It Is Known: Seasons 1 - 5 Deconstructed

3/5 ( ratings)

Ever wanted to watch HBO's Game of Thrones while having immediate access to all 5,000 published pages of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, to see what was changed, what was weakened, and – most especially – what was improved?

Stefan and Miles are here to help.

The dynamic duo have been writing about, researching, analyzing, and otherwise obsessing over Martin's masterpiece for the past six years, publishing essays on such vaunted sites as Tower of the Hand and diving deep into the rich material on various podcasts. Individually, they're responsible for some of the most influential pieces of analysis ; together, they've contributed to such publications as Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows.

They also, it turns out, don't particularly agree on the specific tone or overarching quality of HBO's adaptation of Song of Ice and Fire, which became readily apparent while the both of them reviewed the television series for Tower of the Hand. Such divergent perspectives led them to pair their insights into Game of Thrones together, to afford readers and viewers the most all-encompassing understating of the show's various triumphs and failures, its deviations and slavish faithfulness.

Collected here are all of their various reviews of the episodes together with brand-new, exclusive commentaries generated by the duo, walking through each of the first 50 installments with equal parts humor and intensity. Think of them as post-viewing discussions conducted by the most prestigious Martin scholars and the biggest nerds both, and you're lucky enough to be in the room to absorb it all.

It Is Known: Seasons 1 - 5 Deconstructed is the perfect recap of the first five seasons – just in time for the sixth season! – and, given that the series has now surpassed George Martin's novels, the ultimate judgement on whether Game of Thrones's showrunners did A Song of Ice and Fire any justice.

You'll never look at your favorite characters, scenes, or episodes the same way again.