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Why don't people like AFFC?


The Drowned Prophet

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I often hear people say they don't like AFFC because of all the irrelevant plots which get added (and in general they are talking about the Greyjoy and/or Martell storyline). Note: I come back to Brienne.

The chapter breakdown belies people's dislike of this book though.

Cersei Lannister - 10 chapters
Brienne of Tarth - 8 chapters
Jaime Lannister - 7 chapters
Samwell Tarly - 5 chapters
Arya Stark - 3 chapters
Sansa Stark - 3 chapters
Aeron Greyjoy - 2 chapters
Victarion Greyjoy - 2 chapters
Arianne Martell - 2 chapters
Asha Greyjoy - 1 chapter
Areo Hotah - 1 chapter
Arys Oakheart - 1 chapter
Pate - 1 chapter (Prologue)

Well, Cersei, Brienne, Jamie, Samwell, Arya and Sansa actually account for 36 of the 45 chapters in AFFC.

I.e there are only 9 of 45 chapters that cover the Martell's OR the Greyjoys.

"That fifth of the book ruined it for me"

I do appreciate this changes a bit if I exclude Brienne, whom many people also dislike, but it would still not even be half of the book.

So, what, the four Greyjoy POVs (two apiece for Vic and Aeron) ruined the book? Please.

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It is simply about taste. For me, Cersei Lannister is, by a considerable margin, the best point-of-view character in the series. I would rather read any of the chapters in Dorne over a generic chapter of Tyrion in King's Landing. I think all of Ironborn chapters in A Feast for Crows were great, especially the Kingsmoot one. I love Sansa's storyline in the Vale. I think Jaime Lannister is a better character than Tyrion Lannister.



Others, of course, think differently about one or more of these contentions.



One thing that cannot be disputed is that the three principal characters of the narrative are not in A Feast for Crows and that itself will make it impossible for some to value it over the other entries in the series.


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Because they're silly and they haven't gone back to re-read it properly. AFFC improves with every re-read and I get the feeling that a lot of people skip bits of it the second time through.



Brienne's storyline is brilliant. The chapters with Nimble Dick and Septon Meribald are some of the best GRRM has written. For the life of me I don't know why people don't like them.



The Iron Islands storyline is fantastic. The kingsmoot is amazing and the Greyjoys are the second most well-written family in the books (after the Lannisters).



The only thing I find a bit grating about AFFC is Cersei's seemingly instantaneous descent into madness. She's so paranoid and stupid in AFFC that I sometimes find it hard to read. I constantly find myself wanting to shout "Why are you being so stupid? You never used to be this stupid!" However I love her chapters. The amount of detail that gets crammed into the small council meetings in AFFC is astounding.


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I'll say that a Feast for Crows is probably my least favorite book. That said, I didn't "not like" or "hate" it, I simply didn't like it as much as the other novels. A Dance With Dragons would be next to the bottom on my list as well. I feel many of the flaws that apply to Feast also apply to Dance, but simply put I like the characters featured in Dance more, so that's just personal taste.



The awkward division between the two books was hard to overlook. It would've been far more satisfying if everyone was included at least once so we're not left thumbing ahead in the book during the first read wondering, 'where is everyone?' Also call it nitpicking, but I didn't care that the author decided to change the chapter titling midway through the series. Sometimes keeping things consistent counts for more than a poetic flourish.



I enjoyed Feast despite that, the Riverland and King's Landing plots having kept me most entertained. I can understand how people feel the Martells and Greyjoys are just a diversion, but I think that's leading to bigger things to come.


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No Jon, no Dany, no Tyrion. That's by far the biggest reason.

This mostly.

Also Brienne had about 4-5 too many chapters. They could have condensed that storyline down quite a bit. Never been a huge fan of traveling chapters where nothing happens (like LoTR did), and her character was frequently involved in them. She, as a POV character, is not bad. Her arc is interesting to a point, but she should not have had the 2nd most chapters. Sprinkle those around between other characters, or give us another Jaime chapter. IMO his arc is hands down the best in that book, though Cersei's does reveal how unhinged she is.

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I think a lot of it has to do with AFFC being in large part the falling action of the first "volume". It's by far the most character based book. The first volume is packed with action, and ASOS has so many crucially important plot developments that it's almost staggering.



Then you have AFFC, a slow, introspective, "breather episode" of a novel. The three "main" characters are absent. Worldbuilding takes precedence over plot. New characters come in that some people just don't like all that much. It's not hard to see why some people don't like Feast. I do, but if I ranked the series Feast would come in last. I still liked it, just not as much as the other four.


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Cersei Lannister - 10 chapters she is hilarious, best POV ever 10/10
Brienne of Tarth - 8 chapters boring and pointless storyline, one chapter was great 1/8
Jaime Lannister - 7 chapters great redemption arc 7/7

Samwell Tarly - 5 chapters Aemon's death was touching, citadel's stuff was super intriguing, the rest of journey was boring 2/5
Arya Stark - 3 chapters i'm a big fan of Braavos, of faceless men and of Arya 3/3
Sansa Stark - 3 chapters my favorite part of the book 3/3
Aeron Greyjoy - 2 chapters just one word: KINGSMOOT 1/2
Victarion Greyjoy - 2 chapters i don't even remember what happened in those chapters 0/2
Arianne Martell - 2 chapters 0/2
Asha Greyjoy - 1 chapter 1/1
Areo Hotah - 1 chapter 0/1
Arys Oakheart - 1 chapter 0/1
Pate - 1 chapter (Prologue) i don't count it

45 less the prologue 44

28/44 I quite liked AFFC, but 16 chapters of outrageously boring stuff is just too much.

I changed my mind, Victorian's chapter after kingsmoot was interesting, 29/44

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I find most of Brienne's journey boring but I really liked the visit to Quiet Isle and her final chapters


I suppose the Greyjoy stuff was off putting because after so many characters I liked died in the first few books, I'm thrown this batch of new characters and I'm taken away from the North, which is where I want to be. I want to see what's going on there


I really liked the Dorne stuff. I wanted to see how Dorne would react to Oberyn's death


Sam's plot was boring for the most part


Sansa's chapters are literally difficult for me to read because I hate seeing her taken advantage of. I physically become anxious as I read her chapters once she gets to littlefinger. I wanted to throw my book across my room and punch someone after reading the closing line in her final AFFC chapter. I have no idea why but emotionally I feel very connected to Sansa and her problems.


I find Arya's stuff pretty boring post ASOS. All the training Arya has been going through could pay off really well though



So that's my feelings; a lot of boring stuff (it's set up, it's important, it's just boring IMO), and I'm taken away from geographical spots I want be seeing and spend a lot of time in a place I'm not interested in (Greyjoy fam and the Iron Islands)



I love Jaime though. He's my fav POV. I'd probably read AFFC from front to back again before I'd read ADWD cover to cover again. I think ADWD has some awesome highs but you need to read through quite a bit of build up to get to those moments and I miss Jaime in ADWD


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I liked AFFC a lot, but due to when I read it, I really thought that Davos was dead for a while. That bummed me out, until I realized that Cersei was the one who was convinced that Davos was dead, and she's wrong about absofuckinglutely everything. Then I cheered up, and enjoyed it. Cersei going crazy, Septon Meribald for the antiwar speech, Arya murdering Daeron in cold blood, the death and last words of Maester Aemon.... it's a good book. Lots of great stuff in there. I'd rank it slightly above ADWD, but I'm biased against Slaver's Bay. Hopefully in TWOW Dany goes all Scipio Africanus and completely wrecks the place.


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