Is there any chapter-- or POV-- you would do away with

[Gurkhal]

I think that Brans and Samwell should've been done away with. Let Jaime do the job with Bran right, or let Joffrey finish it and let Sam be the first fatgut Wight. Both of those two are boring like hell and I don't think they have added much to the story yet.

[Jamie Lannister]

Brienne. One or two chapters would've sufficed: one to establish her vain and ostensibly doomed quest, meet Pod, and fangirl over Jaime; and one to slab Rorge/Biter and get hanged by Uncat for treason -- ripe and ready for her shock appearance in ADWD. Maybe one more to compress (but nevertheless include) her aimless wandering.

Honestly, what was the point in all that? I like Brienne; I really do. But she was a terrible POV character. 90% of the characters she encountered were pretty forgettable; the world-building GRRM was clearly going for didn't really tell us anything "new" or essential (not that I can recall, anyway; Jaime's chapters told us all we needed to know about the state of the Riverlands and its peasantry); we could've established that Randyll Tarly is a misogynistic prick through the Tyrells (which we do in the next book anyway); in fact, the only saving grace was the Quiet Isle, and that entire segment could've been moved into, say, Jaime's chapters if the isle itself was relocated a bit.

Come at me, but I find Brienne one of the weakest POV characters in the series. It's a damn shame; I really liked her in Cat and Jaime's chapters.

[DornishKnight]

Areoh Hotah, Aerys Oakheart (Arianne's POV covers his story sufficiently). Victarion's, Brienne's, and Dany's, I feel, could have been edited significantly (essential as they are to the plot).

POV's (besides main characters) to NOT do away with:

Theon (Best POV in ADWD, BY FAR)

Asha

[The Knight of ...]

The Damphair. We could've just skipped his journey all together and been told through Asha that he'd called a Kingsmoot. The Kingsmoot could've easily been from Vic or Asha's PoV and been the same. Unless there's some point to his lunacy in the next book, I just wish he'd drown again and stay under this time.

:agree:

But it's hard to imagine he'll end up having any impact in the near future. Even if he successfully turns the Iron Islands against Euron, so what? Euron already has all the ships of the Ironborn with him(except for Vic and the Iron Fleet obviously). Losing control of the Islands themselves is irrelevant. Well, unless it forces him to abandon what he's doing to the Reach and sail back to reassert his control I guess.

[Zabuza]

Victarion Greyjoy. I just don't like his character and his POV just shows how utterly detestable he is.

If he filled the books with all likable characters, it would be rather bland. Besides Victarion is the best character next to Arya. Hes a BAMF pirate that wears full plate while fighting on the ocean. I am assuming you are referring to his chapter when he brings Moqorro aboard, throws the perfumed boys over board and kills the maester. IMO drowning is a better fate than a lifetime of sexual torture. It looks very much like murder, but in a way very merciful. Being on a ship, he probably doesn't have the provisions to feed them [over his men] if he kept them. The maester, was proving useless and the crew had begun "using him as a woman." Victarion gives the guy a knife and tells him to deal with it. Victarion doesn't discipline his men because although they are booty bandits, they are probably better fighters/rowers than the maester. Siding with the maester could have sparked a mutiny. I believe the solution he proposed was fair, pretty much telling him to 'prove his worth on the ship', because he had obviously failed at healing Vic's hand. Then, not happy with Victarion's decision he doesn't STFU, and the crew doesn't like him except for sexual relief. While cutting his throat and tossing him overboard was malicious, it is merciful because that guy would have gotten much worse had he lived longer.

[Fearsome Fred]

I don't necessarily want any chapters of POVs removed. But there are a great many that I am sure could be considerably shortened - cut in half or perhaps even reduced to a page or two. Perhaps there are some that could be removed outright, but that's not something I am in a position to judge, as someone who cannot see the big picture.

What GRRM seriously needs to do, if he has not done so already (which apparently he has not), is sit down and write a detailed outline: one where he spends a paragraph or (at most) a page on each chapter. If he hopes to complete the series he MUST do this ... even if he spends the next five years doing this, and the completion of the next volume is thereby delayed.

In the process, he needs to start training himself to say as much as possible in as few words as possible.

Then, when he expands the outline into 3+ complete volumes, he will know how much frivolous indulgences he has time for.

[Alexia]

Any chapter I would do away with? I'm torn between Theon's first ADWD chapter or Cersei's final ADWD chapter. The chapter where Jeyne marries Ramsay is also on my cutting board.

Character -- hard to say. I tend to agree overall with this.

Come at me, but I find Brienne one of the weakest POV characters in the series. It's a damn shame; I really liked her in Cat and Jaime's chapters.

I'd also cut down the Greyjoys to be just Theon and Asha (despite being entertained by Victarion's ADWD escapades) and the Dornish characters to be just Arianne.

Some reworking of the plot could have made Quentyn's POV entirely unnecessary; Arianne could have seen him off in Dorne and then he shows up in Dany's POV. As long as I'm reworking the plot from my armchair, I'd get rid of Selmy and have Tyrion serve as the POV in Meereen after Dany leaves.

But I do think that, despite liking Brienne as a person, she was a fantastic secondary character and a poor primary POV character. Perhaps this will change, now that she'll be moving into a new plotline.

[The Meeraculous Third Reed]

I must laugh at those who find Bran's chapters "boring" or "pointless". They're some of the best in the series, both in terms of the characters and the style of writing.

I personally believe that every POV has served a worthwhile purpose, minus possibly Arys Oakheart. That said, I do believe that certain characters could have had their POV's slimmed down in the more recent books.

See...

ADWD Tyrion

AFFC Brienne

ADWD Dany

ADWD Barristan

ADWD Victarion (literally served no purpose that I can see)

ADWD Jaime chapter was pointless.

All in all though I'm pretty cool about all of them. They have all served a purpose.

[Phat Walda]

Quentyn was a scrub.

:agree:

Quentyn, you're a drag. Just go 'way. You got to the potluck too late and you brought Tostitos and salsa. Need I say more.

[Phat Walda]

Quentyn was a scrub.

:agree:

Quentyn, you're a drag. Just go 'way. You got to the potluck too late and you brought Tostitos and salsa. Need I say more.

[Phat Walda]

DREADED DOUBLE POST.

[Plem]

The Damphair, Victarion, Areo, Arys ... all pretty much unnecessary. The Iron Island plot in AFFC could have been covered by Asha and the one in Dorne by Arianne. There was absolutely no need for all those other characters (who we didn't really get to know that well anyway). I could have done without the Bran chapters in ACOK before Theon took over Winterfell and Brienne's chapters in AFFC didn't do much for me either, though I do understand why they were sort of necessary for the book's atmosphere.

[Ser Ilyn's Tongue]

No I don't think I would remove any to be honest. They all have their plus points.

The only POV who probably wasn't that necessary was Quentyn. He shows up and dies in book 5. For me, it felt a little like he was just there to be a POV character that dies. Even so, the Dragon-taming chapter was one of the best in the book IMO.

Areo and Damphair could definitely be more interesting people, but I feel that they have only been setup so far, and I expect them to have some good chapters in the next couple of books.

And Brienne's POV I actually really enjoy. There are loads of interesting characters in her chapters and they have a fun ensemble feel to them. In Feast I thought her chapters were among the most action filled in the book.

(I just thought someone should stick up for her!)

[puenboy]

People will always find a way to complain. Seriously, why whine when your favourite series has MORE contents than you wanted?

[Phat Walda]

People will always find a way to complain. Seriously, why whine when your favourite series has MORE contents than you wanted?

Because we WANNA HEAR OURSELVES TYPE. (I can't be alone in this, surely?)

[Fearsome Fred]

People will always find a way to complain. Seriously, why whine when your favourite series has MORE contents than you wanted?

Perhaps because we want him, some day, to reach the end of the story?

[Queen Cersei I]

People will always find a way to complain. Seriously, why whine when your favourite series has MORE contents than you wanted?

Why go on a message board dedicated to discussing a series of novels when you don't want to discuss the novels?

More seriously, I'd speculate that in any major artistic work there are some major weak points. I was just wondering readers thoughts as to what, if anything, they would take out/ found extraneous.

And yes, it is a product of both boredom and a desire to discuss the series.

Because we WANNA HEAR OURSELVES TYPE. (I can't be alone in this, surely?)

:cool4:

[Drinking Cersei's Tears]

And Brienne's POV I actually really enjoy. There are loads of interesting characters in her chapters and they have a fun ensemble feel to them. In Feast I thought her chapters were among the most action filled in the book.

(I just thought someone should stick up for her!)

Word. I love the moment when she kills Shagwell. I hope that makes it into the TV series eventually.

[Jory]

Brienne. Seriously. What a waste of ten chapters.

[The Swaggering Bravo]

I actually enjoyed Areo's chapters, however, I'd like Dany and Brienne to go, and fast, the rest are fine with me.