Watching the TV show did however remind me of the books, and considering the fact that I recently plowed through all three Fifty Shades books without punching something or somebody, I decided it was about time I actually read something brilliantly written for a change.
And I've been completely immersed in the series for a while now. It's probably one of the only reasons why I still voluntarily put up with the awful public transit in Ljubljana - I found out that I can read a lot on my iPhone while waiting for the bus or riding the bus in peak hours. Which is probably why you always find me at the bus stations minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive. More time waiting for the bus = more reading time.
One of the reasons why I love the series so much is the fact that it gives you a very realistic feel of the world. It's crude, it's real, and it's full of complex characters that actually feel human. There's nothing romantic about Martin's knights. They bleed like everyone else, drink like most, and smell rotten after a week in prison. On the other hand, I can’t really say I know Aragorn that well.
And there is a particularly interest aspect in the books for me: the slowness of communication and how utterly unaware most characters are about what's going on in the rest of the world. They don't have Twitter to cover the latest rumors about the dragons from across the sea. They don't have paparazzi following queen Cersei around King's Landing. They can't make threats to distant foes in a blink of an eye through SMS or email. They don't have people making "King Joffrey totally looks like his uncle Jaime" posters on meme sites.
Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.
