Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup-Game of Thrones

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! So lets catch up with some reviews from November!

1) Game of Thrones Costumes
Discover the secrets behind creating the costumes for HBO’s Game of Thrones in this definitive guide. The official guide to the complete costumes of HBO’s landmark television series Game of Thrones. Discover how BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning costume designer Michele Clapton dressed the heroes and villains of Westeros and beyond, including Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, Jon Snow, and Arya Stark. One of 4 comprehensive and officially licensed Game of Thrones retrospective books from Insight Editions.

• CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED - “...peruse the best of the robes, gowns, coats, and suits of armor that made up the rich fabric of Westeros in Game of Thrones: The Costumes.”—Vanity Fair
• LEARN HOW COSTUMES DEFINED CHARACTERS - 440 pages of in-depth interviews and commentary on how costume design helped convey the evolution of George RR Martin’s beloved characters such as Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, and Brienne of Tarth.
• SEE EXCLUSIVE IMAGES AND DESIGNS - Over 1,000 exclusive and rarely seen images including Michelle Clapton’s designs and original concept sketches.
• HEAR FROM THE SHOW’S CREATORS - Features an exclusive foreword from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
• AN EYECATCHING COFFEE TABLE BOOK - Deluxe 9.75 × 13 inch format.

I thought this might be the book out of the three that I least liked because it was all about the costumes but I loved this book! It is a huge heavy slab of an encyclopedia, and it covers the book characters and the individual looks created for them. I had no idea that the costumes told such a story. After a colour scheme and selection of material were chosen for ie the people in the North, the designer then looked at each character. It was explained how for example Sansa began as the girl who wanted to be a princess and queen, dressing better than her sister then copying Cersei at King's Landing, wearing her hair in the southern style as she tried to be a lady. It then explains her changing costumes as her life goes through changes-the death of her family, learning from Littlefinger, marrying Ramsay, becoming Lady of Winterfell and Queen in the North. A story appears giving a reason for the dragonflies on her dress, every bead and piece of jewellery-every single stitch and clasp has a meaning and it was fascinating to read this for each character. I'll never look at the costumes the same way and I'm amazed at the amount of thought that went into each outfit.

Read November 2019
5 stars. 

2) The Photography of Game of Thrones
Enter the world of HBO’s global television phenomenon Game of Thrones with The Photography of Game of Thrones—the definitive photographic collection from the set of the hit series. Witness how official unit stills photographer and Nikon ambassador Helen Sloan and the unit photography team selected 850 incredible images from the production of HBO’s legendary series Game of Thrones, including candid, never before seen images of cast and crew. Enjoy exclusive access and images directly from the set as George RR Martin’s world of Westeros was translated to the TV screen.

One of 4 comprehensive and officially licensed Game of Thrones retrospective books from Insight Editions.

• UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS - 416 pages of images, details, and anecdotes covering Game of Thrones seasons 1-8.
• EXCLUSIVE IMAGES - Curated from an archive of 1.5 million photos. Enjoy over 850 hand-selected images direct from the set.
• UNSEEN MOMENTS - View legendary characters such as Tyrion, Daenerys, Cersei, Jaime, Brienne, and Jon Snow uniquely captured through Helen Sloan’s lens.
• HEAR FROM THE SHOW’S CREATORS - Features an exclusive foreword from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
• A PRESTIGE COFFEE TABLE BOOK - Deluxe 9.75 × 13 inch format.
  
This wasn't as good as the costumes book as the way it was set out was not a great presentation. Instead of dividing the photographs by season or geographical location it was decided to split them up based on what the author thought fitted into each of the Seven-and it meant a complete mish mash of photos from each season on the same page with no coherant reason for the display. It was pretty annoying. For example under the heading of The Father...we get a shot of every cast member to start us off. The Chapter headed The Mother has a discussion about alliances and photos of fathers with their children. It showed no real sense that it was done this way. The two page intro to each aspect may well have been written by someone who never watched the series judging by the plot mistakes and pretenscious sounding waffle. For example it described Sam as a poor ranger-which of course he never was a ranger, just a steward who went north of the Wall with the ravens in place of Maester Aemon who was too frail to make the journey. I found this annoying.

I also expected better quality in the actual photographs. There are some photographs like Ned at the heart tree which are visually stunning as are some of those taken in good lighting and the battle scenes. It is when the scenes go indoors into reduced lighting that the quality reduces a bit. Some are well lit in these darkened scenes to show emotion from the characters but there are some that are so dark that I question the wisdom of including them at all. One of Yara and Theon is so dark I could barely make out who it was meant to be. With over a million images snapped, I did wonder about the choices made. I guess I expected a bit more from this than what I got. It was still nice to look at the photographs but setting it out better would have certainly raised my rating.

Read November 2019
3.5 stars.