Man, if y’all only knew the amount of Game of Thrones writing I’ll be doing over the next few days.

The Boiled Leather Audio Hour Episode 09!

Suffer the Children/Blackwater Bonus: Children and Violence in A Song of Ice and Fire, plus thoughts on Game of Thrones’ “Blackwater” episode

Stefan Sasse and I are once again a dynamic duo for this week’s episode, which once again tackles two topics for the price of one.

First up, BLAH goes to the Blackwater, for a discussion of this week’s tremendous episode of Game of Thrones. You can find my full review of “Blackwater” at Rolling Stone, but the nice thing about our conversation is that the review hadn’t yet been posted when we recorded it, so we range into aspects of the episode not covered in the written piece. (SPOILER ALERT: We both loved it!)

Second, and on a more serious note, we talk about a part of the novels that’s as unpleasant as it is frequently described: violence against children. As I say on the podcast, between the show’s treatment of this issue during its second season (four out of nine episodes aired so far end with the murder of children or infants) and a remarkably grim series of real-world events, I’ve found myself noticing this aspect of the books more and more during my current re-read. Stefan and I argue that violence against children may well be as big a theme of the books as the treatment of women or the allure of faded history, albeit a far stealthier one than either. It’s rough stuff, obviously, so prep for that going in, but hopefully you’ll agree with us that there’s much of value to be mined here. Check it out.

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croclock asked: I'm a bit surprised (if not disappointed) that your list of 10 biggest changes in the adaptation of the book A Clash of Kings to the TV you did not mention either Dany's dragons being stolen or, and especially, Catelyn's character dramatic change? In my opinions, those two seem to be far more relevant than Ygritte running away from Jon Snow.... maybe you disagree?

I DID mention the dragons being stolen, in the Qarth entry. With Catelyn, I had two reasons — first, this was focusing on the second season, and the nature of TV-Cat emerged in the first season. Second, the difference between book-Cat and TV-Cat is kind of an “I know it when I see it” thing that’s difficult to articulate and describe in the context of a listicle of this nature. I’ve certainly addressed it in my reviews, though — I think that’s how I ended the review of “What Is Dead May Never Die,” for example. 

Game of Thrones thoughts, Season Two, Episode Nine: “Blackwater”

For my recap/review of Episode 19, please visit Rolling Stone.

You have no idea how hard it was not to just title this one “Smoke on the Water” and call it a day.

A Feast for Crows/A Dance with Dragons chronological reading order?

Can anyone recommend a reasonably authoritative reading order for reading the two books simultaneously in more-or-less chronological order? I googled but nothing jumped out as the consensus choice.