Poppin’ Up in Westeros

While there has been a lot of internet speculation (and outrage) over the latest Game of Thrones episode, “Breaker of Chains,” I have been preoccupied with a new acquisition, the Game of Thrones: A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros. Designed by renowned paper engineer Matthew Reinhart and illustrator Michael Komarck, the book is a blast, with not just the cool buildings that populate the fantasy series, but lots of fun pop-up surprises and pull-out guides to all of the warring houses from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels and its current television adaptation on HBO. There are some detailed instructions on how to layout the intricately rendered Westeros. The book really goes from being book art to art and sculpture. It’s lots of fun for fans of both the books and the television show.

You really need some space to get a lay of the land

And Westeros was worried about dragons …

I love the pop-up member of the Kingsguard

Winterfell, the Wall, and what the heck …

Watch out for the White Walkers!

HBO has always diverged from the books, especially with its frequent scenes of “sexposition,” but many fans think that the show runners took things a bit too far last Sunday. An already outrageous scene in the book A Storm of Swords between incestuous siblings (and twins) Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), was pushed to the limit in the episode “Breaker of Chains,” with Jaime forcing himself on his sister. The book depicted that as well, but with Cersei going from resistant to compliant — at least from Jaime’s point of view. As shocking as that scene may have been, it’s a shame that it is drowning out some other really good things that happened in the episode. I don’t think Jaime’s redemption arc has been as irreparably damaged as many are saying. As stated before, the scene in the book was pretty crazy, too. But at least I have my pop-up Westeros to guide me.

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