Epic fantasy is epic

[yakalskovich]

Slowly getting hooked on 'Game of Thrones'. I like how they take time to tell the story, give you time to start caring about all those characters. My favourites so far are Tyrion Lannister, and Littlefinger, and I must admit to a certain predilection for Danaerys despite the fact there this feeling of "one trope too many" around her which so far

Comments

[_inbetween_]

Despite (or maybe because of?) old favourites, I probably will never start watching, never mind the rape (debate). I like your Pluto pladoyer. I asked someone else already and got no answer: wtf happened in the last spn? *doesn't watch*

[yakalskovich]

I don't know what happened in the last episode of SPN. I've stopped watching when it degraded to taking turns between silly episodes mocking the fans, and this rambling story arc about god and the devil where you felt the creators themselves didn't know where they were going. I loved the first seasons, but all this god-and-devil stuff was just too much shark-jumping for me. Also, the way they kept killing off all interesting female characters started bugging me.-

I guess when dealing with Game of Thrones, the very nastiest aspects of life are part and parcel of it. It's dark and gritty; people routinely don't stop at killing children.-

[_inbetween_]

Ah, yeah, I stopped after my first eg *g*

I can't tell because I neither read nor watched but supposedly the show is more honest except - it's a trope in every single fantasy book and "romance" novel, so I didn't see it as an aspect of real life as much as a desire of many consumers and/or writers. Sex and gore and religion :)

[yakalskovich]

Well, tropes are not a bad thing; they're the tesserae story-telling is made of, and humans are story-telling animals. If I want to avoid tropes, I'd have to avoid not just all fictional stories, but history and current affairs as well...

**grins**

[ceitfianna]

I think you'd probably appreciate the books with all the details and politics.

I found the world tiring after a while as things never seems to let up ever, but they're compelling reads.

I read up to the third book and then the fourth book sat on my shelf for ages as I didn't want to go back into the world again.

[yakalskovich]

When my stack of unread books has shrunk back to somewhere in the vicinity of Jupiter's orbit, I'll consider the books.-

[ceitfianna]

*eyes my own to read pile*

That seems fair. They really do pile up.

[yakalskovich]

They are everywhere, and will probably take over my flat if the cats and I let them...

[yakalskovich]

Oh good -- it would be a pity to not see how it all comes together.

And actually, I am using TV Tropes and other wikis to quickly look up who is supposed to be who, read backstory, and find out which bits are important. It may be an odd way of going about things, but so far, I haven't felt lost in that world even once, and am enjoying it tremendously.-

[yakalskovich]

Well, as I said, I'm willing to give the books a chance when my current pile of unread books has dwindled down far enough so I can at least see the top...

[tekalynn]

The actor who plays Rakharo (can't remember his name at the moment, but the cute guy in the photo) and the actress who plays Irri, turned out to be by far the most "fluent" Dothraki speakers in the cast. I think they may have gotten their parts expanded due to this salient fact.

I took a detour to reread the two Points novels by Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett (YAY!), but am back on track for my grand re/read of the entire Song of Ice and Fire series to date. I'm picking up right about the events of episode seven, I believe, so it's very timely.

[yakalskovich]

His name is Elyes Gabel, and he used to play a doctor named Guppy Sandhu in the never-ending BBC series 'Casualty', which I have personally only seen the very first episodes of when I lived there in 1986/87; however, this character has been in Milliways for many years and interacted with most of my characters there, being the main charrie played by the lovely bigfluffball, so Guppy Sandhu feels like somebody that I know (when it's really just 'Suti and Teja and Urq who knew or know him).

Seeing Guppy play a barbarian warrior is just scream-out-loud funny for me, or perhaps for those of my 'headvoices' (as we RPers call them) that know him...

[athousanderrors]

OH MY GOD THAT'S WHY I RECOGNISED HIM!!! IT'S GUPPY!!!!! *falls off chair laughing*

[yakalskovich]

Yes!! If you know Guppy (from canon, or from Milliways), falling off your chair laughing when you see him as a Dothraki warrior is totally the obvious reaction!

Guppy. A barbarian warrior. Guppy! It just doesn't compute.

[athousanderrors]

I know him better from Milliways, but also from Casualty, back in the day. And aww, he's quite a sweet Dothraki warrior though. In that subtle threatening way, rather than Drogo's obvious looming.

But still. Guppy! *giggles quietly to herself*

[yakalskovich]

Well, he does kick ass in that scene in the high whatever-plants when Daenerys gets attacked by her brother and he nearly strangles him with his whip. That was fun to see -- and yes, that was Guppy as well!