More Fully-Developed First Thoughts Than Those Posted In My Previous Journal Entry
SPOLIER ALERT: I am up to page 170. If you haven't read that far, move forward at your own risk.
Pesci is currently racing ahead of me, since he gets to sit around in a La-Z-Boy all day reading, while I have to stab away at ADWD when I get the chance at my local awesome indie bookstore, which isn't too often thus far since I have to spend half my time tending to Pesci's every whim. When did he get so soft? In the old days, a broken ankle wasn't an injury, it was a greeting.
Anyway, I will give my positive notes first: this book already seems substantially better than AFFC. More characters that actually seem relevant to the main plot, interesting pairings (Illyrio and Tyrion), some pirate shit, Jon being a badass, and Bran getting to hang out with Aragorn Coldhands have all been fairly entertaining. But no weird sex so far? Truly, George, you have let me down. (Although I'm pretty sure Tyrion's cock first made print on page 17.)
However, despite the (fortunate) lack of sex, George is getting bogged down in food again. If you recall, I thought one of the few truly positive notes of AFFC was that the quality of the writing was better than the previous books; while the plot and POVs were certainly lacking, the prose was more graceful and efficient, and for the most part, the book didn't stay in one place too long. I'm finding ADWD to be a little talk-heavy so far, and I have a feeling that will continue. In addition, I feel like George is spending unnecessarily long amounts of time to establish minor plot points, e.g., that bullshit prologue. I can't think of a prologue after the one in AGOT that was actually necessary to any larger degree, especially since they're basically the same lengths as regular chapters. From what I can tell, the whole prologue of ADWD was designed to tell us that Jon is a warg. Cool, but did I really need that much extraneous character development in order to get that? Admittedly, it was more interesting than some of the previous prologues (Maester Cressen, anyone?), but it still felt like a lot of wasted time and space.
Similarly, Tyrion and Illyrio's cryptic back and forth chapter seemed fairly unnecessary; to me, a smarter move would have been to deliver any necessary conversation points in a flashback, and start with Tyrion already at his destination, or with him riding along with his two knightly companions. Illyrio's a fun character, but most of that chapter centered around food and cryptic talk about things that readers are already privy to. Oh, but it was a hamfisted way to get Tyrion to work the phrase "game of thrones" into the book. (OMG THAT'S THE TITLE OF THE FIRST BOOK REMEMBER?!)
But despite George's predilection for overwriting, I'm pleased so far. A few minor moments of brutality, and some great "WTF is with Ramsay Bolton?!" thoughts have been introduced. Dany is still a fairly weak character who continues to bore me, but that's been my issue from day one. I'm just hoping that we get some larger action scenes, and that this whole book isn't doublespeak and people moving place to place.
That's what I've got so far. I'll be out of town for most of the next two weeks, so you may not hear from me for a while. But I look forward to your thoughts.
Pesci is currently racing ahead of me, since he gets to sit around in a La-Z-Boy all day reading, while I have to stab away at ADWD when I get the chance at my local awesome indie bookstore, which isn't too often thus far since I have to spend half my time tending to Pesci's every whim. When did he get so soft? In the old days, a broken ankle wasn't an injury, it was a greeting.
Anyway, I will give my positive notes first: this book already seems substantially better than AFFC. More characters that actually seem relevant to the main plot, interesting pairings (Illyrio and Tyrion), some pirate shit, Jon being a badass, and Bran getting to hang out with Aragorn Coldhands have all been fairly entertaining. But no weird sex so far? Truly, George, you have let me down. (Although I'm pretty sure Tyrion's cock first made print on page 17.)
However, despite the (fortunate) lack of sex, George is getting bogged down in food again. If you recall, I thought one of the few truly positive notes of AFFC was that the quality of the writing was better than the previous books; while the plot and POVs were certainly lacking, the prose was more graceful and efficient, and for the most part, the book didn't stay in one place too long. I'm finding ADWD to be a little talk-heavy so far, and I have a feeling that will continue. In addition, I feel like George is spending unnecessarily long amounts of time to establish minor plot points, e.g., that bullshit prologue. I can't think of a prologue after the one in AGOT that was actually necessary to any larger degree, especially since they're basically the same lengths as regular chapters. From what I can tell, the whole prologue of ADWD was designed to tell us that Jon is a warg. Cool, but did I really need that much extraneous character development in order to get that? Admittedly, it was more interesting than some of the previous prologues (Maester Cressen, anyone?), but it still felt like a lot of wasted time and space.
Similarly, Tyrion and Illyrio's cryptic back and forth chapter seemed fairly unnecessary; to me, a smarter move would have been to deliver any necessary conversation points in a flashback, and start with Tyrion already at his destination, or with him riding along with his two knightly companions. Illyrio's a fun character, but most of that chapter centered around food and cryptic talk about things that readers are already privy to. Oh, but it was a hamfisted way to get Tyrion to work the phrase "game of thrones" into the book. (OMG THAT'S THE TITLE OF THE FIRST BOOK REMEMBER?!)
But despite George's predilection for overwriting, I'm pleased so far. A few minor moments of brutality, and some great "WTF is with Ramsay Bolton?!" thoughts have been introduced. Dany is still a fairly weak character who continues to bore me, but that's been my issue from day one. I'm just hoping that we get some larger action scenes, and that this whole book isn't doublespeak and people moving place to place.
That's what I've got so far. I'll be out of town for most of the next two weeks, so you may not hear from me for a while. But I look forward to your thoughts.