Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup-Game of Thrones part 2!

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) Insight Editions-The Art Of Game Of Thrones 
Filled with gorgeous illustrations and artwork from HBO’s hit series, The Art of Game of Thrones is the definitive Game of Thrones art collection. The official collection of behind the scenes concept art and production design from HBO’s landmark TV show Game of Thrones. Learn how BAFTA and Emmy award-winning production designer Deborah Riley and her team brought to life the iconic locations of Westeros and beyond. One of 4 comprehensive and officially licensed Game of Thrones retrospective books from Insight Editions.

• UNMATCHED DEPTH - 432 pages of concept art, sketches, and production design images covering Game of Thrones seasons 1-8.
• DETAILED REVELATIONS - Comprehensive behind the scenes details covering the design of iconic locations such as King’s Landing, Winterfell, Dragonstone, and Castle Black.
• CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CREATORS - Authored by production designer Deborah Riley and including an exclusive foreword from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B.  Weiss and preface from Emmy Award-winning production designer Gemma Jackson.
• A PRESTIGE COFFEE TABLE BOOK - Deluxe 9.75 × 13 inch format.
 
I wasn't sure exactly what this was going to be like as art department pretty much covers everything built on set but it is in fact concept art of all the major people and events from the tv series. Visually the book is stunning-the artists have perfectly captured the faces of all the main cast for later seasons when the stars have been cast, a few early ones with blank faces done before filming it seems. The double or full page art of the castles like the Eyrie with the stunning mountains and interior bird murals are gorgeous. Harrenhal was brooding and creepy, Dragonstone looked stunning, with the art showing the arrival of Dany and taking in the beach, castle, walkways and sea. It made me wish I was there and that I could draw like that! I could see myself living there as it is remote, secluded and beautiful!

Niggles? A couple of minor ones. There are pages of black and white blueprints which really seem pointless with small writing beside them about constructing the set. There aren't too many of these pages but I don't find them that interesting to look at. There is not a lot of text in the book which allows for reading it easily in one night. However the people that write the actual text don't seem to have watched Game of Thrones as the information is often wrong. An example is the Three Eyed Raven telling Bran, Meera, Jojen and Hodor to flee because the Night King is coming to the cave-trouble is, Jojen dies before the group ever get inside the cave so how can he flee south with the others? Another weird one is Varys and Tyrion being in Volantis to negotiate the end of slavery and then getting on a ship to go back to Dany in Meereen. Um, it is Jorah who kidnaps Tyrion from Varys to take to Meereen where Tyrion meets Dany for the first time. I just find it lazy writing to not fact check this stuff before printing it and it is frustrating! 

The book is beautiful and I could look at the artwork many times so the book was certainly worth buying!

Read November 2019
5 stars.

2) Kim Renfro-The Unofficial Guide To Game of Thrones
The everything-you-missed, wanted-to-know-more-about, and can’t-get-enough guide to the Game of Thrones television series—from the first episode to the epic finale. Valar morghulis!
Spanning every episode across all eight seasons, INSIDER’s entertainment correspondent Kim Renfro goes deep into how the show was made, why it became such a phenomenon and explores every detail you want to know. It’s the perfect book to look back at all you may have missed or to jump-start you on a second viewing of the whole series.

As an entertainment correspondent, Renfro has covered the show’s premieres, broken down key details in scenes, explored characters’ histories, and interviewed the cast, directors, and crew. In this book, she sheds new light on the themes, storylines, character development, the meaning of the finale, and what you can expect next. Some of the questions answered here include: What was the Night King’s ultimate purpose? How did the show effect George R.R. Martin’s ability to finish the book series? Why were the final seasons shorter? Why did the direwolves get shortchanged? How were the fates of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen foretold from the start? Was that really a bittersweet ending?

Winter may have come and gone, but there is still plenty to discover and obsess over in this behind-the-scenes fan guide to the Game of Thrones HBO series.

Any book that says 'unofficial' or 'behind the scenes' leaves the potential buyer a little unsure of whether it is a guide to the series or delving deeper. This book is not an episode by episode book looking at the plot and deeply at the characters. If you are looking for that kind of guide, then Myles McNutt's book 'Game of Thrones-A Guide to Westeros and Beyond' is a good buy. This book really does go behind the scenes of the series, starting with how the writers met GRRM and got the green light for the show from HBO. It was interesting to get details of why that unaired pilot just didn't work and had to be re-done and which scenes from it are used in the series. It looks at why the show was able to overtake the books and the reasons for the delays with The Winds of Winter. I'm as frustrated as anyone about the delay but if it means the book is as good as A Dance With Dragons which had the same issues, I'll forgive it. I do want a high quality book not thrown together writing y'know?

This book also looks at casting choices and how Sean Bean and Peter Dinklage were the two 'must get' actors, upheaval at HBO with their partners pulling out just before filming began (tut tut BBC!!!) and the sacking of the woman who green-lit the project because HBO hadn't had a big hit in years (how embarrassing!). There are sections about the music, why the direwolves were cut from later seasons and why fans hated those decisions, book fan anger at the plot changes that had no basis in the written material and things not shown that should be, pandering to fans online who wanted certain plots to happen even though GRRM was unlikely to have chosen that route, the prophecies confusions, the season 7 and 8 backlash, costumes, Jon's parentage, Jon and Dany's doomed romance, behind the scenes pranks, how the MC's discovered their characters were to die, cameos and how different the book ending could be.

I found the whole book fascinating and I'm glad it delved more into the production and the book v series issues than just rehashing all the episodes. There was a lot of interesting discussion in here and I'm starting to really understand the fury of book fans when you read the actual reasons given by the writers for cutting episodes in the last two seasons, cutting wolves to insert a CGI polar bear because it would be cool and changing/inventing their own plot issues just to keep things 'unexpected'. Yeah I can get a better grasp on the anger that certain things that were book lore being discarded against the will of the fans. I really enjoyed this book which let me feed my obsession!

Read November 2019
4 stars.