306 replies to this topic

[Xenophon]

AlfredAndrew, on 03 June 2011 - 12:44 PM, said:

Well if there's one thing that review has accomplished is to decrease my expectations tremendously.

Same.  But that's always a good thing, IMO.

[Datepalm]

I'm really excited and trying not to think about it, becuase if I do i'll start bouncing off the walls. 38 days is so much longer than 5 years in some ways.

"Like AFFC" sounds more than fine to me, fwiw.

[Été]

Wise Bass, on 03 June 2011 - 12:37 PM, said:

Spoiler

My money is on Barristan as well. I suspect that his few VOP chapters will shed some light on how Lyanna's disappearance went down.

Snap. That was more spoilerific that I expected but yay excitement! It exists and people have read it; it's finally coming! And it sounds good.

Spoiler

New dragonrider candidates = Quentyn/who?

[Kaitscralt]

We all knew the book would be an orgy of Greyjoy POV's that 99% of loyal readers don't care about, we just didn't want it confirmed.

[Wouter]

Été, on 03 June 2011 - 12:48 PM, said:

Snap. That was more spoilerific that I expected but yay excitement! It exists and people have read it; it's finally coming! And it sounds good.

Spoiler

New dragonrider candidates = Quentyn/who?

I suppose

Spoiler

Victarion, the other "suitor"

[BarrileteCosmico]

Xenophon, on 03 June 2011 - 12:47 PM, said:

Same.  But that's always a good thing, IMO.

Well, I agree. It's harder to be let down now than 10 minutes ago. But I'm still slightly disillusioned that the next 1000 pages I read will be 'setting' all the action for the next book. Oh well, what's another 2-3 years?

Edited by AlfredAndrew, 03 June 2011 - 12:51 PM.

[Werthead]

Yup, this is the general ASoIaF thread, not the ADWD one, so spoilers are required for in-depth discussions about the review. I suspect an admin will create a thread in the ADWD forum (I can't do it) for freer discussions of the plot hints dropped by the review.

My expectation of ADWD was always for a 'slow' book putting wheels in motion and setting things up, with a huge (far bigger than AFFC's) ending that clears a lot of dead wood in terms of characters and storylines and sets things up for the ending, so I'm not disheartened by the review. I also suspect the 'feel' comment is more about GRRM writing longer chapters than he did in AGoT and being more detail-focused, which has been the case since ASoS, not just AFFC.

[Wouter]

Kaitscralt, on 03 June 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

We all knew the book would be an orgy of Greyjoy POV's that 99% of loyal readers don't care about, we just didn't want it confirmed.

Nor has anything about Greyjoy POV's been confirmed by this review. I seriously dislike Greyjoys too and I'm not rooting for them at all, but that doesn't mean they will be disinteresting to read about, especially in new settings compared to earlier Greyjoy chapters. The review doesn't tell anything about the number and length of their chapters anyway, I don't know how you can come to that conclusion.

[Joy Lannister]

Frankly, that doesn't make any sense to me - I'd either read both the review and the thread about it or nothing at all. But you're right, someone may think differently. I'm marking spoilers too, just in case.

[Loras]

On Tyrion:

Spoiler

... I agree with Wouter's assessment.  I think the kidnapped by Slavers detour will be interesting for a number of reasons.  The main one being that it should allow Tyrion to curry favour with Dany.  However I guess that we will get to see the trouble in Slaver's Bay - regarding Yunkai and Astapor - first hand from Tyrion's PoV.

[Wouter]

Werthead, on 03 June 2011 - 12:52 PM, said:

My expectation of ADWD was always for a 'slow' book putting wheels in motion and setting things up, with a huge (far bigger than AFFC's) ending that clears a lot of dead wood in terms of characters and storylines and sets things up for the ending, so I'm not disheartened by the review. I also suspect the 'feel' comment is more about GRRM writing longer chapters than he did in AGoT and being more detail-focused, which has been the case since ASoS, not just AFFC.

I like the chapters with more detail actually (felt the pace in "Game" was a bit too fast at times), even though some Brienne chapters in AFFC could have done with a few pages less IMO. And I agree, since this book is mostly concurrent with "Feast" it was always unlikely that this book would move superfast.

[BarrileteCosmico]

On Tyrion...

Spoiler

I think the Tyrion being a slave chapters have some serious potential. Tyrion is a character that is used to saying and acting however he wants because he has the protection of House Lannister. Take away that protection, and into how much trouble can he get if he doesn't adapt to his circumstances? It'll be interesting, if not hilarious.

I also think somewhere down the line Tyrion will get 'saved' by Dany/Dany's people and he will repay them with loyalty.

Btw that's definitely a spoiler the review could have avoided...

[Kaitscralt]

Wouter, on 03 June 2011 - 12:52 PM, said:

Nor has anything about Greyjoy POV's been confirmed by this review. I seriously dislike Greyjoys too and I'm not rooting for them at all, but that doesn't mean they will be disinteresting to read about, especially in new settings compared to earlier Greyjoy chapters. The review doesn't tell anything about the number and length of their chapters anyway, I don't know how you can come to that conclusion.

My comment was a little offbase. I was speaking more how we know the beginning of the book will catch us up on Jon, Tyrion and Daenerys, and then the rest I've assumed from GRRM's comments (2/3 of it?) would probably be on the slower plots like the Greyjoy's and Brienne that people aren't looking forward to.

Either way, I'm stoked.

[Été]

AlfredAndrew, on 03 June 2011 - 12:58 PM, said:

Btw that's definitely a spoiler the review could have avoided...

The very fact they've mentioned it suggests it happens really early on. I hope

[Asarlai]

Well, I didn't like AFFC as much, but that's mostly because of the lack of my favorite POV character and several of my other favorites, so I can't really tell how much I'll like this.

Thinking about another "multi-year wait" already is depressing, though.

[mashiara]

The review did nothing to decrease my expectations. I've been waiting for this book for a long time and while AFFC wasn't my favorite in the series, it was still a good book.

What made me really depressed right now is the realization that there are still 38 days to go until publication -plus 5-7 for delivery here. The way things are going I'll most probably have the twins before then. No real time for all-night reading and certainly no time to read all the threads here and discuss the book with you all.

[Joy Lannister]

Werthead, on 03 June 2011 - 12:52 PM, said:

My expectation of ADWD was always for a 'slow' book putting wheels in motion and setting things up, with a huge (far bigger than AFFC's) ending that clears a lot of dead wood in terms of characters and storylines and sets things up for the ending, so I'm not disheartened by the review. I also suspect the 'feel' comment is more about GRRM writing longer chapters than he did in AGoT and being more detail-focused, which has been the case since ASoS, not just AFFC.

I had the same expectations until GRRM stated that aDwD goes "well beyond" the timeline off aFfC. When I read that, my expectations sky rocked and I decided that it may even be as good as aSoS.
Now my expectations are down low again.

[Werthead]

For me ADWD's success or failure will be judged (not entirely, but a fairly important part of it) by:

Spoiler

Whether at the end of it Dany is on her way back to Westeros. If she's departing, great. If she's still in Meereen but has made the decision to leave, that's reasonable. If she's landing at the end, it's fireworks time. If she's still in Meereen and still prevaricating, that's a concern. I think if GRRM wraps up 'Dany in the East' in ADWD and gets her heading back to Westeros, then that would be a huge move towards getting the series wrapped up.

How much of the plot is 'slow-burning' to get there isn't really vitally important to me. But the series needs to get to a certain position in order to be able to wrap everything up in just two more volumes, and I think the above is the bare minimum of what is required to get there.

[Halfhand]

Lev Grossman just tweeted that he is currently reading ADWD as well. He calls it "great." He will be reviewing it for TIME.

[Arataniello]

The comments in the review about the climax of the book would appear to support the theory that the 'non-reveal' of the final word of the manuscript was in fact justified as being spoilerific, and not Anne Groell playing headgames with us.