A Lanaster Always Pays His Debts

I got HBO because True Blood was starting again. I can now catch up on all the shows I've missed over the past 6 months, including Game Of Thrones. I watched the 10 episodes over a period of 5 days and must say, I am spent. My first thought was that it reminded me a lot of Ken Follet's book "Pillars of the Earth". It's obvious from the beginning who the good guys and the bad guys are. And as someone pointed out, anybody could die at any time. I thought it was so ballsy to set it up as if Bran were going to die at the end of the first episode. I liked his character and was glad to see him live, but not all of my favorites were so lucky. Nothing was more devastating (and surprising) than the death of Ned Stark in the second to last episode. As my friend Terry said, "Joffrey is the new Malfoy." I totally agree. And how cool that there are dragons again? They are way cooler than the baby velociraptors from Jurassic Park. How long do we have to wait before the second season? I know that the show is based on a series of books. I'm tempted to read ahead to spoil the plot lines for myself. As you may know, I don't care for conflict in drama. If nothing else, at least I won't be so caught off guard when my favorite characters are beheaded.