A Song of Ice and Fire vs A Game of Thrones: To Watch or to Read

Note: This is a spoiler free post. I cannot claim the same for the comments. Tread with caution.

There has been a topic for a while now in the A Song of Ice and Fire community about what to do about the show passing the books in story line. Based on my observations, people seem to fall into three camps. 

There is the "I just have to stop watching the show. I want to read everything as George RR Martin intended" camp who have abandoned all online interaction with the ASOIAF community and cancelled their HBO Go subscriptions. They are the purists who want to experience it first on page, unmarred by any show additions to stories that may not be made up. Good luck with your journeys, for the nights are long and full of spoilers.

Then we have the "I am not too excited about the books being passed and things getting potentially spoiled for me, but what choice to I have? Martin can only write so fast" group. These are the ones who have resigned to watching the show, even though it passes their knowledge. Maybe they have begrudgingly made the decision that they would rather have the show spoil them instead of people at work on Monday.  But silently (or not so silently) they are urging Martin to write like the wind.

Finally the third, the "Hell yeah! New Game of Thrones Content!! My body is ready!!" These are the people who are just so overjoyed at something new in the world of ice and fire to see, that they couldn't care less that it is one step up from sanctioned fan-fiction on screen. The writers have talked with Martin, they know the general story, it's as good as cannon for them.

It's fun to watch this play out. I personally am primarily in the "Yay! New content" camp. I still have some high pipe-dream level hopes that The Winds of Winter will publish before the next season, but honestly, I just love this world so much, and the HBO series is such a good adaptation, that I am all in.

But it brings up a good conundrum for spoiler sensitive future-Julia. What will it be like to have potential future twists already known or expected? Theories that people have had for literal years are being pretty much confirmed by things the show does. How is that going to read in the book? Will I enjoy it less because of my gratification now?

I don't know. The answer is unclear to me. It's very weird to be in a position where a movie or TV show has spoiled a book before it is even written. I can't think of any other example. Books are usually the predecessor. But in this case, I've made my decision and I am loving it.I can't wait for these next two episodes.


Are you guys in one of these camps? Even if you are not Game of Thrones watchers/readers, how would you react if a popular book series was adapted to film and passed the written texts? 

Happy Friday everyone!

On Game of Thrones, and Why I Made My Husband Spoil it For Me

I was never really able to get into Game of Thrones. My friend Jess told me about it years ago (long before the TV series was out; long enough ago that when I bought the first book, I bought it at Borders), and I tried to read it, but I just felt meh about it. I’m not a big fan of fantasy to begin with (except for Harry Potter, I guess), and part of the reason why is because I’m really not interested in the world-building that has to be done. I don’t have much interest in having to learn a whole new vocabulary just to understand the book I’m reading.

Over the past few years, though, I’ve been hearing more and more about it, especially with the TV series coming out. Everyone has been absolutely raving over it. Naturally, because I’m a bit of a hipster, I assumed that if it was appealing to the lowest common denominator, then it wasn’t much good. So I kept avoiding it.

Finally, though, on my honeymoon a few weeks ago, my husband decided to read the first book of the series. He finished it in about two days and was glued to it that entire time. The more into it he seemed, the more interested in it I got. Once he finished it and told me how good it was, I said I thought I might give it a try—on the condition that he tell me the plot, spoilers and all.

Initially, he was scandalized that I would ask for the plot of the entire book, spoilers included. However, I managed to convince him to tell me (by telling him I would just read Wikipedia if he didn’t), and since he likes to talk and has a great memory for things he reads, I think he actually enjoyed spoiling the whole book for me.

When I’ve told people this, I’ve gotten incredulous looks. Why would I want the whole plot to be spoiled? Don’t I want to find out what happens on my own? To the second question I give an emphatic NO. See, I already know what happens: EVERYBODY DIES. TRAGICALLY. My cousin once told me that 75% of the characters from the first book are dead by the fourth, and they’re all dead by the fifth. (I don’t know how true that is, this is just hearsay, so don’t yell at me about spoilers 0_0). I don’t like when characters I like die. And since I knew that basically everybody dies horrible deaths in this series, I decided I wanted to know beforehand who bites it and how.

So really, having my husband spoil the book for me has really made it a lot more enjoyable to read (I’m almost done with it). Not only has he totally explained the world they live in, but he has also prepared me for the brutal deaths that I just don’t think I could have handled had they been a surprise. This way, I’m able to participate in a huge cultural phenomenon that previously I had been missing out on, but as a detached observer. I already know what’s going to happen, but I can still enjoy the little humorous bits, the heated dialogue, and the characters’ personalities—and best of all, I know which characters I shouldn’t get attached to!

I really think that if I had tried to read it again without any pre-knowledge of the events that were to occur, I probably would have put it down by now. As it is, it’ll still take me about three weeks to finish it, but that’s partially because I know who’s about to die and I’ve been trying to keep him alive as long as possible…

Have there ever been any books that you wanted to spoil or have spoiled for yourself? Or do you think I’m insane? Have you ever had a book spoiled for you that you didn’t want spoiled? (I’ve already had probably at least the second and third GoT books spoiled for me…I know who dies in the Red Wedding…) Did you still read the book even though it was spoiled?