…or did the TV show kill all enthusiasm for it? I never finished the books but it seemed like people talked about them all the time but reactions to the TV finale seem to have erased all that. Are people still looking forward to the last two books?
Yes. I am.
You mean, the end wasn’t THE END?
Of course, the struggle to attain power and keep it never really ends, so I guess it isn’t a stretch to refire the series.
I doubt there will be a next book, let alone a last book.
I lost my enthusiasm for the remaining novels after reading A Dance with Dragons (or perhaps part way through A Feast for Crows). It became rather clear that Martin didn’t seem to have much of a plan, and the plotting was getting rather tedious.
The TV series (of which I’ve only seen maybe 40%, and very little of the last season, but I have been spoiled of) did nothing to disabuse me of my opinions.
Before it got to about Season 6, I was genuinely looking forward to them (or it, I don’t expect number 7 ever). There are loads of interesting theories and threads untouched and non existent in the show. Dorne. Oldtown. Winterfell. Arya.
However, Season 6 and 7 killed the next book to me. It did all the stupid resolutions I expected. Threw away all content I cared about. Interest in the show per se, had died at that point. By the time it got to Season 8, it was just about saying it was over. I didn’t expect much from it then.
For an example, take the ending of Arya’s time in Bravos. She leaves the guild of super assassins then… Walks around town bold as brass. Then gets gut stabbed about five times, enough to kill her. THEN she goes running about in a marathon chase at full speed. And we get an unseen resolution where surely the Waif, the other assassin, would also be trained in fighting in the dark. It can’t have been that stupid? There had to be something behind the scenes here? Yes. Yes, it was.
I imagine Martin would resolve it with more class, or indeed, just let her slink off, but the character and direction was ruined then.
I never cared about the resolution with Dany. I cared that they’d not done the ground work or presented it as much of a resolution it should have been. They ruined it that way too. But it was expected by then.
Now, as above, I know there won’t be seventh book. It just is on the tiny percentage chance to nil now. So if, eventually, in five years time, he punts out a second last book, it’s already ruined and the magic lost. I imagine picking it up in a book shop, leafing through it vaguely for old times sake then placing it down and walking away.
Yes, though I’m not terribly optimistic that they’ll be finished.
I’m still a huge ASOIAF fan, even if the end of the show was a huge letdown. I blame the showrunners, not GRRM. I wish he would have finished the books first, but that’s no excuse to screw up the show as bad as the showrunners did.
I think it’s likely we’ll get the next book, and unlikely we’ll get any books after that. But we’ll see – hopefully I’m wrong.
That was what I did too. I maintain that Martin got bored with it and only wrote the later books because he was contracted to.
No, I’ll just read summaries and discussions online. I’d have to re-read everything to be able to keep up and I don’t want to re-read them again.
I will just read descriptions if he ever releases the last one.
We didn’t even get book 5. They pretty much published what he had to take advantage of the show’s success, and did without two big battles and a Sansa reveal (still not sure what that was) which he hadn’t finished yet.
I think there was threats to get advances back from him if he didn’t, and the TV series might have been cancelled so the publishers wanted something from him. He wasn’t anywhere close to as wealthy as he is now. He’d just shrug off such a threat nowadays, and probably already has.
I agree.
Personally, I’m a bigger fan of the whole ASOIAF universe and history that’s been built, than I am specifically interested in what happens with the main characters of the ASOIAF books.
Meaning that I greatly enjoyed Fire and Blood Vol 1, probably as much as I did any of the actual ASOIAF books, as it was the same sort of thing, just lining out the history of the Targaryens instead of being set in the present day.
But I think we’ll see “Winds of Winter” at some point, and that GRRM will retire or die before the final book is completed.
Martin killed any enthusiasm by not publishing the remaining books. Now there’s no point in finishing them. After not getting to read the rest of the story, and then watching eight seasons of the TV show (with its unsatisfying ending), I think I’m done. I won’t be buying the rest of the books, even if they’re ever published.
I must be one of the few people who have not watched Game of Thrones. Now I know there are books! Should I read first or watch first? BTW, I have not read any of your post or any other post concerning the show in anticipation of watching it. But I do know that winter is coming and there is a dragon involved somehow.
I am very interested for the next novel. If GRRM ever releases The Winds of Winter, I will preorder it and read it the day of release. I’ll probably do a re-read of the first five books again leading up to it.
I mean I was excited to read Fire and Blood Pt 1, so why wouldn’t I devour TWOW?
Books > Show, IMO. The Books have such great world building and detail, but as noted, it’s not finished and lots of people think it never will be. The Show can’t match the world building and detail, but it did a pretty good job from Seasons 1-4. It started to go downhill in S5 and fell off a cliff.
Exactly. I think this meme summed it up perfectly:
Definately read first! Vastly more to the stories in the books.
I think Game of Thrones, the series is definitely in the reality challenging category, it got cancelled at the end of Season 4. The same way the Matrix was an excellent standalone movie with absolutely no sequels made to this day
Arguably the books are kind of the same, 1-3 are good, but I grew to like the last two, but they’re not on the same solid direction as the first three. Best summary is: “I’m bored with the characters from the first three, here’s about 20 more. Who doesn’t like vikings?”
I am, or would be if I had any faith they were actually going to come out. I feel like the show hit the right plot points, but had no idea how to get there. Admittedly, it’s possible the reason the last books aren’t coming out is that GRRM doesn’t know how to get there either, but until they come out, I can at least hope he has a better reason to make the omniscient psychic king than “it’s a good story.”
I agree with you - I really loved the first three books, that I read when I was a young adult. I thought the fourth was okay. I don’t remember anything about the fifth, although I read it. I watched the first four seasons of GoT and then lost HBO, so I never finished, but I don’t think I need to.
I really loved the world he created, and I had spent A LOT of daydreaming about what I think should happen with the story when I was into the series. So I don’t really care what Martin or the show says happens, because it’s better in my head. Like @Mahaloth I am not interested in a re-read to catch up. But I guess if the next book ever comes out, I’ll probably read it just to see if I can make it through.
It kind of seems like being into GoT is a joke these days, so I don’t even feel comfortable bringing it up with people I meet. Which is the exact opposite of how it used to be.