Yes, here is yet another Game of Thrones trailer. This time a new and improved theatrical version. For those who do not share my enthusiasm it may be a bit too much attention It now really has a finished look to it and personally I find it to be very, very good.
In addition, HBO has opened the website The Maester’s Path on which you have to complete five tasks/ challenges over the coming weeks to obtain the five links and complete your maester’s chain. Each obtained link also results in a unique reward.
Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire, written by author George R.R. Martin. The series will start on April 17, 2011.
Robin Hobb is the pen name of American author Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden. She is a great storyteller and has proven to be very good in developing strong and believable characters in her books, making her one of the best fantasy authors alive.
Hobb has written several series, often trilogies, over the years. Especially her Farseer and Liveship Traders series are highly recommendable.
Biography & Style
Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden was borne in California in 1952 but grew up in Alaska. She began writing for children’s magazines at the age of around eightteen. Since then, Ogden has written several series and novels under the pen name of Megan Lindholm but became well known as author Robin Hobb. She currently lives in Washington and has three grown children and a young daughter.
As for Hobb’s writing style, it is characterized by a lot of attention to character development, a very detailed fantasy world and carefully constructed story lines. It may be a prejudice but one could argue that when reading her books, you know they have been written by a woman.
Series & Novels
The Farseer Trilogy
* Assassin’s Apprentice (1995)
* Royal Assassin (1996)
* Assassin’s Quest (1997)
Read more about the Farseer Trilogy.
Liveship Traders Trilogy
* Ship of Magic (1998)
* The Mad Ship (1999)
* Ship of Destiny (2000)
The Tawny Man Trilogy
* Fool’s Errand (2002)
* Golden Fool (2003)
* Fool’s Fate (2003)
The Rain Wild Chronicles
* Dragon Keeper (2009)
* Dragon Haven (2010)
Soldier Son Trilogy
* Shaman’s Crossing (2005)
* Forest Mage (2006)
* Renegade’s Magic (2008)
Official website of Robin Hobb
HBO has released yet another trailer giving us a look behind the scenes of the upcoming series Game of Thrones. Only a couple more weeks till the first episode!
Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire, written by author George R.R. Martin. It is to be released on Apriil 17, 2011.
Review of the fantasy role-playing game series The Elder Scrolls.
The first The Elder Scrolls (TES) game, called Arena, was an open first-person RPG released in 1994 by Bethesda Softworks. As one of the first good RPG’s around, The Elder Scrolls made a name for itself, earning a place among the best fantasy games ever made.
Currently, Bethesda is working on the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series, called Skyrim.
Story
The stories of The Elder Scrolls games take place in a world called Nirn, mostly on the continent of Tamriel and partly in the realm Oblivion. Tamriel consists of nine provinces, home to several different races like Elves and Orcs.
The player starts out as a prisoner in this world with the goal of completing or preventing the prophecies written down in The Elder Scrolls, which often means killing strong, god-like opponent.
Setting & History
The setting for this game, and the Elder Scrolls games that would follow, is a large, open and very detailed world. The player has to follow an overall story line but can also partake in many other quests, solve riddles, explore dungeons and fight demons. In general, the focus of the game play is nicely balanced between exploring, finding artifacts, solving puzzles and fighting.
With Arena being moderately successful, a second game called The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was released in 1996. Parts III (Morrowind, released in 2002) and IV (Oblivion, released in 2006) have been highly acclaimed and very successful. Several related games and expansion pack were made between 1994 and this day.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Bethesda is currently working on the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series, called Skyrim. It is scheduled to be released on November 11, 2011 for Pc, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
In Skyrim the player assumes the role of the last Dovahkiin (Dragonborn), who seeks to stop the god Alduin, in the shape of a dragon, from destroying the land of Skyrim and even the entire world.
Click here to go to the official website of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Review of the fantasy series The Belgariad. Written by David Eddings, the series consists of a total of five novels (see below).
The novels are a nice read but they are definitely not ground-breaking in my opinion. The overall story is quite straightforward and the characters are not very complex. Simplicity is not always a bad thing but it is one of the reasons why The Belgariad is not a series I will read for a second time.
On the other hand, many people have read the series and like it, making The Belgariad one of the most influential fantasy series.
Story
The young orphan Garion finds out he is a descendant of a powerful sorcerer and goes on a quest to find and protect an orb that has the power to rule the world.
Over the course of the series Garion finds out he too as special powers but still needs the help of his family and friends to fulfill the ancient prophecy. Garion has to battle the followers of the evil god Torak and even will even have to face the god himself.
Themes & Setting
The Belgariad is classical high fantasy. Set in a completely imaginary world, magic comes in many forms in The Belgariad, with a lot of characters who have supernatural abilities.
There are gods with almost supreme power, sorcerer who can teleport and create things with nothing more than their imagination and wizards who can summon demons. Interesting enough, no one has the power to undo/ unmake things.
The different races and characters are clearly different, each with their unique trademarks, specialties and weaknesses.
Books
1. Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
2. Queen of Sorcery (1982)
3. Magician’s Gambit (1983)
4. Castle of Wizardry (1984)
5. Enchanters’ End Game (1984)
A five book sequel called The Malloreon was also written by David Eddings.
I have something to set straight. In earlier posts I have been (somewhat) negative about the Harry Potter. I have always acknowledged the popularity of the novels and the fact that they definitely are a landmark in the fantasy genre but at the same time, I have criticized the hype surrounding the movies as I do not believe them to be as good as everybody keeps on telling me.
However, of course there is also good to be found in the Harry Potter movies and I had been told that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is the best one so far. And after having seen this latest Potter movie, I must admit that I am still not a fan but I did enjoy the movie. Not much more than the previous movies in the series but then again, looking back they too were not that bad.
Story
The story centers around Harry, Hermione and Ron fleeing from Voldemort’s forces and searching for the Horcruxes. Destroying these Horcruxes appears to be the only way to stop Voldemort, who by now is in control of the Ministry of Magic and has starting rounding up everyone who may oppose him. The late Dumbledore has left each of them an item to help on this quest.
Despite the death of several of their friends and serious arguments between the three of them, Harry, Hermione and Ron manage to escape from Voldemort’s henchmen, retrieve the Sword of Gryffindor and destroy a Horcrux. However, Voldemort finds the Elder Wand, increasing his abilities even further, making the outlook for the last movie very bleak…
Lots of action, not too much depth
As mentioned above, the movie is definitely entertaining to watch. The storytelling is quite fast paced and there is lots of action. The setting is quite dark with several tense moments but not to the extent that it should be classified in any way as a scary movie: the focus is still on entertaining teenagers so they shouldn’t be scared away.
The whole love story between Hermione and Ron not working for me. This element, together with the uncomfortable moments Harry has with his two friends due to the fact that he is the third wheel, should provide some extra depth to the story but it seems too artificial to me.
Another downside is that it is the first of two connected movies. A large part of the movie feels like a prelude to the finale and there is also no real ending to this first part. This is not surprising as the story is based on one single novel but I feel they could have done a better job. On the other hand, it did the trick in one way: I really do want to know how the series ends and, as I haven’t read the last couple of Potter books, I will have to watch the last movie!
One more to go…
To conclude: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is all right to watch and even one of the best fantasy movies of 2010. You will have a hard time not sitting on the edge of your seat and you will most likely want to see part 2 to find out how the whole saga ends. The final movie in the series may well become one of the highlights of 2011.
Having said that, I am sorry to say that I still haven’t lost all of my misgivings about the series…
