"Game of Thrones", or "Perebutan Takhta"?

This has been the greatest anxiety of my literacy life.
Picking books never been this complicated before.

V I C K Y   A M I N ' S

.(weird) chronicles of

"A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE"

Well yeah, I know.
But no, I ain't mainstream.

I haven't touched even a single episode of its TV series version. I promised myself not to start doing that, before I read all the published books. Five of them now, yes? So it shan't be long to finish all and get myself exposed to the series, and let myself craft some smart-ass comparisons of the book and the show.

But no, it's not that easy.

It all began when I saw the book in local store. "A Song of Ice and Fire #1". "The Game of Thrones". It was the Indonesian version, so it sounded more like, "Perebutan Takhta". To be honest before the show boomed, I had no idea at all about "A Song of Ice and Fire". Just when my friends in campus started talking about the show, I began to be aware of it. And when I saw the book, and it was already in Bahasa, well, there's no harm in trying to join the euphoria, no?

At first, my plan was so simple. I just wanted to enrich my Indonesian vocabulary. Plus, the red cover of the book looked really amazing - yes, I judge the book by its cover. So I brought home this 1000 something pages book, and got myself mesmerized by the world of Westeros and beyond. The story was amazing, the characters were many - you may know that I have this weird obsession of some stories with a bunch of characters, and Sansa was pretty. Story-wise, no negativity. George R. R. Martin instantly came into the second place of my favorite author, just below Agatha Christie. But delivery-wise, I was pretty... Tingled.

It was fine, although, I was pretty much disturbed by some inconsistencies found in many ways, like... Translations, mostly. Some terms and names, in the Indonesian book, were translated. Like the houses slogans - it was "Dengarkan Raunganku!" instead of "Hear Me Roar!" for the Lannisters. Some others, on the other hand, were not - "Littlefinger" instead of "Jari Kecil", "The Neck" instead of "Leher". Well after all, it was okay and I was pretty convinced to stick with my plan.

But then the second book came. "A Song of Ice and Fire #2". "A Clash of Kings". Or should I say, "Peperangan Raja-Raja"? It also came with the same great cover, but the inside, totally wrecked. So disappointing!

The inconsistencies were much too intolerable. Typos were everywhere. And there were this unnecessary repeat of chapters, as much as 100 pages! I mean, okay, I know, it was 1200 pages or so, creating extra works for you guys, but I don't care! You took the risk of getting the copyright, and publishing it in Indonesian, so do it good! I was, and still am, on the verge of regretting my decision in buying this version.

Then again, I can't stop doing this.

Collecting the Indonesian versions of it.

Which will come from the same publisher.

I have the first and second book, both with the same cover only different in colors and symbols. These covers and how they just harmonize, it fulfills me inside out! And I'm literally looking forward to the next cover—will it be green? Will it be blue? I'm more psyched to see whose banner will be on the face of the book, rather than finding out what will happen to Jon Snow!

Look how they are beautifully crafted in an identical yet unidentical way. How do you feel if
the third one is not the same? Well, nothing, I guess. It's just me and my weird fetish.

My OCD shit will definitely kill me if I ruin the pattern by stop buying the book from the same publisher :)

Damn.

What should I do next?

"A Storm of Swords", or...

"Badai Pedang"?