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50% read... and the depression kicks in


Ygrette

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A number of deaths in ASoS were spoiled for me. If anything, I'm happier now cause I'm going into AFFC and ADwD completely unspoiled.

Keep reading. You'll find new favourites, new stories that interest you. I like how nobody is safe, it adds to the tension and the shock when they finally happen.

Also, stop spoiling it for yourself. Resist the temptation. Once I accidentally found out about a number of characters fates, I made it my business to not read ANYHTING online related to the books. Wikis, YouTube comments etc. It's easy to avoid spoilers here fortunately.

I made the mistake of ruining ASoS for myself by looking ahead at the genalogies. I was looking to see what it said about Theon Greyjoy and learned about a lot of deaths.

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I made the mistake of ruining ASoS for myself by looking ahead at the genalogies. I was looking to see what it said about Theon Greyjoy and learned about a lot of deaths.

I bought books 1-5 all at once, and I happened to look in the family lines in the back of ADwD and only glimpsed at Robb's name and caught The Red Wedding thing next to it I believe, but I slammed the book closed. However, I knew he would inevitably die before ADwD I just didn't realize it would be in ASoS. Sad.

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Frankly, I was lost with Catelyn's decision regarding Jaime. I still can't wrap my mind around it. This is a woman who kept Theon Greyjoy hostage for 10 years!!!!! Why would she believe that Sansa and Arya would be returned to her by the frakkin Lannisters who murdered her husband and brother-in-law and threw her son out a window? To me that is so unbelievable that it basically ruins to book for me. And when did that happen? The first chapters or two? And why is it that ravens are somehow sent telling her that Bran and Rickon are dead but she doesn't know that Tyrion has been injured and no longer Hand? Did Theon send a 'nanny-nanny-foo-foo' raven before the Boltons came in? But, big news like Tywin Lannister is the Hand again.. that can wait!!! I really don't get that.

Catelyn's decision was all about desperation. I don't think you can compare Jaime to Theon because -- I may be wrong here, but I don't think that it was really her choice with Theon? He was Ned's ward and that's just the way the system works.

But with Jaime, she had already lost her youngest sons and her husband, so she was willing to do whatever she had to do -- crazy or not -- to get her daughters back.

And I think the stuff about her not hearing the news is what makes it realistic. We live in a world where everything is so instantaneous, but Martin takes great pains to show that the communication system is very fragile. A bird sent out may never make it because they're shot down (and he says that a few times), and moreso the fact that birds aren't sent out for everything, just the very specific news. It's not like the poor birds are dropping thew New York Times on someone's doorstep! Just a small scrap of paper with a few phrases, so it's a bit like an unreliable telegraph. Everything else is just the "telephone game" -- I heard it from someone who heard it from someone who heard it from someone...

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It might take months for someone to receive news from one city to the other. Catelyn should have made that decision in a few days after speaking with Jamie.

And, also, remember that the chapters arent always in cronological order. One storyline isnt necesarily parallel to the other as you read them.

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I don't mean this in a bad way, but...get over it.

It's a story that is pretty much advertised as being dark, gritty, and realistic in a sense that nobody is safe and yes, "good guys" (very subjective term) do occasionally die. Plenty of "bad guys" (again, very subjective term you use) die throughout the series too.

I seriously have no idea how people have this complaint, where they get detached from characters and then complain that they can't like any of the characters because they are scared of them dying. I read through the books and liked who I liked, disliked who I disliked, even after I knew a lot of characters were going to die. It didn't affect how I viewed them. When guys I liked died, I said "Woah!" and mourned them like everyone else, and moved on with my reading.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Halfway through Storm of Swords and finished the Frey-Tulley wedding chapter...damn...had to stop reading and put down my kindle last night...I was shocked. Feel better this AM and will begin reading again. I am impressed with the series and that the author does not pull any punches.

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Im sure Martin know's what he's doing. He doesn't kill characters for no reason. And some character you think are dead but they are actually alive, if that makes you feel any better.

You shouldnt say that you know?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I heard a Feast for Crows is the most depressing, eerie, and horrifying of the entire series. I've heard negative things about it, but I'm not gonna that get in the way.

Don't let them put you down - AFFC is definitely defer from other books in ASOIAF, but it is not horrifying in any aspect. It's a good book by itself. And at the end of it you'll got ADWD - it indeed worth it.

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I was very happy to see this thread, coz I had the same reaction: about halfway through this book I just got so depressed coz none of my faves were having any luck at all (other than bad luck). It was bumming me out. But I kept on reading and now that I'm 3/4s of the way through, things have improved a bit. The action has picked up, and a few of my faves are at least having a smidge of luck. I got another shock, though, when I thought the Hound had done something really dreadful. (No?!?! The Hound,.... do something dreadful? That's saracasm, btw). Then I read a spoiler on another thread that indicated "this person" is one of the ones that lasts through all five books. So I was very relieved, as This Person is my third fave. (I hope there were no spoilers in this post, as I don't know how to do the "spoiler" function -- I'm new to the forum).

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  • 4 weeks later...

I personally think that Martin is getting better with every book. I put myself in his place. You all also try to do that. You are writing an epic fantasy series of this enormity. You come to a point where there is a lull in the story. You decide to flash forward to the main part thinking that you will tell all that has happened in the meanwhile as flash backs. But, while writing, you find that flashbacks are becoming long, perhaps as long as that story itself. What do you do? You decide that you would not flash forward after all, and just continue with the story where you left. You know not much action takes place, but a build up or the back story is required, and you are rather happier this way because you can tell your story much better and in a much more satisfied manner. I am happy that I am getting to read all this story because I would have hated to read flashbacks and not understand exactly what the writer wants to tell us. Also, that would have slowed the story. Now, he has the space to go full steam ahead. Remember, AFfC and ADwD were supposed to be one single novel. I believe Martin did a great thing by deciding to write these 2 books.

And, yes my source of information are Martin's interviews and his (Not a Blog). Please, do not criticize what you do not know. Respect the work of the author, and I'm sure no one can write these as well as he has. Most of the readers forget that this is not an easy job, and I'm sure the publishers would not have any bearing upon the author and Martin would not let anyone get in the way of his work. He even stated that he would not allow anyone to complete the series if he, God forbids, dies before completing the novels. What he has done though, is that he has told the 2 producers of the show the main story of his main characters so that they can complete the show. But, he is a healthy person right now, and May God give him good health so that he can complete whatever he wants to in his life.

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Years ago, I'd started AGOT twice and it just didn't click. Then my wife started reading the series and somewhat spoiled some of it for me when she...

threw ASOS across the room yelling, "This son of a bitch kills everyone..."

That intrigued me enough to start the series again, while she put it down, never to return to it. She enjoys the show more than she did the books, she says now.

Keep after it, OP. Yes, characters die (though not as many as the GRRM legend lends itself to) but the journey is worth it.

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