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I assume you haven’t read the books, too bad.

Actually, I got halfway through the first book before I lost interest. Part of the reason for that was that I started reading it only after the show got underway (I had never heard of it before then). The book did not offer any greater depth than the TV show. Sure the TV show can't portray every single event or conversation that is in the book, but the show seems to have captured the book perfectly, and, in my opinion, that is because the book was written just like a Hollywood screenplay. Martin was a Hollywood screenwriter by trade before he wrote the books (and still is I'm sure) so it makes perfect sense.

I'll hand it to Martin - he wrote a series of books that many, many people love, so it would be silly to say that it isn't a well-written story, but if you contrast the depth of say, the Lord of the Rings, to the Song of Ice and Fire, there really isn't any comparison. Tolkien wrote for a generation that still had to imagine most things, and was accustomed to classic literature, whereas Martin wrote for a generation that grew up watching TV and movies, and thus think cinematically. I prefer the old style of Tolkien, which is why the Martin book didn't really appeal to me that much.