

Following the popularity of their “In Memoriam” video from after Season 3, HBO has published Game of Thrones: In Memoriam yesterday, a small book dedicated to the characters from the show who’ve perished on-screen. It retails for $14.95 in the United States, and £9.99 in the UK.

I was sent a press copy of the book to review, and while I find the book quite charming, I have some concerns…

The main thing I like about In Memoriam is that it feels like HBO had some fun putting it together. The lead focus of that fun: Beric Dondarrion, whose multiple deaths are each given an identical page. Noticing this made me double-take and then laugh, which was unexpected. The two dead direwolves, Lady and Grey Wind, each get a page as well, which is a nice touch.

The book itself is well-put together. The binding feels a little iffy but bends well enough, and the pictures and pages look good. But its relatively small size—six and a half inches squared, a little larger than a CD case—means that it’s hard to show off. Unlike, for example, the Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones coffee table book where the photos are one of the chief joys, In Memoriam is just too small (and, to be fair, affordable) to have glorious photos be the primary focus.

My main concern with In Memoriam is that I have no idea who it’s actually for. It’s going to be outdated in just a couple of months, as soon as characters start dying in Season 5. The information attached to each character is more of a basic reminder for casual fans without any behind-the-scenes tidbits for more dedicated viewers, but there are easier and cheaper ways for those casual fans to be reminded. In Memoriam feels like a web slideshow in book form, which is nice to have, but I’m not sure why it would be sought out.

There is some fun to be had analyzing the entries for living and dead characters, though, especially since the book is arranged roughly chronologically. Beric, for example, has his first death at the end of Season 1, but continues to die through Season 4, implying that it’s still happening even when he’s off-screen. Septa Mordane gets a page, but Jory Cassel doesn’t. In terms of spoilers, perhaps the biggest two hints are that The Hound doesn’t get a page to himself—we may have seen him dying but didn’t see a body—and that Catelyn Stark is included. (No sign of Balon Greyjoy, either.)