A Storm of Swords
My reactions to A Storm of Swords.
I can say right away that even if I was prepared that Robb would probably die and there were so many signs pointing to something bad happening at the Frey/Tully wedding I still was really upset over the Red Wedding. Here I also must say that I get annoyed with people who say "I don't want to spoil you but just wait for the big event in book three", even mentioning that there's going to be something big is quite spoilerish. It's like when I was spoiler free for AOTC and people kept saying "I don't want to spoil you but Padmé is having a super secret white dress in the end scene", can it be more clear that there was going to be a wedding? In the Red Wedding I think I was actually more upset about Cat's death, since that was more unexpected, also I really wanted to see Robb retake the north with his plan and go into the Neck to find the crannog men. I'm not sure what to say about zombie Cat though, since she has clearly snapped. I hoope the Freys will get what they deserve, but I don't want to see them murdered. For me it would be more satisfying if they will be forever shunned and treated as oathbreakers and guestslayers.
Over all the body count in this book when it comes to named characters is really high, which makes me curious about what's going to happen next, since there are a lot of bricks in the game that needs to be replaced.
A rundown on my thoughts about the other characters.
Arya - I still feel her aimless wanderings are boring. Now it seems as if keeping her on the countryside was simply a ploy to keep her from the Red Wedding. My best hopes for her would be that she met up with Lady Mormont (I don't think she was at the RW?). From her she could learn how to fight and rule and be a female warrior leader.
Bran - seems to be more balanced in this book, and not as whiny. It will be interesting to see what he learns beyond the wall, and who the Coldhands is. (I would like it to be Benjen Stark, but I don't think that really fits. Benjen has only be gone for a couple of years and I get the feeling that Coldhands is ancient. I hope we can get a resolution to what happend to Benjen though)
Jon - really came into his own from the part where he had to defend the wall. Up until that I felt that he was quite emo, now he's the Lord Commander, but can he really keep his small force in check.
Sansa - I really like Sansa. I know people think that she's too silly and naiv, but she is only 13. In fact I would say that she's probably the only one who acts her age. From her actions in Eyre to me it looks like she's really suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress syndrome. The only thing that really worries me about her is that she's now in the clutches of Littlefinger. He's more slippery than I thought, and it seems all his schemes are only going towards building his childhood dream of having a castle with Cat at his side, and since he can't get Cat he will take the daughter. Creepy indeed.
Tyrion - Now Tyrion is great as usual. I wasn't expecting him and Sansa getting married, but the more I think about it I really like this pairing. They complement each other so well. She's naive, he's cunning. They have both felt like outsiders in their families, but are still very loyal to their blood. I actually want to see them being able to get through to each other. It also came as quite the surprise that Tyrioun would murder his father.
Jaime - ohhhh, Jaime. He really evolves in this book. At the moment this is the character I'm mostly interested in. Also with the sudden loss of Lannister characters in Kings Landing I foresee that Jaime will come into play as one of the dominants at court.
One character that I've gotten bored with though is Dany. Basically her whole part in this book seemed to be "sack city, free slaves, get loved by everyone". I also think that a weakness in the Dany chapters is that she doesn't really have an interesting cast of characters around her. Since all the events are just told from her point of view we don't really get to know anything that's happening outside her mind.
I've started this diagram to plot of my feelings for the characters change with the books.
I can say right away that even if I was prepared that Robb would probably die and there were so many signs pointing to something bad happening at the Frey/Tully wedding I still was really upset over the Red Wedding. Here I also must say that I get annoyed with people who say "I don't want to spoil you but just wait for the big event in book three", even mentioning that there's going to be something big is quite spoilerish. It's like when I was spoiler free for AOTC and people kept saying "I don't want to spoil you but Padmé is having a super secret white dress in the end scene", can it be more clear that there was going to be a wedding? In the Red Wedding I think I was actually more upset about Cat's death, since that was more unexpected, also I really wanted to see Robb retake the north with his plan and go into the Neck to find the crannog men. I'm not sure what to say about zombie Cat though, since she has clearly snapped. I hoope the Freys will get what they deserve, but I don't want to see them murdered. For me it would be more satisfying if they will be forever shunned and treated as oathbreakers and guestslayers.
Over all the body count in this book when it comes to named characters is really high, which makes me curious about what's going to happen next, since there are a lot of bricks in the game that needs to be replaced.
A rundown on my thoughts about the other characters.
Arya - I still feel her aimless wanderings are boring. Now it seems as if keeping her on the countryside was simply a ploy to keep her from the Red Wedding. My best hopes for her would be that she met up with Lady Mormont (I don't think she was at the RW?). From her she could learn how to fight and rule and be a female warrior leader.
Bran - seems to be more balanced in this book, and not as whiny. It will be interesting to see what he learns beyond the wall, and who the Coldhands is. (I would like it to be Benjen Stark, but I don't think that really fits. Benjen has only be gone for a couple of years and I get the feeling that Coldhands is ancient. I hope we can get a resolution to what happend to Benjen though)
Jon - really came into his own from the part where he had to defend the wall. Up until that I felt that he was quite emo, now he's the Lord Commander, but can he really keep his small force in check.
Sansa - I really like Sansa. I know people think that she's too silly and naiv, but she is only 13. In fact I would say that she's probably the only one who acts her age. From her actions in Eyre to me it looks like she's really suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress syndrome. The only thing that really worries me about her is that she's now in the clutches of Littlefinger. He's more slippery than I thought, and it seems all his schemes are only going towards building his childhood dream of having a castle with Cat at his side, and since he can't get Cat he will take the daughter. Creepy indeed.
Tyrion - Now Tyrion is great as usual. I wasn't expecting him and Sansa getting married, but the more I think about it I really like this pairing. They complement each other so well. She's naive, he's cunning. They have both felt like outsiders in their families, but are still very loyal to their blood. I actually want to see them being able to get through to each other. It also came as quite the surprise that Tyrioun would murder his father.
Jaime - ohhhh, Jaime. He really evolves in this book. At the moment this is the character I'm mostly interested in. Also with the sudden loss of Lannister characters in Kings Landing I foresee that Jaime will come into play as one of the dominants at court.
One character that I've gotten bored with though is Dany. Basically her whole part in this book seemed to be "sack city, free slaves, get loved by everyone". I also think that a weakness in the Dany chapters is that she doesn't really have an interesting cast of characters around her. Since all the events are just told from her point of view we don't really get to know anything that's happening outside her mind.
I've started this diagram to plot of my feelings for the characters change with the books.