Thursday Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's A Game of Thrones
It's always interesting when movie and TV directors interpret books onto the screen. Sometimes, when in the case of Eragon (by Christopher Paolini), the movie is horrible and extremely disappointing. Of course, it is always difficult to reveal character's inner thoughts (unless one uses the annoying voice-over) and some action scenes/special effects are hard to demonstrate. However, many directors are quite successful in their fandom-pleasing interpretation.
I am one of those ASOIF (A Song of Ice and Fire) fans that started with the HBO series before reading the books. At this moment I am in the middle of "A Feast for Crows." It is interesting to remember how accurate the TV show is compared with the books. While they cannot get every plot detail in and reveal the motives of the characters, they do a very good job of showing the tension cruelty and heroism within human nature.
My only major complaint is of the ages of the characters. While I understand that finding younger actors and actresses to play long-lasting characters is very difficult, there is something lost when a 16 year-old actor is used to play a 9-10 year-old child whose father is beheaded before her very eyes. It also loses something when a 17 year-old plays Sansa who at 13 experiences the intense intrigue of what Littlefinger calls "the game of thrones." Also, 26 year-old Kit Harington plays Jon Snow (15 in the book) journey's to the harsh north-of-the-wall and makes decisions that no child should ever have to make. Finally, 15-year-old Robb Stark is crowned King of the North and is murdered only about a year later. 27 year-old Richard Madden is a wonderful actor for this role. However, I feel that the age of the true Robb Stark reveals how immature he truly is. He is young and an idealist. He breaks an oath for the sake of love (for which he is brutally murdered). He leads armies to victories. Again, I understand that it is hard to find actors for younger roles...and I feel that what is lost in the older actors is an unavoidable flaw in published writing being transposed to film.
So far, I am enjoying the book series and I cannot wait for the next season of GoT to come out next year. I hope the directors continue with their faithfulness to plot and that George R.R. Martin finishes the series strong.
I am one of those ASOIF (A Song of Ice and Fire) fans that started with the HBO series before reading the books. At this moment I am in the middle of "A Feast for Crows." It is interesting to remember how accurate the TV show is compared with the books. While they cannot get every plot detail in and reveal the motives of the characters, they do a very good job of showing the tension cruelty and heroism within human nature.
My only major complaint is of the ages of the characters. While I understand that finding younger actors and actresses to play long-lasting characters is very difficult, there is something lost when a 16 year-old actor is used to play a 9-10 year-old child whose father is beheaded before her very eyes. It also loses something when a 17 year-old plays Sansa who at 13 experiences the intense intrigue of what Littlefinger calls "the game of thrones." Also, 26 year-old Kit Harington plays Jon Snow (15 in the book) journey's to the harsh north-of-the-wall and makes decisions that no child should ever have to make. Finally, 15-year-old Robb Stark is crowned King of the North and is murdered only about a year later. 27 year-old Richard Madden is a wonderful actor for this role. However, I feel that the age of the true Robb Stark reveals how immature he truly is. He is young and an idealist. He breaks an oath for the sake of love (for which he is brutally murdered). He leads armies to victories. Again, I understand that it is hard to find actors for younger roles...and I feel that what is lost in the older actors is an unavoidable flaw in published writing being transposed to film.
So far, I am enjoying the book series and I cannot wait for the next season of GoT to come out next year. I hope the directors continue with their faithfulness to plot and that George R.R. Martin finishes the series strong.
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