Game of Thrones - Episode 5 - The Wolf and the Lion

In these writeups I'm not recapping or reviewing the episode as much as offering my impressions as a big fan of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. With that in mind, these discussions will include spoilers aplenty for all published A Song of Ice and Fire books.

Click through to read my thoughts on "The Wolf and the Lion."

Public Service Announcement

Hey guys. I hate to do this, but it looks like this blog will be updating very sporadically (if at all) over the next week or two. Work has got insanely busy, and I'm finding I have no time to type up these posts. Even under-employed lawyers like me have deadlines, I fear. I've been working on a post piecemeal the last few days on the free time I've been able to grab, but I don't know when I'll have the time to finish it.

So what does this mean?  I'll still be posting my thoughts and reviews on each episode of the HBO show, but as for the reread I have no clue when the next post is going up. So just check back later, or follow me on twitter (@patcarrington) and I'll notify everyone when the blog updates.

Sorry everyone, and I'll get back to the reread as soon as my schedule gives me room to breathe again.

In the meantime, here are some links:

What is your Westerosi name?

And the manga-inspired covers of the Japanese Song of Ice and Fire editions.

Game of Thrones - Episode 4 - "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"

In these writeups I'm not recapping or reviewing the episode as much as offering my impressions as a big fan of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. With that in mind, these discussions will include spoilers aplenty for all published A Song of Ice and Fire books.

Click through to read my thoughts on "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things."

Place Holder!

I know, it's the first week of the "new" schedule and I already screwed it up. A friend was in from out of town, so I decided to meet up with him for a drink, which of course became several drinks. I tried to do a late-night post while I was a little buzzed, but it didn't quite work. Plus the next Eddard chapter is probably my favorite chapter in the entire book so I don't want to short-change it.

So what does it all mean? It means the actual reread post will be up later today or tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 25

Happy Wednesday everybody. Welcome back to South of the Wall for the next installment of the Game of Thrones reread. Not much to talk about today, so let's just get on with it, shall we?

Please note, this and every post here may contain spoilers for all currently published A Song of Ice and Fire work.

Game of Thrones - Episode 3 - "Lord Snow"

The introductions are out of the way, the characters have been moved into position, and now it's time to see how all of the Starks, Snows, and Targargyens adapt to their new lives. Jon has a shaky start, Daenerys takes to the Dothraki like a fish to water, and Ned Stark just can't seem to make friends anywhere.

In these recaps I'm not reviewing the episode as much as offering my impressions as a big fan of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. With that in mind, these discussions will include spoilers aplenty for all published Song of Ice and Fire books. If that's cool with you, click through!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 24

Welcome back to the South of the Wall reread. In today's reread the shit does truly hit the fan. (Have I said that before? I think I have. Well the shit tends to hit the fan pretty often in this book - I should probably just invest in an air conditioner). ANYWAY, Ned Stark's constant poking around finally produces a result.

As always, these posts contain spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire material, up to and including Feast for Crows.

And away we go...

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 23

And we are back with another fun-filled installment of the South of the Wall reread project! Today we will be taking our long trek through the Eyrie. I hope everyone is reading along, because from here on out I think the summaries will have to be scaled back some. The chapters are getting longer, and they are all densely filled with information, and there is no real way for me to cover everything the chapter talks about. I'll still quote any particularly relevant or cool passages, but you should really read along to experience all of George R. R. Martin's great writing and eye for detail.

And don't forget the standard spoiler warning applies. The posts and comments will all include spoilers for all currently published A Song of Ice and Fire material.

And without further ado, the post:

Game of Thrones - Episode 2 - "The Kingsroad"

The second episode was even more enjoyable than the first. Sure, not as much happened this episode, and it was mostly spent just moving characters around, but this week we actually got to spend quality time with many of our characters. We get to see them just going through their life, and really getting to know who they are.

In these reviews/recaps I discuss possible spoilers for all the currently published books, so if you're okay with spoilers, read the rest of my thoughts after the jump.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 22

Just a short post tonight. The Eddard chapters start coming more frequently, but none of them are very long. In other news, I hope everyone saw that HBO already renewed Game of Thrones for another season. So we will have the show at least through Clash of Kings, which is great news.

Remember, spoilers are likely and all that. I need to type up a standard spoiler warning that I can just cut and paste here.

Now, let's see what our good friend Ned is up to.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 21

Welcome back to South of the Wall. Sorry for the long wait between rereads. I really need to figure out a schedule I can keep and stick to it. Until then, enjoy the irregular reread posts!

This recap may get a little long, as there is a three or four page conversation that I find to be one of the most intriguing portions of the whole novel. Of course, it's overheard by a young girl chasing cats, so she doesn't understand the importance of the conversation.

Standard Spoiler Warning: This post may, and probably will, contain spoilers for all published books through A Feast For Crows.

Game of Thrones - Episode 1 - "Winter is Coming"

I wasn't planning on writing anything substantive about the premiere of Game of Thrones on HBO, but then I figured - why not? This won't be a review per se (there are plenty of those out there already) but more just my general impressions, focusing on how close it hews to the book or if there are any substantive changes that I either like or dislike. For anyone wanting to read an actual review of the show, please check out What's Alan Watching at Hitfix. His reviews are always interesting, and I have great respect for him as a TV critic. Plus, he's never read the books so you get a fresh take on the show.

Spoiler-filled discussion after the jump.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 20

What's that? Only three more days until Game of Thrones debuts on HBO?? Man, well it looks like we'll have to do 14 chapters a day in order to finish this reread in time. Get ready for the longest post in history!

Okay, that was a lie. Still going to stick to one or two posts a day (well, most days). I'm only human! Who else is only human? Tyrion the Imp! And with that god-awful segue, let's get on to the reread.

If you missed the post yesterday, please check it out, and tell me any theories or predictions you have for the rest of the series. As always, spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire works, up through Feast for Crows.

Tell Me Your Theories

Hello loyal followers of South of the Wall! Unfortunately I'm taking another skip day from the Game of Thrones Reread. I was at the Yankees game last night (and got to watch them defeat the first place Baltimore Orioles!), and I got home too late to write up a post.

Instead of just not posting anything at all, I thought I'd ask you guys a question. What is your favorite theory or prediction about the series? It could be a theory about someone's parentage, a prediction as to what you think (or hope) will happen, or even an insane guess that's probably not true but might be cool anyway. I thought this might be a fun exercise to expose everyone to different theories, and to give me things to look for in the reread.

I'll start things off with probably the most popular theory, that Jon Snow is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark (or R+L=J as it is often referred to). The basics are that Rhaegar and Lyanna fell in love during the tournament at Harrenhall. Later, the two of them eloped together. This, of course, led to Brandon Stark going to King's Landing to attack Rhaegar, believing his sister was kidnapped, which led to Aerys killing Brandon and Brandon's father, and ordering Jon Arryn to provide Ned and Robert to be executed, and I think we all remember what happened after that.

Anyway, flash forward in the war, Robert kills Rhaegar on the Trident, Ned reaches King's Landing and finds that the Lannisters butchered all the Targaryens that were there, including the women and children. His friend Robert is perfectly okay, and actually pleased at this, which leads to Ned and Robert becoming estranged. Ned then travels south with only a few close friends to the Tower of Joy to retrieve Lyanna. There they fight three members of the Kingsguard and win, although Ned and Howland Reed are the only ones to survive the battle. Inside the tower Ned finds his sister in a bed of blood, in a room smelling of roses. There she makes him promise something. Under this theory, the bed was bloody because of the childbirth, and the promise was to protect her son. Knowing Robert's hatred of the Targaryens and his penchant for allowing babies to be killed, Ned lies and says it is his son, to protect him.

And that's pretty much it. So what other theories and predictions do you guys have?

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 19

Ah, another look in at the goings on South of the Wall. The Hand's tourney is only half over, with some more intrigue and shady dealing to come. And that's not limited to the tournament, as Ned will continue his investigation into Jon Arryn's death. He's already been manipulated by Littlefinger, so now Varys takes a turn. Oh Ned. Stupid noble Ned.

Please remember, as always, that South of the Wall is NOT a spoiler-free zone. We are literally covered in spoilers. Dripping in spoilers. They are everywhere! So if you haven't read through A Feast for Crows, proceed at your own peril.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 18

What time is it? It's time for another South of the Wall Game of Thrones reread post! But you knew that right? Well if not, you do now. Sorry about missing another post yesterday, my work schedule has been irregular the past week. I'd like to say we're back on track now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring? There's a post today, anyway. I think to help keep the schedule I will just be doing one chapter a day, at least for this week. We'll see how it goes.

Now let's witness the Hand's tourney through the eyes of a stupid naive young girl!

As always, these posts may contain spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire material, up through A Feast for Crows.

On with the show!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 17

Welcome back to the South of the Wall Game of Thrones Reread! I'm so glad to have you. Please, make yourselves comfortable. Everyone settled? Good! Now let's watch as the Lady Stark has a comfortable evening at the Inn at the Crossroads.

As always, possible spoilers for all currently published Song of Ice and Fire novels (up through Feast for Crows).

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 16

It is time for another entry in the reread. Looks like it is another one chapter post today, but one is better than none, right? Today we follow Ned as he does some investigating around King's Landing.

Spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire material, so watch out.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 15

So I got stuck at work late again tonight, so another one chapter post. Yeah, yeah, I know but these posts take time to write up!  Without further ado, let's see what Jon is up to at the Wall.

Spoilers for all published material are possible, so be wary.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 14

Greetings, Singers of Ice and Fire. Welcome back for another installment of South of the Wall's Game of Thrones reread! Today we will see Eddard begin his investigation of the death of Jon Arryn. I'm pretty exhausted typing this up, so just the one chapter today.

Spoilers for all the Song of Ice and Fire books and novellas are fair game, so forearmed is forewarned. Everybody ready? Let's go.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 13

Free Men of Westeros! Lend me your ears! Well, I guess your eyes. Just read the post already, I just babble up here for a paragraph or two anyway. Nothing of note. Move along already!

I don't know if I posted this in awhile, and I'd be surprised if people just jump in on Part 13, but anyway, spoilers for all current Song of Ice and Fire material, this includes the four published novels, and the three Dunk & Egg stories (although I'm pretty sure they won't factor in, but better safe than sorry).

Onward!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 12

Another day, another reread post! It's getting very difficult for me to take a break from reading to type these posts up, I just want to keep going. Today we have Arya meeting her "dancing" instructor. I meant to include Daenerys' chapter too, but it's late so one chapter is all for today. I did finish reading the Mystery Knight however (an excellent addition to the Dunk & Egg series), so we should get back to normal now.

Now, boy, click the read more link right here. Just so.

No New Post Today

OK, well that title is not entirely true as what you are reading now is, in fact, a post. What I mean is that I didn't finish typing up Part 12 of the reread, so there is no reread post today. Sorry!

I think I have a semi-good reason for missing a day. The anthology WARRIORS was finally released in paperback yesterday, which meant that I finally had the chance to read The Mystery Knight - the third Dunk and Egg short story. Or is it a novella? I never remember the difference.

I love the first two Dunk and Egg stories, and I'm only about a third of the way through Mystery Knight but I'm enjoying it as well. It's interesting seeing what Westeros was like 80 or so years ago, and how the Targaryens were as rulers. It is also enjoyable to see the land through the eyes of a lowborn Hedge Knight, as all the other characters we "see through the eyes of" are Lords and Ladies (or close enough).

Once again, sorry for the 'skip day' and we will be back with Arya and Daenerys tomorrow!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 11

We are moving right along through Game of Thrones, and there's no reason to slow down now!  Today some more of our cast arrives in King's Landing, and Ned realizes immediately that his new job kind of sucks. And up north we see how big a giant wall looks when you're only three feet tall (or however tall Tyrion is).

A quick note, if anyone lives in/around New York City, HBO is sponsoring a food truck this week. Each day it will be giving out meals inspired by Game of Thrones. You could read more about it at HBO's Making Game of Thrones site. HBO is really going all out to market this show.

And now, let's see what Ned is up to.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 10

Ah, Monday! I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. We are really getting into the juicy part of the book now. It is very hard to stop reading every two chapters and write up my thoughts.

Today we have Catelyn meeting an old friend, and a character I plan to keep a close eye on this reread - Littlefinger. And our favorite bastard, Jon Snow, begins to see what life at the Wall is like.

As always, spoilers for the four books released so far: Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, and Feast for Crows.

On with the show!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 9

Part nine of the reread? Where does the time go. Nearly 1/5 of the way through the book! What will we be discussing tonight? First we have the ramifications of Arya's actions, and then we have a young crippled boy finally open his eyes.

The Bran chapter is actually very interesting, and as it is short, I recommend you go back and read that chapter yourself (if you're not already reading them along with these posts).

Okay, spoilers through A Feast for Crows, be warned, blah blah blah, you should all know it by now.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 8

I'm starting this post later than usual, so I'm going to try to make my summaries a little shorter tonight. Of course, every time I start typing I intend to write less, but then somehow get carried away. So I won't waste time with this blurb, just to say if you're reading the posts, please comment! I'd like to foster a discussion if I can, and maybe one of you will point out something I've missed.

And now, the reread. Remember, these posts assume you've read through A Feast for Crows, do there will be spoilers.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 7

And we are moving right along! In todays reread we will spend most of our time traveling. We've got Eddard & company heading south, and Tyrion & company heading north. We'll get to see more of the relationship between Eddard and his king, and learn more about the ever interesting Tyrion, who may be the most complex character in this series (and that's saying something).

Well that's enough of telling you what you're going to read, why not just get to it? As always, possible spoilers for all the books through A Feast for Crows below, so be warned!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 6

Ah, another reread already? Where does the time go!

Today we will say goodbye to Winterfell! It's funny, I've read the entire series twice before, but it has been several years. I remember all the big events, but a lot of the smaller events and some character moments must have slipped my mind. More are coming back to me as I read, but I remember less than I thought. What I'm getting at, is that I remember disliking Catelyn, but after her first two chapters I thought maybe my dislike was unjustified. Nope. This chapter pretty much seals it for me, I do not like her. I'll get into it more below, but this chapter opened up the floodgates a bit, and I remembered a lot of the reasons I dreaded her POV's.

But that's not all! We also get a wedding! And presents! Everybody loves presents!

A Monday Afternoon Update

So it turns out that trying to read two chapters, summarize, and discuss them everyday is harder than I thought!  I had begun today's post, but unfortuantely haven't finished it yet.  Instead of having another day with no content, I thought I'd point out some cool goings-on from the fine folks at Valyrian Steel. 

For the last few years, Valyrian Steel has been making official replicas of the weapons used in this series.  They already have for sale Ice (which we've seen in the reread), Needle (which we will see very soon in the reread), and Longclaw (a bit of a ways off, but my personal favorite sword. 

Now, just announced, is King Robert's warhammer.  The same hammer used to defeat Rhaegar at the Trident, and win King Robert a kingdom!

Check out GRRM's own thoughts on the hammer here.

And view the hammer, and all of Valyrian Steel's other weapons here.

And for any of you getting impatient for the reread, don't worry.  The next installment will be up later tonight!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 5

Who's ready for another Song of Ice and Fire reread???

In this part of the reread, the shit hits the proverbial fan. We see what a brother will do, for the love of his sister. And we finally got a Tyrion point of view.  Throughout the books, whenever I saw that a Tyrion chapter was next, I'd get excited.  What a great character.

Remember, possible spoilers up to and through A Feast for Crows, so if you haven't read - don't read this!

On to the reread!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 4

Welcome back to another installment of your daily Song of Ice and Fire reread!  In today's reread plots will thicken, and everyone will share Arya's hatred for needlework.  The events are moving along nicely, but the shit hasn't hit the fan just yet.

Remember, this is a reread, so beware potential spoilers for all four currently published books.  Now, let's see what Catelyn is up to.

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 3

Part Three of the reread already??  Where does the time go.  In the next two chapters we get into the heads of Eddard and Jon, and are introduced to a few more members of the ever-growing cast.  In these chapters some things are set into motion that have profound effect on the rest of the series.

And don't forget, this is a reread, there is a very good chance that the post will contain spoilers for future books.  So if you don't want any mysteries prematurely solved, or to find out who will wind up dead, don't read this and read the damn books!

So what are we waiting for?

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 2

Welcome back to the A Song of Ice and Fire reread! Now we move on to the next two chapters of A Game of Thrones. We get a lot of history and a lot of new characters coming up, so be ready for a lot of info.

As I said in the last post, but I suppose it bears repeating, this is a reread. Meaning I assume you've read these books before, so spoilers will abound. Aright, enough BS, on to the show!

A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 1

Now that we have the introduction out of the way, we can commence the reread in earnest.  This post will cover the prologue and first chapter of A Game of Thrones.  Remember, this is a reread, so I'm going to assume anyone reading this has already read through A Feast for Crows.  This means that there will likely be spoilers, and I may make comments about what will happen in future chapters or books if it seems pertinent.  S'aright?  S'aright.

Introduction

Game of Thrones debuts on HBO next month.  A Dance with Dragons will be released in July.  I think it is safe to say that 2011 is the year for A Song of Ice and Fire!

I've known about the show for awhile, but when Dance was given a release date last week, THAT caught me off guard.  I've read the entire series before, but I had been holding off on reading them again, awaiting that aforementioned release date.  I thought for sure there would be a long stretch of time between the announced finish of Dance with Dragons (note: the book is not ACTUALLY finished, but I am cautiously optimistic about this July 12 release date).  But now with the HBO series soon starting, and Book 5 on the horizon, I find that I do not recall the books quite as well as I thought I did.  I've read the first 3 books at least twice each, but I've only read A Feast for Crows the once, and that was devoured in less than a week.

What does all this mean?  It means that I need to read them all again!  And quickly!  And it occurs to me that a lot of folk are likely in the same position as me.  So, inspired by the lengthy (and excellent) Wheel of Time reread taking place over on Tor.com I thought I'd post my thoughts on the series as I read it.

The plan is to follow the format Leigh Butler uses on her WOT reread, wherein I briefly summarize the chapter, followed by my thoughts.

I hope to do 2 chapters every weekday, but as I haven't actually started typing up yet I don't know if that's too ambitious, or not ambitious enough.  We shall see!