So... this is a thing...

 

I'm about to finish book 3.

I've heard book 4 and 5 are kind of poorly organized and are better read as one interwoven book- like http://boiledleather.com/post/24543217702/a-proposed-a-feast-for-crows-a-dance-with-dragons

Should I read the two books normally, or read them in this proposed order? Assume that it's not a pain in the ass at all to flip between books. I've got an e-reader and it's trivial to stitch them together.

 

Well, the post itself says that it's the list is intended for people that have read it once before.

So, I'd say just read it normally.

 

There's a spoiler free version for new readers here: A new reader–friendly combined reading order for A Feast for Crows & A Dance with Dragons

 

His explanation (which I have deliberately not read) for why he recommends that particular order is what is intended for people who have read it, as the explanation contains spoilers.

The reading order itself is intended for new (and old) readers.

 

Go with the one Yak linked, I think it is a fine risk to take. I liked reading Feast and Dance separately, but there are a lot of people who didn't like that.

 

So only six days until the U.S. paperback version of 'A Dance with Dragons' is released. Which is supposed to have a new chapter from 'The Winds of Winter', and is confirmed as NOT being the Theon chapter posted on GRRM's site at the end of 2011.

I've been scouring the web, but have yet to find anything conclusive regarding the sample chapter's POV. Has anyone heard anything?

 

It's Barristan I, which we have a summary of from a reading already, and which this episode of my podcast covers in detail: The Battle of Fire. Suffice it to say, I am disappointed.

 

That is disappointing (And I had listened to that podcast ). I was holding out hope for the Aeron chapter, which seems to be the only complete chapter left that Martin seems to be willing to part with before publication (to date, anyway).

 

Yeah, I was hopeful that it would be Aeron as well. At least we get the actual speech and whatnot.

 

Query: Let's say Aerys gets his wish and sets off all the wildfire in King's Landing as Tywin Lannister and his troops are sacking it. The Lannister army dies, Tywin's dead, Jaime's dead, the Targaryens are all dead (except for Daenrys and Viserys at Dragonstone I guess) and Eddard Stark arrives to King's Landing to see 500,000 dead and a burned out city.

What happens now?

 

They find Aerys reborn as a dragon. Obviously.

 

Westeros' unofficial 'capital' moved to Storm's End, from which Robert rules?

 

Robert marries a Tyrell, Cersei is married to whomever desires Casterly Rock. Tyrion loses most of his status but is alot happier than in canon.

My guess.

 

Necro-ing to remind everyone that Dangerous Women, featuring The Princess and the Queen novella, is out now! You can buy the Kindle edition and read it right now.

I've already finished it, very good.

 

Yep, The Princess and the Queen is great - an informative snippet on Westerosi history, with awesome going-ons shown.

On a side-note: TP&TQ goes against the traditional rule of writing fiction - Show, Don't Tell. The story is framed as a historical treatise, written by an Archmaester of Oldtown, on the Dance of the Dragons. I think it works well enough, given the context.

We as the readers know enough about the world of ASOIAF, and more importantly, are already interested and emotionally invested in the story. GRRM doesn't really need to draw us into his world (which would require more meticulous characterization via Showing, Not Telling).

In fact, I think it works especially well in fulfilling its purpose - which is painting a broad picture of events. Given the word contraints of a novella, GRRM can't afford to use his favoured, character-based story telling - there just aren't enough words to do so, especially if the whole point of the novella is to tell us more about this historical civil war - you just can't grasp the nature of the whole event as a single POV character.

 

Good news, about upcoming

Winds of winter exclusive chapter

 

MERCY

MERCY

 

History of Westeros put out an episode on the new Mercy chapter, check it out on our website, I made a pretty nifty animation for it. A lot of very interesting things in this chapter.

It's also on iTunes!

 

This is how big a dragon can become. Twice as big as I assumed.