I think the Winds of Winter is going to be... Amazing.

[irith]

Reasons I think Winds will at the very least be the best book since Storm:

-Though Dance suffered by not having much resolution at the end (almost everyone ended in a cliffhanger), this will start Winds off with a bang. Think about it; the first chapters of the book will be two major battles. On top of that, you have Jaime, Brienne, Cersei, and Jon cliffhangers to resolve. And basically everyone else has an intriguing arc in sight. Bran having the broadest viewpoint of anyone, Davos going to find Rickon and figure out Skagos, Sansa in position to make BIG political moves, Arianne & JonCon in the midst of an invasion, Sam figuring out the secrets of the Maesters... It'll be the most active beginning of the entire series IMO.

-POVs are going to condense if it's going to make any sense at all. Dany/Victarion/Tyrion/Barristan are going to be together or dead very quickly, Jaime and Brienne back together, Aegon-related POV's on a collision course with KL and Cersei, Sansa likely to leave the Vale or at the very least interact with characters that aren't Littlefinger. This will make telling the story far more efficient, outliers like Bran, Arya, Sam (Jon?) nonwithstanding. Arya is probably going to be back in Westeros by the end anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Sam go back to the Wall and/or join up with Dany's invading force.

-With (theoretically) just 2 books to go, resolutions of existing plot threads have to start happening. Parallel with the consolidation of characters, various loose ends will start to be tied up and questions will be answered. We'll learn more about the Others, we'll learn about Valyria and/or Asshai and the far east (through Dany), Varys' and Littlefinger's endgames will become more apparent. Prophecies will probably start resolving and being made clear at a faster rate.

As long as GRRM doesn't bloat them up, these last two books should be action-packed and way more naturally streamlined than the past two.

[LordDolorousEdd]

the last two's only problem was the split! and maybe if he had have had the extra few chapters that he wanted to have.

[winterdirewolf]

I have to agree. I mainly read all the books one right after the other and didn't have to wait that long for ADWD. I thought ADWD was a lot better than AFFC. My only problem with ADWD is that I felt like nothing got resolved. Just more questions. We can do all the specualtion we want but we will not have any answers until GRRM decides to give them to us. It drives me nuts not knowing. Having 2 whole books that didn't really answer anything was crazy.

TWOW is going to be awesome. It has to be.

[Fancy Peasant]

While I want to see the battles being fought, agendas revealed and so forth I really dread the more magical mysteries. This is because mysteries are always better left a mystery. Reading about ice dragons etc on this board makes me scared.

[TheDarkOne]

I don't think people are ready for the emotional suffering that awaits us in the next two books.

Many of people's favorite characters will be dying soon. BY the end of TWoW, I think we will lose at least two majors characters.

[KC_Accidental]

Anyone care to speculate who they think will croak it before the end of the next book? Mine are:

Ser Barristan - Old and doubt he will make it back to Westeros. He's in a perilous position as it is.

Victarion - Likewise as above but potentially in greater danger because he's about to do something that will either get him roasted by dragons or piss Dany off a great deal.

Theon - About to be executed. I'm not 100% convinced this is his end though.

Areoh Hotah - Only purpose is bodyguard to Doran Martell who is critically ill. Doran will die and when he does so will Hotah somehow.

Jon Connington - He's got 'Aegon' back to Westeros so I think his time is up by the end of the book. The greyscale will likely get the better of him.

Damphair - He's just got to go. He's rubbish. From a logical point of view though he's old, unneeded, there's too many Greyjoys as it is and I just see no need for him. He's also plotting something against Euron so they'll come to blows and he'll die in the process.

I really don't want to entertain the thought of any other major POV characters biting it like Tyrion, Bran, Arya, Davos etc. In the last book yes but not yet!

[SeanF]

I assume that Dany, Tyrion, and Jon will live until the end of the series (any of them might die at the end).

Any other POV could die before that (and I imagine that many of them will do).

[LordDolorousEdd]

I assume that Dany, Tyrion, and Jon will live until the end of the series (any of them might die at the end).

Any other POV could die before that (and I imagine that many of them will do).

I agree, they will not stay dead in any case if they die (jon) i also feel that arya will live through it all

[House Balstroko]

There is definitely lots of ground to cover in TWOW. As of right now we have 20 POV's remaining (assuming no new ones are introduced),so there are major things happening all across the board.

Here are the main points, I think.

-Jon Snow's fate

-Dany's dealing with the Dothraki and the conclusion of the Meereen arc

- Arya's continued training

- Sam's discoveries in Oldtown

- Sansa and Littlefingers poilitical game

-Cersei and margaery's trial

- Tyrion's contribution to Meereen

-Victarion's arrival in Meereen

- Brienne/ Jaime's quest and lady Stoneheart

and that's just taking the main ones.

Contrary to what many believe, I don't think a POV needs to disappear by killing off the character. I think Martin should use POV's according to the needs of the story, so that if a POV is no longer necessary he can just fade away. For example, Areo Hotah and Victarion can just become background characters without dying. Then we can get new POV's like the Sand Snakes.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Was there ever a definitive answer to the question of dragons being able to fly over the Wall? The good queen Alysanne went there, but not over the wall (I mean, it's like another 30 seconds to see what's past the wall, and seriously, who wouldn't be curious to see what's out there?). I really hope in tWoW we learn a lot more about the origins of the NW, the Others, the wall, etc so we can get a clearer picture of what they are.

[Arkash]

Thank you, Crown for this amazing recap !

And count me on the ones who truly loved Feast and Dance !

[The Red Crow]

I absolutely can't wait till WoW. Can just sense that it will be dripping with epicness.

Agree that it will be strong, for reasons that have been stated already. We have the cliffhangers, and the ending of the rebuilding stage.

So curious about what will happen - Dany and the Khal, Jon's stabbing, and SOOOOO want to know how Dorne will react to the Qyentyn-burger fiasco.

[anraeful]

I too am aboard the "TWOW will be everything that is great" train :)

Although ADWD was certainly much anticipated, I think there was more a feeling of "i hope its better than AFFC" (or, for some of those who've waited awhile less than patiently "after the huge wait it had BETTER be better than AFFC). But the problems people had with AFFC were largely present in ADWD and we knew it before the release... the lack of key characters due to the split, and we already knew that any action present would be near the end, as of course most things would have otherwise already been revealed due to the timeline)

On the other hand, TWOW has a fresh slate and already plenty of promise

[The Snowman]

Reasons I think Winds will at the very least be the best book since Storm:

-Though Dance suffered by not having much resolution at the end (almost everyone ended in a cliffhanger), this will start Winds off with a bang. Think about it; the first chapters of the book will be two major battles. On top of that, you have Jaime, Brienne, Cersei, and Jon cliffhangers to resolve. And basically everyone else has an intriguing arc in sight. Bran having the broadest viewpoint of anyone, Davos going to find Rickon and figure out Skagos, Sansa in position to make BIG political moves, Arianne & JonCon in the midst of an invasion, Sam figuring out the secrets of the Maesters... It'll be the most active beginning of the entire series IMO.

The Winds of Winter is set up beautifully!

That fact that ADWD ended with so many cliffhangers and questions can only be good for the series. Sure for those that have been waiting since the start or simply jumped onto aSoIaF in more recent times, its slightly infuriating waiting for the next book to come out. But looking forward this is what will make TWOW and ADOS every bit that much better. The events left out at the end of ADWD will make TWOW truly epic in its nature.

Just personally i really need Jon Snow to survive, although im hoping GRRM has overstated his injuries and he doesnt need some red god magic to get back since Jon is very committed to the Old Gods.

The main plot points will just be faster paced and to be honest its what this series needs some more of after the 'rebuilding' process that has had to occur throughout Westeros. ASOS was truly the most action packed book of the series although ADWD had more meaningful events happen, by meaningful i mean of more use to the real end game of Dany getting her arse to Westeros and Jon's rise and potential fall(hopefully not :bawl: )

Just hope George gives himself enough time to finish ADOS before Game of Thrones catches up :spank:

[Isgrimner]

My only real issue with ADWD was ending on such a cliff hanger regarding Jon. I mean it kind of cruel knowing we probably have years to wait to find out what happens next.

[Jabronius Maximus]

My only real issue with ADWD was ending on such a cliff hanger regarding Jon. I mean it kind of cruel knowing we probably have years to wait to find out what happens next.

Well I hold on to the hope that Jon's story is far from done. I mean if Martin wanted to off him for good, he'd do it without a cliffhanger...right?

[Ernestm]

I think the book will be amazing, i'll probably re read the books to make sure I know a lot of the facts :).

[King Bolton 1990]

I don't get the AFFC and ADWD haters I understand that ASOS was a lot more intense and GRRM killed off half the characters in the story but after you rip your own guts out you stop and put yourself back together the first parts of both books don't pick up like the first three but after fifty pages or so they're just as good as the others and if you didn't like the last four hundred pages of ADWD you have no right calling your self a GRRM or ASOIAF fan

[iamthedave]

I don't believe that both Jamie and Brienne will live out WoW though I hope they do.

It should be better than Dance because things will have to start getting resolved, rather than stretched out for even more interminably long. I'm sure there'll be more tidbits thrown to the R + L = J crowd before that is resolved in Dream of Spring, maybe we'll discover Benjen Stark left a particular mark in a particular rock five thousand miles away from anywhere or something. Azor Ahai prophecy will have some more development .There'll still be things getting set up.

I expect Stannis' arc will come to some sort of conclusion, most likely with him uniting the North in time for an Others invasion (you lucky, lucky man, you). Dany might just reach Westeros by the end of the book, but I doubt she'll get there early given that Tyrion spent an entire book in a travel log getting to her, as did Victarion. So I imagine we'll get a few chapters of Dany at sea and some form of trevail involving her dragons there. Whatever, Martin will find some way to occupy her that doesn't involve her getting to Westeros.

Kings Landing should see a lot of resolutions. Honestly by the time the Others come the politics are going to be pretty irrelevant, so I expect Martin will sort out many of the more explicit politicking during Winds. Maybe Aegon will die or end up on the Iron Throne so Dany can have conflict with him later, or at the very least the Tyrell/Lannister alliance will completely implode and whackiness will ensue.

Basically, so little was resolved - and in some places so little happened - in Dance that a truckload of stuff has to happen in Winds of Winter. There's such a density of 'things happening' that sheer buckshot luck guarantees Martin will resolve some stuff. Which should result in a lot of fun for the fans as things explode and get set on fire.

[The Red Hand]

After the RW one character dying isn't going to effect me much. I just hope its not a Stark( or Snow).