I slogged through the first three books and couldn't quite make it to the fourth. Then along came the HBO series and completely reset the series for me. Rarely has a film or TV adaptation been better than its literary counterpart, but maybe, just maybe, this article may've given me sufficient cause to reconsider the books again. I don't know how I felt about the eighth season, but come on! The seventh season wasn't too bad! :) Phenomenal analysis again.