Game of Thrones Reviews

A couple of reviews of GoT's first episode taken from Zimbio.

The first episode of Game of Thrones premiered on HBO last night, and the violent, sexually charged fantasy epic has already garnered mixed reviews. The good: HBO clearly sprung for some very high level production values and talent beyond the grasp of shows with smaller budgets. The bad: A lot of controversy over whether the show, rife with gratuitous nudity and beheadings, is strictly for the boys.

New York Times reviewer Ginia Bellafante has already made waves with her assessment of Game of Thrones as being "boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half." The very quotable blurb will likely become the definitive debate point as critics continue to take on the show through the rest of the season.

Here's what some outlets are already saying. We'll start with that Times review for a little more context.

New York Times: "The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise."

Time: "The CGI is stunning in this series, as you can see from the vista of King's Landing, which made me want to book a vacation there. More evocative, though, are the set-design details; the holy women surrounding the body of the deceased Hand of the King, for instance, whose trappings suggested a culture and religion somewhat familiar and yet different from anything in our world."

Vanity Fair: "I’ll make the case that this story, if done right, could be better as a series than it is as a book. The world that Martin has crafted springs to life with almost too much ease on-screen. But is it done right? So far: sort of. It’s close. Without the added benefit of reading the book, I do fear that, not only would I be lost as far as the wide array of characters go, but I also might not care as much as I do about said characters."

Houston Chronicle: "I was hard-pressed to find dialog in the show that didn't match up to what Martin wrote. The show's creators have done an admirable job keeping true to his very efficient jibberjabber.

"As mentioned, the ages of the children have all been nudged up two or three years, which is fine. They're involved in some pretty adult fare involving swords and sex."

The Telegraph: "There are similarities to Lord of the Rings, of course. But, be warned, Game of Thrones is strictly adult fare: bloody, violent and shamelessly salacious."