Looks like Season 3 episodes are going to be longer!

Episodes will be 56-57 minutes long instead of the standards 52.

Article here:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/12/18/ga...nger-season-3/

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Not related to the show, really, but Martin's released a new sample chapter for TWoW, called "Arianne", featuring Arianne Martell: http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-sample.html

Thanks. I'll give that a look later tonight. Nice to know the old fart is actually working on it.

I had to put the book down and walk away for a while after that chapter. The ending of the book some what made up for it but, not enough. Absolutely heart wrenching.

Here is the link for the chapter list for people who have read it before:

http://boiledleather.com/post/245432...e-with-dragons

Excellent! I hope when the paperback for ADWD finally comes out that it includes a different sample chapter for WoW than the three already released.

Trippy new teaser:

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Holy shit, I didn't realize Ciaran Hinds is playing Mance Rayder. He is not really how I visualized Rayder, but he is a damn good actor. Another member of the Rome cast getting a big role on another show.

HBO releases a bunch of stills from season 3.

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/01/25/game...r-20-pictures/

http://media.sfx.co.uk/files/2013/01...eason_3_10.jpg

http://media.sfx.co.uk/files/2013/01...eason_3_16.jpg

http://media.sfx.co.uk/files/2013/01...eason_3_23.jpg

Hodor, Hodor.

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Can't. Wait.

Looks like Tyrion's got his scar. I'm disappointed Dinklage didn't fully commit and have his nose removed.

The Unsullied and the stone dragons! Oh this is....:whackit: :whackit: :whackit:

Rewatched Blackwater the other night...still an amazing episode.

Season two price has dropped again on Amazon...now down to $34.99!

I'm trying to stay out of the edit suites as much as possible but it's impossible not to see what's going on. Plenty of new characters and exciting news that I (for many reasons) will not divulge.

Rep!

Thanks for the heads up.

They've said this is the season they wanted to get to more than anything.

Can't wait. It actually irritates me that I have to.

It's like 'can't just film the whole saga right now and put it on an endless loop somewhere?'

GRRM just read excerpts from two new Barristan Selmy chapters from WOW at a show over the weekend. The battle of Mereen has begun...sounds like it should be awesome!

Here is a link to descriptions of the chapters he read from:

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php...ers-barristan/

Amazon just dropped their price again to $29.99, so make sure they price adjusted it for you. Amazon is supposed to automatically drop the price for you, but sometimes you have to give customer service a buzz if it falls through the cracks.

In fact, i just noticed they are still charging me $34.99, so I am contacting them now.

So a friend of mine told me to watch these & downloaded the first 2 seasons, which I just finished. Holy crap. I'm hooked.

Going to go buy the books in the next week or so.

You won't regret it.

Been told more than once that they're ridiculously long. Not that it bothers me, but I guess I want to get all my other reading out of the way before I start.

If you haven't read them yet, you want to stay out of this thread. There are too many spoilers in here, and half the fun is going through the rollercoaster without being spoiled.

You can skip straight to book 3 if you want to, but there are some differences from the first two books versus the first two HBO seasons that you would need to have explained to you. My wife did that and she has been fine once I explained a few differences to her.

It's worth reading them though. In my experience, the first three books go by very quickly, especially book 3 which has a LOT of action and events. Books 4 and 5 drag a bit and are very long, but they are still good books and do have things set up such that Book 6 should be epic!

I prefer reading books 4 and 5 together (like they were one large book) as I think the story flows much better that way and it is MUCH easier to get a sense for the timing of different parts of the story. In case you didn't know, Book 4 and the first half of book 5 take place at the same time but focus on different characters. I didn't really like having several of my favorite characters disappear from the story for all of book 4, and I never really got the proper sense of timing on events in different locations reading them that way. I did a re-read as my wife was reading them, and I liked them better switching back and forth between books 4 and 5. There are some chapter lists on-line that tell you the suggested order if you decide to go that route.

Martin is just very detailed. You'll notice that if/when you read them. A lot of the length is due to his describing the scene, wardrobes, expressions on characters faces, all the way down to the food that they are eating. How you picture it in your head is very similar to how you'll see it on the show.

He'll describe a character practically down to the shoes they're wearing. If you like books that are detailed, you'll like these books. I'm on the last one right now. I have never been much of a reader, but have enjoyed these for sure.

He is detailed, so you can skim the feast descriptions (except at Ramsay's wedding). But they are also long because he has built an expansive story with lots of characters at lots of locations all over his intricately created world. A few chapters drag, but overall, they are very entertaining books.

So did anyone read the Sir Barristan chapter descriptions I posted?

SPOILERS

I'm pumped to see him give the ra-ra pre-battle speech and actually get into battle. Selmy is a bad ass. And I like the sound of the new Red Lamb character which is one of the new knights Selmy trained. Cracks me up that the yunkish had tall dudes fighting on stilts, reminds me of the Persians in 300. No match for Selmy of course.

And Victarion and his fleet joining in the battle too, I wonder if he'll blow the dragon horn and what will happen when he does. If the pit fighting attracted Drogon, you can only imagine that the dragons must be nearby with a whole battle erupting. I also wonder what Tyrion, Mormont, Brown Ben Plumm and the second sons are doing during this battle. He needs to get the next book finished soon!

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It says the website is offline/down. Weird.

Sweet, can't wait!

S2 blu ray finally arrived. Can't WAIT to re-watch the series. Hopefully, get the whole thing in before S3 starts up.

I'm re-watching season 2, while waiting for season 3. Surprised at how many little details I'd either forgotten, or just missed. Such a great show.

Both seasons are available "On Demand" if you have TW cable.

It's only 10 hours. No problem.

301: Valar Dohaeris
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Daniel Minahan
Airdate: 31 March

302: Dark Wings, Dark Words
Written by Vanessa Taylor
Directed by Daniel Minahan
Airdate: 7 April

303: Walk of Punishment
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Airdate: 14 April

304: And Now His Watch is Ended
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Alex Graves
Airdate: 21 April

305: Kissed by Fire
Written by Bryan Cogman
Directed by Alex Graves
Airdate: 28 April

306: tbc
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Alik Sakharov
Airdate: 5 May

307: The Bear and the Maiden Fair
Written by George R.R. Martin
Directed by Michelle MacLaren
Airdate: 12 May

308: tbc
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Michelle MacLaren
Airdate: 19 May

309: The Rains of Castamere
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by David Nutter
Airdate: 26 May

310: Mhysa
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by David Nutter
Airdate: 2 June


('Mhysa' is a Ghiscari word from the book, which translates as 'Mother')

It appears they will end the season with Dany going all #burnitdown. Pretty good choice. And given the titles, I think I know which episode will have a certain wedding.

Yeah, it looks like maybe the episode 9 trend continues.

I hope that the end would be her taking the second city. They can't wait til the end to do her acquisition of the unsullied, that would be awfully slow pacing for her story. I think that part has to be mid season. Maybe in the kissed by fire episode which could be Dany taking her unsullied and ygritte dying. Which would be a hell of an episode.

Haha, definitely! I wonder what the Bear and Maiden Fair episode that GRRM is writing will cover?

Come to think of it, that song's sung at a certain wedding. Maybe it happens earlier than we think.

It would make sense for him to write it.

I'm thinking the Bear and Maiden Fair will cover Brienne in the pit in Harrenhall, and maybe even Joffrey's wedding.

Are they really going to cram all of book 3 into one season?

No, as I understand it they're going to be committing multiple seasons to books 3, 4 and 5, in some sort of combination. i.e. season 3 is maybe 2/3 of book 3, season 4 will be the rest, and then go on to concurrent events from books 4 and 5, which will in turn carry on into further seasons.

This not official by any means, but it's some fan speculation I came across earlier in the week:

Extended trailer:

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Stumbled across this. The song doesn't really relate with the show, but someone did a pretty decent mashup of the two....

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TFK is the tits! You shut your whore mouth! :cuss:

If I've watched the TV show religiously, but haven't tackled any of the books ---- could I jump into the third book and be up to speed? Or should I start at book one, knowing that it will be a re-hash of much of what has happened during the TV show?

You could start with book three. But there is a lot of information the show has left out. So, you'll probably want to talk to folks/read up on the stuff you've missed.

My recommendation would be to start with book one. Yes, it's some rehash, but the stuff you've missed (the stuff the show has left out/changed) is so worth experiencing for yourself. I strongly recommend reading the books from the beginning.

If you're going to read the books, read them all. HOWEVER.....

I've read all the books, and now frankly wish I hadn't. Seriously, the show is so well done, the only thing that sucks is knowing what's going to happen. Especially this season, since the third book is the best of the bunch.

There is a ton more info in the books, and they could help in understanding better the motives of the players. That being said, the books are looong reads.

If time/speed is an issue, go the audiobook route. Roy Dotrice's narration on the first three are fantastic.

I'm a hardcore audio book guy (listen on my commute), but I already have a pretty big queue. Good to hear about the voice though, I'll keep that in mind. I do balance audio book vs. read myself, and one of the big decision points is the narrator.

I'm less inclined to read now than I was when last season ended for this very reason. :D The wait after season 2 seemed excruciating; less so with the latest preview from HBO.

I might be just a crazy fanboy of the books, but to me, the show doesn't do the story justice. What makes ASOIAF such a masterpiece is the endless myriad of details that all fit together like an amazing, huge puzzle. It's mind-blowing how GRRM could have thought of everything he did. It should be impossible for a human being to have such an imagination, but he somehow does.

Sure, the broad strokes of the show still create an interesting and intriguing story and it is rather enjoyable, but shit, man, the books are like a million times better.

Read book 4.

The narration without Dotrice sucks and sucks hard.

So I've been reading the Century Trilogy by Ken Follet; Fall of Giants and Winter of the World are the two that he's released. I came to a conclusion:

GRRM has ruined books for me.

The entire time I'm reading I'm just waiting and trying to figure out how the next beloved character dies or when someone seemingly benign or even benevolent turns into an evil sonofabitch (and vice versa). Hey wait...that doesn't happen.

What? You can do that? You can have a book that doesn't make you flip backwards 3 pages and re-read it just to make sure that the "What the ****" moment you just had actually transpired?

It's different and somewhat refreshing to read an involved, 'adult' book where I don't get the feeling that the writer is openly antagonistic towards his readers. Follet does a hell of a job and it just couldn't be any different from GRRM.

I like Follet quite a bit, but I've fought through Fall of Giants, it just wasn't as interesting as most of his other work.

It's completely different. I don't generally care for Follett, but these have such a strong historical lean to them that I'm fascinated by them. I want to read the Pillars of the Earth series as well.

One can only hear "WWI happened because an Austrian prince got shot" so many times before the simplicity of the whole thing drives you !@#$ing insane. Then you read Fall of Giants and you're just relieved that not everyone in the world is content with giving 10 second history lessons.

If you want to make any of those feel like light reading, pick up "The Longest Winter" by Halberstam. Once you get through that thing, reading the dictionary feels easy. I finally gave up on reading it and listened to the audio (my best friends grandfather was a contributor and is quoted several times; great man. He signed my copy and gave me an addendum to the book before he passed a couple years ago).

I've never had to fight a book harder than that one and I think it's the only time the book actually won.

If you do decide to jump into book 3 (my wife did, so it's possible), you will need to get someone to explain the main differences from the show to the books. Biggest one is Ramsay Bolton who has not been introduced in the show yet, but plays a major role in Book 2.

But more than that, this is a spoiler thread, so if you have not read the books, you should stay the hell out of this thread so you don't get spoiled on some major events that are caually mentioned throughout this thread. There is a non-spoiler version somewhere that would be better for non-readers to discuss these things in. Seriously, you don't want to be in here!

To me, that's just overblown Stephen King crap - too much shit, too little substance. IMO, the books have strayed way too far from the core characters.

I haven't read any of The Century Trilogy. I've done Pillars of the Earth, and and I have World Without End in my queue to read. Big fan.

I couldn't make it through Fall of Giants. Connie Willis' Blackout/All Clear was so much better.

Pillars of the Earth is much better. Jack Daws is a fun WWII read and I really liked Lie Down with Lions about the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

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Robb :deevee: :deevee: :deevee: :deevee: :deevee: :deevee: :deevee: :deevee: :deevee:

I can't wait for the Youtube reaction videos afterward.

I have a feeling it might not be as monumental as the ones after Ned's beheadings. More people have probably read the books by this point.

Should still be epic...

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Awesome, best one yet!

All right, you guys need to stop with the promos. That or come over here and wash my crusty unmentionables. ;)

Man the long wait is almost over. Thank god my parent have HBO and I can use their HBO GO account

This should be the best season of any on TV.

I agree. S.O.S. was such a great read seeing it transformed onto the small screen will be amazing.

Those teaser clips are just amazing. I want to savor each one of those moments.

What a f'ing great show! God almighty...

Why can't this be on so I can stop bothering with the Walking Dead? It is just awful now.

Re-Reading it now. Yeah, it's going to be amazing. Most anticipated season of TV since I found out Lithgow was playing the main villian is S. 4 of Dexter. That didn't disappoint and this should blow that out of the water.

Not really anything to do with the series, but Time Warner has game-of-thronesed one of their "enjoy better" ads.

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