Yeah, it's pretty funny, haha :]

As for Osha, GRRM is changing her up a bit for TWOW based on how well-liked she is due to the show.

edit: or at least, giving her a more prominent and "interesting" role.

edit2: oh, I just got your meaning, lol.

Really?
I hope it won't be weird.

At the very least, we can expect a POV chapter, but we'll see, I guess ^^

I assume it's a play on words with Stan "The Man" Lee, even though Marvel has nothing to do with A Song of Ice and Fire.
Edit: Add Dennis the Menace to the play on words, so you have a mix of the two.

Actually from a Winds of Winter chapter released recently it seems Tyrion is moving further to the dark side he has been walking rather than turning back to his old self

And we all know Sam will be the last badass standing if the Mannis lets him

... and putting a beard on two men can make them look alike ... but I won't say "drastically". Honestly I didn't notice the actor changed before reading it here (didn't watch previous season recently though).

Bottom line : the beard should be credited, provided they did use the same (anyone know if each actor grew his own beard ??)

Jamie's been played by the same actor the whole way through (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau - yes I did have to look up the spelling on that one). He just looks so different now because he's all "cleaned up" again - it's almost strange seeing him back in his Kingsguard cloak and armor after being in muddy rags for a year. Well shot that it actually seems more out of place than the fact that he's missing... well you know.

Am I the only one who keep getting increasingly annoyed at how they just make up stuff as they go along? I hoped things would get back on track with season 4, but it's the same BS here too I see. Main events are more or less correct, but anything else is wildly off. I can't enjoy the series any more, not truly. It's totally unnecessary stuff too. Why rape the books like that?

Also, things are pretty damn clear in the books as it is, but at least there are some grey lines here and there. In the series, however, they may as well paint intentions in their foreheads. Season one was pretty good and mostly accurate, but it's been going downhill ever since, and increasingly off track. Disappointing.

Its on the World of Ice and Fire app if I remember rightly

So I just finished reading the last few chapters of the fifth book (don't worry, I won't spoil anything).

This is exactly why I have postponed finishing the book, taking my veeeery sweet time with it, for about a year. Waiting for the next one, for likely several years, is going to be hell :(

As for Tyrion, I think they have made him more "heroic" and "good" in the series than he is in the books, but I don't actually find him "insecure" in the books, like some others have said here, unless I misunderstand your meaning. He has inner demons borne from the way he has been treated, but he is well-read and intelligent and understands the world around him, and uses that to get out of tricky situations. But in the books at least, he is one of very many with both good and "evil" characteristics, though probably leaning more towards good. Several of the Starks are "good" characters I suppose, but of course Ned got whacked pretty soon. All operate in that moral greyness though, and I would include Jon in that.

How do the other people who have read the books find the show? As mentioned, I get quite annoyed at all the unnecessary changes, which in my opinion makes the story/show worse than in the books. As this has progressively gotten worse since season 1, I'm not looking forward to how they deal with things as the show catches up to and perhaps eclipses the publication of the books. I should add that it's probably good watching it 'blind', but knowing how things could have been, and should have been, it can get frustrating watching the episodes.




WARNING: There are SPOILERS in the next post!!

SPOILERS

It's been a while since I've read the books, so maybe I misremember my impressions of Tyrion and his insecurity. I don't remember all the specifics now, but I do feel like he's playing the game of thrones because it's something no one expects him to do, or to do particularly well, and I think that if Dany, or that Prince kid, comes to trusts him, he might become his/her downfall (not because he's incompetent, but because he's self-interested); I think I felt this way reading ADWD because he's just feels a bit broken after everything that has happened since he escaped KL, and a bit desperate, I suppose.

To be honest, I enjoy the show more than I do the books now; the last book of the series I liked was ASOS because I felt like GRRM had a direction, like he was composing this masterpiece, but now everything just seems a bit lost.

Who knows, though- maybe after all is said and done, the series as a whole will make more sense. As it stands now, though, I feel like GRRM has expended so much effort in being, quite simply, "anti-Tolkien", that he himself doesn't know where he's going with the story. I hope I am wrong, oc. Not picking on the anti-fairytaleism, I enjoy it a lot; both genres have their place.

But yeah, the shows, while oft inaccurate and frivolous, are right now better at coherent storytelling than the writer, I feel.

END SPOILERS

^^ Think you should warn about SPOILERS there...

I should do the same, so beware, there are SPOILERS below.



Probably agree with you on Tyrion; he has a bad habit of drawing those around him into serious trouble, albeit he does tend to get out of it too, partly due to luck of the dice and partly due to his knowledge of the world. Seems to just go from one problem to the next though.

The direction in the first 2-3 books were better, I agree, the last few are lighter on action and it mostly just heats up towards the end of the books. But I do like them a lot, and they add so much flesh to the bones, which a TV series simply cannot do to nearly the same extent. But what I miss the most from the books are the greyish scale in the characters, which is much more present in the books (less good/evil), and everything isn't spelled out in war fonts either. For some reason everything just seems BIGGER too in the books. Take the wedding in the last episode. It looks like a family affair, to be a little harsh, but in the books it's a massive drain in the Crown's coffers. Some of the scenery in the series is wonderful -- the Wall, Winterfell, King's Landing and so forth, but often it all seems so much smaller somehow than in the books.

Anyway, having just finished book 5, I look forward to how the story progresses, and sincerely hope Martin won't adapt things to which characters are popular in the TV show or bullcrap like that. He should write according to his own vision, and not be a turncloak :D

Look forward to the likely crash soon coming when one or the other take on the Lannisters et al (the landed one already is really), and how things will transpire in the North, where I agree Bran will become very important, as will Dany's dragons. Will be interesting to see if the realm really does unite against their common foe, when people finally realise what is brewing up there.

END SPOILERS



At last, I hope we don't have to wait to 2017 or something before the next book is out.... With the series being such a success, hopefully it gives Martin a kick up the ass to write a bit faster again. Quality is of course important, but I want to see it completed before he croaks too.

I watched Season 1, then read all 5 books, then watched the rest of the TV series. I feel just like I do with The Walking Dead: each medium is awesome in its own right, and I can't really say that I prefer one over the other. Of course you will almost always get more story out of the text, but these shows are so great (to me) compared to everything else out there that I (normally) don't even care when they take liberties with the story or omit details. However, with AGOT I have one big exception.

SPOILERS (Speculation) BELOW:

I really wish they had left Ned's Tower of Joy dream in Season 1, and included more of Dany's experience in the House of the Undying in Season 2 (“his is the song of ice and fire”). When reading the novels, these two scenes just screamed at me that R+L=J is true, and the show-experience just seems a little “weaker” without these clues as to who the namesake of the series is. Hopefully they'll leave more of these elements in the future seasons (like when Melisandre looks for Azor Ahai in her fires).

END OF SPOILERS

Also, as to the direction of the last two books not being as good as the first few, there are some fans who “recombined” them into one large book:

http://boiledleather.com/post/24543217702/a-proposed-a-feast-for-crows-a-dance-with-dragons

On my next read-through I'm going to follow this order, so hopefully AFFC and ADWD will be a bit more enjoyable.

Edit: Oh, and as to Martin changing things due to the show/fan speculation, I read an interview a while ago where he said that if he were to change things, he would be a terrible author. He has his vision for the series, and nothing is going to change that.

Sorry! Forgot the tags ^^

SPOILERS

The fact that they didn't show all of Dany's House of Undying stuff makes me think that R+L does not equal J.

And Joff's wedding was one of my favourite parts in the books! I also think it's the turning point where Sansa finally grows some spine for initiative, just from the emotional jolt she gets because of the sword. Oh, man, I love that whole thing. I haven't seen how well they cover it in the new season yet, though- going to wait till the whole thing is done to watch.

Also, I think there's still lots of time for the show to cover the Ahai stuff, but it's true that the show is lacking in the myth/lore portion of the storytelling, and focuses more on court drama/war/politics. I guess that's the creative direction they wanted to take?

But really, both the show writers and GRRM are going to have to decide sooner or later how that stuff is going to be resolved. If GRRM is feeling particularly anti-Tolkien, it will hardly get resolved ^^ We'll see, I guess.

END SPOILERS

Yeah, excellent, I've been meaning to read that combined one, definitely before the next one. And I meant, ASOS in my previous post, lol!