Am I the only one who's desperate enough to get Martin's 4th book shipped from England? I thought there would be a spoiler thread here now about this. One thing's for sure. I have to re-read the first three again, and then read this a 4th time. There are a lot of really deep things here.
I'm going to be as spoilerific in this thread as possible, so try not to read further.
This is definitely the first book with a lot of padding in it. There is a good chunk of the book with a lot of walking (much like Arya in ACoK), this time it's Brienne, not Arya. It's ok, though, there's a payoff at the end--along with a cliffhanger.
The cool things:
--Cersei's apparent comeuppance. Her chapters would be painful to read if it wasn't for the knowledge that's she's a cold hearted bitch. It's nice to see things unravel for her. I'd feel sorry for Margaery, as well, but as she's high on my list of people who poisoned Joffrey, I'm not going to do that.
--Jaime's run for redemption. He's trying really hard to do so, even going so far to confess most of his sins (Ok, so it's to Ser Payne), but it's nice to see a rat bastard character reach for the sky.
--Sam's making it to the Citadel. Hopefully he'll make Maester before the world ends!
--The fact that Martin doesn't make things clear for you, making you suss things out. There are a couple of mysteries here that I think are cleared if you read closely. Most of the big ones are still out there. See below.
--Brienne's acts at the Inn of the Crossing. This is one of the most selfless acts of the SERIES! It's a pity that so many bad things happened to her before the end of it all. I wonder what she said at the end?
--Blood and FIRE! For those of you wondering what Doran was doing, now we know, and it's the act that will turn the series around.
--Snow at Riverrun! This little bit at the end of the book shows just how screwed the North really is. Too much time spent playing the game of Thrones, not enough time planning. It's going to get a lot worse.
The crappy things:
--I was surprised about the maiming of Loras Tyrell. I certainly didn't expect that! However, as we don't have a POV with Loras actually being maimed, I'm going to hold judgement until later. We only know through a mention from an unreliable character to Cersei. I did sort of laugh when Cersei described the wounds to Margaery. It seemed sort of comical how she was explaining them. "He took an arrow to the side." "That's not too bad, he'll live." "And an arrow to the thigh." "Two arrows, he's a big man, he can take care of it." "Well there's the pot of boiling oil that was poured on him." "Oh noes!"
--Stoneheart's intransigence. Obviously what happened to her in ASoS really has driven her mad, but her actions toward Brienne is really painful to read.
--Myrcella's wounds. Hey, all the innocent people get hurt. What's with all of the maiming!
--Finally, Arya's condition. One could say that she's been in a condition since the end of ACoK, but this one appears to be a little more permanent. Is this a test? Or is it permanent?
I lean towards test.
The mysteries:
--First, Arianne Martell was betrothed to Viserys through intermediaries in the East. It's pretty apparent from the book that the people that Doran Martell knows also know Illyrio and people who are with Danerys. We also know that Varys knows Illyrio, so we have a link to who's been pulling some strings for the past three books: Doran Martell. And he wants to put the Tagaryen's on the throne again. At least we know he's been doing something other than sitting on his gouty ass.
--Neither Clegane brother is dead. Sandor survived the arrow wound and was the grave digger at the monastery. I wonder if he's going to become one of these holy swordsmen, or if he's sick of the fighting and going to stay there for life? I think Gregor is still alive in Qyburn's lair, but what he's doing with him, I don't know if I want to know.
--What does Littlefinger want? Is it anything more than power over people, and money? He appears to have put himself in quite a position by the end of the book. Poor Robert.
This book had a lot of padding, but man was it good nonetheless. I enjoyed the heck out of it, and can't wait for the next one! How long do we have to wait?
I'm going to be as spoilerific in this thread as possible, so try not to read further.
This is definitely the first book with a lot of padding in it. There is a good chunk of the book with a lot of walking (much like Arya in ACoK), this time it's Brienne, not Arya. It's ok, though, there's a payoff at the end--along with a cliffhanger.
The cool things:
--Cersei's apparent comeuppance. Her chapters would be painful to read if it wasn't for the knowledge that's she's a cold hearted bitch. It's nice to see things unravel for her. I'd feel sorry for Margaery, as well, but as she's high on my list of people who poisoned Joffrey, I'm not going to do that.
--Jaime's run for redemption. He's trying really hard to do so, even going so far to confess most of his sins (Ok, so it's to Ser Payne), but it's nice to see a rat bastard character reach for the sky.
--Sam's making it to the Citadel. Hopefully he'll make Maester before the world ends!
--The fact that Martin doesn't make things clear for you, making you suss things out. There are a couple of mysteries here that I think are cleared if you read closely. Most of the big ones are still out there. See below.
--Brienne's acts at the Inn of the Crossing. This is one of the most selfless acts of the SERIES! It's a pity that so many bad things happened to her before the end of it all. I wonder what she said at the end?
--Blood and FIRE! For those of you wondering what Doran was doing, now we know, and it's the act that will turn the series around.
--Snow at Riverrun! This little bit at the end of the book shows just how screwed the North really is. Too much time spent playing the game of Thrones, not enough time planning. It's going to get a lot worse.
The crappy things:
--I was surprised about the maiming of Loras Tyrell. I certainly didn't expect that! However, as we don't have a POV with Loras actually being maimed, I'm going to hold judgement until later. We only know through a mention from an unreliable character to Cersei. I did sort of laugh when Cersei described the wounds to Margaery. It seemed sort of comical how she was explaining them. "He took an arrow to the side." "That's not too bad, he'll live." "And an arrow to the thigh." "Two arrows, he's a big man, he can take care of it." "Well there's the pot of boiling oil that was poured on him." "Oh noes!"
--Stoneheart's intransigence. Obviously what happened to her in ASoS really has driven her mad, but her actions toward Brienne is really painful to read.
--Myrcella's wounds. Hey, all the innocent people get hurt. What's with all of the maiming!
--Finally, Arya's condition. One could say that she's been in a condition since the end of ACoK, but this one appears to be a little more permanent. Is this a test? Or is it permanent?
I lean towards test.
The mysteries:
--First, Arianne Martell was betrothed to Viserys through intermediaries in the East. It's pretty apparent from the book that the people that Doran Martell knows also know Illyrio and people who are with Danerys. We also know that Varys knows Illyrio, so we have a link to who's been pulling some strings for the past three books: Doran Martell. And he wants to put the Tagaryen's on the throne again. At least we know he's been doing something other than sitting on his gouty ass.
--Neither Clegane brother is dead. Sandor survived the arrow wound and was the grave digger at the monastery. I wonder if he's going to become one of these holy swordsmen, or if he's sick of the fighting and going to stay there for life? I think Gregor is still alive in Qyburn's lair, but what he's doing with him, I don't know if I want to know.
--What does Littlefinger want? Is it anything more than power over people, and money? He appears to have put himself in quite a position by the end of the book. Poor Robert.
This book had a lot of padding, but man was it good nonetheless. I enjoyed the heck out of it, and can't wait for the next one! How long do we have to wait?
