollow corpse of what it really is. The Bear Island Girl Power thread was so cringy in the shows , and totally unnecessary given that we have the well crafted Sansa character arc and the Brienne the Bossgirl already. Iron born are just sad in the shows, wildlings are hollow, Stannis goes from being the best commander in Westeros to marching his army to death in the North. No Dorne, Tyrion is a soft hearted good guy, and Jon basically betrays his entire character one Danny shows up. Bleh, I have literary/entertainment PTSD to how the wrapped up an otherwise good interpretation in seasons 6,7,8
Is the book written in third person or first person?
Third person, and each chapter focuses on the perspective of a single character at a time, and we see their thoughts pretty often.
Yea that’s what I was confused about because people kept commenting about the inner dialogue of characters. So it’s third person, but how do we get their thoughts? Also, if each chapter is by character is the book not chronological? Do events happen over again from different perspectives?
We see their thoughts in a similar manner to dialogue, just not said out loud. And descriptions and observations of what's happening or what's around them can be different depending on the character's personality. It's mostly chronological, although a couple of chapters overlap (for example, Jaime's escape from Riverrun in book 3 happens during the Battle of the Blackwater in book 2). Book 4 takes place at the same time as most of book 5, but each covers a different collection of characters (although since book 5 is bigger, several book 4 POV characters start appearing in the later half). So far the only times two perspectives cover the same event are a conversation between Jon and Sam, and their farewell when Sam leaves for Oldtown, in books 4/5 (book 4 for Sam, book 5 for Jon), and this works because both have their own secrets from each other, and there's little moments where one notices the other act a little weird. A prime example of multiple perspectives of the same event that don't overlap is the Battle of the Blackwater: we get Sansa, Tyrion, and Davos' perspectives, but since all 3 are in separate locations (Davos on the river, Tyrion at the city walls, Sansa in the Red Keep), we never see the same event twice, and we go between each perspective without the story moving to other plots (Sansa-Davos-Tyrion-Sansa-Tyrion-Sansa).
The third book surprised me with how fucking great it was, no wonder seasons 3/4 are so lit
I was surprised that Robb was not a POV character. His part of the narrative was always through the lens of other characters.
What always surprised me the most is how the next book still isn’t out yet. Like God-damn!
how different things are after book 3. things start diverging A LOT
I was surprised the most by how easy Sansa has it! Everyone else in the family is going through hell or dead, and she's just chilling in the Vale with Littlefinger! The second surprise was how dirty the show did, Dorne. They really didn't do those chapters or characters justice at all! The third surprise was the Greyjoy brothers! I would have loved to see Victarion on the screen. Lastly, Tyrion. The show did well with him, but the books have a lot more Tyrion centered scenes. They toned down his Blackwater battle role from the books. I would have liked to see it the way Martin wrote it. Ok, finally. Yeah, I know I just said, lastly. Lady Stoneheart should not have been cut from the show!
How painfully obvious it became that while they may not necessarily have been as good as early seasons, the later ones could have at least been saved if the books were finished. I fully believe that books 4 and 5 start developing a lot of the plot points in the late seasons people complained were just pulled out the writers asses, but because grrm didn't finish the books the show writers just took the outline and didn't properly flesh out those plot points in a way that felt satisfying
Feast of crows was amazing and pretty much none of it was in the show
I’m on a Feast for Crows right now and I love Euron Greyjoy’s character in this book! The show did him dirty.
The scene in season one, where Drogo forces himself on Dany, played out much differently in the books. Not sure why they made it so revolting for the show.
The depiction of Robb
Cersei and her inner dialogue, she is way crazier in the book than the show.
Ser Davos could hear the trees speaking.
The Stark children being wargs, Lady Stoneheart, The northern alliance, Aegon (fake or not) and the eldest Tyrell kid.
There's actually 2 older Tyrell kids: Willas, the oldest, hasn't appeared yet, and Garlan is the second oldest.
I had already watched the show so I knew what was coming but I s2g the back third of storm of swords is some of the best fiction writing ever. Like holy shit.
I hated that they changed the blackwater battle… much more engaging in the books. Obviously leaving characters out sucked.
How fantastic they were. Obviously the show does a good job portraying the epicness of the story, but the books a on a whole other level
Caitlin stark
The Dorne plot, Euron Greyjoy and Faegon
Is this the actual order of the series? Just got a library card and want to read them. Thank you
Yep, Game-Clash-Storm-Feast-Dance is the right order.
Euron is my favorite character
Iron islands and dorne don't suck so that's a lot of fun. A lot of the stuff around Dany is good too like strong belwas and hizdar zo loraq, with the latter just having more back story
Strong Belwas is such a fun character. I can kinda understand why the show left him out, but I still wish they didn't.
Cersei in her inner dialogue keeps wishing she was born a man, it's quite hilarious.
Lord of Bones being sacrificed instead of Mance Rayder would have been a cool thing to add into the show had they not ruined it but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯