Martin reads a chapter from book 6....the reading is at 30:50

Just a hint on how to get through the books faster. I figured out by book 3 that Martin is in love with describing what a person is wearing. He will spend entire paragraphs on describing what someone has on. You can easily gloss over those parts and not miss a beat.

So for those that have read the books, were those really the Stark boys hanging there at the end?

Well since this is the spoiler thread...

No.

Like Dany's one breast covered one not dress. I wish that made it from book to TV.:p

There is a disappointing lack of Dany nudity this season given that she had some nude scenes last season already, so you know she was willing.

I have to disagree about the dragons getting no action until book 5. They are babies, so they do need time to grow up before they can really wreck shit. GRRM does not generally take shortcuts on realities like that. But that being said, there is a little bit of dragon action at the end of book 2 (as I am sure there will be on the show), and there is more dragon action in book 3 which was my favorite book overall and was also my favorite BY FAR with regard to Dany's story line. Dany is not in book 4, so of course no dragons either, but they return in book 5 with a little bit of action again, though not as much as I'd have liked.

However, given where things stand after book 5, dragons will certainly be playing a bigger role in books 6 and 7 since they are pretty much grown up by that point, and events are in motion. Plus the show has clearly decided it can take liberties with the dragon part of the story, so they may try to work in more dragon action than the books had (may be tough due to high cost of special effects).

Yeah, that was my favorite Dany book as well. She finally starts to come into her own as a leader. And her dragons get to seriously wreck some Astaporian fools.

Since books 4 and 5 happen concurrently, I'm sure there will be plenty of Dany and the Dragons during both/all the seasons that involve that timeframe (who knows which seasons they'll be; it may well be the 5th and 6th or even 6th and 7th seasons, and might even involve a 3rd season).

I keep wondering if Theon's first mate, will end up being that bastard Ramsey Bolton. Originally, I was thinking there was no way that he was. Now, I'm not so sure.

I wanted to cheer when Ygritte told Jon, "You know nothing, Jon Snow." Even though I'd already correctly guessed that he was walking into a trap, I still really enjoyed the taunting. Between them, and Jon's "Stones and Bone." LOL!

Tyrion can be a twisted dude and he's definitely smart, but oddly his biggest liability in his "game" was that he had too much heart. That scene between him and Cersi did an amazing job of showing that side of him. It was a fantastic performance. There was a moment there where he was wanting to hug his bitch of a sister before he remembered who she was. The talk about Joffery being a crazy dog due to inbreeding was pretty hilarious.

The scenes with Tyrion and Cersei are always entertaining. Great job in the one last night when he wasn't sure if he should comfort Cersei. And it was right out of the book as well, which was nice given all the other departures from the books.

Dagmer Cleftjaw has taken over the role Reek played in egging on Theon in the books, but I don't think that he will actually turn out to be Ramsay. Ramsay has been mentioned by his Dad, and HBO is casting for him, so I think he will still show up at Winterfell soon.

Since they're totally re-writing Dany's storyline now, is there any chance that the wizard at the House of the Undying is capable of taking the baby dragons and "aging" them into young adults? Seems like an easy fix to get the dragons ready to be players in the story, even if it is a cheap escape.

Ned Stark cake pops

http://notyourmommascookie.com/wp-co...012/04/348.jpg

I gotta say, this bugs me

Tyrion is very loyal to his family particularly Jamie. Despite the way he is treated by his father and sister he still holds them in high regard. For now...

Well, to be fair, that's not how it goes down in the books. The dragons are never stolen.

As for your other complaints about the show, I think the main thing is that this series is put together much differently than just about everything out there. We have been trained to identify the good guys and the bad guys. We look for the hero of the story to root for and the villain who we all know will eventually lose.

GRRM clearly wanted to tell a story that was based more in reality. The good guys aren't perfect, and the bad guys aren't pure evil (with a couple of notable exceptions). Everyone's just playing the "game" and hoping to come out on top.

Could the dragons eventually grow up and go crazy? Sure. But this is a more realistic series - animals take years to grow and develop. It's a slow-moving pace compared to other series for sure, but the intricacies of the relationships and plotlines are what makes it intriguing, not the spectacle and intense action.