Shorter chapters, faster pace in ADWD?

[Maester AZ]

Hi all, I just started A Dance With Dragons and while I'm only on Tyrion II, I feel like the chapters in ADWD are shorter than they were in all the rest of the books, save for the Red Wedding Arya chapters in A Storm Of Swords. Does anyone else feel that way about the chapters in ADWD? Or is it just that after the slower pace and somewhat less interesting characters in Feast, Dance just feels so much faster and more interesting in comparison? Just something I noticed as I've started the fifth (and currently final) book in the series.

[Leave it to your goat]

Or is it just that after the slower pace and somewhat less interesting characters in Feast, Dance just feels so much faster and more interesting in comparison?

Bingo. Feast was littered with mostly-uneventful chapters of 20+ pages. I think Dance is paced more like the first three books, but it feels faster because you just finished Feast. It's kind of like when you finally get out of a traffic jam on the highway... You're not going any faster than you were before the traffic came to a standstill, but it feels like you're flying because you've been creeping by for the past hour. That's the way I see it anyway.

[Maester AZ]

Aha! That's what I figured! Dance is like a breath of fresh air. Thanks.

[kirt]

I remember someone put the average length of the chapters somewhere and both AFFC and ADWD had them significantly longer than the first 3 book.

Edit: well, from awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Chapters_Table_of_contents it's very quick to check the values (didn't bother to add the last chapter, wouldn't change too much)

9.3

10.4

11.3

14.9

13.1

So, ADWD has indeed shorter chapters than AFFC, but your feeling they were shorter than in any other book seems to be exactly what goat said.

[Lord_Pepsi_Cupps]

Feast is very ponderous, and copped a lot of flack, so Dance kicks off right away. You're right about the action.

Also, first part of Dance happens at the same time as Feast, and boiledleather.com has a "combined reading order" chapter list, which merges the chapters from Feast and Dance into one chronologically consistent read. I highly recommend it, maybe if you get around to doing a re-read. Everything just makes a lot more sense and is easier to follow.

It made me appreciate Feast a lot more too - which kind of confirmed for me the problems with publishing it as a standalone book.

[Trinity Tyrell]

Feast is very ponderous, and copped a lot of flack, so Dance kicks off right away. You're right about the action.

Also, first part of Dance happens at the same time as Feast, and boiledleather.com has a "combined reading order" chapter list, which merges the chapters from Feast and Dance into one chronologically consistent read. I highly recommend it, maybe if you get around to doing a re-read. Everything just makes a lot more sense and is easier to follow.

It made me appreciate Feast a lot more too - which kind of confirmed for me the problems with publishing it as a standalone book.

I hope the reread makes me appreciate Dance as much as I did Feast, then.

[Maester AZ]

I hope the reread makes me appreciate Dance as much as I did Feast, then.

Wow I haven't been on here in quite a while. I'm taking ADWD slow, so I'm only on page 490. I'll definitely check out boiledleather.com if I ever get around to doing a reread.