nikolai
First Post
[The spoilers are names of the new PoV characters and very broad generalities about where the book takes place]
I've got AFfC and I'm 300 pages in. And I have to say I'm a bit disapointed.
For those who don't know GRRM carved the inter-war period into two: AFfC deals with the South, the next book with the North and Dany. Most the interesting characters (and characters who do interesting things) are absent: Jon, Bran, Dany, Davos). So the book limits itself to what's so far been a soap opera based around King's Landing (Jaime, Cercei), Dorne & the Iron Islands (various), together with what looks like an excursion to Oldtown (Sam and the prologue). The Stark Girls are also featured (Arya, Sansa).
We also get lots of what I suspect are new one chapter PoV (with names like "The Prophet", "The Soiled Knight", and so on...). This is a departure, and I don't think it works. With the other books you could follow the thread of particular characters, and watch as events they participated in influenced each other and wove in and out of each others lives. This just isn't happening so far - apart from a tiff between Cercei and Jaime. Even the two new point of view characters (Cercei and Brienne) are disappointing. In terms of writting they've both been given an event from the past they're traumatised about, but so far this just seems hackneyed compared to the way the character's history was used in Davos' or Jaime's or Ned's case. Brienne arc seems the most interesting - being on a Quest, she's the only character who's actually doing something. But it's been a wild goose chase so far, and I'm not sure the three or so chapters I've read have done much for the plot.
So far it's the weakest book of the lot. I don't think anything's really happening, at least not in the sense that it was in AGoT, ACoK, ASoS. It does seem very soap operaish. This is just a provisional assessment, I'm 300 pages in, and my thoughts may change.
I've got AFfC and I'm 300 pages in. And I have to say I'm a bit disapointed.
For those who don't know GRRM carved the inter-war period into two: AFfC deals with the South, the next book with the North and Dany. Most the interesting characters (and characters who do interesting things) are absent: Jon, Bran, Dany, Davos). So the book limits itself to what's so far been a soap opera based around King's Landing (Jaime, Cercei), Dorne & the Iron Islands (various), together with what looks like an excursion to Oldtown (Sam and the prologue). The Stark Girls are also featured (Arya, Sansa).
We also get lots of what I suspect are new one chapter PoV (with names like "The Prophet", "The Soiled Knight", and so on...). This is a departure, and I don't think it works. With the other books you could follow the thread of particular characters, and watch as events they participated in influenced each other and wove in and out of each others lives. This just isn't happening so far - apart from a tiff between Cercei and Jaime. Even the two new point of view characters (Cercei and Brienne) are disappointing. In terms of writting they've both been given an event from the past they're traumatised about, but so far this just seems hackneyed compared to the way the character's history was used in Davos' or Jaime's or Ned's case. Brienne arc seems the most interesting - being on a Quest, she's the only character who's actually doing something. But it's been a wild goose chase so far, and I'm not sure the three or so chapters I've read have done much for the plot.
So far it's the weakest book of the lot. I don't think anything's really happening, at least not in the sense that it was in AGoT, ACoK, ASoS. It does seem very soap operaish. This is just a provisional assessment, I'm 300 pages in, and my thoughts may change.
