What are the characters you enjoyed the most to read about?

[Grail King]

Sansa, Ned, Cat, Jon, Arya, Davos, Cersei, Tyrion, Jamie

Who I wish I could read: Lord Littlefinger baelish

[Queen Cersei I]

Generally I adore anything that involves either the deepening or internal growth of a character.

For me, there is nothing more interesting than finding out why an antagonist does what he/ she does. So Jaime Lannister's chapters (in ASOS) were, for me, fascinating. Here was a man who was equal parts self deluding, nihilistic, misunderstood, dedicated, and honorable. His internal struggles were rich, interesting, and well written.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for him in AFFC. I felt the true moral questions inherent in his character arc (Can one be both fundamentally decent and "honorable?" Does love for any one person/ cause mitigate or excuse one's wicked actions? How far is one's character determined by how one is percieved, and how much is one responsible for forgiving, even serving those who loathe him? Can an unbreakable, rigid code of honor like that of the Kingsguard always be reconciled with true compassion and decent human action?) were sacrificed when the text seemed to attribute most (if not all) of Jaime's evil deeds to the wicked (sexual) influence of Cersei. Though I know that many adored Jaime's chapters in AFFC in as much as those in ASOS (and i am very happy that they did so), I felt that the power and depth of the earlier chapters were here lessened considerably by easy answers and a rather didactic message.

Before, Jaime was evil because he was banging Cersei and doing her wicked will. He thought he loved her, but she was just using him. Thus, Jaime has now seen the light and recognized Cersei for what she is-- a filthy, useless whore who deserves to die. Him leaving the woman he has always claimed to love to a near certain death is virtuous, correct, and proof of a moral turnaround. Apparently, the path to all evil is between Cersei Lannister legs. Now that Jaime is no longer sleeping with her and, by extension, doing her will, he is now "good."

Even though he is every bit as willing to murder innocent children to get his way as he was before. Now when he threatens to kill a kid (and intends to go through with it) he is "awesome" and "badass". Apparently, all evil comes of a man being sexually manipulated by a woman and doing her will. Yet if one calls out the woman for a whore and leaves her to die, one can do pretty much whatever the hell one wants, including kill children and rape sex slaves. (Tyrion.) Not what we do but why we do them indeed.

Seriously, the Jaime's redemption= calling Cersei a filthy whore and leaving her to near certain death thing is both philisophically troubling, and just plain bad writing.

Anyway, the second character I loved reading about was Theon/ Reek. Probably the best portrait of stockholm syndrome in all of literature. While I didn't feel that he got quite enough credit for the difficulty of choosing between the Starks and his own family in the books (the tv series has changed that quite nicely) the portrait of him as Reek in ADWD was excellent, gripping, and psychologically plausible. His transformation is horrifying, yet utterly believable. His were by far the best chapters in the books.

[Grimwolfe]

Jon

Davos

Jaime

[Ned]

Arya

Tyrion

[RhaenysBee]

POVs: Jaime, Sansa from SoS, Tyrion up to DwD, Cersei, Ser Kevan epilogue

Non POVs: Varys, Rhaegar, Mance Rayder, Lyanna, Rhaenys, Brandon Stark, Lord Beric, Olenna Tyrell, Walder Frey (Yeah, sorry I really like this Heh speech), Oberyn Martell, Ellaria Sand, Sam Tarly, Gilly etc

[Shane the Llama]

In terms of PoV characters, my favorites would be Tyrion and Jaime Lannister, for their deep flaws and witty internal monologues, and Ned Stark, for the backstory he provided and his balanced view of ongoing events.

[Toccs]

Jaime and Theon, I'm a sucker for good redemption story.

[Bastard Walder]

Victarion. GRRM should scrap the Winds of Winter and just write a book about him.