Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire: Read or Watch?

[Nerd unRage]

You can do both. My husband started watching the series and on another forum we are both on, a lot of the people there had already read the books and said the first season was a pretty faithful adaption. We bought the books and my husband's finished all of them. I just barely started book 3.

I've heard rumors the next season may be a mash up of books 2 and 3 which would be a good thing. Book 2 has a lot of just walking around with most of the characters so I felt I had to be patient with it. I did enjoy the ending though. I hope book 3 picks up the pace a bit more. I don't need endless amounts of action (especially in books) but a fair amount of action in between quieter parts are good especially in an epic such as this.

 

[Kegg]

I thought the dragons were kinda cool, but badly under-used.

I actually meant the novel Dance with Dragons, but you have a point there. One issue with the novel series being seven books and not three is that a few Chekov's Guns have taken a while to fire, as it were.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I'll go with the consensus and say do both. You can get the first four books in a box set dirt cheap on Amazon, so if it doesn't appeal to you, it's no big loss money-wise.

 

[Elemental]

Thanks for all the thoughts, guys. I guess I should clarify that I wasn't really thinking I would only read or watch but which one I should do first. I was a little concerned that if I watched it first, I might not get as much out of it as if I read first and knew more of the smaller details, or I might not be as interested in reading the books afterwards. But, it seems that a good number of people did it in that order and still really enjoyed the book.

I've actually picked up the first book in hardcover and read the first chapter. The mini-series has been calling to me however since watching the first part so I think I'll have to do as instructed and do both!

I am, however, also on the final season of a rewatch through The West Wing, so I could probably convince myself to hold out on the miniseries a bit longer if people thought that there would be more to be gained if I try and read it first.

If I could find a list of what chapters are encompassed in what episodes, I was even considering reading a few chapters and then watching the episode that those chapters are encompassed in. If it follows the book quite closely that might not be too hard to do...

 

[Shurik]

If I could find a list of what chapters are encompassed in what episodes, I was even considering reading a few chapters and then watching the episode that those chapters are encompassed in. If it follows the book quite closely that might not be too hard to do...

The good folk of Westeros.org did that in their episode reviews:
http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Episodes/

Warning - those descriptions are full of spoilers.

 

[Skellington]

I haven't watched the show per se but I did read the first book for the first time while the show was on. Brutal and brilliant. Straight into my top five or so novels. I say go with the book first and if it engages you then consider the series. Personally, I'm eagerly awaiting news of a Blu-ray release.

 

[spooky spice]

And with every following book i get a mental picture of donkey in my mind with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpgM9XWS-90

That's it exactly!!

I thought the dragons were kinda cool, but badly under-used.

I actually meant the novel Dance with Dragons, but you have a point there. One issue with the novel series being seven books and not three is that a few Chekov's Guns have taken a while to fire, as it were.

I've not gotten as far as DWD, and I doubt I will, if someone ever writes an abridged version of the series (I reckon you could tell the story in one book) I'll read that!