SFX has launched a "bookazine" to explore the world of the Game of Thrones TV series, as well as writer George R R Martin, for the Season 3 launch.
It's absolutely packed with features and information, containing a lot of interviews with cast and GRRM himself, spotlights on the series, as well as articles about GRRM's lesser known writings.
The features included are:
TV Series
There's a behind the scenes look at filming in Ireland, as well as coverage of Top 20 scenes, and another feature on differences between the books and the TV series.
There are also episode guides for seasons 1 & 2 for easy catch-up, and a preview for season 3.
Interviews
Interviews: Sean Bean (Ned Stark) Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio), Rory McCann (The Hound), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell), Josef Altin (Pypar), and Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne).
There are also three group interviews put together: The Starks, with Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark); The Wall, with Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Kit Harrington (Jon Snow), and John Bradley-West (Samwell Tarly); The Lannisters and Tarth, with Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister).
There is also an interview with Ramin Djawadi, who composes the music, and with the VFX team behind the special effects.
Oh, and two separate interviews with George R R Martin, one focusing on his thoughts on the TV series, and the other about the books themselves.
George R R Martin
As well as interviewing the author twice, there is also decent coverage of his other - often less well-known - writings.
There's a feature on the first five books of A Song of Ice and Fire as well as the Dunk and Egg stories; another covers the four novels he published previously; another feature covers his short story writing; coverage of GRRM's screenwriting career; and a feature on his Wild Card series.
Other features:
Amy McCulloch explores GRRM's influences; recommendations and short interviews with 'similar' authors, which of course includes Joe Abercrombie, then almost curiously features Maria Headley, Stephen Deas, Richard Morgan, and Lev Grossman; the obligatory competition; coverage of Cyanides computer games of ... Game of Thrones, plus other major fantasy RPGs.
So far, a lot of very quality features and articles, but then the bookazine peters out towards the end: a strange conversation between two SFX writers flippantly commenting on LOTR vs GoT; a couple of GoT recipes, and a feature on the fandom dressing up as GRRM characters for conventions.
Overall, though, the quality of the features is very strong and there is a lot of good reading to be hand, covering both the TV series and the books themselves.
The only real disappointment is that there are no interview with Peter Dinklage, who is probably the star of the show, and nothing from actors Lena Headley (Cersei) or Jack Gleeson (Joffrey), or even Emilia Clarke as Dany. There are plenty of other major characters from the TV series it would have been nice to see more on: Varys, Littlefinger, Theon, or either Mormont.
Comprehensive coverage is not provided, but what we have is very good anyway, and there's a lot of reading to be had.
It's a big glossy collection of photos and information, and serves for very good reading while waiting for the next episode to come out.
It's absolutely packed with features and information, containing a lot of interviews with cast and GRRM himself, spotlights on the series, as well as articles about GRRM's lesser known writings.
The features included are:
TV Series
There's a behind the scenes look at filming in Ireland, as well as coverage of Top 20 scenes, and another feature on differences between the books and the TV series.
There are also episode guides for seasons 1 & 2 for easy catch-up, and a preview for season 3.
Interviews
Interviews: Sean Bean (Ned Stark) Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio), Rory McCann (The Hound), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell), Josef Altin (Pypar), and Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne).
There are also three group interviews put together: The Starks, with Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark); The Wall, with Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Kit Harrington (Jon Snow), and John Bradley-West (Samwell Tarly); The Lannisters and Tarth, with Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister).
There is also an interview with Ramin Djawadi, who composes the music, and with the VFX team behind the special effects.
Oh, and two separate interviews with George R R Martin, one focusing on his thoughts on the TV series, and the other about the books themselves.
George R R Martin
As well as interviewing the author twice, there is also decent coverage of his other - often less well-known - writings.
There's a feature on the first five books of A Song of Ice and Fire as well as the Dunk and Egg stories; another covers the four novels he published previously; another feature covers his short story writing; coverage of GRRM's screenwriting career; and a feature on his Wild Card series.
Other features:
Amy McCulloch explores GRRM's influences; recommendations and short interviews with 'similar' authors, which of course includes Joe Abercrombie, then almost curiously features Maria Headley, Stephen Deas, Richard Morgan, and Lev Grossman; the obligatory competition; coverage of Cyanides computer games of ... Game of Thrones, plus other major fantasy RPGs.
So far, a lot of very quality features and articles, but then the bookazine peters out towards the end: a strange conversation between two SFX writers flippantly commenting on LOTR vs GoT; a couple of GoT recipes, and a feature on the fandom dressing up as GRRM characters for conventions.
Overall, though, the quality of the features is very strong and there is a lot of good reading to be hand, covering both the TV series and the books themselves.
The only real disappointment is that there are no interview with Peter Dinklage, who is probably the star of the show, and nothing from actors Lena Headley (Cersei) or Jack Gleeson (Joffrey), or even Emilia Clarke as Dany. There are plenty of other major characters from the TV series it would have been nice to see more on: Varys, Littlefinger, Theon, or either Mormont.
Comprehensive coverage is not provided, but what we have is very good anyway, and there's a lot of reading to be had.
It's a big glossy collection of photos and information, and serves for very good reading while waiting for the next episode to come out.
