Two more glowing reviews

For every poorly-written negative review, it seems we get two or three well-written positive ones. The latest two reviews to wax poetic about Game of Thrones come from Variety and IGN TV.

Brian Lowry of Variety writes in his review:

Although “Mad Men’s” Don Draper partially scratched the itch, premium TV has been actively seeking its next Tony Soprano. While Showtime’s medieval “The Borgias” directly promoted that analogy, HBO comes much closer with “Game of Thrones,” which reaches even farther afield — to Westeros, a mythical land of seven kingdoms where dragons once lived — to deliver a mob boss (OK, king) beset by plotting, intrigue and fractious families on all sides. Massive in scope and cinematic in detail, this dense piece of storytelling should resonate beyond just fans of George R.R. Martin’s novels, providing HBO its own formidable seat of power.

Matt Fowler of IGN writes, in his review of the first episode:

From the opening moments of HBO’s new series, Game of Thrones, involving the ill-fated Waymar Royce search party, most fans of the George Martin “A Song of Fire and Ice” series of books can tell that this would be a faithful, sturdy adaptation. We are indeed going to be led through the frozen hell-zone of the Northern Territory of Westeros and we are going to go head to head with the supernatural “Others” that inhabit that land. As with any book adaptation, fans will worry and wonder as to what will be left out and what will be kept in, but the premiere episode, “Winter is Coming,” not only effortlessly takes us along, faithfully, through the book, but it also manages to capture the majestically morbid spirit of Martin’s pages and turn them into thrilling television.

Also of interest is the Game of Thrones Metacritic page where the various reviews are compiled, given a score and the average of those scores is the series’ overall critical rating. Currently there are only two reviews, but more should be added soon and the overall rating calculated.

• Published on 04/10/2011 at 9:04 AM CDT
• Last updated on 04/10/2011 at 9:04 AM CDT