Just finished Dance With Dragons.

Spoiler

I agree with what people have been saying about Jon not really being dead. I just hope that he comes back in a believable fashion that's not overused. The idea of him being reborn as Azhor is an interesting one, but I think it'd take a bit of time to get used to - Jon is Jon, I'd rather he not be changed. His was my favourite perspective, ever since aSoS, so to see him gone would be a real let down, especially given that I dislike or am simply bored by most of the other characters.

I hated Dany for the whole book - I've always been bored by her character, and now, as Taure mentioned, she took a step back for the two she moved forwards previously. It really feels like useless filler.

I'd have appreciated the book a lot more if things were actually done, and plot points were set up, but for the most part I feel that there was a lot of useless stuff. I hope Martin will prove me wrong with the next book.

 

So. GRRM released a sample chapter from Winds of Winter.

Excuse me while I freak out.

Theon

 

You have to remember your name!

Theon's mental breakdown is really interesting to watch.

 

*mind blown*

That one chapter was enough to remind me of the impatience and longing for the next book.

 

And yet, it illustrates the difficulty of getting information to people in a medieval society. It's one thing I've always liked about the books - no one is omniscient.

Plus, those who know anything have vested reasons to keep quiet or are out of contact with anyone who cares. In Bran and Rickon's case, the only people who know are Bran, Rickon, Osha, Mara and Theon. Bran, Mara, Rickon, and Osha are out of contact, and Theon is insane (plus he seems to want to keep the Starks alive now). And actually, if I remember Dance correctly, there were rumors of at least Rickon being alive. In Sansa's case, she and Littlefinger are the only ones who know about the deception. Arya is nowhere near anyone who would recognize her, and she's the only person left alive who knows where she went.

 

Goddamn it, Theon's chapters are always so depressing. ;_;

Please, please let the next book come out in less than two years. I don't think I could take a longer wait.

 

I never liked him much either, but lately I felt sorry for the poor bastard. Martin is one sadistic motherfucker. I have a feeling that he isn't going to let Theon die this easy.

As long as Bran and Rickon have their direwolves there will be few who don't believe it's them. Especially with Bran being a cripple. Sansa will be harder, but she looks just like her mother. Plus it won't matter much whether people believe or no when she has the Eyrie behind her.

 

Just finished A feast for crows so I'm not lookng at the rest of the thread because, y'know, spoilers and shit. And below this you will find more spoilers 'n' shit.

So far; Tyrion, Littlefinger, Arya, Sam, Jon, occasionally Dany and funnily enough, Jaime have been my favourite characters.

The red wedding horrified me and left me with a little bit of actual heartbreak. God dammit but I want House Stark to rise high and recover to what it was at the very least.

Cersei is a fucking lunatic and can suck a dick, I was grinning like an idiot when the shit went down at the end of AFFC and she got locked up. The Ironmen chapters bore the shit out of me but I'm wary of this dragon horn Crow's eye has.

Brienne. Brienne the beautiful, Brienne the bold, Brienne the boring bitch. I really hope to fuck she's dead at the end of AFFC. Every time her chapter rolled around I put down the book for a day before I could read it.

So yeah, I have A dance with dragons on my shiny new kindle and I'm going to dive in later. How does it compare with the previous books?

 

Well, going from that Theon chapter it looks like

Spoiler

The letter Ramsay sent at the end of ADWD isn't entirely true - at least with regards to killing Stannis. If Karstark has been caught and the Frays and Manderlys are the ones going to battle it seems unlikely that Stannis would be killed - especially by Ramsay. Not that anyone I spoke to believed it but for me this confirms it's mostly bullshit.

 

Spoiler

Why couldn't Ramsay kill Stannis? Don't buy into Stannis' hype. Stannis may be a good warrior but that doesn't mean that Ramsay couldn't beat him. History doesn't matter when the swords are out. And I think Ramsay was behind the Freys and Manderly with his own force.

I like seeing Stannis again, it's sad that it happened before the letter to Jon so we can't confirm he's alive but w/e. Of all the kings he's pretty much my favorite. I did want to laugh when he commanded Massey to fight on after his death suuuuure Stannis.

As for Theon, hopefully they killed him before Ramsay could get to him. Christ, I don't even want to imagine the torture waiting for him if he's caught.

Well, hopefully this is a sign that GRRM was telling the truth and WoW will be released much quicker than Dance, but you never know.

Seratin: It's basically AFFC 2.0. To avoid spoilers: interesting characters were put to the side or neutered, while nothing happened.

 

Does the new chapter occur before the last scenes in ADWD or after them? Or is everyone assuming they are after? It's been a while and well the book is not that memorable..

 

IIRC Martin confirmed that they're before the end of Dance on his blog.

 

The next fucking book better move things along, Dance was a giant cocktease.

 

Especially that last chapter from the Wall. Goddammit.

 

Remember when the first sample chapter came out for Dance, and then just like that SIX YEARS LATER the book came out.

 

Given his publishing history, committing to the HBO series is a bit brave. He has to finish books six and seven within four years, or the production will get stuck and the whole thing falls apart.

The good news is that the softcover for ADoD (being released in July) will include another spoiler chapter for Winds of Winter. Two out of seventy on average, but at least there's the two.

 

Who here actually thinks that Martin will actually finish the series? It's too likely that he'll go the way of Robert Jordan and Douglas Adam.

 

You shut your whore mouth.

 

My personal hope is that A Dance with Dragons was something of an aberration in terms of how long it took him to write it. I know that he's always taken his time, but there was the definite sense that he had got stuck on something (the so-called Meereenese knot) that took forever to solve. So long as he doesn't hit another, similar snag with Winds of Winter, we should have it sooner than ADWD.