[Book Spoilers] What did non-readers of the book make of it?

[BlackStoneCA]

I never could get the wife to read the book series, which is funny as I managed to get her to read Kushiel, Wheel of Time, and other fantasy series I follow. She loved the show, and kept on asking me for spoilers. When Viserys was done his scene she turned to me and went "Please tell me he dies, and dies horribly." She was shocked at the incest, but in that "OMG! Plot twist!" kind of way, and when Bran was tossed off, she physically grabbed me and said. "Tell me his is not dead. Tell me and you had best not lie like you normally do when I ask for spoilers!" As I have a habit of telling her the opposite of what happens when she asks me for "what happens?"

So another fan that will watch the series.

[Balefont]

37 is a pretty nice number, congrats.

Thanks. :)

I did miss this thread at first, but I'll jump in for a related question. How do you feel about your friends who, having seen the pilot, want to start reading the books?

Elated. It makes my "job" convincing people to read them much, much easier. ;)

ETA: I'd still rather they read the book before watching the series. Reading is always my preferred media.

[GoTreviews]

Daddy Torgo, yours is a pretty amazing story :) It's Nice seeing people showing such an amount of enthusiasm for the things you like. Balefont, thanks for the advice, it makes sense. Still, I can't help but wondering: how would I have felt about this pilot, had I not read the books before? Guess I'll have to find a couple of guinea viewers to find out :P

[Prince of Dinas Emrys]

For the record, and to present more than just the positive responses among non-readers, the husband in the house which we visited last Sunday was busy and seemed generally disinterested in the program as it played.

He made a lot of noise in the background, shuffling papers and messing around with noisy equipment while the show was on, which I found inordinately distracting. I mean, look fella, your wife is a huge fan of the series, and you invited my wife and me over specifically to watch the show. CAN YOU KEEP IT THE FUCK DOWN DURING THE TENDER, SOFT-SPOKEN MOMENTS OF HARD-TO-HEAR DIALOGUE?

Thanks. It felt good to get that off my chest. :rolleyes:

[Ferrum Aeternum]

For the record, and to present more than just the positive responses among non-readers, the husband in the house which we visited last Sunday was busy and seemed generally disinterested in the program as it played.

He made a lot of noise in the background, shuffling papers and messing around with noisy equipment while the show was on, which I found inordinately distracting. I mean, look fella, your wife is a huge fan of the series, and you invited my wife and me over specifically to watch the show. CAN YOU KEEP IT THE FUCK DOWN DURING THE TENDER, SOFT-SPOKEN MOMENTS OF HARD-TO-HEAR DIALOGUE?

Thanks. It felt good to get that off my chest. :rolleyes:

:lol:

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

I watched with family members (mother, who has read the first book and is kinda a fan anyway, as well as brother and sister, total n00bs). They all enjoyed it, particularly my brother who kept asking when Peter Dinklage was going to come and kill bitches. My sister didn't approve of the Dothraki scenes, and I had to convince her the books aren't racist. Both of them were completely shocked by the ending, and unfortunately my sister forced me to say whether Bran lived.

They kinda understood what was going on, but they did find the Stark children rather confusing. Theon and Robb in particular. Seems to be a common theme.

Definite future viewers though.

[Jaime Lannister]

Pretty funny review, he goes completely nuts at the 8 min mark.

I fucking LOLed when he said he's going to refer to Viserys as "Prince" because he forgot his name.

[Balefont]

Daddy Torgo, yours is a pretty amazing story :) It's Nice seeing people showing such an amount of enthusiasm for the things you like. Balefont, thanks for the advice, it makes sense. Still, I can't help but wondering: how would I have felt about this pilot, had I not read the books before? Guess I'll have to find a couple of guinea viewers to find out :P

:)

I think the other reason why I'd rather read the book than watch the show (for anything) is that I tend to like whichever I experience first. In this case, I'm grateful that I read the books first because they are f-ing fantastic. At the same time, I enjoy watching True Blood but I have absolutely no desire to even give the books a try. Now, if I'd not read GoT before watching the show, I'd still probably read it, but my experience with the show would interfere.

[DaddyTorgo]

:)

I think the other reason why I'd rather read the book than watch the show (for anything) is that I tend to like whichever I experience first. In this case, I'm grateful that I read the books first because they are f-ing fantastic. At the same time, I enjoy watching True Blood but I have absolutely no desire to even give the books a try. Now, if I'd not read GoT before watching the show, I'd still probably read it, but my experience with the show would interfere.

Exactly.

[Rinso]

I watched the premiere on 18th with my mother (I don't have HBO in my place, so I had to use hers :blushing: ). She had never read the books, but had some recent exposure to the show because of press articles and interviews with the actors.

The toughest thing was explaining the symbolism behind the dead stag and wolf.

Me: "See, that's an important omen - the stag and the wolf have killed each other, and the stag is the symbol of the king's family, while the wolf is theirs (meaning and pointing the Starks)"

My mother: "So, the stag is the symbol of the guys with the white hair?" (she had read a press article and an interview with Harry Lloyd, where the author had mentioned their unique hair color as a distinguishing feature, and I had briefly explained that they were the exiled descendants of the last king)

Me: "No, no. The guys with the white hair are the kids of the previous king, the stag is for the current one, who overthrew them."

My mother: "So, they are the kings? (meaning and pointing the Starks)"

Me: "Ugh..."

Up until almost the end, she held to the idea that the Starks are kings. She also mistook Ned for Robert or vice versa once.

Other reactions:

"Poor thing! Is he dead?!" - After Bran's fall.

"Hah. The dwarf is quite the lecher." - At the end of the brothel scene, when Jaime summoned the other three whores.

"Oh, not a big deal. They probably did that a lot in the Middle Ages." - reaction to the reveal of the supposedly shocking and outrageous twincest.

Overall, she wasn't impressed all that much. She wasn't fond of the violence and the nudity, and the rest, she said, was a bit like a soap opera with medieval costumes and sets.

Couple of days later, I watched the episode with my father at my place, but he's read the books and knew what was what, so not really noteworthy. He liked it.

[Ser Warpechowski]

I feel sorry for those that havent readed the books, because the series is going to spoil every single cliff hanger for the books without aproaching 10% of the depth the book has.

When they go to the books they will still learn a lot but the "Holly fucking shit" moments will be spoiled already. What got me hooked on this book was definitaly Bran´s fall chapter.

[GoTreviews]

The toughest thing was explaining the symbolism behind the dead stag and wolf.

Me: "See, that's an important omen - the stag and the wolf have killed each other, and the stag is the symbol of the king's family, while the wolf is theirs (meaning and pointing the Starks)"

Ah, but don't you feel that's the kind of thing you should not be saying to non readers ? So then what... well, what will happen happens, they can look back and go "oooooooh, wait a second... I could've seen that coming!"

I feel sorry for those that havent readed the books, because the series is going to spoil every single cliff hanger for the books without aproaching 10% of the depth the book has.

Hey, see, that's the thing... I personally think that because the book is so amazingly deep, viewing the show before won't hurt the reading experience. Obviously, I'm a big fan of the books (I think we all are here) and I really do believe it doesn't need cheap stuff as cliffhangers to be a fantastic piece.

While I won't call the show "cheap" by any means, I do believe such effects are necessary to make for a really enjoyable TV show (especially when you have to wait one week between each episode). So, I see your point, but I do believe it actually is an argument for the other side...

But as Balefont said, there would indeed be an interference between show and books if one sees the show before. I'm not sure it would be a dramatic one, but it could still be annoying. I'm still not quite decided on this particular issue. I'll let you know when I'll push a couple of friends to watch it, we'll see :)

[Commodore]

Come to think of it, I can't remember from the books, why couldn't Caetlyn go with Ned to Kings Landing?

That was a source of confusion for alot of folks I read on the web.

[The Scabbard Of the Morning]

Because somebody has to run the North, and Robb was deemed too young to do it without guidance.

[Lyri]

Come to think of it, I can't remember from the books, why couldn't Caetlyn go with Ned to Kings Landing?

That was a source of confusion for alot of folks I read on the web.

IIRC it was initially the desire to have one of the Stark parents remain with Robb to help him run Winterfell. Ultimately it was about Bran of course, as Cat didn't help Robb do squat around Winterfell during that time.

[VikingLegion]

Ok I'm a little late to this thread, but my wife was out of the country until last night. She has not read the books, so today was her first real exposure to GoT. Before I hit play I gave her about a 5 minute ultra-quick summary of Westeros, the major families, and some of the relationships. I also touched a bit on the Mad King and Robert's Rebellion, because I wasn't sure how well a non-reader would understand the current political situation when the story starts up.

Overall she liked it a lot. She was a little confused by the large Stark family. I paused it and explained both Theon Greyjoy and John Snow to help her out a bit.

She really liked Mark Addy as the King. We've seen him before as a bumbling, Homer Simpson-esque dad in some ridiculous American sitcom the name of which slips my mind. So it was good to see he can pull off more serious fare.

She LOVED Dany right off the bat. I guess it started off as pity for this poor girl with the ultra-creepy big brother. She picked up right away on the significance of the dragon egg wedding gift. She was practically bouncing with excitement, "She's gonna hatch one of those, isn't she? They're not going to pick on her when she has a dragon pet!!"

At the end, when Bran was climbing around the tower and heard the unmistakable grunts and groans coming from within, her response was "Uh oh, this isn't going to end well", followed soon thereafter with "AREN'T THEY BROTHER AND SISTER?!?!?!?!". Bran's fall had her speechless.

So all in all, I think the series will do ok, even to those not yet inducted into ASOIAF. There will be a few rough spots for people who don't have the benefit of watching alongside someone who has read the books. But I don't think the story is quite as confusing and overwhelming to the novice as I had originally feared. That's my biggest worry really, people not being able to follow what's going on and giving up after an episode or two.

[Lugez]

I watched it with one other book vet, and three newbies.

All of us loved it. A couple of them did ask questions, and we answered, but we tried to speak as little as possible. They all got the gist of it and will tune in for the next episode. And of course, they were all shocked over "Bran's death."

The other vet is having a hard time containing some thoughts though. When Joffrey appeared on the screen, she was like "UUUGGGH FUCKING -" and the three newbies just looked at her in confusion. haha.

So from this end, HBO seems to be quite the success!

[Hyper]

This might be controversial but I think people are (or risk) doing their newbie friends and family a DISSERVICE when they give them a Westeros history lesson before and during the first episode.

Why not just let them discover the world for themselves? If you pay attention, the show does give put the necessary information as it goes along. And these small Info-dumps will continue. I think trying to figure out the story and relationships is part of the fun.

After all, we readers did not get the Westeros history in a big dump before we read the first chapter. We were given the information in small nuggets at a time - just like the show.

Answering questions is fine, but I think excessive info dumping is not helpful in getting your friends and family to enjoy the show.

[DemiNymph]

Nah, some parts of the show wasn't explained properly, especially Jon the bastard and the Targs.

[GoTreviews]

Nah, some parts of the show wasn't explained properly, especially Jon the bastard and the Targs.

I'd agree, but that's probably showing a lack of faith in the coming episodes. This is, after all, just the pilot, it's very plausible that they'll develop those things in the following one(s?)