Were done with the fourth season of Game of Thrones, which means those who havent read the books get to speculate themselves into a tizzy over whos going to off who or whether the Stark brats will ever, ever get back together next season for nine months. Those of us whove actually bothered to read the source material on which the show is based get to roll our eyes at the whole kerfuffle. Dont get me wrong, the shows entertaining enough that Im willing to watch it despite already knowing who gets to keep their head. My inner fan-boy screams with delight at seeing characters brought to life off the page, and to their credit, the shows writers have done an incredible job in past seasons of sticking like glue to the books in an orderly fashion (which is no easy feat). Season four has shown that the writers are taking a marked break from that trend, however, and I cant really say that I blame them. For the uninitiated, season four has covered a loose amalgamation of events from books III, IV, and V of A Song of Ice and Fire A Storm of Swords,A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons respectively. This might seem somewhat confusing if youve remained ASOIAF-illiterate up until this point, but the latter two books actually take place concurrently with the former keeping up with players in Westeros, while the latter remains planted across the narrow sea with the gang in Essos. GRRM gets a pass on this front because writers of his fame and stature can largely do as they damn well please (although he did have his reasons). But Weiss and Benioff have a global following to please; chronological clusterfuffles of that magnitude which would involve parting with fan-favorite characters for a whole season would be a huge no-no. As youll see, events on television are progressing much faster and in a wildly different manner than the rather lethargic pace of the books, which leaves us biting our nails over whether Weiss and Benioff are going to run out of material before The Winds of Winter (finally) hits shelves. This in turn exacerbates all ASOIAF fans fears that GRRM will croak before the series is even finished, which is now, more than ever, a distinct possibility. Fortunately, Weiss and Benioffs adaptations this season have been accomplished with grace (GRRM is a producer of the show after all), and in some cases have even made some welcome alterations to the deeply textured fabric that is Game of Thrones. Weve compiled the best of them from this season here and, as always, comment below your thoughts!