[ADWD Spoilers] Pleased w/ the Book

[O'san'gar's Razor]

straw men in the first paragraph, spiced with some ad hominem. a second paragraph based on the faulty premise that such a novel structure is normal in telling a story...let alone necessary. [also, novels don't typically slow down in the middle--they adjust the pace of action to allow for characters gaining more knowledge of the overall backstory--with the exception of Bran, sorta, no one gets that second act revelation by the end of book five.]

Evasion and refusal to either respond to my arguments or support your own throughout.

[Axon]

I really enjoyed a ADWD. Maybe more than any save ASOS.

[Datepalm]

What do you mean here? "The Watcher" which is Areo Hotah literally starts on page 500. This seems to clearly be after the chapter in AFFC in which Doran tells Arianne what's up.

Doesn't Balon Swann only set out from KL towards the end of AFFC?

[youper]

I loved the book. I thought the first half was one of the strongest in the series. (The first half of game was sloooow.) The second Bran chapter is my favorite in the series. I was frightened for Bran, Merra, Hodor, and Jojen. the wights coming out of the snow was great. The meeting with the three eyed crow was great!

[Faint]

It was 85% of a great novel. Too bad the final 15% went missing.

As in, I don't think it was 85% good and 15% bad, I just think it was organized poorly and the endings left a lot to be desired.

I can't express how shocked I was that the final Tyrion chapter was the final Tyrion chapter and that the final Jon chapter was the final Jon chapter.

The Meereen arc was bloated but I love it nonetheless, although, if cutting some of it out would have provided decent conclusions to the other ongoing storylines, I might have taken that sacrifice.

The inclusion of the Jaime chapter was simply a joke. I don't find it at all defensible. I understand the writer was under pressure from the fans to tell us what happened to Brienne, but trading one cliffhanger for another didn't do much. He should have just saved it for the next book.

I was going to blame the editors for forcing the writer to throw some of the material into the next book until reading an interview where it seems clear GRRM intended to end the Jon storyline where he did. What he was thinking there, I have no clue. We should have at least gotten the next Melisandre POV as the closer, before the epilogue.

[Ser Hippie]

Doesn't Balon Swann only set out from KL towards the end of AFFC?

He's already on his way and in Dorne - Doran talks about having to delay him by throwing tournaments and what not as he scolds Arianne about her plot.

[Ser Hippie]

No, I agree the chapter seems to be after that (since the Sand Snakes are there and they're plotting openly), was just clarifying on Balon Swann's whereabouts in AFFC.

[MeanMrMustard]

not resolving mereen in one book? really?

there's good stuff in there but the pacing has become silly over the last two books. combined with the wait for books it's just too much.

[Joni]

I started reading this series in May. I read Dance in tandum with Feast and ended up being thoroughly disappointed still.

[ViennaGirl]

If I can't put a book down to take a shower, make dinner, talk to my kids, that must mean that I loved it. I've put down so many books that weren't engaging, or weren't well-written, but even though I was frustrated by the Mereen plot and horrified by what happened to Jon, I didn't do anything else from tuesday to thursday of last week other than read it. So I think I loved it.

[Total Depravity]

I loved many aspects of the book, especially the parts that were written like the first three (mainly the North, Theon and Bran stuff). I disliked the poor writing and characterization in some places (mainly the unexplained Jon and Dany regressions in order to force plot / pad space). And the positive reviews you talk about, most of them mention, or do so in interviews or response to reader comments, that it was poorly edited.

You guys aren't being fair to the critical community. While I liked the book, it had some serious flaws and outright mistakes. I can understand those who waited 10 years and received no substantial plot progression + cliffhangers being rightly upset. Especially when GRRM didn't do cliffhangers before this.

I think my favorite moments were:

1. Jon Snow beheading Janos Slynt.

2. Quentyn's attempt at dragon taming.

3. Frey-filled pies.

[Lummel]

I'm happy and satisfied with ADWD, I'm not sure that I could even manage another slice of Frey pie.

GRRM ended Dany in a much more interesting place than I had imagined, I hadn't imagined that Bran would take such a sinister turn, I feel much more confedient about seeing Arya's position as pretty bleak too.

I'm not comfortable with this idea of a 'bridge' novel. To my mind either what we read has intrinsic meaning or it's bad writing and based on the way I read the book I don't imagine the series is going to look like big battle opening - bridging - big battle conclusion once GRRM gets to the end. For example all that business with Robb winning battles to my mind was a background that allows the fall of winterfell and the red wedding, now we see the further collapse of the north - if the main thrust of the series is the conflict with the Others it's that collapse of the north that is really significant and all that business with Robb was just a means to get us there.

I take the view that GRRM knows what he's doing and the interesting questions to ask are along the lines of what is it that GRRM is doing or saying by putting Tyrion through that particular journey.

[mcb]

If we accept the premise of a multi-book series then some books must be used to fill the story out rather than provide resolution.

Was there resolution in Fellowship of the Ring?

No, and just as well, considering FOTR wasn't a separate book, but one third of a novel, published this way for purely economical reasons, like keeping price of a single volume low enough.

[Leuf]

I liked it a lot more than AFFC, I think for three reasons.

1) I went into Feast directly from Swords and wanted to get into the plot and was just frustrated by it not going anywhere. I went into Dance with a totally different mindset and took my time with it. I started reading Tuesday evening and didn't finish until Sat afternoon. Everyone reads at different speeds, but I just don't think this is the sort of book that is meant to be rammed through in half a day.

2) It's got all the "good" characters in it.

3) Feast totally got off on the wrong foot with me by throwing out SIX new character names on the first page and not even getting to a returning character for about 60 pages. Dance starts off with someone we know in the prologue and then gets right into all the important characters right off the bat.

Otherwise, they are structured very much the same. So it's interesting to see quite a few people say they liked Feast but didn't like Dance.

I thought Bran's and Arya's chapters were perfect. He made me feel an inkling of compassion for Cersei and Theon, which I didn't think was possible. Dany and Tyrion, well if Tyrion is meant to end up as part of Dany's posse, then they both need to go through a bit of a transformation. If Book 3 Tyrion showed up before Book 3 Dany, Tyrion would tell her she's a #$%#ing moron for sitting around in Mereen concerned about a bunch of slaves, and Tyrion would be dragon food(*). Dany needs to know that she needs Tyrion and be ready to accept him, and Tyrion needs to live life not as a Lannister for a while and be able to apply his soft spot for broken things on a larger scale rather than the micro scale he has previously in order to understand where Dany is coming from.

I enjoyed everything about the wall, except for that last chapter. Quentyn... I only hope that the two knights that were with him have some role to play in the rest of the series so that wasn't a total waste of space. It's like he wanted to remind us that he does play for keeps, but I'd rather he just didn't overuse pretending to kill them instead.

Brienne showing up, it felt like he threw that in only because it has been so much longer between books than he expected and didn't want to leave Brienne hanging, but didn't have the space to get into it properly. I think he meant well there and only did it for the fans but fumbled it.

My biggest beef is that the main reason for the initial 5 year gap, and now for these two books that haven't really gone anywhere, was to give the dragons time to get bigger. So what does he do? He locks two of them inside for the whole book where their growth is stunted. WTF!?! The only thing I can think is that Victarion steals Rhaegar and Viserion and he needs Drogon to be stronger than the two of them combined for a bad ass dragon fight in the skies over Meereen while the ground battle rages below.

(*)Though I think a Tyrion POV chapter on his way to be fed to the dragons might possibly be the greatest thing in the series.

[IceSt0rm]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. I loved the book and don't understand everyone's negative opinions.

[TheReader]

Hi All,

Maybe this has been said before in this thread, and if so I apologize, but in any case: the more I think about it, the more for me it's just the last 50 pages or so that have me so frustrated. AGOT, ACOK, and ASOS featured incredibly strong concluding sections; AFFC didn't, but was explicitly pitched as half a novel, so that was fine by me. But this one is not only the second half, but also explicitly goes beyond and brings in AFFC characters and etc, and so I was expecting a strong conclusion. Doesn't mean it had to be any one thing necessarily, but I wanted to end the book feeling the way I did at the end of those first three--blown away, moved, thrilled, shocked, and mostly just, again, blown away.

So while the writing is just as good if not better, the characterizations and uses of POV great, the arcs for folks like Theon and Jon really impressive to me, and many other compliments: I just didn't dig the last 50 pages the way I would have liked. And I guess after 11 years without a great GRRM concluding section, it hurts to still be without one.

Ben

[Inn at the Crossroads]

I powered through my first read to avoid getting spoilered, and I imagine that I will enjoy the book even more on my second, slower read through. I think George really knocked this one out of the park.

Are there unresolved issues? Yes, of course. Do I have faith that he will resolve them? Yes, OF COURSE. The book is a series, and none of the books have really been stand alone works. I think that he's upped the ante because of what is going on in the world. The stakes are high, and both readers and characters have no idea what to expect next. I think he's done that very intentionally, and I commend him for it. He's a better and better writer, and a masterful storyteller.

We will suffer no slights to The Martin. ;)

[El Pinko Grande]

I liked the book. I don't like it as much as the first three, but I do like it more than AFfC. I do feel like Martin has over-used certain tricks, and I wish the book had a bit more structure, but I certainly enjoyed reading.

[BarrileteCosmico]

Feast felt at times like a chore, Dance kept me up til 4 am reading 'just 1 more chapter' for all 4 days I was reading it. The problem is the mismatch between expectations and reality. I expected, for example, Tyrion to meet with Dany and kick ass as her hand, but that didn't happen. Therefore, that disappointed me, but I think that's as much my problem as it is the book's.

[theepajaro]

Loved the book. A little disappointed that Tyrion did not formally meet Dany and that Dany is still no where closer in leaving Meeren. Perhaps at the end of Winds of Winter she will have left and if we are lucky fighting others.