A few general observations (spoilers for Feast of Crows follow):
I enjoyed the slower pace. I really did feel like the breakneck pace from Storm of Swords couldn’t be maintained. This book brought back the pace from the first book, I thought.
I didn’t like the fact that some of the stories were told from multiple character’s perspectives. For example, in Dorne, we see one chapter from the eyes of the Dorne Prince’s main bodyguard. Then another from the perspective of the Prince. Then one from the perspective of the Kingsguard member who is there to protect Marcella. Then from the Prince’s daughter. And then another from the Prince’s Daughter. Similarly, in the tale about the Iron-born, we see one chapter from the perspective of the priest, then another from Theon’s sister, then two from her uncle’s perspective.
This shifting perspective made it so that I never really got a good sense for any of these characters. When GRRM spends time with characters in previous books, we really get to know how they think and function. But that never really happened with any of these characters because we weren’t with them long enough.
The characters that we DID stick with were excellent. Jaime, Cersie, Brienne, Sam, Sansa, Arya were all good. Sansa and Arya got disappointingly small roles in this one, but what was there was important in showing their changes in psyche.
There was an opening prologue in OldTown where the Maesters get there education, and then there was one other chapter there maybe? I can’t remember. But I was disappointed that we never got to see more of this place where Maesters learn, only a short ending when Sam finally arrives there. When the character he talks to tells him his name is Pate, that sounds familiar, but in the book it happened so long ago, I don’t remember who this is. That’s another indication that we really didn’t spend any time in OldTown. Hopefully now that Sam is there, we’ll finally learn more about the place and the characters there in future books.
I love how, at the end of Feast of Crows, GRRM has a note saying he’ll release Dance with Dragons next year. And then I got to the intro for Dance with Dragons, and he has a note there that’s almost 5 years later. Hahahah. I had no idea he delayed that “second half of the book” so long. That must have been torture for the people who read Feast of Crows when it came out.
GRRM has said the one POV chapter from Oakheart was a mistake. Otherwise Dorne is told via Hotah and Arianne’s perspectives.
Pate was the worker killed by a Faceless Man (described the same as Jaqen). The boy had a key that let him into a lot of places in Oldtown. Also, Sam in his last chapter meets Marwyn, the maester/mage who says it was the maesters who killed off the dragons and who taught the witch who betrayed Dany the spell she cast to ‘heal’ Drogo. Furthermore, Sam also meets Alleras, which is Sarella backwards. Sarella is one of the Sand Snakes.
Actually, the original Reek was Ramsay’s steward, a wretched common man. Ramsay poses as the original Reek to escape capture for killing old Lady Hornwood. Ramsay, posing as Reek then does the things you ascribe to him – and later breaks Theon to turn him into “Reek”, Mk. III.
It’s… complicated. It gets worse in ADwD, as Reek… well, pay attention to who the new Reek is. Leave it at that
For Rock8Man’s sake, could you post what you’re talking about in a spoiler tag. I’m confused :)
ADwD
Reek was Theon in ADwD, right up until his escape? I’ve not read all of the released Winds of Winter chapters – are you talking about something from there?
Winds of Winter spoilers
I did read one of the first ones, where Theon, now escaped, is with Stannis. So if Ramsay has a new Reek, it’s obviously not Theon.
True. But that was off-stage. We never saw the original Reek from any of the character’s eyes in the books. The first time we see Reek it is Bolton’s Bastard disguised as Reek. He later describes how he replaced the original Reek, but we never met the original as a character in the book. (Clash of Kings).
Ramsay poses as the original Reek to escape capture for killing old Lady Hornwood. Ramsay, posing as Reek then does the things you ascribe to him – and later breaks Theon to turn him into “Reek”, Mk. III.
Ak! Spoiler! At the end of Clash of Kings, it is implied that Theon is dead, and at the end of Feast of Crows we still don’t know otherwise! :P
It feels really good to read about the characters in Dance with Dragons. Even though I’m reading all these books back to back, the fact that I haven’t read about Daenyres since the end of Storm of Swords meant that it felt like I’d been away for a long time. Same with Tyrion, and Jon, and most especially Bran, who I last saw on the South side of the wall. When his first chapter came along, it felt really exciting. I’d been away from his story the longest, it feels like. It’s interesting also that Jon’s story continues almost directly after Storm of Swords, NOT from the point where Sam’s story started in Feast of Crows. GRRM makes that clear when Jon passes by Sam during his daily routine. So he hasn’t sent Sam away from the Wall yet. And it’s interesting that Tyrion ended up with the same character we saw near the beginning of Game of Thrones, who I thought was a throwaway character we’d never see again.
I hope I don’t finish this book too soon compared to when the next book comes out. Surely he’s got to be almost done with Winds of Winter by now.
But that’s football season…GRRM’s writing delays during football season are excessive to say the least. And before that is training camp - can’t expect him to focus on the book during training camp!
That is definitely the reason I didn’t pick up Book 4 & 5 when they came out. I read the first 3 right after the third book came out, and having to wait so long for Book 4 meant that I was fed up, and I vowed to wait until the series was finished before reading it again from the beginning. The only reason I did it now is that I felt pressured because of the TV show. So my current plan so to get as far as I can in the books (hopefully Book 6), and then watch the TV series finally.
Heh. I meant he finishes it late summer and the publisher gets it out this fall/winter. There’ll be a 3-4 month gap between GRRM finishing and the publisher getting books into retail channels.
Every time I see new posts on this thread I hope that maybe there is some announcement about book 6. I know, I am an optimist.
Heh. I meant he finishes it late summer and the publisher gets it out this fall/winter. There’ll be a 3-4 month gap between GRRM finishing and the publisher getting books into retail channels.
And another year before it hits paperback, at least.
This book was SUPPOSED to launch to coincide with the season 6 launch, but he missed his Oct and then his Dec date. The fact it’s now SIX MONTHS out from when his deadline expired is crazy to me.
Deadlines bunge him up, kill his creative juices. He and his editor should’ve both known to avoid that situation. I doubt he got shit written, it probably lowered his productivity compared to if those deadlines had never been agreed on.
At this point why would they even want to coincide it with a season launch? In fact I would think it would be better to have it come out after a season, or at GRRM’s speed maybe when HBO is finished with their version.
I still maintain that he’s just letting the show dictate how he sorts out his book issues. See if the show’s version goes over well then adjust! I bet we don’t see the next book 'til 2018 at least.
I don’t know why anyone is still waiting on the books. Based on the delays from 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 and now 5 to 6…it seems unlikely the series will ever be finished by Martin. Watch the show and enjoy it. If the books ever get published, gravy.
