I am but a young girl and know little of such things...
...but I have opinions on this book nevertheless.
I've decided this book is the Half-Blood Prince of ASOIAF. It's mostly filler, probably sets up very important plot points, has a lot of teenagers mooning over love (except this time with Consequences), and has a main character die. However, HBP is my favorite of the HP series (I know, I know), and ADwD definitely isn't my favorite of ASOIAF. Not that I didn't like it! I did. But it was not all I'd hoped it would be. Still, I only had to wait months for it. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have gone six fucking years waiting for more after AFfC.
Specific thoughts:
Tyrion - what the hell, man? One little arrow in your father's gut and you go off the deep end? Seriously though. His reaction is understandable, obviously, but I thought he became unlikeable in this book. I can't quite put my finger on why - it's a combination of the incessant brooding and onslaught of cynicism, I think. I always enjoyed his chapters because, despite everything, he was at his core a good guy (by the standards of Westeros, that is). That...well, it fell to pieces in this book. He was grieving, I understand, but I did not enjoy being privy to it. It's probably also tainted by my utter lack of interest in the worlds beyond Westeros unless it involves Dany (more on that later). But the revelation of Aegon still being alive was awesome! It's up for grabs whether or not he actually is Aegon, but either way he's going to put a wrench in everyone's carefully-made plans once he reveals himself to the world.
So, Dany. Oh, Dany, you shameless adolescent. If you follow my tumblr you know that I love Dany; she's probably my favorite character (especially when played by Emilia Clarke! Hot damn). So I read all of her chapters in a mix of horror (you're making awful decisions!) and pleasure (you're making awful decisions!). It was a really good choice on GRRM's part to finally have her make mistakes rather than having mistakes happen to her - it's not like her life has been easy, fuck no, but with the exception of her misjudgment of Miri Maz Duur, nothing that's happened has been her own fault; it was good to read about her being stupid and having to face the consequences, even if I missed Dany the BAMF. All the political maneuvering was hard to keep track of (I swear I'm going to have to make a chart of all the different people she deals with; their names are too similar! And I suck at remembering them anyway!) but I almost wonder if it was done purposefully, to keep the reader buffeted by the waves of names and places, just as Dany was. It was easy enough to keep track of the main players, though, and I suppose that's what mattered. And that ending! Flying away on Drogon to the Dothraki sea. As usual, I am left with the hugest cliffhanger ever on the Dany chapters.
I don't know how I feel about Daario. I'm mainly happy Dany got laid by someone who knows what they're doing. No offense, Quentyn.
BUT SPEAKING OF QUENTYN. I am incredibly displeased with his death, to the point where I'm wondering if he isn't actually dead; otherwise we went a book reading the viewpoint of a character who, while somewhat interesting on his own, nonetheless had one of the most boring quests in the book, and who died without getting anything done. I have no idea how and where he would have been saved, but I thought Theon was dead too (oh god! Theon). If not, what was the point of his chapters? There could be political ramifications with regards to Dany's position with Dorne, but we didn't need Quentyn's POV for that. Therefore either he's alive or something happened during his chapters that only he could have seen. I am hoping it's the former because I really did want the nerdy dude to be a dragonrider. Also, it would have led to more Dorne! Yay!
All the chapters with Reek/Theon were horrific. Ramsay Snow-Bolton plunges the absolute depths of depravity. I mean, he is just a fucking despicable creature, to the point where he would seem cartoonish if we didn't see him through Theon's eyes (and see first-hand what he did to Jeyne, too). I usually try to see good parts in antagonists - and by good I mean interesting, the things that make them worth keeping around - but fuck. Ramsay, I hope you get torn apart by direwolves, after what you have done to others gets inflicted on you tenfold. And Theon. Poor Theon. I didn't have very strong feelings about him at first, just a sense of unease as he started doing worse and worse things, and then he sacked Winterfell and I went WHAT WHAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WON'T END WELL and lo, it did not. I found Theon's chapters some of the most interesting, actually, probably because I like to see important canon events from the spectator's POV; and I was incredibly emotionally invested in Theon's journey from Reek back to himself. I feel like whenever I read his name I'm going to see it as Theon! :( now.
Jon Snow ain't (permanently) dead. I refuse to believe it; he's far too important to the plot. If he is, I'll be pissed because he was finally getting interesting! After shrugging off the cloak of angst and showing that actually does have a dry sense of humor, I started to like his chapters for more than Night's Watch shenanigans, but no, he had to go and get stabbed. Way to go, Jon. (Have I mentioned you're a bastard? Go ahead, glare at me a while. I dare you.) I think if he did die from his wound, he'll end up one of three ways: as the first direwolf commander of the Night's Watch (lolworthy but probably wouldn't pan out that way); turning into someone/something like Coldhands, which is my personal favorite; or being raised from the dead by Melisandre. Speaking of, I wish she had had more than one chapter; I really want to find out more about her in general - her past, why she's a priestess of R'hllor, what Asshai is like, etc. She's one of the most interesting minor characters imo. I hope she gets more chapters in the next book. (Also, after this book I ship Melisandre/Jon. Anyone else? No? Okay, just me.)
More concise yet disjointed thoughts: How will we refer to the Arya chapters if she is now no one? Why are the things that happen to Bran so fascinating, yet he remains so boring? (I fucking love the children of the forest and the greenseer; so cool!) I feel awful for Cersei; she is a horrible person but she is just pitiful. Somewhere along the way my feelings about her and Jaime switched; I actually like him now. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen with Asha. Victarion chapters are the most boring things I've ever read. (Only a slight exaggeration. Thank god for the ASOIAF wiki.) There is no sf/f world I would least like to live in than Westeros, yet it is one of the most interesting. Fuck, I love dragons.
Or, you could reply at Dreamwidth, where this post has
excellent comments.
I've decided this book is the Half-Blood Prince of ASOIAF. It's mostly filler, probably sets up very important plot points, has a lot of teenagers mooning over love (except this time with Consequences), and has a main character die. However, HBP is my favorite of the HP series (I know, I know), and ADwD definitely isn't my favorite of ASOIAF. Not that I didn't like it! I did. But it was not all I'd hoped it would be. Still, I only had to wait months for it. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have gone six fucking years waiting for more after AFfC.
Specific thoughts:
Tyrion - what the hell, man? One little arrow in your father's gut and you go off the deep end? Seriously though. His reaction is understandable, obviously, but I thought he became unlikeable in this book. I can't quite put my finger on why - it's a combination of the incessant brooding and onslaught of cynicism, I think. I always enjoyed his chapters because, despite everything, he was at his core a good guy (by the standards of Westeros, that is). That...well, it fell to pieces in this book. He was grieving, I understand, but I did not enjoy being privy to it. It's probably also tainted by my utter lack of interest in the worlds beyond Westeros unless it involves Dany (more on that later). But the revelation of Aegon still being alive was awesome! It's up for grabs whether or not he actually is Aegon, but either way he's going to put a wrench in everyone's carefully-made plans once he reveals himself to the world.
So, Dany. Oh, Dany, you shameless adolescent. If you follow my tumblr you know that I love Dany; she's probably my favorite character (especially when played by Emilia Clarke! Hot damn). So I read all of her chapters in a mix of horror (you're making awful decisions!) and pleasure (you're making awful decisions!). It was a really good choice on GRRM's part to finally have her make mistakes rather than having mistakes happen to her - it's not like her life has been easy, fuck no, but with the exception of her misjudgment of Miri Maz Duur, nothing that's happened has been her own fault; it was good to read about her being stupid and having to face the consequences, even if I missed Dany the BAMF. All the political maneuvering was hard to keep track of (I swear I'm going to have to make a chart of all the different people she deals with; their names are too similar! And I suck at remembering them anyway!) but I almost wonder if it was done purposefully, to keep the reader buffeted by the waves of names and places, just as Dany was. It was easy enough to keep track of the main players, though, and I suppose that's what mattered. And that ending! Flying away on Drogon to the Dothraki sea. As usual, I am left with the hugest cliffhanger ever on the Dany chapters.
I don't know how I feel about Daario. I'm mainly happy Dany got laid by someone who knows what they're doing. No offense, Quentyn.
BUT SPEAKING OF QUENTYN. I am incredibly displeased with his death, to the point where I'm wondering if he isn't actually dead; otherwise we went a book reading the viewpoint of a character who, while somewhat interesting on his own, nonetheless had one of the most boring quests in the book, and who died without getting anything done. I have no idea how and where he would have been saved, but I thought Theon was dead too (oh god! Theon). If not, what was the point of his chapters? There could be political ramifications with regards to Dany's position with Dorne, but we didn't need Quentyn's POV for that. Therefore either he's alive or something happened during his chapters that only he could have seen. I am hoping it's the former because I really did want the nerdy dude to be a dragonrider. Also, it would have led to more Dorne! Yay!
All the chapters with Reek/Theon were horrific. Ramsay Snow-Bolton plunges the absolute depths of depravity. I mean, he is just a fucking despicable creature, to the point where he would seem cartoonish if we didn't see him through Theon's eyes (and see first-hand what he did to Jeyne, too). I usually try to see good parts in antagonists - and by good I mean interesting, the things that make them worth keeping around - but fuck. Ramsay, I hope you get torn apart by direwolves, after what you have done to others gets inflicted on you tenfold. And Theon. Poor Theon. I didn't have very strong feelings about him at first, just a sense of unease as he started doing worse and worse things, and then he sacked Winterfell and I went WHAT WHAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WON'T END WELL and lo, it did not. I found Theon's chapters some of the most interesting, actually, probably because I like to see important canon events from the spectator's POV; and I was incredibly emotionally invested in Theon's journey from Reek back to himself. I feel like whenever I read his name I'm going to see it as Theon! :( now.
Jon Snow ain't (permanently) dead. I refuse to believe it; he's far too important to the plot. If he is, I'll be pissed because he was finally getting interesting! After shrugging off the cloak of angst and showing that actually does have a dry sense of humor, I started to like his chapters for more than Night's Watch shenanigans, but no, he had to go and get stabbed. Way to go, Jon. (Have I mentioned you're a bastard? Go ahead, glare at me a while. I dare you.) I think if he did die from his wound, he'll end up one of three ways: as the first direwolf commander of the Night's Watch (lolworthy but probably wouldn't pan out that way); turning into someone/something like Coldhands, which is my personal favorite; or being raised from the dead by Melisandre. Speaking of, I wish she had had more than one chapter; I really want to find out more about her in general - her past, why she's a priestess of R'hllor, what Asshai is like, etc. She's one of the most interesting minor characters imo. I hope she gets more chapters in the next book. (Also, after this book I ship Melisandre/Jon. Anyone else? No? Okay, just me.)
More concise yet disjointed thoughts: How will we refer to the Arya chapters if she is now no one? Why are the things that happen to Bran so fascinating, yet he remains so boring? (I fucking love the children of the forest and the greenseer; so cool!) I feel awful for Cersei; she is a horrible person but she is just pitiful. Somewhere along the way my feelings about her and Jaime switched; I actually like him now. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen with Asha. Victarion chapters are the most boring things I've ever read. (Only a slight exaggeration. Thank god for the ASOIAF wiki.) There is no sf/f world I would least like to live in than Westeros, yet it is one of the most interesting. Fuck, I love dragons.
Or, you could reply at Dreamwidth, where this post has
excellent comments.