Thoughts on Game of Thrones: Two Swords(4.01)

I felt that this episode was a good start to the season even though not all the main characters appeared most of them did. I felt really bad for Sansa with how she mentioned that she lays awake at night thinking about how her mother and brother died and I found it sad that Sansa doesn't pray any longer since she has nothing left to pray for and now only goes to the godswood because it's the only place where people don't try to talk to her. I loved the scene where the man that Sansa saved from being killed on Joffrey's name day thanked her and gave her a necklace that was his mother because nothing else to give her. I loved how Sansa tried to downplay what she did because while she said that anyone would have done that same that simply isn't true since most people don't know how to play Joffrey the way Sansa does. I also love that Sansa at first felt like she couldn't take the necklace because it was all he had left of his family but once she saw how much it meant to him that he gives her something she agrees to wear it with pride.

I enjoyed the bit we see of Daenerys this episode where we find out that she's heading to another city that holds slaves to defeat them and free their slaves. I like that it's implied that Daenerys will eventually be ruling over those people for a bit rather than just defeating them and leaving like she did with the first two cities. I like how Daenerys wanted to see all the dead slaves because she wanted it to fill her with the hatred she had for their masters so she could remind herself how awful they are. I also like that it was shown briefly that as the dragons could bigger Daenerys has less control over them and they are dangerous even to her.

I enjoyed the brief scenes we got with Margery and Ollena where Ollena demand to get better jewelry for the royal wedding. I also liked Margery joke about how maybe she should let Joffrey pick out her jewels which would mean she end up with a necklace of sparrow heads and I like how Ollena reminded her to be careful of what she says even if it is just the two of them.

I am very interested in the characters Oberyn and Ellaria who are from Dorne and Oberyn is clearly interested in getting revenge against everyone with the last name Lannister for his sister's death. I'm just really interested in these characters and I can't wait to see more of them.I really enjoyed how Jamie spent the episode trying his best to get back to his old life in Kingslanding only for everyone to basically tell him he's worthless now because he lost his hand. I especially enjoyed the Jamie and Cersei scene where she got him fitted with a golden hand which he said was impractical. I find it so strange how everyone especially Cersei are made at Jamie for being held prisoner but it's something that I think fits with all the characters so I'm good with it. I also like the Jamie and Brienne scene where she wants Jamie to live up to his vows of bring Sansa to safety and how Jamie points out that he can't really do that now that her mother is dead.

I really loved Arya's scene which had her confronted with the man that killed Lommy and stole her sword. I really loved how the her killing of the man in the exact same way he did Lommy and how she clear took some joy out of this showed how Arya isn't just some badass character but a very disturbed character which I think the show seems to shy a bit a way from at least compared to the books where it's a lot clearer that she's a bit mentally unstable.
Overall great start to a season which I'm sure will also be great.

Top 10 Moments in Books

I feel like I should mention that most of the moments on this list comes from Linger, I guess that book just really touched me.
1. "I was nobody when Beck brought me back, Cole.  I was so damaged, I couldn't function. I barely ate and I used to scream when I heard running water. I don't remember that at all. I have giant holes in my memory. I'm still damaged, but not as bad as I was." (Linger)
I really love this moment because it's one were Sam tells someone how messed up he actually is and because the person he tells it to isn't someone he knows very well or even really likes all that much which makes the moment more powerful to me. I really love this moment because for the most part Sam tries to keep everything to do with him being damaged in the past but in this moment he admits that he's still damaged but in a way that makes me think he's also saying he's trying to move pasted all the bad things in his life while knowing he'll always will be at least a little bit damaged.
2. Sansa's last POV chapter in Game of Thrones
This chapter is one that completely broke my heart and I sobbed while I read it which is one of the many reasons it's my favorite chapter in the whole book. This is the chapter in which Sansa realizes pretty much every belief she ever had is wrong in one of the cruelest ways possible starting with her fathers death which she was told by her betrothed was mercy which bad her see that Joffrey is complete monster; there's this moment were she looks at Joffrey and she's so repulsed by him she can't understand how she could ever have been attracted to him in the first place. This is also the chapter in which Sansa learns that she is basically the Lannister's prisoner as well as the chapter were Joffrey starts having her beaten by his knights. This chapter sticks out to me so strongly because this is the chapter were Sansa realises what kind of world she lives in and it's utterly devastating to me to see her have all of her ideals so cruelly ripped away from her. One of the most powerful moments of the chapter is the one in which Sansa is watching the courtly meeting seeing how the man that helped killed her father was rewarded and how she comes to the conclusions that heroes don't exist and in life the monsters win.
The other reason I love this chapter is because this is really the chapter were Sansa really starts to learn how she is going to survive now in King's Landing with doing what Joffrey wants her to do but she is also learning that there are things that he can't really make her do. Such as when Joffrey makes her look at the head on the pikes but she thinks he can make me look but he can't make me see, also after awhile Sansa starts to think about how the heads don't even look real, in this moment Sansa is able to do exactly what Joffrey asks but at the same time disobeying him because he can't control her thoughts and  Joffrey is unable to punish her because she didn't do anything wrong. Also throughout this part of the chapter Sansa refuses to react to seeing the heads by crying or screaming in horror which takes away from Joffrey's fun which takes some of the power away from him. There's also the moment at the end of the chapter were Sansa thinks she could push Joffrey to his death and if she fell with him it wouldn't matter at all, this is such a powerful moment to me because it shows just how deeply depressed she is at this moment with no giving a second thought to her own life.
3. Chapter 26 of Linger
One of my favorite things about Linger was the relationship between Sam and Cole because they are very different types of people and have very different outlooks on life so they don't really get along particularly well but they are still somewhat forced to interact with each other which I find really interesting, this chapter is one in which the two of them interact the most. I really love the exchange between Sam and Cole of "I'm just not really crazy about you being drunk." "I'm not really crazy about being sober." I just really love this quote and it kind of sums up quite a bit of their interactions with Sam trying to be somewhat polite still and Cole just being well Cole.I really love how their exchange starts off about how Cole wants to be a wolf and how Sam just can't seem to understand why anyone would want that. I really like that as the conversation goes on Cole eventually calls Sam out on being just as messed up as he is which is something I really love about this conversation with how Cole doesn't even seem bother to hide how messed up he is and how he actually brings up that Sam is messed up too, I really like this because I don't feel like any of the other characters really ever confront Sam with this which is another thing that makes this relationship interesting. I find it quite interesting that Cole did really seem to think that showing Sam a bathtub would help him although another big reason he did it was because he was just plain curious about how Sam would react.
The moment when Sam sees the tub he starts thinking back to the time in which his parents tried to kill him and while we heard about this part of his past before these new details made it even more sad and scary that little Sam was put in that situation. The saddest part for me to read was when Sam remembered how for a brief moment he thought that maybe it was part of a game which is such an innocent and trusting thought which just brings out how young he was at the time that this horrific even happened. I also really just love how after seeing how traumatized by the experience Sam is Cole is kind of anger at Sam for making him out to be a bad guy and I like to think that at least some of Cole's anger comes from the way Cole sees himself as a person who destroys people so he's mad at Sam for bringing up those feelings again when all Cole did was show him a bathtub. I overall loved this entire chapter and I there's quite a few quotes I love in this chapter as well.
4.  "I'm sorry. It's just, I've been so sad." "Yeah, Mom.Me, too."(Tilt)
I just really love this moment between Shane and his mother because through pretty much the whole book I felt like that these two characters really needed to lean on each other but they both just kept suffering on their own especially Shane who part of him didn't even want his mom to worry about him but at the same time he felt like he really needed her. So I love this moment because it's the one where they finally realised that they should be working together to get past Shebly's death and finally really talk to each other which I thought was a pretty perfect ending to Shane's story.
5. "He looked young and uncertain and endearing, and I felt betrayed that he was somehow getting himself together when I couldn't."(Linger)
I really loved the relationship between Isabel and Cole in Linger because it is somewhat at least on Isabel's side a relationship that is found on them both being damaged and also Isabel mentions earlier in the book she saw Cole as a way for her to self destruct and how she is kind of drawn to that at the moment. I really love this moment because it kind of points about why their relationship is messed up with Isabel is actually mad that Cole is somewhat pulling himself together because she is still can't make herself do that so she doesn't want him to get better until she can too. I also really love how she goes on to think about how she doesn't want to open up yet because she sees that it hurts to be that honest with yourself and she's not ready to hurt yet.
6. "I fold the Letter"(Impulse)
This is really the moment in which Connor really decides that he isn't going to go back home ever and I really like how his reasons behind this decision is pretty clear with the letter his parents sent him basically telling him that once he gets back home things will be exactly as they were with the unrealistically high expectations and no real affection which were a major factor in why he tried to kill himself in the first place. Connor was having doubts about going home through out the trip but this moment really made him feel that there wasn't really a reason why he would want to return to that life. I really loved the symbol of the perfect paper airplane and how he throws it off the side of the cliff and how the poem ends with the words " let it fly straight to hell." I think this section is beautifully written and great foreshadowing.
7. Chapter 17 of Linger
I really loved this chapter because it's pretty much the first time in which we get to see Sam and Cole interact and I really like seeing that. I liked that Cole can tell that Sam doesn't particularly likes him but he's still being polite and this actually kind of annoys Cole. What I loved the most about this chapter though was the phone call between Cole and Isabel which had a fair amount of banter and flirting which I always enjoy but the part that makes me love this chapter so much is how they opened up a bit to each other and that the reason behind why they were talking to each other was at least a bit because they didn't really care about the other at least not yet.
8. " I wanted her to fill the empty spaces left by a father who never once praised me, 'friends' who used me, an ice princess mom who raised me with glass kisses."(Impulse)
I really love this moment because it's one of the first real insights into what Connor's home life is like and is just a quote that I really love and stuck with me through out the book. This is also a part that looking back at it after finishing the book I think helps me to understand Connor's choice more.
9. " My parents had always been so careful with me, until the day they decided I needed to die."(Linger)
I really loved this part of the novel because it showed how complicated Sam's feelings are regarding his parents while he is of course deeply traumatized by them trying to kill him he also can still remember a time where they did love him and did their best to take care of them. I really liked that this was part of the book because it was interesting and sad to read that there is still a part of Sam that misses his mother even after what she tried to do to him and how Sam can't really talk to anyone about it because to everyone else Sam's parents are horrible people that Sam shouldn't miss but while they are the people that tried to kill him for Sam they are also his parents so his feelings about them aren't so clear cut their complicated and messy.
10. Faye's introduction(Secret Circle: The Initiation)
One of the most memorable book moments for me is when Faye read her sensual poem about fire in front of the class and then lit it on fire once she finished her reading. In this moment I decided that Faye was my favorite character and I didn't come to regret that decision, I also just think this is a great way to introduce a character.

Top 7 Bookish memories

1. Reading Harry Potter: I remember when I was little that my dad use to read the Harry Potter books to me and my brother and I always really love them. Later on after the books became longer I started reading the series by myself and I still love the books.
2. Reading A Series of Unfortunate Events: This is another book series that I had read to me when I was little and it's also one that I have yet to finish so far I'm only part way through the tenth book but I do plan to finish series one day.
3. Reading Fruits Basket: I love this series it's my absolute favorite series and I remember the days not to long ago when I started reading the series and I started to buy the books to volumes at a time and how I'd read both volumes within a day of buying them. I also have extremely fond memories of the second time I read the series and notice all the foreshadowing.
4. Reading, Reading in the Dark: I loved this book even though not too many people have read this book but this book just grabbed me and it's the reason I read this book pretty much once a year. Also I just really love the line about about the narrator's mother turning him on and turning him off, it makes sense in context but the context is filled with spoilers.
5. Reading the line "All she wanted was for things to nice and pretty the way they were in songs.": This line in Game of Thrones is the line that made me decide that Sansa will always be one of my favorite characters and it's the line that pretty much define her character for me and it's also a pretty tragic line considering what happens to her throughout the series.
6. Getting my first comment on this blog: My first comment on my blog was very exciting for me since I had to wait months to get it therefore it was extremely special for me it happened in August of 2011 and it was on a top 10 Tuesday list and it made me happy because it proved to me that someone actually reads my blog.
7. Reading The Glass Menagerie: The Glass Menagerie was a really important read for me because of how much I related to Laura Wingfield and since I almost never fully relate to characters I have a special love for her and the play in general.

30 Days of Female Characters: Day 22: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates

Day 22: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates: Sansa Stark(Game of Thrones/A song of Ice and Fire)

Sansa is a character I love for how she just wants to believe that her life can be the way it is in songs but sadly for her she soon learns that those songs are just stories and real life is very cruel. Sansa is a character that I just feel for through out the series and I can completely understand were she's coming from so I think this is one of the things that makes her my second favorite character of the whole series. Sadly quite a few people in the fandom hate her because she was naive and trusted the wrong people, I can understand her not being a favorite character but I don't really think that she deserves hate. In one book review of Game of Thrones I read someone actually said that they believed that Sansa is worse than Joffrey(who is basically pure evil) even though the only thing Sansa is guilty of is being navie enough to believe that the Lannister's are good people and she pays greatly for her navity and in the books she's only 11 years old, I don't think she's done anything to deserve that level of hate. Overall I love her character and I find that her parts of the books are my favorite to read.

Top 5 Book Characters I relate to

1. Laura Wingfield(The Glass Menagerie): I related to Laura because she's very shy and timid which causes her a lot of problems with connecting the outside world which is something that I can relate to very easily. I also relate to her because she likes to escape into her own make believe world which I also love to do. I also relate to her because when something slightly embarrassing happens to be me I think it's a really big deal but in reality no one even notice. I also have no real experience with boys and neither does Laura.
2. Hikage Sumino( I am Here): She's extremely shy and has a blog, I'm also extremely shy and have a blog.
3. Sansa Stark(Game of Thrones): I relate to Sansa because we both just want life to be a nice and pretty fairytale which I know it's not but I still wish it was. I also relate to her because I've had crushes on guys who were actually jerks and all my friends told me the guy was a jerk but ignored them because he was cute but eventually learned the truth, even though my experience was a lot less painful than Sansa's I completely understand the way she felt. I also relate to her because if I was in a situation were I was basically held captive I would do everything I could to please them in hopes that they'd let me go. I also relate to her with a few more little things such as I also enjoy watching medieval sports, I also look to say something nice to someone when there's an awkward silence and I prefer the warm to the cold.
4. Chloe Saunders(The Darkest Powers series): I relate to her because she thinks of things as if she were in a movie which I tend to do as well. She also wants to work in the movie industry as well which I would like to do as well although she wants to be a director and I want to be a writer so it's a bit different.
5. Lena Kaligaris(The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants): I relate to her because were both shy and at the beginning of the series she didn't really have experience with boys which I don't have either. I also like art as well but I'm not as good at as she is.

Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones

                                                       A Game of Thrones Review

Game of Thrones is the first book in George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series that has a lot more to do with who gets the power to rule over the seven kingdoms than it does with magic. This book is full of medieval political intrigue and depthful characters which is all set in a world that is described in vivid detail. I feel that it's best to split up my review into several parts do to how many different narrators there are and it will include spoilers.
"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark of Winterfell is asked by his old friend King Robert to become the hand of the king after the last one, Jon Arryn had died under mysterious circumstances. At first Ned is reluctant to leave Winterfell and go south to King's Landing but after receiving a letter from the last hand's widow who's also his wife's Catelyn sister that her husband was murdered Ned felt duty bound to become Robert's hand and figure out who killed Jon Arryn and why. Soon after arriving in King's Landing Ned learns that things such as honor and duty aren't as valued in the south as it is in the north, the politics in Kings Landing with the way everyone lying to and spying on each other is something that Ned doesn't approve or fully understand.

Ned ends up asking three members of the council what Jon Arryn was looking into around the time that he died, the three members being Grand Maester Pycelle who's an elderly man who is a healer and gives Ned the book that Jon Arryn was reading before he died, Varys a eunuch who is known as the master of whispers and serves the realm rather than a certain king and Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Balish who was a childhood friend to Catelyn and was in love with her. Littlefinger ends up offering the most help to Ned which makes Ned thinks it's a good idea to trust him even though Littlefinger says he'd be wise not to trust him, so when Littlefinger betrays Ned it only comes as a surprise to Ned. Ned eventually learns that King Robert's children are not actually his true born children but rather the product of the incest between the Queen Cersei Lannister and her twin brother Jaime a member of the kings guard known as the kingslayer.

After Ned found out the truth about the Lannister incest he decided it was a good idea for him to tell Cersei so she can save her children from Robert's wrath but Cersei had other ideas. Soon Robert died and Cersei's oldest child Joffrey had become king and when Ned told the truth about him not being the rightful king he was imprisoned and most of the members of his household he brought with him were slaughtered.

Towards the beginning of the book Ned's son Bran saw Cersei and Jamie together and was pushed off a high tower by Jaime, Bran was crippled but he didn't die and before he awoke someone was sent to kill him.  After the second attempt on Bran's life Catelyn went to Kings Landing to find more information on who tried to kill her son since she was sure it was the Lannister's behind it and the blade the killer used was to nice for a sell sword. Catelyn is led to believe that it was Tyrion Lannister doing so she held him as a prisoner for a time until she was forced to release him after taking him to her sister who has became not quite right in the head since she last saw her.
After Ned is taken prisoner his eldest son Robb called their house's bannermen and started marching to King's Landing which is pretty much the start of the war between the north and the Lannister's. Catelyn's house the Tully's have already been fighting the Lannisters for some time so by the end of the book they join forces.

"All she wanted was for things to be nice and pretty, the way they were in songs."
Sansa Stark at age 11 is Ned's eldest daughter and much to her delight a marriage between her and Prince Joffrey is arranged towards the beginning of the book. Sansa loves the tales that are told in songs were the knights and prince are brave and handsome heroes and they always treat their ladies kindly,Sansa thinks that her life in Kings Landing is going to be like it's described in songs. Sansa at first loves her life at court with being able to be around her prince, seeing tournaments and King's Landing is warm and pretty compared to cold and deary Winterfell.
Throughout the book Sansa slowly learns that life at court isn't like how it's described in the songs. One of the first time she sees this is when the Hound tells her of how he got the burn marks that covers his face. Sansa believes Joffrey is like the princes she has heard about in the songs and for most of the book she's in love with him so she ignores the early signs of his cruelty. After her father is arrested for treason Sansa begs Joffrey for mercy on her father he promises her he will if he confesses but instead Joffrey orders that Ned's head to come off while Sansa screams in protest for him to stop.

After her father's death Sansa finally sees for  Joffrey the cruel tyrant he is and wishes to go home but she's not allowed to because their still to be married. Sansa at the end of the book is basically the Lannister's prisoner but she's forced to act as if she still loves Joffrey even though she now hates him.

"Fear cuts deeper than swords."

Arya is Ned's younger daughter who he also takes to Kings Landing but unlike her sister she doesn't dream of marrying some handsome prince but of being a knight. Arya isn't interested in fulfilling the acceptable roles for women of this time period and she is one that will make sure her opinion is known to all. Throughout the book Arya is trained in the art of sword fighting by a foreign dancing master who gives her many sayings to go a long with her training that she often repeats to herself.

Arya doesn't trust or like the Lannisters therefore she sees them as they truly are, when their guards come looking for her she easily figures out that something has happened to her father and that it's best for her to run. After Arya escapes the Red Keep(the castle area in Kings Landing) with her sword Needle she lives on the streets in the lower towns of Kings Landing since there are guards not allowing anyone to leave Kings Landing. The last time Arya appears in the book is when she witnesses her execution but Yoren(a member of the Nights Watch) makes sure that she doesn't see the actual act and leads her away from the crowd before the Lannisters could find her.

" Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you."
Tyrion Lannister is a dwarf and while that's an important part of his character and it's not all he is. Tyrion is also known for his wits and his sense of humor by fans of the series. In all honest Tyrion's storyline in this book isn't all that great but his character is great so I still looked forward to chapters.

Over the course of the book Tyrion journeys to the Wall and gives Jon Snow some good life advice and then starts to head back south. He's soon taken prisoner by Catelyn Stark for some crimes he didn't commit and has to find away to get them to let him go which he does. After gaining the loyalty through the means of money to a sells sword named Bronn and some hill tribe men and at least one woman he reaches his father's war camp, he's forced to fight in battle  even he isn't any good at it but he manges to survive. At the end of the book his father gives him orders to serve as hand of the king until the war is won.
"Now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall live and die at my post."

Jon Snow is Ned Stark's bastard son, knowing that he'll never be able to rise above his status of being a bastard Jon decides to join the Nights Watch(a group of men who devote their lives to fight the evils on the other side of The Wall and protect the realm). Jon soon discovers that most of the men of the Nights Watch were criminals who only joined to avoid death or imprisonment. Through out the book Jon grows to accept the Nights Watch for what it is and to find his place among his new brothers.
The most interesting part about this storyline is that on the other side of The Wall there are these creatures called Others that are some kind of zombie that was thought to be extinct until the recent sightings of them. The mystery of the Others and everything else beyond the Wall is the only part of the Nights Watch storyline that storyline I really get excited for.

" He was no dragon, Dany thought, curiously calm. Fire cannot kill a dragon."

Daenerys Taragaryen is one of the last living members of Taragaryen family that had previously ruled over the seven kingdoms for certantries because of their dragons that at the beginning of the book have been dead for quite some time and after the last Taragaryn king known as the Mad King was killed his remaining family Daenerys and her older brother Viserys were forced into exile. At the beginning Daenerys is a frighten young girl who is sold into a marriage with a Dothraki horse lord(the leader of his tribe known as Khalasar and leader is chosen by who's the strongest fighter or really best killer) in exchange her brother will get an army.

Daenerys eventually develops a surprisingly loving relationship between her and Khal Drogo which that and her role as the Khaleesi(queen) helps her to become a stronger more confident person. Over the course of the book she experience much loss with the deaths of her brother, husband and unborn child but in the end this helps her to become the leader she was always meant to be. At the end of the book Daenerys walks into the fire were she had placed her dragon eggs and by the next morning she had brought back dragons and was unharmed by the flames.
I overall loved this book, my favorite character and storyline was Daenerys since over the course of the book she changes the most. My favorite Point of view was Sansa because I just felt the most connected to her since I completely understood her way of looking at the world. I loved the book and I plan to read the next book soon. Please tell me your thoughts on this book.