The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors.
Game of Thrones Season 2 premieres tomorrow night!
Showing posts with label Game of Thrones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game of Thrones. Show all posts
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Top Five of 2011
My top five favorite things of this year:
5. 21 by Adele
Adele is brilliant. She has such a powerful voice, and the music and lyrics are perfect.
This the first album I've bought in a while where I enjoyed every single song. I've played this over and over again and still I love all of the songs.
Of course my favorites are "Rolling in the Deep" and "Set Fire to the Rain" but none of the songs feel like they'll ever get old.
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
I was skeptical about splitting book seven into two movies, but the way it was handled here was perfect for me. Though I liked Part I a little better (it was more true to the book), I loved everything about this movie.
Between the books and movies being over (something that's been a part of my life for like the last 15 years!), I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.
3. Where She Went by Gayle Forman
So this is also my number one favorite cover of the year. There's just something about the model that's so entrancing. This was definitely one I was excited to buy and keep on my shelf.
And then I read it.
So. Amazing.
It takes so much to write an impressive follow up (I loved If I Stay), and even more to write one that has alternating past and present chapters that are both equally engaging. I read this in one sitting. And I WEPT.
2. All Things Game of Thrones
I fell in love with the TV show and then all five books. I've become a complete George R. R. Martin fangirl. That he can create such complex and relatable characters, and a world with so much history, is simply amazing. And the show! It's perfect. Definitely the best thing on TV.
1. Chime by Franny Billingsley
This was definitely my favorite book of the year. It was dark and complex and I was on the edge of my seat for the whole read. Briony is the kind of character I want to know and be friends with.
The voice, the writing, the descriptions, the story! Everything was so amazing that I was depressed for a few days after I finished it because I couldn't spend more time in that world!
Adele is brilliant. She has such a powerful voice, and the music and lyrics are perfect.
This the first album I've bought in a while where I enjoyed every single song. I've played this over and over again and still I love all of the songs.
Of course my favorites are "Rolling in the Deep" and "Set Fire to the Rain" but none of the songs feel like they'll ever get old.
I was skeptical about splitting book seven into two movies, but the way it was handled here was perfect for me. Though I liked Part I a little better (it was more true to the book), I loved everything about this movie.
Between the books and movies being over (something that's been a part of my life for like the last 15 years!), I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.
So this is also my number one favorite cover of the year. There's just something about the model that's so entrancing. This was definitely one I was excited to buy and keep on my shelf.
And then I read it.
So. Amazing.
It takes so much to write an impressive follow up (I loved If I Stay), and even more to write one that has alternating past and present chapters that are both equally engaging. I read this in one sitting. And I WEPT.
I fell in love with the TV show and then all five books. I've become a complete George R. R. Martin fangirl. That he can create such complex and relatable characters, and a world with so much history, is simply amazing. And the show! It's perfect. Definitely the best thing on TV.
This was definitely my favorite book of the year. It was dark and complex and I was on the edge of my seat for the whole read. Briony is the kind of character I want to know and be friends with.
The voice, the writing, the descriptions, the story! Everything was so amazing that I was depressed for a few days after I finished it because I couldn't spend more time in that world!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Complex Characters (aka Let me Fangirl George R. R. Martin)
I've decided my favorite characters--heroes or villains--are the ones that I'm not really sure about.
In the last few months, I read all five of the books in George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Fire and Ice. One of the main plotlines revolves around The Game of Thrones because 15-20 years before the book opens, there's a rebellion, the former ruling family is overthrown and most of them killed off, and the leader of the rebellion makes himself king. Only he was a better solider than he is a king.
I could say I devoted a lot of sleepless nights to the several thousand pages in the series so far because I love the worldbuilding. (I do, it's the closest thing to Middle Earth I've ever read). I could say it's because I love the fact that no one is safe that I know GRRM won't pull any punches. (Sometimes, I don't love that, though.) Or I could say that I love the twists, the gasp inducing scenes that always convince me I have to read just one more chapter. (There are some big ones).
But really, it's the complexity and moral ambiguity of all the characters. Because for each character, everything happening in the books relates to that rebellion, to what happened to them in their past. They remember events differently and their actions are based on those memories. When I first started reading book one I was convinced who the good and bad guys where, only when I got to book two and started reading from some of those "bad" guys' points of view, I realized they weren't all that bad. In fact, in some instances, my opinion was completely turned on its head.
There are other great examples of really complex morally ambiguous characters that I've loved. When I was reading Harry Potter my opinion of Snape and whether he was good or bad changed with each book. And it took me most of The Hunger Games to figure Haymitch out. And that's why I found them so interesting.
First published on 8/8/2011, this post in its original form can be seen at Brave New Words.
In the last few months, I read all five of the books in George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Fire and Ice. One of the main plotlines revolves around The Game of Thrones because 15-20 years before the book opens, there's a rebellion, the former ruling family is overthrown and most of them killed off, and the leader of the rebellion makes himself king. Only he was a better solider than he is a king.
There are other great examples of really complex morally ambiguous characters that I've loved. When I was reading Harry Potter my opinion of Snape and whether he was good or bad changed with each book. And it took me most of The Hunger Games to figure Haymitch out. And that's why I found them so interesting.
First published on 8/8/2011, this post in its original form can be seen at Brave New Words.
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