I read and enjoyed the first book last fall. Hoping to get to the rest but I've got about 9 other books sitting on my shelf and never seem to have enough time to read them.

Can't wait!!

Awesome, one of my favorite shows ever!

OHHHH YEAH!

The Porkchop Express said:

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I read and enjoyed the first book last fall. Hoping to get to the rest but I've got about 9 other books sitting on my shelf and never seem to have enough time to read them.

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I'm on book 5 and its as good as the first four.

Same!

Let's go!

Interesting. I didn't notice the recastings but also wished they been able to finish the story in one more season.

Will the movie make any sense if I've never seen the show?

Felt rushed and agree another short season would have been better. Or the final season ended great on it's own.

But I still enjoyed it. Didn't notice the recastings much, but no onscreen Edward appearance felt weird to me. He looked pretty young and healthy at the end of the final season. How much time had passed between the series and the movie?

The first 4 seasons were a pretty good rendition of the book series. The 5th season was...a drop in quality just like the movie was.
Still enjoyed it though.

I binged this whole thing over the past few weeks. Very good series. I wish I knew about it earlier. Which is my fault, as it was already up front when I opened Netflix, but I thought it was a fictional series. It's damn easy to make people overly brave, smart, etc. When it's fictional. But when it's a true story it adds gravitas to the story as you know real people were that brave, smart, etc.

I think I'll have to watch it again to catch all the nuance. But I'm curious: How did Utred figure out that the king's gay boyfriend was a spy? After one watch, that seemed to come out of nowhere.

aTmAg said:

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I binged this whole thing over the past few weeks. Very good series. I wish I knew about it earlier. Which is my fault, as it was already up front when I opened Netflix, but I thought it was a fictional series. It's damn easy to make people overly brave, smart, etc. When it's fictional. But when it's a true story it adds gravitas to the story as you know real people were that brave, smart, etc.

I think I'll have to watch it again to catch all the nuance. But I'm curious: How did Utred figure out that the king's gay boyfriend was a spy? After one watch, that seemed to come out of nowhere.

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Just fyi, its historical fiction. Based loosely on history but heavily fictionalized. And if you liked the show the book series is even 100x better.

FL_Ag1998 said:

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aTmAg said:

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I binged this whole thing over the past few weeks. Very good series. I wish I knew about it earlier. Which is my fault, as it was already up front when I opened Netflix, but I thought it was a fictional series. It's damn easy to make people overly brave, smart, etc. When it's fictional. But when it's a true story it adds gravitas to the story as you know real people were that brave, smart, etc.

I think I'll have to watch it again to catch all the nuance. But I'm curious: How did Utred figure out that the king's gay boyfriend was a spy? After one watch, that seemed to come out of nowhere.

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Just fyi, its historical fiction. Based loosely on history but heavily fictionalized. And if you liked the show the book series is even 100x better.

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Yeah a guy at my work and I were talking about Shogun and he asked me if I saw this. He informed me that it was a few fictionalized characters interacting with real life historical figures. That moved my interest from 0% to 100%.

To me, the only flaw in the show is that Utred and his crew were too powerful and good at fighting. It took some of the suspense away because you knew they were going to all live (until nearer the end of the series). And it makes Utred look like he basically founded England by himself and that everybody else took his credit. Does that happen in the books too?

Does the show stick to the books or does it diverge?

(Edit: Brida also annoyed the crap out of me)

As is typical in these cases, the shows really condense the books. There's so much more details and adventure and fun in the books. And yeah, since Uhtred is the hero he is more or less portrayed as the military reason for the Saxons defeating the Vikings. But they're really fun books regardless of the cliches they may fall into.

If you like the shows and you're any sort of reader then you'll like the books even more so than the show.

FL_Ag1998 said:

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As is typical in these cases, the shows really condense the books. There's so much more details and adventure and fun in the books. And yeah, since Uhtred is the hero he is more or less portrayed as the military reason for the Saxons defeating the Vikings. But they're really fun books regardless of the cliches they may fall into.

If you like the shows and you're any sort of reader then you'll like the books even more so than the show.

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Have you read Shogun? If so, how would they compare? Do you think either is clearly better than the other?

Shogun (both book and show) is more detailed.

The premise for the books was Cornwell watching The Patriot and realizing nobody had ever done a satisfying story about the birth of England.

The whole series is like 10 or 11 books long though. They condensed that down into 5 seasons and a movie. One thing that is hard for the show to convey is that Uthred is like 65 years old at the end of it.

I liked Shogun more, but was a fan of both.

aTmAg said:

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FL_Ag1998 said:

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As is typical in these cases, the shows really condense the books. There's so much more details and adventure and fun in the books. And yeah, since Uhtred is the hero he is more or less portrayed as the military reason for the Saxons defeating the Vikings. But they're really fun books regardless of the cliches they may fall into.

If you like the shows and you're any sort of reader then you'll like the books even more so than the show.

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Have you read Shogun? If so, how would they compare? Do you think either is clearly better than the other?

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Have not read Shogun but thought the recent miniseries was one of the best things produced for tv in the past decade. It got me interested in the book for sure.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Shogun (both book and show) is more detailed.

The premise for the books was Cornwell watching The Patriot and realizing nobody had ever done a satisfying story about the birth of England.

The whole series is like 10 or 11 books long though. They condensed that down into 5 seasons and a movie. One thing that is hard for the show to convey is that Uthred is like 65 years old at the end of it.

I liked Shogun more, but was a fan of both.

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My understanding is in the Saxon books (or whatever they are called), he somehow describes (in footnotes, appendix, or something) where his story diverges from reality. If true, then that is pretty cool.

aTmAg said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Shogun (both book and show) is more detailed.

The premise for the books was Cornwell watching The Patriot and realizing nobody had ever done a satisfying story about the birth of England.

The whole series is like 10 or 11 books long though. They condensed that down into 5 seasons and a movie. One thing that is hard for the show to convey is that Uthred is like 65 years old at the end of it.

I liked Shogun more, but was a fan of both.

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My understanding is in the Saxon books (or whatever they are called), he somehow describes (in footnotes, appendix, or something) where his story diverges from reality. If true, then that is pretty cool.

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Yep, he does