Read Before We Fall
Aloha,
fellow readers and writers. So, the first Week of September is officially over and I’ve done my share of reading fort his week, I finished the fourth book of ‚A Song of Ice and Fire’ yesterday. The First week was rather stressfull, I’m trying to get some writing done and have got to study for my third semester. Also I’ve got a seminar paper to turn in by September 28. But never the less the week was fine. I started reading three books, “A Feast for Crows”, which I mentioned above and finished, “Thirst for Love” and “Hagakure I”, both of which I’ve read by half now. My entry for ‘A Feast for Crows’ can be found in 50bookchallenge, > here<.
I'm really glad I decided to go for the challenge, reading was always a part of my life and I came to treat it as a fill-in activity while riding the train, or in boring lectures. Now I find myself indulging in it more, doing it more conscious, and I'm glad about that. Even if I might not manage the challenge, I'll still have read books that I wanted to read for a while now, and I will have a good distraction from stressfull university-life.
So, let's get closer to reviewing 'A Feast fro Crows'. I didn't want to write too much about it in the community, since It's the fourth book of the series and I felt it to be unfair to do so if I won't comment on the other books aswell, especially for those who might read my entry to decide whether or not to read 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. But since this is my journal, I will ...
So, a Feast for Crows basically has it's focus on Kings Landing, on Cersei and her conflict with her Twinbrother and the new wife of her young boy Tommen. Cersei is a character I came to love in the HBO series, Lena portrais her as a woman you neither want as a friend or an enemy but can't help to admire. She is cunning, has a swift tongue and always seems to be drinking when she is on screen. In the books she is also drinking and she also has a swift tongue, but I can't help but feel that she lacks the cleverness and the hard-ass side that the Series!Cersei has. She is softer and does make desicions based on her need for admiration and acknowledgement. She seems to be bitter about beeing a woman - which is understanable given the circumstances she grew up in, but beeing bitter also means not to be able to get over something, and that is where she lacks the strengh that I thought she had afore she becaome a PoV-Character. Anyway, stopping that Cersei rant now, back to her schemes and bad desicions, which are driving the plot in Kings Landing. I still liked her chapters, even though I wish we had a Margaery PoV, or a Loras PoV or a Lady Olenna PoV (or any Highgarden PoV for a matter of fact). Sorry to say, but I doubt we'll ever get one.
But we still have Brienne the Beauty, Arya or whatever she is called those days, Sam the Slayer, Little (Mocking-)Bird Sansa, and Jaime Fuckingawesome Lannister aka The Kingslayer to make up for that minor disappointment. Sam starts to annoy me with his whining a bit, but I'm sure his journey is interesting neverthess. Especially so since my most beloved Maester of all time, Maester Aemon, is with him in not in a very good shape. Even if you get annoyed by Sam, read on just for the joy of his wisdom and for a really sad moment in the book. I was very damn near crying, I can tell you that.
Brienne is as awesome as always. She is someone you have to love for her uptight, honorable and introversive act and for her pure heart. She is such a fantastic character, I think I've never read of a character quite like her. Her journey is the more action driven part of the book, with lots of confusion ahead. Better keep wary of every thing happening in her PoV like she does, there are many disclosures in there. Two characters we were lead to believe dead will reappear, and only one of them is real - and I can't say that I liked that. I think that was the first plottwist in the series that really vexed me. I'm just a bit touchy about dead characters, and Martin really didn't make me happy with some of the things happening here. If it wouldn't be for brienne and her squire I'd have hated some of those chapters. Also there is a rant in there from an ex-knight about a war he lived through, that was omething I liked. It made up for the darn dead-or-alive-thing.
Arya and Sansa are both in a delicate position: far from home, without friends or their direwolves around, having to aquire a new identity, trying to live, thirsting for revenge. But while Arya left Westeros and the scheming of kings landing behind her (I absoluty love love love her PoV. She never dissapoints, the little spitfire. ), Sansa is still stuck in the middle of the aweful game, stuck with darn Littlefinger and sickly 'Sweetrobin'. I love her growth as a character, I don't like the new role as the natural daughter of littlefinger she took on. Especially since Littlefinger doesn't treat her as a daughter but acts like he'd try to rape her anytime. I liked his plots and schemes in kingslanding, and I was even willing to forgive his backstabbing attitude and his involvement in Neds death (honestly, the guy brought this on himself. Sean Fucking Bean makes Ned so much better than he is in the books.). But I came to dislike him in 'A Storm of Swords' and reading about him through Sansa's still naive eyes made him even more irritating. Not to mention Lysa's little brat. Really, I'm agains hitting kids, but I think sometimes... just a little... slap. A Joffrey-like-bitchslap ... oh well.
But my most favourite development was that of Jaime, yet again. He is an amazing character. You know his attitude, you know his ruthlessness, you know that he isn't exactly a good guy. But you can't help but feel for him, understand what he does or why he does something. It's ironic how Jaime is more of a honorable person now, that he lost his astoning appearance and his swordhand. It's the same irony that was always in the character of The Hound, I think. And he really grows in this book. What I loved especially is that we're finally over the 'incestous' part of him, him and Cersei certainly aren't what they were. You could even say they are heading in completly opposite directions. You gotte love his PoV, seriously!
Okay, I guess I got ever major character covered here, aside from the new development in Dorne. I won't comment on that for now, I'm curious where this is heading. We finally get to know what the Prince of Dorne really had in mind, and we see his daughter having her own plans for the little princess, Myrcella. Things don't go all to well over there, but it definitly is interesting to think about the things that could have been, if one of thos plans would have worked out.
So, to cut the long rant short: I loved the fourth book as much as the third, definitly more than the second book, and probably as much as the first book. And I'll get myself the fifth book, A Dance with Drangons, as quickly as possible.
As for writing, I’m struggling with myself what exactly it is I want to write. I’ve recently started to read fanfiction again and somehow I feel a bit nostalgic about it, I might get back to writing something again, for two different fandoms. That would leave me with the question in which language I’d like to go for that. I’ve not written in german for quite some time. And I’ve not written something independent for some time. Something longer anyway. I could try a new project - but what kind of project? I discovered some interesting writing challenges here that I’d like to try out some time. Additionally I’ve got my old writing projects for NaNo on my computer, from 2010 to July 2012, and they could do with some revision and I might even finish one or two of them, or re-write them. The agony of choice. The more I think about it the less I fell like writing anything at all.
We shall see what I’ll try out. I also have some watching to do, there are some series I want to finish soon. I shall write about that some time.
Greetings, Sirrah