Yes. Her backbone and her brain. And it's sad, because she was a great character--a confident, intelligent, courageous young woman who genuinely cared about doing the right thing. But the eleven years between A Storm of Swords and A Dance With Dragons evidently gave Martin time to fuck up his own canon re-interpret the character into something that she wasn't before now.
Skip A Dance With Dragons. The first three books are excellent; and unlike many people, I enjoyed A Feast for Crows almost as much as the first three.
But don't waste your time with the fifth book. The characters do nothing and the most intelligent seem to have been lobotomized and given personality transplants; almost all of the plot comes up in conversation rather than onscreen; there are endless descriptions of food, pissing, and the flora and fauna of a river; there are a number of chapters that are well-crafted but are so unpleasant to read (torture porn, with a side order of Stockholm syndrome) as to be High Octane Nightmare Fuel; the book could have been cut down from 959 pages of story to about 300 without losing one drop of story; and events don't actually start to occur till about page 562.
So read the first four. Consider reading books 6 and 7 if Martin finishes the series. But skip ADWD. It's not worth bothering with.
This isn't Dany. It isn't. I refuse to believe that. I'm still reading it and there are glimpses of my favourite characters there -- oh Tyrion -- but sometimes, I just want to scream in frustration. Where's the wonderful young woman I defended so many times, that beautiful and smart girl who tamed effing dragons?! What's this simpering thing doing here? I mean, seriously, yes yes, Daario is hot, wtf am I reading, Twilight with dragons in it?
sometimes, I just want to scream in frustration. Where's the wonderful young woman I defended so many times, that beautiful and smart girl who tamed effing dragons?! What's this simpering thing doing here?
I know exactly how you feel. Dany is...not Dany anymore.
The only thing that reassures me somewhat is that HBO is going to have to fix the unformed mess that is ADWD simply because of the timeline. Dany's only been in Meereen for a few months. In Tyrion's first chapter, he's only spent a couple of weeks as a fugitive. A certain election only took place at the Wall a few days before. There's no reason why personalities would change so much in so brief a period.
HBO will either have to account for the alterations by explaining what caused the dramatic shift...or they'll have to disregard the changes to Dany and, to a lesser extent, Tyrion, for the sake of the story.
Skip the fifth book; that's where everything goes off the rails. Dany is AWESOME in books 1-3, which are excellent and well worth reading. (She's not present in A Feast for Crows, but neither is half the cast.)
Oh dear. I haven't read this book yet, and this isn't giving me reason to read it. You aren't the only person I've seen complaining about Daenerys's character derailment.
I'd advise reading the first four but skipping the fifth. It was a deep disappointment. If you feel that you must read it, rent it from a library. DON'T buy it. I regret spending the money on ADWD. It was NOT worth it.
And I'm glad that I'm not the only one complaining about Dany's character derailment.
I've already read the first four and I while, I liked the first three books, the fourth one wasn't nearly so interesting ( though I still enjoyed it). I'm currently waiting for this one at the library. Still, i might just skip it if it's as bad as everyone says it is.
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It's like somewhere between books 4 and 5 she had her backbone removed :(
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But don't waste your time with the fifth book. The characters do nothing and the most intelligent seem to have been lobotomized and given personality transplants; almost all of the plot comes up in conversation rather than onscreen; there are endless descriptions of food, pissing, and the flora and fauna of a river; there are a number of chapters that are well-crafted but are so unpleasant to read (torture porn, with a side order of Stockholm syndrome) as to be High Octane Nightmare Fuel; the book could have been cut down from 959 pages of story to about 300 without losing one drop of story; and events don't actually start to occur till about page 562.
So read the first four. Consider reading books 6 and 7 if Martin finishes the series. But skip ADWD. It's not worth bothering with.
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I know exactly how you feel. Dany is...not Dany anymore.
The only thing that reassures me somewhat is that HBO is going to have to fix the unformed mess that is ADWD simply because of the timeline. Dany's only been in Meereen for a few months. In Tyrion's first chapter, he's only spent a couple of weeks as a fugitive. A certain election only took place at the Wall a few days before. There's no reason why personalities would change so much in so brief a period.
HBO will either have to account for the alterations by explaining what caused the dramatic shift...or they'll have to disregard the changes to Dany and, to a lesser extent, Tyrion, for the sake of the story.
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And I'm glad that I'm not the only one complaining about Dany's character derailment.
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