I think it makes perfect sense: if Jon has Targerian blood, it's a danger to all of the major players with claims to the throne. In later books, it becomes clear that this is a major concern for folks in this society: bastards of high-born people are killed out of fear of becoming a threat to those in power - if, for…

I think people are too hard on Sansa. Remember, she's a 13 year old girl! How many 13 year olds show a lick of practical wisdom, let alone in a nest of political vipers? For that matter, how many *adults* would show a lick of practical wisdom in a den of cut-throats?

I don't think HBO is really 'taking chances' with the material, despite the complaints that people have sounded. They're simply adapting the material to the needs of TV presentation. I say this because I adore the books, and I really think HBO has captured what is best in the books - don't avoid them any longer!

Nope, "titular" is the right word. "Eponymous" is an adjective applying to the title of a work, "titular" is an adjective applying to something with the same name as the title of a work...

One important point made in another one of the comments, though, is that there is a big span of time between the time frame of the acid miners and the time-frame in which Amy's ganger was made. There's no reason to think that the 'glitch' of sentience wasn't taken out once the technology progressed.

Yeah, this is a really obvious response that Charlie hasn't taken any account of. It makes sense as a reaction, however, before you watch "A Good Man Goes to War," and maybe Charlie hadn't watched the mid-season finale before writing this review...

Do tell!

Not a version of Peter Pan, but you should read "The Borribles" by Michael de Larrabeiti: a fantastic novel about tribes of feral children in London who live in eternal childhood unless they are captured by adults and their pointed ears clipped. It's very funny and charming, but pulls no punches about the sometimes…

Correction: Zizek's book is entitled "Looking Awry."

Yes, I'm always wary of the 'too scary for kids' warning. Of course, no parent wants their kids to have nightmares, and have good reason to shield them from material which is frightening because it has gratuitous violence. But the creepiness of the series so far has been mostly due to scenarios that are sublime,…

That's astonishing to me. I loved Tennant, but I think Smith is far far better: a far better actor, with much better comic timing and more convincing when he's angry...

They need to transition to Dany's freeing herself from Visaerys: if she has done so in that scene, I think it would have been too abrupt a change. My bet is that it will happen in the next episode. Remember, the pacing of the TV series has to be modified. The books have much more space to let these shifts in…

Spoilers for those who haven't gotten to the third book, or worse yet have only watched the show! Tsk, tsk!

Are you trying to throw folks who haven't read it off the scent? Freys and Boltons? Ummmm....

Ah, well: I took a month long break in between reading the first and second books, and still really enjoyed it.

Haven't read any yet? Read some, give yourself a treat! I know what you mean, though...

Really excited about the new Mieville. "The City and the City" had one of the best conceits I've ever run across, although the characters were not quite as vivid and memorable as in his past books. I haven't read "Kraken" yet, but I hope he's been able to re-integrate his ever wilder imagination with his capacity to…

Definitely not: the first book ends with several cliffhangers...

Does Syfy *always* make their decisions with pissing off sci-fi fans in mind? Someone needs to start a *real* sci-fi network instead of that garbage, and we need to *boycott* the network to make it happen.

What's really a hoot is that academic literary critics have been taking science fiction, horror, fantasy and comics seriously for decades now. Some of the great critical minds of the last fifty years write on genre fiction: Fred Jameson, Umberto Eco, Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek being just a few examples. It's…