After almost an entire year, the crtically-acclaimed series “Game of Thrones” returns to HBO for its fourth season. The show is based off of the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, and this season focused specifically on the third book: “A Storm of Swords” with small parts from the fourth and fifth books, “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance With Dragons” respectively. Having read all the books, I’m not looking forward to the show to find out the fates of my favorite characters, but I want to see the show’s take on some of my favorite scenes.

The show was created by D. B. Weiss and David Benioff, and this season is said to be the most intense yet. After the shocking Red Wedding episode nine of last season, such a claim seems unrealistic, but tensions are rising in the land of Westeros and winter is coming. With the arrival of Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne for King Joffrey’s wedding, and the mounting wildling attack on the wall, this entire season will be more intense and shocking than any previous season. I’m personally excited for the scene when *CENSORED* tries to kill *CENSORED* and gets murdered.

“Game of Thrones” is the story of rivaling families in the land of Westeros. The series all began when Lord Eddard Stark, the ruler of the North of Westeros, was asked by his friend Robert Baratheon, king of Westeros, to become the king’s second-in-command after the sudden death of the previous second-in-command. After many lies and plots, Robert’s son: Joffrey Baratheon becomes the new king and starts a war between the ruling family, Robert’s brother Stannis Baratheon and Eddard’s son Robb Stark, with the rest of the North. While all of this is going on in Westeros, the only living heirs of the original ruling family: the Targaryens are gathering an army to take back Westeros. I’d go into much more detail about the series and characters and plots, but since I’m trying to convince you to watch this fantastic show, I can only say so much without spoiling it.

There is no denying the show is fantastic. It has everything anyone could want: dragons, violence, romance, betrayal, humor, zombies and more. However, for everything this show does right, the book does a hundred times better. Sure, each book exceeds 1000 pages, but they are so intense and interesting that they always seem too short. Honestly, if you watch the show you should read up until the third book, because it gives you so much more information and makes the show so much easier to digest. The world in “Game of Thrones” has plenty of history, lots of people and places to remember, and the show isn’t the best at explaining each and every nuance of the world like the book can. that being said, the show is fine on its own and it can be enjoyable without the extra reading.

If you’re completely confused about what any of this is, that’s fine because it isn’t too late to get caught up on the series for the season four premiere. The fourth season starts Sunday, April 6, and each episode has a running time of 45-50 minutes. Each season has a total of 10 episodes, and with three seasons completed so far, the total run time of the series  is a little more than a day. So put on those pajamas and get that coffee and prepare to have your life throughly completed.