The first season of “Game of Thrones” is all done and gone; season 1 being ten episodes of pure awesome. Why is it so awesome, you may have asked…supposedly? Well, having read the George R R Martin series of books, I was a fan from the get go. This series of books and the resulting tv shows were critically acclaimed, and loved by fans who have read the books or are new to the whole thing. It’s pretty amazing, because well, I had this dread that the fantasy genre was going away. So let me give you all a quick recap of what Game of Thrones is, and really the whole series called “A Song of Ice and Fire” is all about, and maybe my poor description will have you running to your bookstore or getting HBO to check out this amazing bit of entertainment.
Set in a medieval time in the fictional world of Westeros, it follows the complex lives of dozens of characters, from an imp born in a wealthy and powerful family, to a wouldbe hero, who’s ideals and search for the truth leads to a war. It’s an adult fantasy, where there’s sex, violence, politics (but not in a boring way), and surprises around almost every turn. It’s a real look into the human psyche that no other fantasy series I’ve read has really been able to capture. It’s for this reason that I got hooked on the books, and have been salivating for each new installment. Though the guy does take forever and a day to come out with the next book in the series, I assure you it’s worth the wait.
The show itself now, because its on a cable network, allows all the sex and violence to be put up on screen without much censoring. I’m amazed how true to the source material “Game of Thrones” is, and how things I pictured while reading are being brought to life, right before my eyes. It’s intense, it’s awesome, and the theme song itself…which you may have heard or are listening to right now, just brings you into this world. It’s not just all fights and nudity, but you really learn to love and hate these characters. They absorb you like a sponge, and though it may seem slow to some, the build up is well worth the wait. So I’m excited to share this with the world, to other geeks and nerds who haven’t discovered this yet. But this isn’t the only fantasy series out there that I highly recommend, this is just the latest and the tip of the iceberg.
Now, when I was a kid, I started reading fantasy novels like “A Wrinkle in Time” which got me interested in the genre in the first place. As I grew older, my sister and I began to read more and more fantasy books. That’s how I stumbled upon this gem, “The Eye of the World”, the first book in the “Wheel of Time” series. For years I’ve heard they were going to do a “Wheel of Time” (a series written by Robert Jordan) movie or tv series that never seemed to happen. And the fanbase for this series, going at the moment 13 books strong, at about 1000 pages a piece, with a 14th and final book in the series, you’d think that there would be something on this enormous sword and sorcery universe revolving around the one man who would save the world in the Final Battle against the Dark One. Whew, that was a long and probably totally grammaticaly incorrect sentence. Anyway, sure there have been a lot of fanmade stuff, and talks have been going on forever, even after the death of the original author, you’d still think that something this big would garner at least a mini series. Though this books are geared towards a more young adult audience (IMHO), it has a fully realized world with deep characters, and honestly…way too much description of what a tapestry looks like on a wall. But still, one of the bigger fantasy book series spanning the last 20 years, I’m sad to see that this never got made into something bigger. Though, there are always those rumors.
Which leads me to the final series I wanted to talk about, “The Sword of Truth“. Though this actually got turned into a tv series called “Legend of the Seeker“, akin to “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Xena: Warrior Princess”, it only lasted a couple of seasons, and there is rumor of a third coming out…eventually? I liked the fact that it was loosely based…for the most part…on the popular series written by Terrry Goodkind. Now, I never really got into the show even though I read the books, to almost completion…(the last three were kind of rubbish), but it followed the tale of the Seeker of Truth as he rid the world originally, from these evil wizard, and then…well, from an army who wanted to take away magic from the world. It was a really good series, up until it seemed like the author wanted to step away from the bigger picture and focus on the main characters. That’s cool and all, but it just didn’t feel right. Either way, one of the best things about the series were the Wizard’s Rules, which applied to each book in turn. 12 books, 12 rules. How convenient, no? But back to the show itself, there was a campiness I liked, and I wanted to get hooked, but I think I just didn’t have the time…at the time. Maybe I’ll revisit it.
So I bring these books and shows up for one reason. Since “Lord of the Rings”, (which, I’d provide a link, but really…who doesn’t know Lord of the Rings?) there hasn’t been a good fantasy type anything out there. Sure there’s Harry Potter, but that’s more modern day stuff. I’m talking about that whole world of dragons and sorcery, magic and horseback riding and swords and…and…well, you get the picture. And with a “Game of Thrones” being a huge success and a show I recommend to anyone and EVERYONE, it’s just kind of cool to see that there’s hope the genre will flourish again. And if you haven’t seen Legends of the Seeker, seek it out now! No pun intended, it’ll bring back the campy feel of the mid to late 90’s, where shows were just plain fun to watch. Personally, it makes me want to read all those books again. So if you haven’t checked any of this stuff out, you really should. It’s almost a nerd staple!
What novels would you like to see be turned into a movie or a tv show…or mayebe even into a cartoon? How great would that be? Let us know in the comments!
PS: I really hope I put all the quotation marks…wait…maybe I was supposed to italisize…damn you grammar and your complications!
