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[ADWD SPOILERS] After ADWD, how big is your anticipation for the next book?


denstorebog

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The reason I'm not looking forward to tWoW (aside from merely finding out (not necessary reading) what will happen with Jaime and Jon) is that I don't believe it will be better than Dance or Feast. The biggest flaw of those two books is the change in GRRM's mindset, I think, and maybe even writing style.

Yes. Everything Joy Lannister said.

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Not

a

single

one.

Certainly none that had any impact, since I can't think of any. OH! I was surprised when Jorah turned up.

I know what you mean, the closest I came was my head nearly exploding from Rage at the Jon ending.

Also my little Dragon bullshit with Dany, leaping onto Drogon like a scene out of Eragorn or some other Teen Fantasy. Then somehow staying on his back as he flew away, huh thought I was reading aSoIaF not Dany Potter.

The plot armour on thoose goddam Dragons is so thick I can taste it, I have read Star Wars books where I believed Luke Skywalker was in more danger than thoose Dragons.

Where are Mazalan Sappers with Cussers when you need a Dragon reduced to fucking pate.

Jon Connington did more in 2 Chapters than Jon/Dany while still having some nice character building.

Jon sat around yapping on the Wall for the entire book before they crap fake cliffhanger, which might have worked if it was from one chapter to the next. There was nothing to stop him getting his Range on and actually fighting the Weeper or some Others and still had plenty of character developement.

But no instead it takes him the entire book too realise he should have gone South and then he knifed by Dumb, Dumber, Dumberer and Sodumbithurts.

I am not even reading the next book till someone assures me, he doesn't spend most of it lying around recovering/comatose/dead.

I also utterly now fail too see the point of Daenerys except to turn up at the last second and win the war against the Others with a her flying plot devices.

The next book isn't Book 6 its Part 3 of Book 4, just like aDwd wasn't book 5 but part 2 of book 4.

I still have a tiny glimmer of hope that when we get all 3 parts of book 4, it will actually compare too a Storm of Swords on all levels.

At this point Martin has all but became Robert Jordan, all be a better writer. He has the exact same plot movement and editing problems.

One last rant.

I abosolutely agree Jon's cliffhanger is pure Comic Book cheese. It will probably turn out Jon is lost in time or he will make a deal with Mephisto.

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Right now, even being completely disappointed with ADWD, I want very much to read the next book. In a year the anticipation for TWOW will greatly diminish for me. In two years the TWOW will be out of sight and out of mind. In three years, if GRRM has the book nearly done by then, I'll sniff out the early spoilers and released chapters. And when the book comes out I'll probably read it day one, talk about it on this site, and depending on how good the book is I'll continue to talk about it.

In the meanwhile we have Game of Thrones on HBO to watch even though I think that adaptation is largely terrible compared to the books. But at least it is new ASOIAF content to view and dissect when TWOW is hanging.

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I have to admit, my interest is greatly diminished after Dance. I'll read Winds the week it comes out, but unless it's as good as books 1-3 my interest will continue to wane as we wait for books 7, 8, and 9. In a way it's a favor, since I used to worry a bit whenever I thought about the books that GRRM might die before finishing the series.

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I guess I'm in the minority but I really, really liked Dance. I thought it had some nice reveals, some pretty good moments and I liked the characters better than any that were featured in Feast (other than Jamie). I will say though, this should have been one book. Feast had so much posturing that it seemed like GRRM could've just condensed it and rolled it into Dance. Yes, it would've been long but that wouldn't have bothered me.

I think the bigger issue is that, as a series, we don't have the total picture yet. So yes, Dance may not seem to have advanced as much but, for me, it had plenty of movement, expansion, and reveals to be a really enjoyable read. Though I do hope that GRRM doesn't just follow through with what many are looking at as assumed plot lines.

I'll admit, having every character think words are wind every 20 pages was annoying, but I'm really excited for the showdown to see if/who beats the Other and then who gets the throne.

Personally, I'm rooting for Aegon.

All that being said, I can't wait for Winds.

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Anyone else share this newfound attitude of 'it'll come out when it comes out', or is everyone still as hungry for the next developments as they were before ADWD?

Oh yes.

And it'll get worse, if GRRM actually dares to mention troubles with resolving the Walleese Knot.

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If Martin announces that the series will be 8 books, then I believe my anticipation will return to what it was for Feast and Dance. If he doesn't and the series remains at 7 books, then my anticipation will be diminished, because with Dany still stuck on Essos and not having met so many characters, I no longer believe Martin can possibly satisfyingly conclude ASOIAF in just 7 books.

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Back then, he was still descriptive, the world-building was still vivid, but the story was alive too, and the chapters had purpose. He devoted chapters only on important events/moments when an important decision was taken/moments that had great effect on certain characters, the rest he told in passing.

I couldn't agree more. He packed more into the opening chapters of AGOT than into the entirety of ADWD.

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<snip>

Anyone else share this newfound attitude of 'it'll come out when it comes out', or is everyone still as hungry for the next developments as they were before ADWD?

Same attitude as you. Luckily, I didn't wait at all, just enjoyed the books over the last month or so. I'll probably read the next one but it does not matter to me when it comes out. Two years or ten -- I'm alright with either scenario. It is not anything I'll get as soon as its released like I did ADwD, for sure. But I'll get to it eventually.

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I'm excited for it. There should be some nice action and more than a few resolutions for various storylines.

Hopefully the writing will go smoothly on this one. A delay would be so sad.

I also tend to think the hyperbolic reactions, ie: I SO DISAPPOINTED AND I HATES GRRM FOREVERZZ sound like spoiled teenagers.

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I'm looking forward to it and am pretty excited. :) I know we're in for at least a two year wait if not more though, so I've dialed down my excitement levels for now. I'm excited that a new season of Breaking Bad has started, so I'll be focusing on that and looking forward to getting the first season of GoT on Blu Ray, and any tidbits about how filming and the casting of season 2 are coming along.

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I am looking forward to reading whatever books will finish this story. I am invested in the story and the fate of a few characters. What I won't do is buy the future books, I will borrow them from friend or library. I only keep books from my most favorite stories and while I like ASOIF, for me, there far better stories out there that I treasure.

That being said I do love this forum, great discussion of the books.

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I've lowered my expectations. At this point, I'm not at all certain that TWOW will come out within five years; and if it does, I will expect a thick book with a lot of viewpoints and journeys and character development, and not too much action. On the other hand, GRRM could surprise me, write a book chock-ful of thrills and chills with enough character development, kind of like the first three books; and then I will be absolutely delighted. (unless he kills off Ghost) I really don't see how he is going to get the entire saga done in just two more novels without killing 3/4 of the cast of characters and having Essos and part of Westeros engulfed by the Mother of Tsunamis....

I tend to think that GRRM did his best writing of the series in AGOT and ASOS, and AFFC and ADWD show his tendency to get bogged down in too much complexity and character development. I am not sure that GRRM is willing to speed things up again, or to edit himself, to write a leaner and meaner (in terms of plot tension) book. Hopefully he will prove me wrong.

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...

With ASOFAI, I'm startying feel like I'm getting bogged down in the story. Instead of leaving cliff hangers he should have wrapped up the story.

If stannis is defeated, then show the defeat, and call it a day, we still would wonder ok what's next, now that Stannis is done, leaving us with was Stannis defeated or not, just is stupid.

We don't need to see what happens with Dany, give another chapter, if she convinces the horse lord, to join her cause, and destroys the Yunkai, great, and if she meets Tyrion end it there. As opposed to having her ending it meet with Jhaqo. We can find out what happens with Tyrion and Dany in the next book, but atleast have them meet, if they are going to or not, so we can feel like ADWD completed some aspects of the journey.

We don't need a Jon cliff hanger, this isn't a comic book, if he is in the wolf, then leave it at he is in the wolf, the next book can be about jon as a wolf. There was no need for this cliff hanger either.

I think the comic book writing is effecting his style of writing, a novel is not a comic book, it should tell a story, it's not a soap opera, a comic book comes out 1 time a week, or pretty frequently, cliff hangers are good, but after 1000 pages of reading and 6 years, readers want plot completion and opening into the next plot, not plot incompletion.

He's overusing the cliff hanger literary device.

That's exactly how I felt. Some of the endings felt a little cheap. GRRM really doesn't need to rely on cliffhangers to keep people interested. Just tell the story. But no, somehow he managed to make his two best characters boring.

I'm still looking forward to tWoW but only because I hope that it will be better than aDwD and things will finally start moving again.

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As a matter of fact, the ending of Fellowship is a terrible place to end the book. Borimir is killed, Merry and Pippen are captured by Orcs, Frodo and Sam leave the group, Aragon, Gimli, and Legolas are in the middle of the wilderness and Gandalf is apparently dead. It is every bit as bad as leaving off all the plot resolution that is left in ADWD. The difference is since the story was completed, there was no wait at all to find out what was going to happen, as you could pick up The Two Towers immediately afterwards.

There were gaps between the publication of the three original volumes. Six months between Fellowship and The Two Towers (early and late 1954), and twelve months between The Two Towers and Return of the King (late 1955). And Tolkien and his publishers received a significant number of letters complaining about the delays on Volume 3 (Tolkien was struggling with the appendices and the index, the latter of which he just gave up on in the end) since Frodo had been left on a mighty cliffhanger. And that was over one year.

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Yeah, I can't do another filler book, if that happens I'm going to put the series down. A good author knows how to leave the reader with a sense of completeness, while still maintaining that the story must go on.

That's what made Tolkiens LoR so good, is that each book even of itself forwarded the story, we knew what the journey was , but each time we felt like the characters were moving one way or another, and at the end you felt a bit exhausted, and ready to relax before going on.

With ASOFAI, I'm startying feel like I'm getting bogged down in the story. Instead of leaving cliff hangers he should have wrapped up the story.

If stannis is defeated, then show the defeat, and call it a day, we still would wonder ok what's next, now that Stannis is done, leaving us with was Stannis defeated or not, just is stupid.

We don't need to see what happens with Dany, give another chapter, if she convinces the horse lord, to join her cause, and destroys the Yunkai, great, and if she meets Tyrion end it there. As opposed to having her ending it meet with Jhaqo. We can find out what happens with Tyrion and Dany in the next book, but atleast have them meet, if they are going to or not, so we can feel like ADWD completed some aspects of the journey.

We don't need a Jon cliff hanger, this isn't a comic book, if he is in the wolf, then leave it at he is in the wolf, the next book can be about jon as a wolf. There was no need for this cliff hanger either.

I think the comic book writing is effecting his style of writing, a novel is not a comic book, it should tell a story, it's not a soap opera, a comic book comes out 1 time a week, or pretty frequently, cliff hangers are good, but after 1000 pages of reading and 6 years, readers want plot completion and opening into the next plot, not plot incompletion.

He's overusing the cliff hanger literary device.

I agree completely. He seems to have a lot of trouble actually moving on with things, sometimes it's as if he's making it all up while writing it and then closing it with a cliffhanger so he can decide what to do with them later on, which he probably doesn't since he probably has everything well thought out, but to me it SEEMS that way sometimes. I am aware of the fact that he has problems tying storylines and characters together, which isn't strange since it is quite an epic series, but sometimes he really needs to throw the reader a bone. Ending so many important events in cliffhangers is what B-list television series does, in my opinion it doesn't belong in the world of literature.

These books aren't exactly rolling out in a steady rhythm, just as many others I fear he might not be able to complete the series in his lifetime. He must also be aware of this. It seems cruel to end so many things unfinished when you know you might never show the readers what you had in mind.

I really really thought that the general plot would progress a lot more than it did. It felt like watching a game of chess being played and each POV was a single move from a player. Stannis moves a little south, Tyrion moves towards Daenerys, Quentyn moves towards Daenerys, Victarion moves towards Daenerys, Jaime takes a few step in to the woods, Cersei moves from the cell to the Hold.

It just... it just feels like things aren't progressing in the pace they should. Bran, Davos and Arya were the only POV's I actually felt got somewhere, even t hough there's a risk that Arya might have another book of training to become a Faceless Man.

Not really bothered. I'm enjoying the speculation on this forum a lot more than I enjoyed reading ADWD, so I'm alright as I am.

Hah, I might have to agree with you there. ADWD was in many ways a page-turner for me, but as soon as I was finished I couldn't wait to FINALLY come here and participate in the discussions!

To answer the original question posed by the OP, right now I'm not looking forward to it. I dare not, since I have no idea how long it will take. Ask me again when we get some spoiler chapters.

The Dunk & Egg short story though... I can't bloody wait for some ear-cloutin'! :fencing:

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Looking as forward to it as I have all the other novels, I think. I will probably squee randomly in the months and years to come as the anticipation bubbles over.

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