User blog comment:Gcheung28/Fan vs. Critic: Game of Thrones - The Laws of Gods and Men/@comment-67.162.146.47-20140513204045/@comment-69.126.185.119-20140518065022

Wow, you read the books. People on the internet are terribly impressed that you read a genre book at a high school reading level. Really, we're super impressed, so now you can stop reminding us every two minutes that you read the books, and how speshu you are because you read them.

The TV show has to stand on its own as a compelling piece of fiction. That's not a goal, it's a requirement, and so far the show has delivered. If audiences have to read a book to understand what's going on, the project is a failure -- look at David Lynch's adaptation of Dune for a good example of that kind of fail.

You might understand this as soon as you get over the idea that *opinions* about the TV show are some kind of contest between fans of the show and fans of the books. When the show omits Walder Frey's 79th grandchild or doesn't include Renly's peach or the anecdote about the Unsullied's puppies, it's not some sort of personal affront to GRRM -- it's necessary trimming to meet time and storytelling constraints. It's amazing that GRRM's book fans don't seem to realize that, even when GRRM himself is writing the episodes and trimming his own work in the process.