I'm a big, big or as Donald Trump would say yuuuge fan of Game of Thrones (thanks Dare for the heads up) and I decided, whilst waiting for Season 7 The Ladies in Charge to read the books.
I hit up the Amazon store and me being the completist that I am purchased all the books George R R Martin wrote. Initially the spot the difference between the book and the series was fun Theon is a much more shady character in the book better foreshadowing his turn in later seasons. Mr Martin also appears to reveal a great fondness for descriptions of underage...well let's not go there it's a fantasy and he is more than entitled to artistic license.
In the TV series Ned was portrayed as noble and the only honest man in a den of snakes. In the book nope for me he came across as a simpleton who failed to read the signs and realise despite repeated hints that not everyone was playing by Marquess of Quensverry rules. For the first time ever, I found myself flipping through Ned's sections to get to the characters I enjoyed in the book. Sansa was also such a wet character in the book and it was difficult to see what the actual motivation was to cast her sister to the side for the seemingly perfect Prince Joffrey, we all know how that turned out.
I'm guessing this is a testament to the skill of the actors and scriptwriters, they've polished on the books narrative structure and rounded out a somewhat bog standard fantasy story and made it sing.
I was a firm believer in reading the written version to fully appreciate the author's intent. In his case the Game of Thrones show runners have carried the torch Mr Martin lit and ran with it. I'm confessing I won't be reading the rest of the series. Now if only the Kindle had a returns policy.
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