Reviews for GOT and His Dark Materials on the horizon

1. Co-worker: I've been hearing discussions here and there about Game of Thrones. I don't want any spoilers. I haven't watched Season 8 yet. Did you see the finale?
Me: Yes.
Co-worker: Did you like it?
Me: No. (Pause)
Co-worker: Okay -- hmmm, no spoilers.
Me: Eh, I should tell you one thing. If you are a fan of Dany? Don't watch Season 8. Skip it.
Co-worker (who is a huge fan of Dany -looks at me): Oh?
Me: Yeah. It's a warning. I know you love that character -- trust me on this -- skip Season 8.

I told my mother, who'd been watching but had to stop at S5, what happened. She also loved Dany. I sort of did, although when I realized the show was going to jump the shark and become a different show entirely, I stopped caring. Was deeply disappointed in some respects, it started out as a brilliant discourse on political machinations and how we are our own worst enemies...only to turn into well...

For the record, I didn't like the finale for a lot of reasons.

Reviews...that articulate my difficulties better than I can:

* Finale Review of GOT by Julie Berman, Time's film and television critic
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Yet still mixed feelings..as this review conveys from the Washington Post:

Finale While Lacking Goes Out on an Important Note - Stories Matter
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And.. CBS This Morning Discusses the Difficulty of Sticking the Ending for Television Series -- and how the Internet Affects that.

Vox Review of Game of Thrones
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Also...

Danerys Tells All - New Yorker Interview

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Ah, found another one, courtesy of beer_good_foamy, this is Chuck Wendig...who I don't always agree with..I've read one of his books. Don't remember which one. It was a while ago.

Endings are not stoppings on Game of Thrones and how we conclude our stories

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2. If you are over Game of Thrones and ready to move on to a really promising adaptation of a cool series of fantasy novels?

HBO's Trailer is already giving us the best adaptation of His Dark Materials that we deserve

His Dark Materials is a series of fantasy novels by Phillip K. Pullman, which were written in response to CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, which Pullman had issues with. They are insightful works -- with a young female heroine, and introduce the idea of daemons -- your soul takes on the form of animal that is a daemon and is attached to you. Although it's a bit more complicated than that. And it has a good cast.

I'm really looking forward to it. I loved His Dark Materials.