With the premiere date for the fifth season of Game Of Thrones only a month away, now is a good time for fans to refresh their memories of what has happened so far.
But putting yourself through hours of blood and tears by rewatching past seasons isn't the only option (even if you do like it). Instead, why not pretend to be well-read, with the recently released Inside HBO's Game Of Thrones Boxset. In the sombre but lavish set are two official companion books to seasons one through four, bound in a regal-looking debossed and padded cover.
For fans of the series who have yet to read George R.R. Martin's books (and probably never will), this is a solid stand-in for the literary world of Westeros. Most importantly, it's a book with pictures (Hodor would approve). The photos are dark and grim; the art direction of the book medieval-esque, bringing to mind dusty tomes from a bygone era.
The first book, which covers seasons one and two, is beautifully written by Bryan Cogman, who also serves as one of the series' screenwriters. The show's creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — as well as Martin — have lent a hand to write the preface and foreword. The second book, written by C.A. Taylor, contains clunkier prose and is somewhat less engaging due to the way that it is structured — by seasonal episode, rather than by region of Westeros, as in the first.
The encyclopaedic-like books, with their gold-foiled spines and pages that resemble paper from a regal medieval scroll mostly focus on the different crew members responsible for bringing Martin's work to the small screen. Interviews from both cast and crew make for an entertaining read that bring you the unscripted, but no less interesting, side of the show.
Inside HBO'sGame Of Thrones Boxset.
It's tempting to skip to the parts about your favourite actors, which contain reflections on the character as well as gossip on the other actors. Family trees and their brief histories are also included, meaning you'll get at least a page of insight into small characters such as Theon Greyjoy's sister, Yara.
A disappointment is the lack of backstory on one of the most conniving newcomers of season three — Margaery Tyrell. Instead, boring titbits about people from the Wall and beyond are explored — why Mance Rayder ditched the brotherhood for Team Wildling, for example. (It had to do with a coat. Seriously.)
Reading about the realness and technicalities of the series brings you right onto the set. In between picturesque photographs of shooting locations in Croatia, impressive chapters pop up: some retell how real wolves are used to play the direwolves; some discuss how the Dothraki language was created. "We're not linguists," Benioff says in the book. "If we had attempted to invent the language ourselves, it would have been ridiculous 'ooga booga' stuff. David Peterson's Dothraki is a thing of beauty, a language that sounds absolutely real and lived-in even though it didn't exist a couple of years ago."
Much attention to detail has been put into this wildly successful series, which is especially evident in the battle scenes in which Martin makes good use of geography and medieval thought and tactics. "In a movie, it's usually two armies lined up on opposite sides of the field and running at each other, which is idiotic," he says in the book, revealing one of his pet peeves.
A good mix of legend, solid interviews and behind-the-scene peeks into production make these two books an all-in-one stop to the world of Thrones.
Whether you want to get into the heads of the people who have contributed to the show (including those long dead!), from set creators to Peter Dinklage, or discover lesser-known facts from people who would been otherwise hard to find, it's all here for fans to enjoy.
There's probably no other place where you can get fashion knowledge from the show's costume designers alongside a list of what character each actor would like to be killed off the most. If only we could zip through history books at the pace we did these.
A closer look at Margaery's wedding dress that indicates her lineage from the House of Roses.
