Get GOT

I'm not much on fantasy literature, especially set in the Middle Ages (as it so often is).  So I didn't bother to watch the HBO adaptation of Game Of Thrones.  Then the regular TV season ended and I figured I'd check it out.  I'm caught up and so far, not bad.  Certainly better than expected.

It took a while to get into it, since it must have at least 30 regular or recurring characters, and takes place at numerous locations throughout the Realm. (The title sequence takes you across the map.) Though it's a fictitious land, it's mostly familiar tropes we've seen in medieval depictions of Olde England with a bit of Vikings thrown in, not to mention some zombies in the North and, across the sea in the East, a Middle-Eastern inflected culture (with a soupcon of Klingon).  There seem to be some magical aspects, and while that's not unusual in sword and sorcery stories, I think Game Of Thrones would be better without them.

I won't go into the particulars, except to say it's about different Houses fighting for the Iron Throne, with various degrees of daring, strategy and honor involved.  I believe the ratings are good, and I'm sure it helps that there are large dollops of violence and nudity.

I've heard the producers are following the George R. R. Martin novel very closely. There's obviously far too much going on for the whole story to be tied up in a bow in tonight's finale, so does that mean they'll do every novel in the series?  I guess that's the idea.  I haven't read the books, or played the games, but does HBO plan to have an end to this epic, or will it go on as long as people watch?  I'd certainly prefer the former.