First read of ACOK (spoiler tags)

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 34-36:

Chapter 34 (Jon IV): The Fist of the First Men rises up out of the ground in the far north. All I can think of is Devil's Tower, but shorter. It sounds like a good place to camp. Defensible, and easily fortified. So the rangers stop here and wait for Qhorin Halfhand to join up with them. Mormont's plan is to wait where they are and let the wildlings come to them, since he feels the wildlings will have to go by the Fist to hit anything further south. Sam is getting braver, I think. By the time they get back to the Wall, Sam might even be able to handle himself in a fight. I'm not betting money on that, but it doesn't seem as far-fetched as it did when we first met him. After Jon gets some dinner, which he has no appetite for, Ghost shows up and wants to take him off to see... something. It turns out Ghost has discovered a large cache of obsidian (dragonglass) weapons. Daggers, arrowheads, and a horn. All wrapped up in... a cloak of the Night's Watch??? Ben Stark's, perhaps?

Chapter 35 (Bran V):So this one is interesting. The previous foretelling from Jojen comes true as Maester Luwin give Bran and the two Walders news of Robb's most badass victory at Oxcross. Lord Wlader's heir dies from a wound in the battle, and the Walders aren't really hit had by it. Which would be the dream that the Walders would like their rotten cut of meat better than Bran would like the best cut. So Bran talks to Jojen again, and gets another green dream from him. This time, Jojen tells him that the sea will flood Winterfell, and some people will drown. That's gotta be metaphorical, since Winterfell is way inland. Maybe it has something to do with the Greyjoy attack, coming from the sea and all. Other than that, I have no clue what it means. Meantime, Ser Rodrik is back, and he has Ramsay Snow's (the Bolton bastard) stinky manservant, Reek, as a prisoner. Ramsay himself is dead after being shot dead fleeing the scene of his latest atrocity. I won't miss him, he is a bastard in every sense of the word. Jojen claims Reek is going to kill Bran and Rickon. Now that I really hope is metaphorical.

Chapter 36 (Tyrion VIII): The powers that be in King's Landing have learned that Renly is dead, but it isn't ceetain how he died. It seems the rumor mill has been working overtime. The small council thinks that the remnants of Renly's forces can be swayed to join Joff's cause. Most of Renly's lords swore fealty to Stannis soon after the murder, but not all of them. Loras went bonkers and killed two of the Rainbow Guard for failing to protect their King, and then he took a bunch of the horse and went back to rejoin the foot that Renly left behind. Tyrion suggests that Joff's betrothal to Sansa be severed, and a new betrothal be made... to Margaery, thus bringing the Tyrells into Joff's camp. Tyrion likely sees two good reasons for this. Not only does it do what he proposes to the council, giving Joff a valuable new ally in exchange for a bride with no political value whatever, but it helps to free Sansa from Joff. Tyrion is probably the only one in the room with a conscience, or at least the only one who heeds it. Littlefinger volunteers to go to Bitterbridge and make the offer. He presents excellent reasons for being the best one to send, but what's in it for him? Oh, and Cersei is up to something behind Tyrion's back. We just don't know what it is.

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 37-39:

Spoiler

Chapter 37 (Theon III): Theon's campaign on the mainland has begun. He's landed his men and wiped out a fishing village, and made sure to get the attention of the Tallhart family. A party of soldiers rides out from the Tallhart castle and gets annihilated. Theon remembers the leader from his days with the Starks. Theon gets spat on, and is made angry enough to kill him rather than interrogate him. Aeron insists Tallhart be drowned in seawater to please the Drowned God. I do so wish Aeron would put a damn sock in it. Maybe Theon will arrange a "battlefield accident" for his uncle at some point. Then he tells his mentor Cleftjaw to siege Torrhen's Square as a diversion, and allow them to send ravens out in distress. Rodrik will bring as many forces as Winterfell has left to help. Cleftjaw says Torrhen's Square will never fall, but Theon says he isn't after Torrhen's Square. I have a feeling he's going after Winterfell. The key question is, what good would it do him? It strikes me that Winterfell isn't very well positioned to make a good addition the the new Greyjoy empire. I think here that Theon is so eager for acceptance that he just wants to pull off something big and bold without really thinking it through. And somehow, it will come back to bite him later on.

Chapter 38 (Arya VIII): Arya is becoming a behind-the-scenes power at Harrenhal. Too bad for her that the only ones who know this are herself and Jaqen. She's basically running errands for her tormentor/boss Weese for most of this chapter. Tywin is marching out of Hrrenhal and the Mountain is going with him. To her aggravation, she still has to put up with Ser Amory, who is being left in command of the castle. Weese is pleased with her early on and promises to split a capon with her, but by the time dinner comes around, he forgets all about it and gives her nothing. This is the day she whispers Weese's name to Jaqen. The next day, Weese is found dead while the Lannister forces march off to battle. But will whoever takes Weese's spot be just as bad, or will it be someone she can live with?

Chapter 39 (Catelyn V): SO Cat has finally made it back to Riverrun. She sees four men in Lannister uniform hung from the castle walls. Guess Tyrion's plan to free Jaime didn't work so well. Jaime is now in a much worse cell, and Ser Cleos is also imprisoned. I'm guessing there won't be any more attempts at peace talks on Robb's part. Her father is not much longer for this world. When she goes to see him, he thinks she is Lysa, and it is before Lysa's wedding to Jon. From the way he talks, it sounds as though Lysa needed some convincing to marry Arryn, and she is never to mention some "wretched stripling" again. Apparently Lysa was besotted with someone else. Typical with arranged marriages. Ned's bones are in Riverrun and will be sent on to Winterfell. But will Winterfell be in the proper hands when they arrive there?

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 40-42:

Chapter 40 (Danaerys III): Dany has been way underused in this book compared to the last one. She's starting to realize that she isn't going to find the help to conquer Westeros won't be had in Qarth. The Pureblood have refused her, and only saw her as a novelty due to her dragons. She also gets to watch a firemage, who performs many interesting tricks while the unsuspecting and enraptured audience gets their pockets picked. Sneaky, sneaky! An interesting tidbit is how the mages had little or no ability until Dany and her dragons came along. Quaithe, who helped bring her to Qarth in the first place, tells her cryptically in a weird riddle that she has to go to Asshai. Which is where Melisandre comes from; I wonder if Dany will run into the R'hollor faith. She decides she must stay in Qarth for the time being, however, and that she has to arrange a visit with the warlocks of the city.

Chapter 41 (Tyrion IX): This is a long chapter. Myrcella is shipped off to Dorne for her fostering and betrothal. She has a tearful, sad goodbye with Tommen. Tyrion finds out that Cersei is trying to put together her own force of sellswords to match Tyrion's, except Tyrion is smarter than she is again. He's made an end run around her and bribed the heads of her force to not really get much done while keeping him in the loop. Then the riot happens. The royal party heads back from the docks to the castle, through streets packed with starving people. Starving people ready to blame the folk in charge. Sansa is nearly lost, but the Hound saves her and brings her back. A fire breaks out, and the Hound is revealed to be scared of fire. No doubt resulting from his experience with it during childhood that we learned about in the last book. Two Kingsguard are killed violently by the crowd, along with the High Septon (who was stupidly fat in a city full of starving people... not a good idea to go out in public under those conditions). It turns out that the city's people hate Tryion for all that's going badly, even though he has been doing a lot of good and Joff is a monster. Later, Tyrion, Bronn and Varys discuss the possibility of assassinating Joff and replacing him with Tommen, who would be much easier to manipulate. Tyrion refuses to consider it. No telling what Varys thinks of it, he always plays his cards close. Foreshadowing of future events, maybe? Problem is, Tommen would also be easily manipulated by anyone else... including Cersei or Littlefinger.

Chapter 42 (Davos II): I'd been wondering how much longer before we got back to Davos. More than halfway into the book, and this is just his second chapter. Stannis hasn't been sleeping well since Renly died, and he seems to have no idea of what killed his brother, and that he was soundly asleep when it happened. I wonder if whatever magic was used awakened some part of his subconscious, and Melisandre used his sleeping mind to do the killing. Ser Cortnay, who is refusing to suurender Storm's End despite Renly's death, frustrates Stannis. He challenges Stannis to single combat to decide the issue, which Stannis thinks is ridiculous. Davos advises Stannis to leave Storm's End for later and head for King's Landing now, but Stannis also rejects this. He says Cortnay will be dead by the next day because Melisandre foresaw it, and she had also foreseen Renly's death. She also saw what he thinks is what happens if Renly had lived, that Renly would have defeated Stannis outside of King's Landing. Davos brings Melisandre under the castle by boat in the night, and she turns out to be pregnant. Despite not having shown any sign of being pregnant all this time, mind you. She unexpectedly gives birth to a shadow that looks a lot like Stannis. I bet Stannis was asleep for this one, too.

[Basel Gill]

The last couple of installments I've begun a new approach in composing this stuff. I invested in a small steno notepad, and I'm jotting down some thoughts as I read. Since my posting has fallen considerably behind where I am in the book (which I actually finished a week ago), it seemed easier to get my impressions of a chapter before my feelings became influenced by parts later on in the book. This will come in really handy for anytime I do a blog of my thoughts on a book I get from the library rather than one I own, since I would be likely to have it due back before I've posted all the blog installments.

Chapters 43-46:

Chapter 43 (Jon V): Well, Qhorin Halfhand has finally shown up. A few days later than was expected, but they had trouble on the way to the Fist of the First Men. Wildling trouble, that is. They killed most of the ones they ran into, but a few go away. Some of the rangers are getting tired of this expedition and show an unwillingness to fight. Qhorin has info from a prisoner that Mance Rayder is gathering a huge force, with wargs and mammoths, for an attack on the Wall and into the North. Supposedly, Mance is hunting for some magical doohickey in the Frostfangs that will allow him to cut a breach in the Wall with sorcery, and attack into Westeros. Yikes. Sure, it's from a prisoner who may have been making it all up, but that's still not a good sign of things to come. Qhorin suggests sending parties into the Frostfangs to sscout the area better, and wants Jon for the one he is commanding himself. Jon accepts. Things look like they could get ugly.

Chapter 44 (Tyrion X): Tyrion is taking some mighty big risks here. First off, he learns from Lancel that Tommen is being spirited out of the city by Cersei to keep him safe, and out of Tyrion's control. So Tyrion arranges for Ser Jacelyn to go out and kidnap Tommen and keep him safe... and out of Cersei's control. Then he heads off to Chataya's for a trip to see Shae, but changes his mind partway there and rides directly to Shae's place. Varys shows up in disguise and Shae recognizes him right off. Varys seems to be really good at disguises, but still needs to work on it. Tyrion learns from him that Ser Cortnay is dead and Storm's End has surrendered to Stannis. Tyrion worries for King's Landing and decides to put Shae to work in the castle kitchens to protect her. Varys suggests making her part of a lady's household instead, and Shae is more receptive. She hadn't been keen on the kitchens idea. I don't think I would be either.

Chapter 45 (Catelyn VI): This is one of those chapters that really doesn't do much. Cat and Brienne see Edmure off when he goes off to fight Tywin. Tywin tries to find a spot to cross the river but finds it too well defended. So he tries to cross in force, and gets beaten back. Riverrun has a big party, but Cat isn't so sure that this is a good time for it. She looks at a map, and thinks she knows where Tywin is headed. Southeast, toward the Blackwater river.

Chapter 46 (Bran VI): Bran is in the wolf dream when he hears weird noise from outside. Shaggy and Summer both sense danger in the castle, but can't escape. Bran wakes up in bed and calls for his guards, but no one comes because Ser Rodrik has taken everyone to help Torrhen's Square. Theon walks in and tells Bran that Winterfell has been captured, and Bran, as acting Lord of the castle, must yield. Bran reluctantly surrenders Winterfell. Mikken the smith resists and is killed. Alebelly died during the intial fight, and these are confirmation of Jojen's dream of the sea hitting the castle and those two drowning. Reek, the smelly manservant of the Bolton bastard, goes over to Theon's side, as does Osha. Bran's feelings are hurt, since he'd though Osha was his friend. Winterfell is in for a rough time of things.

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 47-49:

Chapter 47 (Arya IX): Arya is a really strong character in this book, and she shines in this chapter. The Brave Companions return to Harrenhal with some prisoners from the Bolton forces. Jaqen finds her and wants her third name for him to kill, it seems he is getting a bit impatient. He also knows her true identity. She wants him to help free the prisoners. He is only willing to kill one person for her, but she twists his arm by naming him, and refusing to take it back till he helps her. So Arya, Jaqen, Biter, and Rorge ambush the guards in the dungeon and free the prisoners, and find out that the Companions had switched sides and the prisoners were only there as a ruse to capture the castle from the inside. Nice trick. Jaqen takes his leave of Arya and somehow shapeshifts into a whole new person before her eyes. :blink: Okay. Arya then meets with the new lord, Roose Bolton, and becomes his new servant. Curiously, she decides not to trust him with who she really is, even though he is with the Starks. Well, since he's Ramsay's father, I'm not sure I'd trust him either. Ser Amory Lorch, the scumbag who attacked the holdfast against the supposedly neutral Night's Watch and killed Yoren, is fed to a bear. Arya gets to watch.

Chapter 48 (Danaerys IV): This seems to be Dany's only good chapter in the whole book so far. She goes to her appointment to meet the magic users' guild in Qarth. Things seem like there's no trouble at first. She sees assorted open doors, some of them showing the past. One shows her brother Rhaegar at the birth of Aegon. Rhaegar says something cryptic about Aegon being the prince that was promised, and his song is the song of ice and fire. So how can Aegon be the prince that was promised if he died as a baby? At least this allows the title of the series to be worked into the text. Maybe the song of ice and fire is the same song the Tuatha'an are trying to find. Oh wait, wrong series. :P She sees the house she grew up in. She also sees a few things that we haven't learned about yet, whether they're from the future or the past remains to be seen. One involves a king with a wolf's head and may be a reference to the Starks. Finally she gets to meet the Undying, who seem to be some sort of spirits that live in the mages' palace. These are the ones she came to meet. They give her a bunch of strange prophecies. A couple of them sound as if they mean her time among the Dothraki during the first book, but others I have no idea. Neither does Dany, in fact. Then the Undying start attacking her, because they want to suck the life out of her. Or something. She has trouble escaping until Drogon gives them a

. From there she finds a door to the outside. The building is smoking heavily and Pyat Pree is hopping up and down while babbling gibberish. He attacks her but gets stopped by her bloodriders and her dragon. The warlocks never meant for her to get out, I think she was meant to be a sacrifice to the Undying all along. But they weren't counting on Drogon. Like the old saying goes: Do not interfere with the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Chapter 49 (Tyrion XI): King's Landing is busy setting up for the big battle. Tyrion is sending off his assorted clansmen and barbarians to hit Stannis early. This seems to make him uneasy, though. He still has his big force of sellswords, but doesn't trust them. After all, they're only mercenaries and have no sure loyalty. There's the City Watch, only a third of which can be counted on the be competent. Then there's the three huge catapults nicknamed the Three Whores, all set to give Stannis a lusty welcome. I'm sure Stannis would fail to be amused by the joke, since he has no sense of humor. None whatsoever. Later, Tyrion checks his mail when the Maester brings it. Greyjoy has made an offer of alliance, and Tyrion gives it serious consideration before he realizes their ships are on the totally wrong end of the continent. Still, we could see things happen between Lannister and Greyjoy in future books, whether it be alliance or war between them. Hallyne reports that he has 13,000 jars of wildfire ready, more than Tyrion expected, and even more than the ten thousand that were ordered. It seems that when the last dragons died, magic went out of the world, and making wildfire became hard. But lately for some odd reason, the spells are working again. Gee... you think that's because there are dragons living again? Finally, Varys shows up and tells Tyrion some of the rich men in the city are plotting for Stannis and intend to open a gate for him when the battle comes. The call themselves the Antler Men. Clever. Tyrion orders them arrested with a bit of exasperation.

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 50-52:

Chapter 50 (Theon IV): So Theon wakes up in the middle of the night, bu isn't sure why. It takes him a few minutes to realize that he can't hear the direwolves. It's not a noise that woke him, it's the lack of one. He rouses the castle and finds out that the wolves are gone, and so are Bran, Rickon, the Reeds, Hodor, and Osha. Theon is especially mad about Osha, since she swore allegiance. Here we learn about Winterfell's septon being murdered, as a sacrifice to the Drowned God. Theon takes a bunch of people, including Reek, Maester Luwin and the Walders, out into the woods to track the trail, but has no luck. He's totally lost them. Lost things are always in the last place you look. Reek has been carrying a sack for some weird reason all through the chapter, now he shows Theon what's in the sack while suggesting they're hiding at some mill. Bran's direwolf brooch, but nothing else we get to see. I'm a bit lost here. What could possibly be in the sack that connects the boys to the mill?

Chapter 51 (Jon VI): Qhorin, Jon, and the others come upon three wildlings guarding a ledge looking down upon their path. They need to get past them to keep going. So Jon and the best climber, Stonesnake, go up and ambush the wildlings from behind. The first two die after a short fight, but the third one yields and turns out to be a woman. Not a bad-looking one by the description. I'm interested to see how she is played in the TV series, because I have a feeling this chapter isn't the last we see of her. The other's in Jon's party aren't willing to take her as a captive, though. It means splitting the food, and having to keep an eye on her.So Jon has to choose between killing her, and letting her go. He lets her go, after she tells him a story of Winterfell's past. How true this story is, I'm not sure. It might just be legend, but there is more likely some grain of fact, however distorted through the centuries. And the information imparted is somehow going to pop back up again. As will the woman Ygritte.

Chapter 52 (Sansa IV): Sansa is apprehensive. In her situation, I'd be apprehensive too! Battle is coming to King's Landing. Pretty much anyone in the city can figure it out. Tyrion has ordered the burning to the ground of everything outside the city walls, depriving Stannis of anything he may use to get some advantage. Stannis's advance parties are trading shots with the defenders. Dontos tells her a ship is on the way to take her out of the city. Later that night, Sansa has a horrible nightmare about being caught in the riot again, except in the dream she takes a worse beating than in real life. Then she wakes up to find herself and the bed all bloody. It takes her a couple of minutes to realize what's happened: she's become a woman. She doesn't take it that well, trying to burn her sleep clothes, sheets, and even the bed itself, just to cover up the signs of her first period. Since this makes her officially eligible to sleep with Joff, I think it's understandable. Sleeping with Joff is something worth putting off as long as she can. Even though I'm a guy, I bet having a period hit during your sleep, in medieval times, must not have been a pleasant experience. They wouldn't have what it takes to get the stuff clean. (And even in modern times, blood is a really hard stain.) Nor would their feminine products be as good. The servants manage to get her under control, cleaned, dressed, and bundled off to Cersei for breakfast. The Queen gives her assorted unpleasant advice about womanhood. And she also mentions that none of her kids "with Robert" took well to being held by him. (Gee, you think they knew at that age instinctively that he wasn't their father?) This whole chapter just serves as another part of Sansa's wake-up call that life isn't all happiness and songs. One thing I wonder here is, how Sansa's period will be handled for the TV series. Bear with me here: Sansa in the books is about thirteen at the point of this scene. But for the TV series (which I haven't seen yet), I've gathered that GRRM moved all the kids' ages up by about three years or so, and has indicated that these are the ages that he should have written the kids at all along. That would make the TV Sansa about sixteen at this point in the story. Which means that she will be considerably older than average for her first period. Old enough, in fact, that it would strain believability. (Wikipedia seems to indicate that having it happen this late is pretty rare.) They could always change it so that this isn't her first one, but that takes away from the scene. If this has been going on for a while for Sansa now, she shouldn't be so distressed over it. She would have been legally beddable all along, with one more period doing nothing to change the situation, and she would be well aware of how to handle a period by then. Or they could just lop out the scene altogether. But this is HBO, would they really pass up a chance to be graphic about anything sexual? Sounds like the producers could be between a rock and a hard place.

[ICE CROW]

What the hell are you doing? are you making cliff notes for the book impressive feat but i don't know if thats really in the spirit of the forums. And trust me i am the Anti-christ of the forums.

[zmflavius]

What the hell are you doing? are you making cliff notes for the book impressive feat but i don't know if thats really in the spirit of the forums. And trust me i am the Anti-christ of the forums.

They're recap/commentaries.

[Horza]

Good recaps too.

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 53-55:

Chapter 53 (Jon VII): This was a weird chapter. Jon has a discussion with Qhorin about Mance, and learns some interesting stuff. Mance used to be a ranger of the Watch, but deserted because he couldn't handle the discipline because he was born a wildling north of the Wall. Jon goes to sleep, and has... a wolf dream? Apparently the warging ability is hereditary, since Jon and Bran both have it. So far there hasn't been anything about Robb, Sansa, or Arya experiencing anything like this. Granted, Lady is dead, and Arya did everything she could to drive Nymeria away for her own safety. Jon, inside Ghost, seems to make contact with Bran inside Summer. So wargs can make psychic contact with each other through their animals? Interesting bit there. He finds out that Bran and Summer are in a dark place, filled with death. That sounds significant but wasn't anything I could put a finger on. Jon was in Ghost while Ghost was sleeping, it seeems, so Ghost wakes up and sees a huge army organizing. Then Ghost gets hits by an eagle and wounded badly, but the rangers patch him up. They pass back where they met Ygritte and leave one behind to hold off the wildlings, but a hunting horn comes soon. I see a fight on the way.

Chapter 54 (Tyrion XII): Tyrion isn't getting everything right. Most things, but here he slips up a little bit and lets Cersei get a jump on him. She has dinner with him, and once again shows that she isn't right in the head. Tyrion makes it perfectly clear that Joff will be well away from the fighting and well guarded, but she still is convinced he is trying to kill Joff just because he wants a couple of the Kingsguard in the battle, and Joff visible on the walls surrounded by a dozen gold cloaks and two white cloaks. So then Cersei mentions that she has Tyrion's whore. Except it happens to be the wrong woman. Cause you know, those medieval prostitutes are so tough to tell apart. All this time he has been going to Chataya's and using a secret passage from one's room to go to Shae, and he never thinks once about the danger he is putting Alayaya in. But he never lets on to Cersei about her mistake, and this time around not only threatens to avenge any hurt to her, but manages to stop Cersei from slapping him for once. The queen has such a winning personality. Not.

Chapter 55 (Catelyn VII): This looks like a cliffhanger chapter to me. It's not the end of the book, but we don't see Cat or Jaime again before the book ends, so what happened is left unresolved. Cat manages to get Jaime nicely drunk and has a not-so-friendly chat with him. They aren't on very good terms anyhow, and she has just learned that Bran and Rickon were killed by Theon. He offers up some information, but not much of it is directly useful to Cat. He confirms Tyrion's version of the story about the dagger, and adds the interesting bit that Robert had it after that tournament. That is something she could use. He also confirms that he is the real father of Joff, Myrcella, and Tommen, and admits pushing Bran. Then he tells the story of how Ned's father and brother died. One cooked by fire inside of his own armor, and the other left to strangle himself trying to save him. If we ever doubted King Aerys was a monster, I think this story puts those doubts to rest. But then there's the ending. Jaime begins tossing around insults as he finishes off the last of the wine Cat sent him to loosen his tongue. Cat calls out to Brienne, who came down to the dungeon with her and has been outside the cell, and says "Give me your sword." What does Cat do with the sword? Is Jaime still alive at the end of this chapter? After everything he has done here, and in the first book, not to mention betraying his sworn oath to defend Aerys with his life, I think Cat could kill him without any moral qualms at all. She wouldn't lose any sleep over this afterward. The only reason she has to leave him alive is to keep her daughters safe (remember, no one on the Stark/Tully side knows Arya isn't held hostage). Cat isn't exactly in a good frame of mind right now, so she might kill him anyway. If she isn't meaning to kill him, then what? Does she just mean to give him a pretty new scar? Or is she going to chop something off? She's never met Shagga, but she might still independently think of cutting off his manhood. Maybe she would even feed it to the goats.

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 56-59:

Chapter 56 (Theon V): So now we're back to Theon. He's not made Winterfell very happy with him. Three of his men have died mysteriously, and he's executed the kennelmaster Farlen for it. Farlen manipulated him into doing the job himself, since he'd look weak otherwise. But I suppose he looks weak now anyway, since it took him three or four whacks with an axe. Then it turns out Theon himself killed his own men, to keep them from blabbing some big secret. Farlen was just a believable fall guy. But what's the big secret? Asha shows up; Theon had been getting impatient. Once again, she is quite disdainful and mocking of him. She points out that he would have had an awesome victory if he'd taken the boys hostage and burned the castle before heading back for the coast. Theon boasts about taking Winterfell in one night, with thirty men. He doesn't seem to have ever thought about holding Winterfell with thirty men. Theon isn't that bright. He comes up with one master plan, but fails to think it through fully before carrying it out. And now it's come back to bite him hard. He's been demanding reinforcements from her for a while now; Asha leaves him ten of the twenty men she brought with her. When he explodes, she responds that she isn't willing to commit more men to keeping a castle there isn't any point to keeping in the first place. So he's desperate, and readily agrees when Reek offers to go out and find some extra men. Two hundred, perhaps. Two hundred men supplied by a stinky servant to an illegitimate monster? I'd be leery of trusting any men Reek finds. He gives Reek some coin to do the job, but is sure he'll never see him again. At the end, he reflects on the mill they visited earlier. Bran and Rickon, who we all thought were dead, were never found. They just killed the miller's sons and skinned them, then dressed them in the Stark boys' clothes! So it's good knowing the boys are still out there somewhere... but where?

Chapter 57 (Sansa V): I think Sansa isn't going to enjoy herself during the battle, no matter which way it goes. Stannis's forces are approaching King's Landing. The battle is coming up. Joff is all dressed in super-spiffy armor, but won't be anywhere near the combat. He is commanding the trebuchets. Joff has plans to launch the Antler Men, the traitors who favored Stannis, over the wall and into the battle. Nothing says fearsome in battle like throwing prisoners at your enemies. Now if it had been

, Stannis would have fled. Joff makes Sansa kiss his new sword, which she doesn't care for doing much. She goes to the holdfast where Cersei is hosting the women of the castle to keep them safe during the battle. Ser Ilyn is there, and it's supposedly to deal with treason. Cersei seems to think she will have need of him before they leave. Yikes.

Chapter 58 (Davos III): So now we get to the big, huge battle for the book. Davos is with the rest of Stannis's fleet for the attack on King's Landing, combined with a land attack led by Stannis from the other side of the river.. I can't begin to describe how badass this battle is. Davos sounds like he has a better sense of strategy than the people in charge of the fleet. But they're all born nobles and look down their noses at him. This is what you get from medieval society: how much your words are heeded depends less on your deeds and more on your ancestors. Never mind that Davos has proved himself personally. Davos sees tow big towers at the mouth of the river, with a big long chain between them. I guess this explains why Tyrion had all the smiths making chain links earlier. Except the chain is lowered, and all of Stannis's ships sail right over it. Davos senses a trap but isn't sure what kind. He does see that several of the most powerful Lannister ships are missing. They'd be the ones taking Myrcella to Dorne. Things look good for Stannis's ships at first. But then Davos spots the trap right before it gets sprung. One of the enemy ships is leaking wildfire right before it gets rammed, revealing lots and lots of wildfire inside. KABOOM!!! Several ships blow up immediately, with many, many others on fire. Davos is knocked flying into the water, with no clue what happened to his sons that are in the fleet. The whole river is on fire. Now there's only one thing I can say to this:

Davos tries frantically to make it out to the ocean, but then the full scope of the trap is revealed. The chain is up. None of the ships can escape; they just crash into the chain, forming a wall of fire and death. Now it looks like Davos is doomed here, and we don't see him again for the rest of the book. But there's still plenty of mileage left in the character, and GRRM would just have to switch the POV to someone else to continue showing events in the Baratheon camp. Unless Stannis himself doesn't make it. Which is a good possibility. So either his whole faction gets eliminated from contention, or Davos finds a way out. I think it would take a huge deus ex machina to save Davos. If GRRM wishes to keep him, it looks like he wrote himself into a corner here.

Chapter 59 (Tyrion XIII): Tyrion is having a chat with Joff on the city wall while watching the battle. Joff is as petulant as ever, lamenting the loss of "his" ships. Tyrion is way too smart to tell him that he had to sacrifice some Lannister ships to bait the trap and lure Stannis's ships into the river. Joff goes off to command the catapults and send the Antler Men traitors back to Stannis... aerially. Now that's one way to promote loyalty among your citizens. From the high vantage point, Tyrion can see that some of the enemy ships survived, and are beginning to land troops. So it's time for a sortie, right? Except when he goes down to have one sent out, it turns out Sandor is the one in command down there. And Sandor's already taken three sorties out into a burning approximation of hell. Sandor is scared out of his mind and refuses to go out again. Let's review: what one thing is The Hound absolutely terrified of? Oh yeah, fire. So The Hound can't (and won't) lead a sortie. But since there's a ram being brought up to bash its way into the city proper, there has to be a sortie. Tyrion decides he has to lead one himself. And the sortie is epic, but more on that later.

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

Chapters 50-52:

One thing I wonder here is, how Sansa's period will be handled for the TV series. Bear with me here: Sansa in the books is about thirteen at the point of this scene. But for the TV series (which I haven't seen yet), I've gathered that GRRM moved all the kids' ages up by about three years or so, and has indicated that these are the ages that he should have written the kids at all along. That would make the TV Sansa about sixteen at this point in the story. Which means that she will be considerably older than average for her first period. Old enough, in fact, that it would strain believability.

Actually, Sansa tells Cersei in the TV series episode 1 that she is 13 and has "not yet bled" at that time. That will make her ~14 during this part of the TV series and a first period at that age would not be unrealistic at all (Sansa is 12 in the books for her first period, so she's only been aged up about 2 years). The actress playing Sansa is either 15 or 16 now (during the filming of aCoK), and has almost certainly passed puberty but we'll just have to suspend disbelief a bit that the character has not even though the actress has. :)

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 60-62:

Chapter 60 (Sansa VI): A lot of this is basically just reports coming in of what's happened in the last couple of chapters. Cersei is getting pretty heavily smashed, but she still has her faculties about her. Enough to give Sansa some more pearls of womanly wisdom, or at least what Cersei thinks are pearls of womanly wisdom. I'm not sure how much of what she has to say would be backed up by women in real life, especially ones who don't happen to be power-hungry and halfway to barking mad to boot. When she hears that Joff is catapulting Antler Men into the river, she orders him brought back to the castle. Even Cersei can see how crazy/stupid Joff is! When food is served, is sounds awesome, as usual in this series. More trenchers. Always with the trenchers. If Subway opened shops in Westeros, they'd be

swimming in golden dragons. Then Cersei leaves a major bomb, only to turn it into a false alarm. She knows about Sansa's treasons in the godswood! Sansa nearly panics, but manages to keep her cool, and good that she does, since she would have just let Cersei know about Dontos in the first place. All the queen meant was that Sansa is praying to the old gods, and therefore must want Stannis (or Robb) to win. Except she shouldn't want that... turns out Ser Ilyn is really there to kill Cersei, Sansa, and assorted other key people so Stannis can't take them alive. So... Sansa has no choice but to root for the most totally evil family to come out on top. Fun for her.

Chapter 61 (Tyrion XIV): You wouldn't think someone Tyrion's size could do so well in battle, but he held his own in AGOT and does so again here. The Imp leads his men out the King's Gate, and tries to send his squire Pod back. Pod can't be dissuaded and Tyrion doesn't feel like arguing the point, so he lets the kid tag along. That's important. He winds up bashing assorted enemies on the way to the Mud Gate.Then it gets pointed out to him that his grand plan to blow all the ships to kingdom come has backfired. Stannis's soldiers on the other side of the river are walking across the water by using the wreckage as a bridge! Which give us one of the best quotes:

"Those are brave men," he told Ser Balon in admiration. "Let's go kill them."

So Tyrion and the others head out across the bridge to engage in armed combat on top of floating, burning flotsam and driftwood. Tyrion does well, but his accumulated wounds leave him without any stregth while he is caught on a wrecked ship heading for the flames, and Stannis's men are fighting someone on the far side of the river. AAAAAAH! No wonder the Hound was scared. Although I don't think even the Hound could have foreseen this crazy outcome. Ser Mandon Moore, the second Kingsguard besides Ser Balon that Tyrion went out into the battle with, offers a hand but then tries to kill him. At the last second, who saves Tyrion? That's right... Podrick! The one guy he didn't want along, the one guy he tried his best to discourage, turns out to save his life. How's that for irony?

Chapter 62 (Sansa VII): All the reports coming into Maegor's Holdfast are godawful. Tyrion and Ser Mandon are dead, the Hound is totally missing, the gold cloaks are deserting after Joff left the catapults because Cersei never saw the value of a King inspiring his troops. Tyrion did try his best to get that part through to her, but she isn't a woman easily persuaded. The crazy queen goes off to retrieve Joff, who now has it in his head to shoot crossbows at the desperate souls trying to get into the castle. Sansa manages to get some kind of order among the others in the holdfast, and then goes off to her chambers, and finds... the Hound. Just when you thought he was done with her. He's gotten himself drunk. Sandor seems to have a nasty

. He demands she sing him a song, or he kills her. So duh... she sings him a song. He tears off his white cloak and leaves. Presumably he won't be a member of the Kingsguard anymore. AFter a little bit of time goes by, bells start ringing all over. The battle is won. Dontos comes and delivers the news. He's also quite smashed, so it takes a bit of effort to get it out of him. That battle on the wrong side of the river? Tywin arrived just in time. Now, remember the last we heard from Tywin, Cat figured he was heading for the other end of the Blackwater river? Well, here's what we get. And he brought the Tyrells with him. Oh yeah, remember Littlefinger being sent off to negotiate an alliance with the Tyrells? Seriously, the resolution to the battle we get in this chapter has Chekhov's Gun written all over it. And leading the vanguard was... Renly? Isn't Renly dead? A number of Stannis's people, who had switched sides when Renly died, now switch back. So is Renly really still alive? Does he have a touch of Jesus (or even Elvis) in him? Was he magically brought back somehow? Is this a fully live Renly, or a zombie? Is it even Renly at all? We never hear from anyone who sees his face, just his armor. (I hope they got that gorget fixed after the shadow sword went right through it.) Anything is possible now that magic has entered the series, although I haven't seen anything indicating that either Tywin or the Tyrells would have had access to magic while they were marching to battle. But if a capable fighter of about Renly's build could be found, then his armor could be used in some motivational fakery. It's worth noting that we don't see Renly (or anyone wearing his armor) again for the rest of the book.

[Basel Gill]

Chapters 63-66:

Chapter 63 (Danaerys V): It looks like Dany's time in Qarth is coming to an end. As magic is returning to the world, the warlocks of the city are growing stronger. And Dany has burned down their house. So she's made some powerful enemies. The magic users want her dead, a couple of the merchant guilds want her dead, and the Thirteen would like her dead but haven't acted upon their wishes due to Xaro's efforts. She isn't on good terms with him anymore either. She turns down his marriage offer, and he finally gets it into his head that she isn't interested in him. Geez, it's only taken the entire book. She isn't willing to sell him a dragon, either. So he tells her that her time in his house is done, and she has to take her people and go. For most of her time in this book, she has been on the virge of becoming something she hated about Viserys, a beggar monarch. And she's been well aware of it at times, unlike her brother, but hasn't had a way of of her predicament. Now she has to find a ship that can take her dragons and her people out of Qarth. Easier said than done. Some won't take the dragons, some won't take the Dothraki, some want too much money, and so on. Ser Jorah sees a couple of men following them. Some Qartheen tries to kill her with a magic scarab that disguises itself as a piece of jewelry. But what happens? Those suspicious people following her around the docks? They bust in and save her! Just when we thought we couldn't trust them (although in this series, don't trust anyone). They say they've been sent by Illyrio. And one of them is, by appearance and speech, from Westeros, and calls himself Arstan. Wait a sec... Barristan? I never had any specific theory as to where he disappeared to, but I had been assuming that wherever he was, it was somewhere in Westeros. Now he turns up all the way in Qarth. One thing is, has Jorah been in contact with Illyrio all this time, letting him know they were in Qarth, or has word of the Mother of Dragons spread all the way to Pentos? Either way, that's where Dany is going. Back to where she began Book One.

Chapter 64 (Arya X): Arya is getting cooler and cooler. At first it seemed great to have Roose Bolton in charge of Harrenhal, and compared to the Lannisters it certainly was great. But now Roose is starting to show his true colors. This is Ramsay's father, after all. Like son, like father. And really, what could you expect from a house that chooses a man with his skin cut off for its sigil? The Brave Companions are despicable, when tasked with rooting out Lannister sympathizers, they just find their former helpers and kill them. The Freys are convinced that Robb should end his rebellion and surrender to Tywin. Well, Robb's situation does look grim. Then she finds out that Roose will be leaving soon, and putting Vargo in charge of the castle. She doesn't like that one bit, and contrives to make an escape for Riverrun after she looks at a map. She gathers Gendry and Hot Pie, having to tell a couple of lies to convince them to come along. She kills a guard, and they make their way through a gate. She didn't take the map with her; I hope they don't get lost. Filming a minor slitting a man's throat should be interesting.

Chapter 65 (Sansa VIII): This chapter made me think of the music from the medal ceremony at the end of A New Hope. All the mighty lords and ladies come to the throne room to mark the saving of King's Landing. It's a grand and splendiferous occasion, and everyone goes out of their way to look grand and splendiferous. Tywin makes the best entrance, riding in on his horse (indoors, mind you) in shiny and gaudy armor, with his horse being dressed in shiny and gaudy armor. Tywin's horse isn't as pleased with Joff, or at least isn't willing to hide its feelings. The horse leaves a grand and splendiferous pile of its feelings right at the foot of the throne. I so hope that part makes it into the TV show. Tywin is confirmed as Hand of the King (never mind that he was really Hand all along, Tyrion was just interim Hand). The Tyrells get nicely rewarded, with a spot on the council, Loras joining the Kingsguard (where he doesn't have to marry or show any interest in women), and Margaery is betrothed to Joff... thus freeing Sansa up. For which Sansa is overjoyed, but can't show it. Other rewards get dished out. Petyr gets confirmed as the new liege lord of the riverlands and given Harrenhal, thus making it official what Tyrion promised him. Then they have to anoint six hundred men as knights, one by one. That takes a long while. Then the prisoners come in, and get dispensed with depending on how well they accept Joff now. Joff embarrasses himself by cutting an arm on that godawful throne. (Badass to look at, but godawful to sit in. You think Robert would have had it replaced with something more comfortable once he got rid of the Targaryens.) His reaction is telling; it says to me that he may be a king, legitimately or not, but he's still an immature little boy of thirteen. After all is said and done, Sansa sees Dontos, who tells her that she isn't out of the woods yet. She still has value as a hostage, and Joff may still take her to bed if he wants, he just won't be wed to her. So things are still bad for her. But he gives her a nice-looking amethyst hairnet to wear to Joff's wedding, and says that will be the night she makes her escape. I sure hope so. I wouldn't be surprised if Varys or Littlefinger (or both) are onto Dontos and have plans in motion to stop her from getting away.

Chapter 66 (Theon VI): Well, I knew sooner or later Theon's folly would come back to haunt him, and it does. Winterfell is surrounded by Ser Rodrik's forces, and only seventeen men are willing to stand and fight with Theon. All of the men Asha left him choose to desert. Wise men. Maester Luwin tries to get Theon to surrender, but to no avail. Theon tries using Rodrik's daughter as a hostage, but Rodrik sounds like he is willing to attack anyway. He feels honor-bound to take back the castle; the othas he swore to House Stark take priority. Luwin suggests he would be allowed to take the black and join the Night's Watch if he surrenders, and Theon gives the idea serious consideration. He seems to be leaning toward taking the black when someone else leads a force against Rodrik's. And it's... Reek? Reek, who Rodrik and the others took to be friends, but pay for it with their lives. The Boltons are here, and they beat the Stark forces easily despite being outnumbered. And then Reek isn't Reek, he's actually Ramsay, who switched places (and clothes) with the real Reek, who then got killed as Ramsay. Ramsay hasn't actually been in that many scenes, but he has become a really effective villian. Except since Ramsay has not only brought two or three times the number of men he promised, but took the victory, he feels entitled to change the terms of the deal. When he left he asked for Palla the kennel girl, now suddenly that's not good enough for him. He acts all slighted at being offered a kennel girl (ummm, dude? You specifically asked for her, you even said you had quite the fancy for Palla) and demands Kyra instead. Now Kyra was taken by Theon for himself as soon as he took Winterfell, so naturally he doesn't react well. When Theon objects, Ramsay just whacks him with his fist still in armor, knocks him cold, and does significant damage to his face. Theon wakes up to the Bolton army rampaging the whole place. Ramsay calls for the Walders to be spared (interesting, since there were a few Freys prominently with Roose at Harenhal) and everything else burned. The we get a "The last thing Theon Greyjoy saw" sentence. So Theon's survival into Book Three is ambiguous. Kind of like Jamie's survival. Or Arya's survival after Book One, for that matter. GRRM seems to enjoy leaving us hanging from book to book as to whether someone just got killed.

[GreenxDreamer]

What the hell are you doing? are you making cliff notes for the book impressive feat but i don't know if thats really in the spirit of the forums. And trust me i am the Anti-christ of the forums.

You know, personally, I happen to like the recaps Basel Gill is providing and I like their point of view of things. I read this book a couple months ago and having a recap is quite nice. Helps me remember what happened in the book if I need a quick refresher. If you don't get it or understand why then fine, no need to be a rude about it. <_<

Please keep those recaps coming Basel! :)

[Basel Gill]

You know, personally, I happen to like the recaps Basel Gill is providing and I like their point of view of things. I read this book a couple months ago and having a recap is quite nice. Helps me remember what happened in the book if I need a quick refresher. If you don't get it or understand why then fine, no need to be a rude about it. <_<

Please keep those recaps coming Basel! :)

Thanks for the positive feedback. I just have the last 4 chapters, which I hope to start a draft for this weekend. After that it's reading WoT for the next few months.

[Tyrionthebest]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I just have the last 4 chapters, which I hope to start a draft for this weekend. After that it's reading WoT for the next few months.

Are you going to continue reading the series or are you just reading WOT ?

[Basel Gill]

Are you going to continue reading the series or are you just reading WOT ?

I'm planning on continuing the series sooner or later. I'm currently between books 5 and 6 of WoT, and was planning on picking ASOIAF back up after I finish book 8 or 9. I often get Amazon giftcards for Xmas, so decided if I do again this year that I would use those for ASOS and AFFC. (My WoT reading, however, will be checked out of the library.)

[GreenxDreamer]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I just have the last 4 chapters, which I hope to start a draft for this weekend. After that it's reading WoT for the next few months.

A Wheet of Time series, right? Haven't read them myself but I might pick them up sometime in the future. There are a few book series that I'd like to read after ASOIAF, well the last published book anyway. Can't read several books at once, then I'll never sleep!

[Basel Gill]

A Wheet of Time series, right? Haven't read them myself but I might pick them up sometime in the future. There are a few book series that I'd like to read after ASOIAF, well the last published book anyway. Can't read several books at once, then I'll never sleep!

LOL. Wheel of Time is excellent, well worth checking into. I don't read multiple books at once, but I don't tend to stay in any individual series for long. It's been a few years since I read two books in any series consecutively.