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Brienne chapters....snoozefest


AegonTargaryen

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I like Brienne as a character, but I found her AFFC POV chapters to be a bit slow and frustrating. Mostly because you know where Sansa and Arya are, and you know Brienne's looking in the wrong place.

I've never understood why people see this as such a problem. That's an absolute classic way to build tension - you see it all the time in movies, where the viewing audience knows something that the person on screen doesn't know. You wonder how and when it is going to be resolved, and you can be on the edge of your seat knowing that the character is doing something totally 'wrong' for whatever reason, and that what he/she is doing is likely to endanger them or others.

Brienne IS looking in the wrong place, but the interesting thing is following her reasoning as she searches, and slowly getting to know her as a person, and also see the real effects of the war. Her chapters are a very different pace, but that is also good writing and excellent contrast, because you can't have just all Action! Action! It's also fascinating to see how her personality and background slowly emerges, how her view of Jaime slowly changes, and then look at his chapters in parallel and see his thoughts of her. Many of the subtleties in AFFC really only emerge when you read it again.

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One of the things I enjoy most about the board is seeing how fans react differently to different aspects of the story.

AFFC is my favorite out of all five books so far, and Brienne's chapters are my favorites in the book. :) I do understand, though, why some fans don't like them on the first go-round. The book is such a tremendous change from the non-stop pace of the first three, particularly ASoS. We as readers, go from a roller coaster ride, to a paddleboat ride. It's a big change.

Having said that, Brienne's chapters are, like others have already stated, the chapters that show us the perspective of the common folk. We also get so much history that we haven't gotten before. I learned more about Westeros and some of the great families in Brienne's chapters than I did anywhere else besides Wiki. :D

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One of the things I enjoy most about the board is seeing how fans react differently to different aspects of the story.

AFFC is my favorite out of all five books so far, and Brienne's chapters are my favorites in the book. :) I do understand, though, why some fans don't like them on the first go-round. The book is such a tremendous change from the non-stop pace of the first three, particularly ASoS. We as readers, go from a roller coaster ride, to a paddleboat ride. It's a big change.

Having said that, Brienne's chapters are, like others have already stated, the chapters that show us the perspective of the common folk. We also get so much history that we haven't gotten before. I learned more about Westeros and some of the great families in Brienne's chapters than I did anywhere else besides Wiki. :D

This.

We've had three books of battles and scheming and warmongering with little to no visible consequences, I thought it was only natural we'd have a PoV that would show us the effects the war had on the land and people.

Brienne's chapters are slow, yes, but they have tons of information about the commoner's side of Westeros. They are extremely bleak and depressing but so well written and informative.

Plus her chapters contain a ton of tiny little details that are very easy to overlook but that actually foreshadow a lot of things. Dance spoilers :

Nods to the Dunk and Egg stories, a hint that Aegon might actually be a blackfyre, major hints that Sandor isn't dead, information about Nymeria and so on

If only for her dialogue with the Septon, her fight with you know who and the conversation with Thoros in her last chapter, Brienne qualifies as one of my favorite POV of the entire series.

Also, Pod. How could anyone not like Pod?

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  • 1 month later...

It seems that inside the ASoIAF community there are people that create trends that later on they spread and everyone histerically begins following them. You have the typical 'let's hate Catelyn to death', 'Tyrion is cool and you must love him', 'Bran is boring' and now with the Feast, Brienne's. Why?! She's a powerful personality, fierce character that inside this whole mess of characters breaking over and over again their promises and honor, remains with an untouchable moral and priorities. Someone that whould give her life for a promise, for honor to someone. She's a survivor. And I love that everytime I read a chapter of hers I discover new aspects of her personality, little details, little thoughts. Me, personally, I think she's amazing.

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I feel her chapters give a voice to Jamies new character....a bit more chivalrous and Lady Catelyns character...she is taking up the job of others in her life....and I was screaming at the end when she met up with others along the road to be judged!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I actually think Brienne is one of the characters I can relate to the most. Her insecurety towards other people and her constant fight for approval really makes her an interesting character. It is a real maledominated environment (in spite of many female characters), and I think it's great to be able to follow a more modest female character. She doesn't hold much power, or have command over guards or soldiors. She fights for herself. I really respect her character and am always cheering her on.

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Only started AFFC, and have just read 2 of Brienne's chapters, but I agree with others who say that it is a nice way for us to see the consequences of the war on the "smallfolk" of a ravaged land. It is nice to meet lower-born characters that aren't soldiers, tradespeople, ordinary merchants, innkeepers, septons, farm boys etc.

It's a bit like when you watch the news and they interview politicians, economists etc - all very well to understand why things happen. But then the reporter goes on a field trip, and interviews ordinary people to see the effect of war / financial crisis / environmental disaster , etc. and you get a very interesting view of how big events and decisions happening at the highest level impact people "on the front line". Brienne does that for us and when I read her chapters, I have to say it's nice to leave Kings Landing for a bit and go to a greener, less political, more "real" place.

Plus she might be pig-ugly but has a good heart, while at the same time not full of self-confidence despite her strength and combat skills. And she does have romantic feelings, I think her longing for Renly and her unresolved feelings for Jaime make her quite interesting - if she was real, she seems like someone I'd like to know.

I do wish she had met the Hound!

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I am still just a little over 300 pages in. I'm on the third Brienne chapter, and wondering if all the chapters are going to drag like this. I was actually looking forward to her as a POV character, but from the name of this thread it looks like I might be let down a bit. I'm hoping I have a different opinion as I read on, but so far I haven't really been too impressed. It's still early so I'll keep my spirits up

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It seems that inside the ASoIAF community there are people that create trends that later on they spread and everyone histerically begins following them. You have the typical 'let's hate Catelyn to death', 'Tyrion is cool and you must love him', 'Bran is boring' and now with the Feast, Brienne's. Why?! She's a powerful personality, fierce character that inside this whole mess of characters breaking over and over again their promises and honor, remains with an untouchable moral and priorities. Someone that whould give her life for a promise, for honor to someone. She's a survivor. And I love that everytime I read a chapter of hers I discover new aspects of her personality, little details, little thoughts. Me, personally, I think she's amazing.

Because to me, most of her chapters are devoid of any real plot direction. Yes she is looking for Sansa, but the reader is aware of the fact Sansa is with Littlefinger which takes most of the mystery out of those chapters. Most of the earlier chapters are simply walking around and asking for Sansa. Her later chapter are great though.

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Because to me, most of her chapters are devoid of any real plot direction. Yes she is looking for Sansa, but the reader is aware of the fact Sansa is with Littlefinger which takes most of the mystery out of those chapters. Most of the earlier chapters are simply walking around and asking for Sansa. Her later chapter are great though.

Can't wait to get to those chapters :-) I'm more half the book now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I re read her chapters in AFFC over Christmas and I have a new appreciation for her character. She however did not listen to Lord Tarly or The Elder Brother on the Quiet Isle. Both told her to give up her quest and return him and live her days in peace.

The reality is she was on a fool's quest, there was no way she was going to find Sansa Stark and the more looking she did the more trouble she received.

I do enjoy her though, and see her as one of the "good guys" in the series. It made me a Brienne fan. I think re reading many of the characters points of months or years after you have finished the novels themselves makes you appreciate some and still loathe others.

No amount of re reads can change my mind about the sub human that Jaime Lannister always will be in my book.

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Even though Brienne is totally boring and a generic-fest in ACoK, she's definitely one of my favorite characters in ASoS and AFfC.

While, realistically speaking, her eight chapters could be reduced to three and she'd still have covered the same ESSENTIAL plot, I still prefer the eight chapters. I very much enjoyed them.

Even though popular opinion is the Feast is the worst ASOIAF book, the POVs by Brienne, Cersei, Jaime, Areo/Arianne/Arys and Sansa are all quite excellent in my opinion. Of course, the chapters by Samwell, Arya and the characters on the Iron Islands are all boring as fuck IMO.

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I really enjoyed every aspect of the Brienne chapters, but I guess it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of her character.

Some have described her chapters as just a lot of walking around, but I really liked all the detail about the physical landscape of the areas and also the natural elements she had to deal with, like being cold and damp most of the time. For me it really helped to paint a visual picture and set the mood of these areas of the realm. I think these chapters did this to a greater extent than in some other chapters, which are more action driven. This in addition to the perspective her chapters give on the regular folk throughout Westeros, as others have described.

Although her quest for Sansa seems like a fool's errand at times, what else do you really expect her to do? Go back to Tarth and live out her days married to some guy who's only with her to get to her inheritance but really finds her repulsive? All the while dreaming about Renly, Jaime, and feeling like a failure for abandoning her vow to save Catelyn's daughters. She'd probably rather die doing what she does best...kicking ass and taking names.

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I've, truthfully, found them to be dull reading. Despite all of the violence and debauchery Brienne is a witness to. Of course, I'm only about halfway through AFFC, so I'm hoping that they'll start to pick up soon.

This is an issue that seems to divide a lot of fans. It seems one half of the readership really enjoys the Brienne chapters and the other half doesn't.

All that being said, I find Brienne to be one of the most interesting characters in ASOIAF, partly because she's a woman in a man's world, and partly because she's a "minor" character, from a lesser House that has been caught up in this grand adventure. I'm very curious to see where her journey takes us.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm fine with Brienne's chapters for the most part, although they do tend to get bogged down every now and then.

IMHO, the slowest ones are the Arya and Sam chapters. I couldn't care less about Braavosi ports or the culture of Braavos.

Really? I've been so looking forward to information on Braavos ever since I learned Syrio was a Braavosi. The water dancing is also bad ass.

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