Why the hatred?

[Vic-tarion Rattlehead]

No, I wouldn't say he sucks in the AFFC adaptation, far from it. It's just that a few key characters voices are done differently. In the end, I got used to Sam...but using a scotch-irish brogue for Arya was just weird.

I just started ADWD and he uses the same scotch-irish brogue for Dany (?!!) and Melisandre apparently sounds completely different although I haven't come across that yet. Dany's voice is not as off-putting as I thought it would be...but it's still wrong. I'm so used to Roy's reading now that even with the problems I'm enjoying it.

So it's Arya Mc'Stark and Daenerys O'Targarien now? :lmao:

Actually, the only character voice I didn't liked in Roy's AGOT was Theon Greyjoy's - he sounded REALLY old. But I was totally crushed by his Sweetrobin: "Mommy, can I see the bad little man fly?" - great impersonation!

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

It was an excellent book. I too am puzzled by all the hatred. This is exactly what makes this series great. All the intrigue and political machinations mixed in with the action.

This was a reflective book and was meant to allow us to reflect on all the chaos and destruction that the War of the Five Kings had wrought....

And I love all of the new characters except for maybe Victarion.

[Gaius Martell]

I'm 600-some pages into A Feast for Crows, and I'm loving the book. It really turns up the complexity of the political situation of Westeros by introducing Dorne and turning up the Iron Islands, seeing how the Lannisters power and unity is waning, and showing that the Tyrells are scheming and doing exactly what the Lannisters did a generation before. Getting the little hints of what's going on in the other characters' stories despite the book not granting them POVs is cool, too.

[Tibor]

A Feast for Crows is The Iliad to the other books being The Odyssey. It is sort of a reflection on wrath, honor, glory and blind loyalities. We see the best and the worst of human kind. I want to understand this world which hates the kingslayer (not because he murdered one to spare many, but because he dared to question and disobey an oath of blind loyality), yet sings praises for the Hero who leads thousands to their death. This volume touches me more than the others. It's a very sad tale.

[FacelessDude]

I don't understand the hate either. I do in a way. Most dislike FfC because Jon, Dany, Bran, and Tyrion are not POV's. They also dislike it because it's not as action packed as SoS. FfC focuses on explaining the different religions and world building and it also shows more political aspects and the relationships between the people in power. Cersei is not as smart as I thought and she can't handle power.

Reading about Dorne and Bravos is interesting too.

[Magdelaine Snow]

A Feast for Crows is The Iliad to the other books being The Odyssey. It is sort of a reflection on wrath, honor, glory and blind loyalities. We see the best and the worst of human kind. I want to understand this world which hates the kingslayer (not because he murdered one to spare many, but because he dared to question and disobey an oath of blind loyality), yet sings praises for the Hero who leads thousands to their death. This volume touches me more than the others. It's a very sad tale.

I agree with you but to be fair re: Jaime... It's not known that his motivations were killing the one to spare many. He had the opportunity to try to explain it to Eddard but he felt judged in advance and he never shared his reasoning. Granted other Kingsguard may have known what Jaime knew, but this is never revealed by Martin. So, all "this world" sees is the Kingslayer...it never has the opportunity to weigh that against Jaime's real motivations.

All of these books improve upon the re-read. I kept commenting while watching the episode 4 of this season's GOT and my husband said that I sounded like one of those English MA students who is all into Shakespeare and can't stop talking about this scene or that quote. Ha. Oh well.

[The Sword In The Dark]

The only part I really liked in AFFC was the Sansa and Arya chapters Brienne was the worst not because her chapter was by far the worst but because her chapter was one of the most boring and SO long. Even in fight scenes i got bored because it was so long.

[Arya-Underfoot]

I didn't hate this book, far from it, but it did seem a bit of a damp squib compared to the previous one. It felt very much like an in-between book - reflecting on what's come before and moving the characters to where they have to be later.

Also, it always takes me a while to get attached to new characters and especially ones whose roles seem less connected to the story-so-far, therefore, although I did find the Dorne and Iron Isle scenes interesting with their new settings, characters and customs, I didn't really care like I do about the Starks and Lannisters.

[Marc Hill]

I bought Feast this past Friday and finished it on Monday. Kept me reading day and night. I thought it was brilliant and especially enjoyed the Dornish and Ironborn POV's aside from my usual favorite, Jaime. Cersei was too unrepentently idiotic this book and it could be due to the losses she's suffered. However, I'm sure whatever she suffered with Tywin and Joffery's death is less than a hundredth of whatever Qyburn was doing in the dungeons.

Btw, Bravo Prince Doran Martell.

[Despy]

I enjoyed the book and always kinda felt it was more of a plot set-up book along with A Dance with Dragons for the Winds of Winter and Dream of Spring.

[MyLittleDirewolf]

I'm about a third of the way through and having trouble getting into the Ironborn and Dorne chapters. I just can't get myself to care about them. I know more stuff comes so I need to read it, but the temptation to skip over those chapters is strong. I guess I'm in the minority, but I like the Brienne chapters. I also don't miss Jon that much.

[Redtide6]

I think that most people that read this series are more interested in the politics and the swordplay than extreme magic that most other fantasy books do.

Maybe it's a good thing too, it could move the genre away from all these Tolkien bastardizations that has flood the market. I'm getting tired of the 'dark lord rising' every other day with a new book.

[Porcelain Steel]

I

All of these books improve upon the re-read.

Definitely.

The first time I read Feast, I did have trouble getting into it..I read the four first books back to back, so I was coming off of all the action in Storm, and was frustrated w/all the new characters-I had trouble getting invested in them, b/c I just kept thinking "enough of this, what's happening w/ /Dany, Tyrion, Jon, etc...." I think it was mostly that I was so impatient to keep the plot moving w/all the characters I was already invested in that I couldn't get into the new ones. So I didn't enjoy their chapters as much and by extension didn't enjoy the book as much. However, when I re-read the book, I already knew all the plot points, and could slow down and take time to really get into the new worlds presented in Feast. It's ended up becoming one of my favorites in the series. It's a slower book, but it's very rich. The Martell's, the Ironborn, Braavos, Oldtown & the Citadel...all of these worlds and their backstories were much more interesting to me the second time around. The world of Westeros and beyond just keeps expanding. I would recommend a reread to anyone who didn't enjoy the book the first time around, because there's a lot of great stuff in it.

[LordofSunspear]

After finishing ASOS yesterday, I started my morning with buying AFFC. After reading 3 chapters and checking who the rest of the POV characters are, it landed in the bottom of my drawer and will probably stay there until I finish every other book I want to read. I feel horribly disappointed. It's obviously not the story, as it basically didn't start yet. Also I don't mind if it's less action packed than ASOS and more about world building and politics. World building is easy to skip if it becomes annoying and I love the politics part. But...

...the POV characters ruin the book for me. Brienne? Sam? Sansa? A bunch of unknown guys from the Iron Islands? No thank you!

However I'm happy to see Jaime and Arya again and Cersei becoming a POV character. I'm also looking forward for the Dorne chapters.

Anyway, I don't know what to do with this book. I checked the POV characters of ADWD and I want to read it, but I'm not sure I'm willing to suffer through this books dreadful POVs... :(

[nym_arya]

When I finished ASOS and I saw the POV characters of AFFC, I thought: this book is going to be an authentic boredom. I started reading it and the truth is that I've liked it very much. My favourite chapters are those of Cersei and Jaime, and in addition they are the characters that more chapters have. Though Brienne has too many chapters, her story becames interesting in the last 2 chapters.

At the end, I have been charmed with the book, finally we see the point of view of house Martell and house Greyjoy. I hope to enjoy ADWD too!