said by Jay_:So I've started reading the books. Started last night, got to the part where Bran is pushed out the window. So far, it's pretty damn dead on with the TV series. haha..
When you read book two, probably 1/3 of it wasn't included in season 2 (or that's what it felt like). For example, there were two shadow killings. Elements of both were merged into the single Renley killing. I think the most noticeable things were Riverrun not being included at all and Arya's story being cut in half. She was never a cup bearer for Tywin and I don't recall her even speaking to him. While he was still there she was a kitchen slave and then later served as cub bearer for the new "Lord" which the "ownership" of the castle changed. She also never had the gate guards murdered. She selected a much different target for her 3rd life. Another major thing is Stannis was not with the fleet - he was leading the ground war. Plus, the ships sailed down the river (not the open ocean), Tyrion's "chain" wasn't included and the wildfire was used in a completely different (and much cooler) manner. Oh and Bran's story was half way removed (and the part that was removed was the cool skin shifter training part). Crap, and Danerys's dragons were never kidnapped, there was no vault, that dude didn't try to take over and her experience with the warlocks was TOTALLY different (and different in a major much better way).
Well (hell), season 2 blew chunks lol.
It's odd season 1 was spot on and season 2 was just so horrible at staying true to the books. Hopefully book 3 being split in half will help take things back to being true to the books. Although it's hard to think of the major shocker events