A Song of Ice and Fire

[Genowyn]

I think the Meereen bits were pretty boring, which is tragic because that was like 5 PoVs (Dany, Tyrion, Quentyn, Selmy, Victarion) that amounted to basically nothing despite the potential. 5-10 more chapters where those characters actually interacted in a meaningful way (minus Quentyn of course) would have made the book a lot better. It was a lot of setup, which I guess is fine...Winds of Winter had better deliver on all the promises this book has made though 

Quite happy to see that Brienne still lives, I'm fond of her.

The best part of this book was definitely the north, though. My most hated character has definitely become Ramsay. They should flay him and then give him to R'hllor 

[FiberglassMoon]

Just finished the book tonight...


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Overall, I thought the it was pretty good, although I was expecting it to be a bit more eventful (although after ASOS, the eventful/non-eventful bar had been risen considerably higher).  Currently, I would probably rank the book as the fourth best in the series.....ASOS-->AGOT---->ACOK->ADWD---->AFFC.  To me, it was very similar to AFFC, but much more enjoyable since all of my favorite characters were present.  I get this feeling from ADWD and AFFC that's akin to what I got from ACOK; they continually build and build and build on the story, eventually leading to all hell breaking loose in the next book.  That isn't to say that they are filler or anything, but ACOK really set up all the craziness in ASOS, and I feel these last two books have done the for TWOW.  If TWOW isn't on the same level of ASOS, I will be probably be very disappointed.

I have to agree, though, that the Meereen story was very drawn out and very slow.  For how many chapters were dedicated to it, nothing truly interesting happened until the last 200 pages or so.  Hopefully the whole Meereen arc gets wrapped up in TWOW, as so far it's not been terribly exciting (to me).

Martin has clearly not lost his knack for killing off important characters.....nor creating new ones to hate (Fuck you Ramsay, lol)

Really interested to find out the role Arya is going to play...and especially Bran since he's, you know, sitting in a cave whispering to people from the trees.

Hopefully the whole Aegon thing doesn't just become a side note.  Revealing him as a player was one of the highlights of the novel, so hopefully he turns out to be a big factor.

I can only pray that it won't take Martin another 12 years to release the final two books. He's 62, and despite what he says about being a healthy person, I'm still a little worried.  I would hate for this series to end in the same fashion as Wheel of Time.  I read the first 4 books in about 6 months, and waited for just over a year for this one to be released, so I can't even imagine having to wait till my mid 30s to finish the series.

Oh btw, Strong Belwas is the man.

[glaurung]

I'm only about a quarter of the way through Clash of Kings so sorry to interrupt the new book discussion. Just wanted to say how much I love Tyrion's chapters. The scheming and wordplay between him and the members of the small council is so interesting. I can't wait to find out where it leads.

[GuineaPig]

I read that there's going to be a fourth Dunk & Egg story coming out in 2012, and the four will be released as one anthology soon after.  I don't know if this is new news, but it's new to me.

[glaurung]

Holy shit, I just got to "the twist" in A Storm of Swords. Fuck you Martin!

[Gadough]

I want to start reading this series.

[glaurung]

It's such a good series. And then Martin decided to kill one of your favorite characters and you want to murder everything but keep reading anyways.

[zxlkho]

I bought the books after I finished watching the first season of Game of Thrones back at the end of summer. I only read the first half of the first book though...

[glaurung]

Because you fail.

[Genowyn]

Holy shit, I just got to "the twist" in A Storm of Swords. Fuck you Martin!

Haha

[zxlkho]

Yeah I need to fix that.

[ZirconBlue]

Holy shit, I just got to "the twist" in A Storm of Swords. Fuck you Martin!

There are still a few (good) surprises coming up in that book.

[hefdaddy42]

It's such a good series. And then Martin decided to kill one of your favorite characters and you want to murder everything but keep reading anyways.

I understand.  I started reading them recently after being blown away by the HBO series.  I just started A Storm of Swords.

[glaurung]

I'm enjoying A Feast for Crows but not near as much as the other books in the series so far. There aren't as many characters so it's just that much less interesting.

[hefdaddy42]

I'm enjoying A Feast for Crows but not near as much as the other books in the series so far. There aren't as many characters so it's just that much less interesting.

I just finished that one, and I agree.  At the end of A Storm of Swords I was left with a real sense of OMG WTF BBQ, but A Feast for Crows wasn't quite as good for me.  Of course, many of the characters were left out, which he mentions at the end of the novel.  Their story apparently continues in A Dance of Dragons, for which I am awaiting the paperback release.

[ZirconBlue]

I keep hoping that they will someday release revised versions that edit A Feast for Crows in with the beginning of A Dance with Dragons.  I wonder how long until an enterprising internet denizen posts a chronological reading order for the chapters in those 2 books.

[yorost]

In the end, they weren't written to be read chronologically, so why would reading the chapters that way be good?

[ZirconBlue]

In the end, they weren't written to be read chronologically, so why would reading the chapters that way be good?

They were written to be read chronologically, at least initially.  When the book got too big to be published as a single volume, GRRM and the publisher decided to split it by POV, rather than chronologically.  But, that was a compromise to get a book out, not the original intention.

[Genowyn]

I'm enjoying A Feast for Crows but not near as much as the other books in the series so far. There aren't as many characters so it's just that much less interesting.

I just finished that one, and I agree.  At the end of A Storm of Swords I was left with a real sense of OMG WTF BBQ, but A Feast for Crows wasn't quite as good for me.  Of course, many of the characters were left out, which he mentions at the end of the novel.  Their story apparently continues in A Dance of Dragons, for which I am awaiting the paperback release.

Dance is sorta similar to Feast...both of them cover a time period that was originally intended to be skipped, but GRRM decided it would be better to include them. They both are basically a looooot of buildup. Dance is only more interesting than Feast because it's got better characters in it.

That being said, Theon's chapters in Dance are really some of the best in the whole series.

[yorost]

In the end, they weren't written to be read chronologically, so why would reading the chapters that way be good?

They were written to be read chronologically, at least initially.  When the book got too big to be published as a single volume, GRRM and the publisher decided to split it by POV, rather than chronologically.  But, that was a compromise to get a book out, not the original intention.

It doesn't matter what he originally planned, they aren't written that way.  When he split the books he reworked or rewrote most of what had already been written.  If you followed his (not a)blog and updates you should know splitting it caused him a ton of headaches because it had to be redone for the new order.  ...and if you really want to go back, you should know Feast and much of Dance were not supposed to be read chronologically in the true first place.  There was supposed to be a big jump in time and we'd find out the intervening events little by little, but he decided that wasn't working and turned it into what is most of the last two books.  What we finally got was something like the second major overhaul for these events, hence the publishing length.

What we got was written to be read the way the books are published.  He did not write them as one, then simply pull them apart.

[ZirconBlue]

In the end, they weren't written to be read chronologically, so why would reading the chapters that way be good?

They were written to be read chronologically, at least initially.  When the book got too big to be published as a single volume, GRRM and the publisher decided to split it by POV, rather than chronologically.  But, that was a compromise to get a book out, not the original intention.

It doesn't matter what he originally planned, they aren't written that way.  When he split the books he reworked or rewrote most of what had already been written.  If you followed his (not a)blog and updates you should know splitting it caused him a ton of headaches because it had to be redone for the new order.  ...and if you really want to go back, you should know Feast and much of Dance were not supposed to be read chronologically in the true first place.  There was supposed to be a big jump in time and we'd find out the intervening events little by little, but he decided that wasn't working and turned it into what is most of the last two books.  What we finally got was something like the second major overhaul for these events, hence the publishing length.

What we got was written to be read the way the books are published.  He did not write them as one, then simply pull them apart.

He did write them as one and pull them apart.  He then did some additional editing and rewriting, but, the split was not made to serve his artistic vision, but to serve the needs of the publishing business.  And the relative weakness of the last 2 books compared to the earlier novels is clearly related to that decision.  It's my opinion that re-editing the 2 books together into a more chronological order would provide a better reading experience.

[yorost]

He did not write them together, he started to.  What is in Dance is not the same as what was originally written for Feast, he made it clear he had to rework it so that it would fit as the next book.

Your desire to edit them together willfully ignores that it still isn't his original intention to have this period as books.  If you want his original intention you should try to weave these two books into thoughts of characters in the future books.  That is why many think these books are weaker, they weren't part of the plan.

[ZirconBlue]

He did not write them together, he started to.  What is in Dance is not the same as what was originally written for Feast, he made it clear he had to rework it so that it would fit as the next book.

Your desire to edit them together willfully ignores that it still isn't his original intention to have this period as books.  If you want his original intention you should try to weave these two books into thoughts of characters in the future books.  That is why many think these books are weaker, they weren't part of the plan.

I acknowledge the original plan of a "5-year gap".  I'm not ignoring it, I just don't think it matters.  The decision to split the book was long after he'd given up on that plan and written much of the intervening chapters.  Many of the chapters that ended up in ADwD were written to be included in the book that eventually came out as AFfC. 


Frankly, I don't really care about his "original intention".  I just think the books would flow better if the first part of ADwD were edited back into AFfC.

[yorost]

I know, I've painfully followed the whole ordeal since Storm.  Yes, he split a sizable portion of written manuscript to Dance, but that material was largely rewritten, it isn't what we would have read without the split.  Maybe if the split never occurred things would be better, but trying to paste them together now would need a major overhaul to make work.

[Snow_Dog]

Chalk up another "I want to read this" here. I'm currently only about a 3rd into a different series right now, and don't really feel like having two series to read through. Maybe in a year or so. From what I've heard about it (thank fuck no spoilers thus far, and mostly just a general description of it.), it seems pretty bad ass. So, yeah, I'll be looking forward to it. Gonna pass on watching the show, at least until I'm well into the books.

[ZirconBlue]

but trying to paste them together now would need a major overhaul to make work.

We'll never know until we try.  I've got scissors and a whole lot of scotch tape, here.  Unfortunately my ADwD is the Kindle edition, so this might be kinda tricky.


 

[yorost]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q05CDcP8PM2qjcUD20eCFwaeMHzctqKnVKktKLjvlj4/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

[energythief]

Just hope Rickon was worth waiting for. That's all.

[Elite]

Currently at about a quarter of A Clash of Kings. I don't read many books, only if I truly enjoy it, and this series has me on the edge of my seat.

[wasteland]

I am now approaching the end of the first book (Game Of Thrones). I'm enjoying the read immensely, 800 pages in less than two weeks isn't a speed I commonly reach. (to think that I spent a whole year reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan!)

My comment: Joffrey's the worst jerk ever. Asshole...

[AcidLameLTE]

Currently at about a quarter of A Clash of Kings. I don't read many books, only if I truly enjoy it, and this series has me on the edge of my seat.

The last half of that book is amazing. I read about 40% of it yesterday (according to my Kindle) and the last 10 today. I worked out that it took me about 2 hours to read 10%...

[ZirconBlue]

My comment: Joffrey's the worst jerk ever. Asshole...

Yes.  Yes, he is.

[hefdaddy42]

The only info I've found online for a paperback release date of ADWD is October 2012.

WTF

[ZirconBlue]

The only info I've found online for a paperback release date of ADWD is October 2012.

WTF

Unfortunately, the more popular a book is, the longer the publishers try to milk hardcover sales before releasing paperbacks.  They might even put out a trade paperback before the massmarket paperback edition.


I got the Kindle edition of ADwD, but if I were going hardcopy, I'd buy a used hardback rather than wait for the paperback.

[yorost]

Yeah, eBooks can save you some money.  ZirconBlue, is lending enabled on the kindle version of A Dance with Dragons?  You can lend your copy out to people for 14 days if it is.