Lions and Direwolves and Zombies, oh my!

[teaforbryony]

One of the really nice things about teaching eighth-graders was that the last few weeks before school ended were pretty quiet and stress free, because they all stopped coming after eighth-grade graduation. So I had a lot of time to read, which is something I haven't been able to say in ages. And I finally finished A Song of Ice and FireI devoured

Comments

[harriet_vane]

I have been reading these books since the first one came out and I was IN high school. The wait is the worst.

Nothing is weirder than having HATED Jaime Lannister for like, eight years, and then suddenly LIKING him.

[teaforbryony]

I keep on starting to complain about how much I wish it was July already, and then I remember how long everyone else has had to wait, and feel guilty. And also nervous for when I have finished the next book and have to actually wait.

I know! I do not understand how the man who pushed an eight-year-old off a tower is suddenly one of my favorite characters. And yet he is.

[ignipes]

but I want her to get together with Jaime Lannister and have madcap adventures in which they ride around Westeros and Brienne is knightly and Jaime is snarky and they fight a lot, but sometimes it's to protect each other. That is a story I want to read all on its own.

ME TOO. I would read 1,000,000 words of that story.

Also, I agree that Brienne is NOT DEAD. It's just one of those super-evil cliffhangers GRRM likes to pull between books. She will live to kickass some more! She must!

[teaforbryony]

It would be so unfair if Brienne died before she actually got to do anything (other than show all the other knights how it's done). I was disappointed when she and Jaime went off in different directions, because I'd enjoyed them together so much, but then they kept on thinking about each other. Not to mention defending each other's honor in absentia. That has to be going somewhere, right? (Then again, I thought that about the Hound, too.)

The way the books are split up, we won't even find out about Brienne next book, will we?

[ignipes]

Exactly! Brienne is a warrior maid on a quest, and she has not completed her quest yet, and however unconventional GRRM is in some aspects, he does not actually set up character arcs that go nowhere after so much deliberate setup. Same reason Davos isn't really dead. *believes*

(And, well, the Hound probably isn't dead, either. That is, "The Hound" is dead, but Sandor Clegane probably isn't. It's implied pretty strongly when Brienne goes to the Silent Isle that he's the gravedigger there, living out a life of penance after shedding his former identity. But it's not confirmed, so we'll see.)

The way the books are split up, we won't even find out about Brienne next book, will we?It's not entirely clear. GRRM has said that the next book is about 50% the Jon - Dany - Tyrion storylines, but there will also be some resolution to cliffhangers/plots from AFfC. Also, timeline-wise, I think he's said that only the first half of A Dance With Dragons runs roughly concurrent with AFfC, and after that the whole story moves forward

[teaforbryony]

I totally missed that bit with the gravedigger. I have to go back and reread that bit.

That news about the next book is wonderful! I was feeling depressed about not getting all the characters from AFfC back, so now I am happy.