2 Questions...

[RightersBlock]

1] Do you think the GoT will have any lasting power? This applies to the whole franchise it self. Or do you think it will wane and ultimately be forgotten or looked on negatively

2] Were the books popular before the show? I once read that the books didn't sell well at first. If so, what made HBO want to pick it up as a series?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Yes - I think he's spawned an epic that enthuses people (though not me, personally)

And

Yes - the books were already popular before the series - I picked them up at the start of series one and the threads here were long established by then.

 

[alchemist]

Yes for 2) at least. The GRRM forum here was extremely busy before the TV series.

I haven't read any of the books yet so can't comment much on 1) except to say a number of people have told me the quality of the books diminishes after number 3 and others complain about how slowly the series has been written. I suspect the series needs a good ending to protect its legacy.

 

[Tywin]

The quality of the writing and the characters does not diminish after book three, what diminishes is the reader's sense that this story is ever going to wrap up.

All of the novels were best-sellers long before the show was picked up by HBO, and GRRM had a fairly successful writing career before this series of books.

 

[Glisterspeck]

...a fairly successful writing career before this series of books.

Yes, nice, short standalone books like Fevre Dream. Awesome.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

The quality of the writing and the characters does not diminish after book three, what diminishes is the reader's sense that this story is ever going to wrap up.

All of the novels were best-sellers long before the show was picked up by HBO, and GRRM had a fairly successful writing career before this series of books.

I would argue the quality of the editing very much declines after book three. The first three are tight with good pov discipline and a sense of moving the story forward in most chapters - that got lost for me, esp in ADWD. It reminds me of King, who eventually got to the point where his popularity allowed him to pretty well dictate the books rather than the editor, and the books were worse for it. (The two versions of The Stand are a case in point - the journey through the mountains with the Trashcan man added nothing to the book as a whole.) i hope Martin returns to the tight pacing with the next book, but suspect he won't. In which case, I'll read the spoilers here and skim a library copy for the pov characters I like. (Blasphemy, I know. )

 

[Koopa]

As long as the series still end within the next 3 installments i'm fine with the pacing.
Anything more than that feels like a hopeless cause like some other series

 

[Boaz]

RightersBlock, to answer your second question... "Were the books popular before the show?"

Take a look at the page just before the GRRM forum, the Author's Page. Of the 38 authors listed, GRRM has both the most threads (1,156) and the most posts (47,657, including this one) by Chronicles users. I know not all of them are positive comments, but the author with the second most threads (446) and posts (20,656) is only the venerable Professor Tolkien.

Since the start of the show, a new page was created on the Chrons for discussion regarding the show without interference from the series readers. It has 97 threads and 1,644 posts.

Also, ASOIAF was translated into at least twenty-five languages before HBO purchased the rights to the show.

As for your first questions, "Do you think the GoT will have any lasting power? This applies to the whole franchise it self. Or do you think it will wane and ultimately be forgotten or looked on negatively?"

What is your time frame for "lasting power"? Ten years? Twenty? A hundred? Five hundred? Due to the fact that GRRM will not finish the series for at least six years, I'll say it will be regarded as a monumental epic in Fantasy in the year 2034. Given it's size and graphic nature, it will never be included in a high school syllabus with To Kill A Mockingbird, The Odyssey, The Scarlet Letter, or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (My apologies to other English speakers because I have no idea of your required reading in school.)

In fifty years, I think ASOIAF may be considered one of the foundational works for huge market for adult fantasy... and I don't mean porn. Let's face it, this is not Narnia. Bilbo and Harry Potter have no place in Westeros. This is a tale of Stannis, the Kingslayer, Cersei, Catelyn, Eddard, Theon, and Victarion. Sure, there are kids in the story, but they don't magically succeed over adults. And there are teenagers too... but I think they experience more mistakes and heartbreaks than victories, e.g. Theon, Jon, Dany, Sansa, Robb, and Joffrey.

How many people saw John Carter of Mars? Not many. How viewers knew there was a phenomenally popular series about John Carter ninety some years ago? Probably not very many. In a hundred years, Jon Snow will probably be viewed as most people view John Carter now... out of date and irrelevant.

Will ASOIAF stick around for a few hundred years as Dumas' stories of his musketeers? Will the socio-religio-political commentary be forgotten and will the series regarded as a grand epic? Will Jon be compared to d'Artagnan? Will Dany be compared to Dantes? Maybe, but probably not.

Will historians revere Martin after his death like Shakespeare? Will he be considered as influential to our language as The Bard? No.

In three thousand years, will people speak of GRRM as we do of Homer?

Kiwi, I'm hoping GRRM will wrap it up in another two installments... for the U.S. edition.

 

[Tywin]

Given it's size and graphic nature, it will never be included in a high school syllabus with To Kill A Mockingbird, The Odyssey, The Scarlet Letter, or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (My apologies to other English speakers because I have no idea of your required reading in school.)

You need to get The Grapes of Wrath in there for the full snub to whatever the heck they read outside of American English classes.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

You need to get The Grapes of Wrath in there for the full snub to whatever the heck they read outside of American English classes.

the only one of those books we had to read in Canada was Ulysses. our list would include: the Lord of the Flies, the Outsiders, the Beach and all the most popular Shakespear plays (except King Lear and a Misdummer nights dream). I just realized every single one of those books have very depressing endings...

I think the franchise will have some considerable lasting power. maybe not 100s of years down the line but I am willing to bet that within 40 years, they will either redo the show, or turn each book into 3 epic, 3 hour movies, like they are doing with the Hobbit now.

the books had a solid fan base before the show started (not including myself, having never heard of this series before the show) but I bet that fan base has at least doubled since then, not counting those who watch the show but have not read the books.