Fable

Config said: I haven't read the book nor have I seen her on Ellen, but I have watched at least 5 or 6 interviews with Piper Kerman, and she has never come across as anything other than sincere and genuine. If you want to get an overall sense of her mindset, I would suggest youtubing her, and decide from there if the book is for you or not.

I wish there was a thread to compare JRRT and GRRM, because I think there are a lot of interesting comparisons to be made, but I'm not going to start one because I'm just not sure that it would generate much interest. I would like to say this though. Both did love their world building, but at least Tolkien had the good sense to keep most these stories as separate entities for interested parties only and did not include them in his story telling. When reading the Martin series, I feel like, after I have read what everyone was served at dinner, what they were wearing and the state of the wall decorations, I have completely forgotten where the story is going. I know I probably sound like I hated his books, but I really didn't, although I didn't love them either. I think the concept behind his novels is very smart and provocative, and his characters are by and large pretty interesting (because obviously I would likely not have enjoyed the TV show if not). My problem is that it seemed a lot of the things he wrote were poorly executed. It seemed like he needed to explain too much to the reader without leaving much to the imagination, and this brought the story telling to a grinding halt!

According to the website tolkiengateway.net (which for some reason, I am having a hard time linking to at the moment), LoTR was written as one book over a period of 12 years (1937 to 1949) and was published as 3 separate books in a time span of just a little over 1 year (1954-1955), so while it may have taken JRRT over a decade to write, readers didn't have to wait over 20 years to watch the story unfold. If GRRM feels he never wants to write another word, that's his right, and I don't feel like he owes me or anyone, but I probably will not read the rest of his series, if it ever comes out, once I have seen the conclusion of the TV show. If I had started reading these books when the first one came out, I would have probably given up long ago after realizing how long it was going to be between books.

If Martin wants to take his time, I guess he is under no real obligation to get his series done in a timely manner, but his attitude towards his fans, is really a bit off putting. While I agree that this is his work and it's his business and his privilege to write at his pace, it's a bit much to expect the fandom to wait 20 plus years for the conclusion of a story. It's even more off putting that he thinks the show should slow down for his sake. God Lord, get a grip! The ONLY reason I bothered to read the books was because I had powered through the first 3 seasons of GoT last summer, and I did not want to wait another 8 or so months to find out what happened. Now, if the show gets ahead of the books, I won't feel any need to read the rest of the books as I found most of them a bit tedious and rather dry reads. I love the show but your books aren't really my cup of tea, so go ahead Mr. Martin and take your sweet time!

Wish Granted! Syrio learns from Varys, that he is the eldest son of the descendant of the first true King of Westeros and the 7K. He decides to cut down Meryn Trant and the rest of the Kingsguard and usurp the throne. So doing, he decides he needs a wife to produce heirs and immediately choses none other than Margaery Tyrell. Grandma Tyrell does not approve of Syrio due to his lack of political and military experience and suffocates him in his sleep with one of her granddaughters' embroidered doilies, but only after Margaery bears him an heir. The Tyrells go on to populate Westeros with free love and flower power. I wish Brienne/Pod/Arya/The Hound could have had an adventure together!

I really loved him, but I don't see how they can logistically bring him back storywise. My understanding is that faceless men go from one face to another. But one thing I don't know, is if the assassin can return to their original face ever, taking on various faces only as needed. In that case, if Jagen was the assassin's original face and he only took on other faces to take out his victims, I could see it, otherwise, A Man is gone from A Show! Based on what is in the books, I have a feeling once you give up your identity, you can't go back since there is a big deal surrounding the idea of being "no one", even giving up your possessions. I think the show does fine with the pretty, but, hey, more never hurts.

Agreed, and like I said, it seems a bit of a long shot! My only basis for that theory is that if Sansa were to be the somewhat speculated younger and more beautiful woman to cast Cersei down, that her younger brother might be The Valonqar. I didn't mean just anyone's random younger brother. Sorry for the confusion.

This might be way out there, but could The Valonqar be the Stark younger brother, Bran? It would be poetic justice! Right?

Holy Christmas!! That last scene has to be the worst thing I have ever seen on TV, including Theon's gift in a box. Damn! Even though I turned my head, I am sure that is going to haunt me forever!

I don't know....I kind of liked this season but I did think there was too much of the drug war story. I found Norman very subtly going mad good stuff. I really don't want to see him implode. I would rather watch how he got from point A to point B somewhat seamlessly.

God, I had almost the exact same reaction. I was so scared for Will's poor dogs, and then was relieved and thought okay, it's just Mason cutting off his face, no problem. I wonder what that says about me....on the other hand, no I don't even really want to know!

I'm more convinced than ever that Trubel is going to end up being Nick's sister. I thought the conversation between them about meeting their own parents and Nick telling her one of her parents had to be a Grimm might be a foreshadowing, and when they flashed back to Kelly, I really thought there was a significant physical resemblance to Trubel, and she looks a lot like Nick too. I don't mind the idea of Nick losing his powers (temporarily of course), but the idea of Adalind duping him into having sex with her to accomplish it really bugs me. It just seems wrong on so many levels. Uggghhh! Oh well, here's to next season and whatever it might bring!

If it works for you that is fine, but for me, it became confusing from a story telling point of view. It is believable but no less confusing!

I could offer many, but that would take forever, so I offer you this instead: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/List_of_Characters#A I am talking first names only, but take a peek. Multiple Roberts, multiple Erdics, multiple Eddards, multiple Alyns. multiple Balons, and so on and so forth! I grant some of these characters may be from GRRM's world building stories but not all. At least on the show they did the courtesy of changing like-sounding names for the sake of clarity, not so much in the books!

I'm gonna say, I don't like the books. I watched the show on whim up to S3 last year and then read the books because I wanted to get an idea of where it was going. I'm not a fan. GRRM gives multiple characters the same name (for reasons unknown). He spends pages describing things that add nothing to the narrative. He obviously has no idea how to wrap things up. I'm far more interested in how the show plays this story than how GRRM plays it out.

So very true. Too many weird names really congest and deflect from the story. Scratching my head about who is this again, and why are they there really breaks up the story telling!

I can't believe Jack let Alana see Freddie. I'm not quite on the Alana hate train, but seriously, she has not crossed over to Hannibal-is-a-killer mindset. It seems premature to believe that she would side with them against him.

53 minutes ago I like Trubel too, and while I find some things about her clichéd, her uncultivated behavior seems to add some layers to her. Sure it's weird that her foster families may not have taught her table manners and such, but it sounds like she was never with any one family for long and never really had much opportunity to sit down to dinners. Whether or not, it doesn't really bother me. I like the idea that she is a creature of the streets who is lacking in social skills and manages survives without them. I wouldn't mind if she stayed on with the Nick and Juliette, but the cast is already getting bloated, so I hope she, at least, if they drop her, gets a decent sendoff.

This makes me think she will end up related to Nick since it seems she was cast for her physical likeness to David Giuntoli. In any case, the character seems interesting and is a welcome addition considering some of the other things going on...Royals, Adalind, I'm looking at you <yawn>!

I don't think it was about Norman's suicide as much as it was about digging deeper into the twisted shit going on between Norma/Norman. I hated that scene for the squick that it was and loved it for what it said about Norman's mindset with regard to Norma! This show started out with an inappropriate and dysfunctional relationship between mother and son, but as it evolves, it leads further into Norman not being able to identify himself without his mother. I love this shit. I hope it gets even darker in S3. p.s. Love your recap Tara, but Hannibal and Bates Motel? Apples and oranges, don't you think? Hannibal is just a total mind fuck (which, by the way, I love) and Norman Bates is a slow burn (love also)

I haven't minded the pacing of the show to this point, and I haven't minded Norman's slow downward spiral or watching exactly how and why he ends up like he does. I wouldn't want it to have happened quickly. However, that being said, it seems clear he has pretty much gone round the bend now, and for that reason, I think the show needs to up the stakes next season in order to keep it interesting.

I truly hope he doesn't, although I'm afraid he will, if only for the emotional impact. I didn't like it in the book, and I would really dislike it on the show. At least in the books it was somewhat understandable, but the show has painted a completely different picture of Shae, and there is no background to support Tyrion killing her. Killing Shae would be completely out of character for him given what we have seen of him and the nature of their relationship on the show so far, and I will be very disappointed if it comes to that.

That was my initial interpretation, but I had to question it because it seems to me that a queen's pregnancy would be a big deal and the death of a crown prince would attract some attention.

Littlefinger is kind of an interesting character study. He was the boy-next-door who really wanted, but couldn't get, the girl so decided instead to climb the chaos ladder to prove himself. I don't think he considered Cat a piece on the board, but I do think he loved the idea of her more than loved her in reality, although I do think once he realized he was out of the game, he decided to play his own game.

When talking to Margaery, Cersei referenced Joffrey as her first born, but back in the first episode she told Cat about a son she had with Robert who had died. I don't think it was ever addressed in the book, but were we supposed to assume that was a lie or the truth? I think that would be a hard to lie to cover up when you consider that the heir apparent died. It seems like that would be common knowledge.