[ADWD Spoilers] Pleased w/ the Book

[O'san'gar's Razor]

I was pleased but didn't love it. I personally rank it above Feast (which was still good) and below but very close to Kings (which was great).

[Datepalm]

I really enojyed it, though I certainly have quibbles. I'm actually not that bothered by the ending - I thought Ramsays letter and Jon's rah-rah-rah moment, followed by the stabbing, of course, was perfect (and I had been completely spoilered for it - only to forget that completely and be utterly shocked when it happened, which I continue to be amazed at.) and I don't take Ramsays letter at face value for a moment and think its a great mystery to have a couple of years to pick over like so many carrion crows :D.

Likewise, I found Quentyn's death and Dany's exile to be better endings than some big battle featuring mainly characters I don't honestly care all that much about (sorry Barristan and Jorah, but your manly self pity gets old after a while. Now if Grey Worm would get a POV...)

[rayvio]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. some parts I expected, some I didn't. some pleasant surprises, some unpleasant

[cteresa]

I was disappointed in the book but I am glad you are pleased. Rather envious myself of all those who did. It´s good. With luck will reread the whole thing (or AFFC+ADWD if I wimp out) and appreciate more on reread.

The official reviews, the arc ones, writers, bloggers, media, all seem to be uniformly excellent. But the reactions of people, non board people I know, who have been reading it, well some people did love it, but most people are reacting differently than the reviewers did ( since I have my own theories about the biases of reviewing, I am finding the contraste very interesting).

Ran, the median at goodreads is still 5, but it is not likely going to last very long (I think it was because ADWD had about a 1000 ratings before read and published and most of those wre 5 stars on faith), its average rating is dropping every day. And the amazon reviews, ouch.

[Crow's Eye]

Loved it personally, definitely worth the wait. Though i've only been waiting since 2008 rather 2000/05

Definitely not worth the wait. Waiting over a decade for new Jon/Tyrion/Dany material, I don't think anything could have fully satisfied me.

That being said, I LOVED this book. I never expected much more than Feast, but with my favorite characters/plotlines. This was a far better book than AFFC, and definitely moved the story forward. The tension and dread built and built with every chapter, and I couldn't stop turning the pages. Jon's arc was especially well done.

My only disappointment was the end of the Dany arc. I really think this begged for more resolution than we got, and felt a bit cheated by the lack of any real ending. Not to mention the fact that Tyrion, Victarionand Marwyn never even met her. Still, though, I'm very confident about the story again, and feel like it's moving in the right direction again.

[Puck6275]

I enjoyed it (though I think Meeren's war should have been concluded), and I am sure most people do.

However you are on an internet forum. The only things a forum is good for is complaining and theorizing, of which there is a lot of both.

[tozka]

I loved the book. I liked best Jon, Dany and Theon's chapters. Jon, because he is my favourite character and I love reading about him he was cool and awesome, Theon because there were very well written and we got nice glimpse at the North and Dany, because I loved to see how much she has progressed as a person, yes she still lacks experience (as example - Tyrion says that she has not poisoned the Wells outside of Meereen) but she has gone a long way from book 1, a long way from book 2 after the Dragons. Just to see the stark contrast between her and Quentyn, the Prince of Dorne raised to rule yet he looked like a babe and she like a Queen. I loved her staying and protecting the people of Meereen instead of allowing to happen Astopor or Yunkai all over again, for juggling a thousand balls trying to protect them. She has impossible task in this book but she did as good as could be wanted, considering that she is "only a young girl". No perfect, by no means but there is no body in this series who has been perfect.

[Slick Mongoose]

I really enjoyed it. It's natural that people who enjoyed the book will spend more time talking about the details rather than how much they enjoyed it, while people who didn't enjoy it will spend more time talking about that.

[Mark Antony]

dont see how any fan of the series couldnt like it. i loved it

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

I liked it a lot. I admit after finishing it I was deeply irritated by the cliffhangers, but this passed rather quickly and I was able to appreciate the book for what it is. After consideration I am also rather optimistic about the future of the series. We have left the planned "five years gap" behind and the story should now enter firmer ground.

[IheartTesla]

I liked it a lot. Whether it was worth the wait or not isn't something I'd care to address. If we want to judge ASOIAF in the pantheon of whatever category you want to place it in, in a 100 years from now no one will care it took 6 years to write. I'd rather it be judged on its merits alone.

As to the Amazon reviews....I admit to being puzzled a bit at the invective there. Might just be managing of expectations, people expected 'resolutions' and/or had distorted expectations after so long a wait.

Personally I love the journey as much as the destination, and the endless speculation is very much a part of my enjoyment of ADwD.

[Nipples]

I mostly loved the book, even if the pacing annoyed me a bit. Those long, way too repetitive stretches of Jon and Dany - things happened, but not really a whole lot, while other characters with only a handful of chapters (or even a single chapter, such as Areo Hotah) managed to push the story quite a lot further.

I'd probably be happier with the book if I hadn't read Swords back in 2001, then had to wait four more years for Feast and after that almost six years for Dance. Seeing that the book ends with a whole lot of cliffhangers and very few resolutions (even if it's setting up things for the final two ... ot three) and knowing that GRRM of the new millenium is not the fastest writer kinda dampens my enjoyment. I'd probably like it a lot more, if I only started reading the series in the last couple of years and if I wasn't already resigned with another long wait.

The story still grips, surprises, shocks and even delight, but gods, the wait. Knowing it's probably gonna be a while before Winds even threw me in a kind funk over the weekend.

[MaximumSam]

I liked it a lot. It did well setting up events for the last two books. I feel the negative reactions are more based on frustration with the lack of answers rather than the quality of the book. Feast was was bad because it was boring and hard to read. Dance was not hard to read.

[Fez]

I've got some real problems with Dany's arc, but overall I loved the book; really loved it. I think its probably my favorite of the series. And the fact that I didn't much care for Dany's chapters isn't that big a deal for me considering that there has always been at least 1 POV in every book that I didn't like much (usually Arya among them but I surprisingly liked her chapters a lot here. I blame the TV show, Maise Williams forced me to like the character more) and that I never really thought of Dany as part of the heart of the series, no matter how many pages she gets.

[Auska]

There have been some hyperbolically negative reactions to this book, but that doesn't change the fact that it does have some major problems, the biggest one being that it doesn't have a climax. It's generally not a good idea to spend hundreds of pages building up to something, only to defer that something until the beginning of the next book. That's poor writing, IMO, and I think Martin is justly criticized for it.

I was perfectly fine with the lack of resolution. I must hasten to point out that I didn't have to wait for 6 years after the previous book. I'm sure that's got a lot to with it some of the vitriol, especially when there's fear about the next one being 5 years away too.

…

I really liked the book. The writing's a little tighter than before, and the stories flowed very nicely. The only problem was adjusting to the first half happening “in the past”. Can't wait for WoW.

[The Stranger]

speaking for the disappointed multitudes, I'd like to make a couple points:

1. given the cult-like fervor for Martin on this board, there is a tendency to brush off any critique of his works whatsoever as either a) impudent or B) completely off-base. to that I'd like to say: GRRM is an author, and that's that. anyone who spends money and/or time on his books has the right to pass judgments on them without being considered a deviated pre-vert. if this means some people are dissatisfied with his works, that should be a perfectly legit basis for discussion, so long as no one starts flaming.

2. no matter how transcendent some people might think GRRM's craft is, the guy is [see above] a professional writer, and that means he is also subject to the constraints of his profession: if Martin seems to have made a mistake as a writer, it is not a tenable argument to just say 'oh, you have to understand that based on what Martin's overall idea is blah blah blah...' it is still possible that a guy simply screws up [i don't see how that becomes less likely the longer and more complex a story gets] by ignoring certain undeniable rules of authorship: you need a plot, you need characters, and you need everything to move forward towards resolution in some kind of a timely fashion--the mere fact that bloated monstrosities have become the norm in fantasy literature doesn't mean that the production of another such Jabba of a book is commendable. as my gf, a voracious fiction reader put it 'he needs one thousand pages to do this, huh? do fantasy readers get outside their genre very often, if this is considered normal?'

3. for those of us who think the above points have any merit, eleven years is a long goddamned time to wait for books that are inferior to their predecessors--especially the sheer wonder that was Storm of Swords. at this point, GRRM's success rate has gone from 3/3 to 3/5, with a downward trend developing. it is a frustrating thing to experience for people who have been devoted fans for 15+ years, and there's no way around that.

[flyerhawk]

I thought it was an excellent book marred by some cheap stunts at the end.

When Cersei made a passing reference to Davos being killed in AFfC, that was disappointing but you knew it may not be true but you had to wait until ADWD. But even if he did die you could live with it because Davos is a secondary character.

Honestly while I didn't care much for the plethora of cliffhangers in the letter, I really didn't mind it. I can wait to see what happens to Theon, Stannis, Asha and Ramsay. However, I find Jon's arc really poor. Most people really don't believe he's dead because if he really is dead, then GRRM is guilty of wasting a lot of our time. IMO, a far better cliffhanger would have been to have Jon rise up, via whatever means he will, and give us an idea of who he ultimately is. I think that could have been done with not many additional pages. Had he done that, I would have rated this his best book.

[Ser Lich]

dont see how any fan of the series couldnt like it. i loved it

Here are 21 pages of people explaining why it's not up to snuff.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, glad you liked it, but MULTITUDES did not.

[flyerhawk]

3. for those of us who think the above points have any merit, eleven years is a long goddamned time to wait for books that are inferior to their predecessors--especially the sheer wonder that was Storm of Swords. at this point, GRRM's success rate has gone from 3/3 to 3/5, with a downward trend developing. it is a frustrating thing to experience for people who have been devoted fans for 15+ years, and there's no way around that.

In fairness the last two books are clearly bridge novels trying to really fill out the world of Westeros. GRRM's dependence on folklore to fill out the story, really takes some time to tell. IMO, that is a feature not a bug. The core of the entire series is political intrigue which really requires both the source of the conflict and the current conflict to be fleshed out.

[The Rattleshirt]

There were flaws, mostly from Dany's chapters, Quentyn and the one off chapters like Jamie and Areo being out of place, but overall i loved it and am disappointed i have to wait for the next one.

I'm looking forward to reading the sections in The North, especially Stannis's march, when i do a re-read at the heart of Winter when the snow starts here ^_^