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Whose POV chapters in books you enjoyed the most


Putin

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It really depends on the books.  Tyrion, a character I'm fairly indifferent on, was awesome to read in ACOK and awful in ADWD.  Bran (who I don't like) was really tough to read unti mid-to-late ASOS and then was fun in ADWD.  Arya and Jon were also hit or miss for me.

As for consistent greatness Catelyn, who I really dislike, was an entertaining read in all 3 books, and Sansa has been pretty good for the entire series.  Davos and Asha have also had consistently good runs.

Danerys, Areo Hotah, Brienne, and Samwell are the consistently toughest for me to get through.

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5 hours ago, Foot_Of_The_King said:

I thought I was alone. In this fandom I see everyone has so much HATE for this or that character. I really do enjoy them all. 

I think people get an idea of what they think the story should be like and have trouble when it's not how they imagined. I thought Brienne was not very interesting the first time around but she was my favorite on the third read. I loved Jon in the first read. Not so much by the third. 

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I really enjoyed Catelyn chapters. To me she was a character that felt very fresh and different than what I was used to. As someone that specializes in childhood psych, I think parenting is one of the most important jobs out there. It was nice to see an honest snapshot of a highborn mother who dearly loves her children and willing to come to the story's forefront to fight for them while still staying in the designated arena for women. Not that I agree with this designated arena, it's just that these kind of women are often lost in footnotes or even dead before the story even begins. And history tells us that women could very much be players in history and games of thrones while also being a wife and mother.

Tyrion chapters make me laugh so much... maybe not so much in ADwD. My favorite scenes are the ones between him and Cersei while he's serving as hand. They have such a range of interactions! And the biting banter between the two is unparalleled. I always say "awwwww" when she picks him up and twirls him and kisses him on the cheek upon finding out Stannis is sailing for Storm's End and not King's Landing. The moment where the wall of hate they have for each other momentarily breaks down and Tyrion thinks "is this the Cersei that Jaime sees?"

Jaime has one of the more interesting character arcs in my opinion. The transformation from a villainous secondary character to a nuanced, (even sympathetic) major POV character is pretty astonishing. The loss of his swordhand is such a great thematic moment as he transforms from someone that's more of a "do-er" (swordsman; duelist; soldier; lover) to a "be-er" (someone concerned about mending his honor). He shifts from his actions guiding his thoughts to his thoughts guiding his actions, essentially. His relationship with Brienne is one of the more interesting and effective ones to me. A beautiful, golden knight with soured honor juxtaposed against a homely misfit that exemplifies knighthood better than most (if not all) men. It's killing me having to wait to see how their next scenes together will pan out in the next book!

Cersei... For some reason I just have a "love, love, love to hate" relationship with her. My signature has always been that quote from her because it exemplifies the kinds of things she says that really makes me chuckle. She is pretty much everything I could want in an antagonist. Complicated, nuanced, flawed, tenacious, and witty. My favorite part in her chapters is the technique Martin whips out by giving us information that we can discern information from that Cersei remains oblivious to. Like how we see that she is essentially becoming just like her late husband, and that she had her washerwoman whipped for shrinking her dresses when she's really just gaining weight from drinking. I find her chapters really take advantage of the 3rd person limited POV to engage the reader. There's really no debate: Cersei just simply isn't a pleasant person. However, I wouldn't call her evil, though she certainly has done some terrible things.

I liked Daenerys chapters in the first book, but not much after that. She had a really powerful arc, as someone else detailed above. The foreshadowing and pacing of her chapters are also quite nice and easy to appreciate. As discussed in another thread, I take issue with the voyeuristic way her body is constantly inserted into the narration of her chapters, so they can be hard for me to get through without rolling my eyes out of their sockets.

Theon/Reek are interesting in his almost complete transformation from an arrogant, handsome little lordling to a vile, smelly, completely broken man. As Theon we get an interesting shift in cultures as we explore Pyke and his estranged family. His Reek chapters also introduce/reintroduce us to some very interesting characters we would otherwise not be privy to. Roose Bolton, Barbrey Dustin, Jeyne Pool disguised as Arya. It'll be interesting to see how his journey ultimately ends.

Arya represents a trope that is a bit overused to me in fiction, but I would say that she is certainly a very well written one. Her moral ambiguity, stubbornness, and courage are all really interesting, especially considering her age. Joining the Faceless Men is a bit of an unexpected turn for her, considering she was born to be a highborn lady. Her tragedies are some of the worst in the story.

Sansa past the first book is interesting to me as a female character for similar reasons to Catelyn. Unlike Brienne, Arya, or Asha, she's operating in the designated boundaries of women and shows promise in becoming a player rather than a pawn. Her transformation into Alayne is very interesting and contrasts nicely with the Sansa that arrived at King's Landing. She also becomes privy to scenes we'd otherwise have no access to. The conversation between her and Myranda Royce on the descent from the Eyrie is one of my favorites in the book.

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