So my friend is taking a break from ASOIAF "because it's just too depressing"

[lostcause]

I never put them down per say, but I did put down the book for the day after RW.

When UnCat first showed her face my first thought was "Right, Martin realized he went too far with RW and brought Cat back..." .But then it wasn't really Cat.

At this point, I feel like I've read so much of the bitter, that I want my share of good too. However I'll actually be really disappointed in the story, if it continues to be sad upon sad upon sad. I can watch the news for that, I don't need to read a book series where things go badly, for the sake of "shock".

[Jolene Brown]

I find Agatha Christie novels very comforting after I've read something too depressing. Justice generally done, wrongs righted, couples sometimes getting together. I also have a bad memory, so I can re-read them, and a lot of the time I can't remember who did it - perhaps I've just read so many that they all blur together.

[Florina Laufeyson]

Not all . . some folks went away forever after SoS .. they felt that GRRM went too far . . I feel also that he killed off too many important characters, both good and bad in Storm of Swords . . I still have a hard time getting into some of the new characters . .

Vic Greyjoy probably is the only new character I dig . . .

ASoS was my favorite book of the series. Everything about that book was awesome. So i dont get why people jumped ship unless they were THAT attached to Robb. I found the Red Wedding to an amazing piece of writing and also exceedingly sad. Yes i was all "Robb.... :(" But i wasnt so mad or anything. Not like Jon's last chapter. Omg...Table flipping, screaming obscenities, raeg, surprised i didnt wake the whole house, mad.

As for some of the new characters, the only ones i liked were Griff, Young Griff, Septa Lemore, and...thats about it really.

[sunworshipper]

I read GoT when it first came out and loved it. I can't recall how Ned's death affected me but I still loved and read ACoK when it came out and then SoS. The Red Wedding really blindsided me. At that point, I had been assuming that Robb would eventually defeat all his enemies and put the Lannisters in the dirt. I didn't take his and his mother's death well. I finished the book but then had to take a break. Which lasted over ten years. I skimmed through AFoC in the bookstore when it came out but couldn't find the desire to read it. I only rediscovered the passion re-read the entire series a couple of years ago when I heard interesting things about the upcoming HBO series. Upside, I haven't been dying for years for the next book. Until TWoW.

[Winter's Knight]

I think ASoIaF is similar to Crime and Punishment. Cap puts the titular character through so much angst that bythe time you get to the hopeful ending, it feels like a Disneyesque conclusion by comparision.

[Kittykatknits]

Would some crackships do?

I'll reserve Stannis/Tycho for tWoW.

Oh, yes please. You do OPs so well! I love your stuff.

For all the talk of WoW being a bloodbath, I have a suspicion it's minor characters we are going to see die, the major ones are going to be in the last book.

Or maybe I'm just in denial.

When UnCat first showed her face my first thought was "Right, Martin realized he went too far with RW and brought Cat back..." .But then it wasn't really Cat.

This was my reaction too, I wanted Cat to come back so much, I adore her. It was devastating to realize what happened to her after dealing with the RW too.

[StannisBamfatheon]

Winters knight will hold it down with the joke ships and ill slap a difibulator on my poor lost "best facial hair in westeros" and revive it.

[Dolorous Ali]

I believe the real world is much sadder. I mean look at our world: global warming, massacre in middle east, financial crisis in the whole world, shortage of natural resources in the near future, people dying in Africa of hunger and etc. I prefer the world of ASoIaF world over ours.

And when Robb died, I was sad, but not sad enough to put down the books. I thought he deserved it. He was trusting a lot of people he shouldn't have, and I believe if he had any sense he should've have married Jeyne after the war. In ASoIaF, if you have strength and wits (or just luck), you'll survive (to some extent like our world), so I believe it's not a depressing world.

If I were you, I would've told your friend that she has to wait and see. Ask her if she has a desire for vengeance for her favorite characters. That alone would keep me reading (if any of my favorite characters had died), maybe her too. Though you know your friend better than us, you know her personality and perhaps you could do it without our help.

[genegirl]

I enjoy this thread. My daughter has been reading ASoS and is only a few chapters away from The Red Wedding. I suspect she will go into shock after that chapter.

[Elder Sister]

I find Agatha Christie novels very comforting after I've read something too depressing. Justice generally done, wrongs righted, couples sometimes getting together. I also have a bad memory, so I can re-read them, and a lot of the time I can't remember who did it - perhaps I've just read so many that they all blur together.

Oh, me too, for sure. I do the same thing with Jane Austen. I can re-read ( and do) them over and over again.

[Lady Lea]

Oh, me too, for sure. I do the same thing with Jane Austen. I can re-read ( and do) them over and over again.

This!! I haven't had much time for novels lately so it's the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice for me when things are bleak. Or Arrested Development.

[Kittykatknits]

Oh, me too, for sure. I do the same thing with Jane Austen. I can re-read ( and do) them over and over again.

This!! I haven't had much time for novels lately so it's the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice for me when things are bleak. Or Arrested Development.

Oh, my yes.

I've got P&P the book, an audio version, and the miniseries with Colin Firth. I just love Jane Austen.

[Elder Sister]

This!! I haven't had much time for novels lately so it's the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice for me when things are bleak. Or Arrested Development.

I am constantly watching AD...it makes me laugh so hard even though I've seen all the episodes about 10 times each.

It's good escapism. :D

[StannisBamfatheon]

Arrested development is pure happiness.

Lindsay: what was the last thing he said to you michael?

*flashback*

Tobias: I just blue myself.

*present*

Michael: he said some wonderful things.

[Lady Lea]

And that's why you always leave a note.

[Winterfellian]

@StannisBamfatheon, I like your thread! Am going through exactly the same thing with someone I lend the books too. He's only just finishing ACOK and he already told me he wants to wait to start the third because the series it's too depressing (The idiot went and got himself spoiled of the RW and Robb is one of his favourites). I convinced him to read the third by telling him someone he really hates dies in the book. I left out who.

Anyway for me, I love the series even with all the bad things that happen to some of my favorites. After the RW I did stop reading for a few days to mourn the King in the North properly. After Jon's stabbing in ADWD I had my ''This is it!'' moment but luckily this board has help to put my fears to rest.

[Snowborn]

A friend of mine is currently reading the series, after I forced her to watch the TV series on holidays, and she is getting really involved in the story. She loves Bran, Cat, Robb... She finished aCoK yesterday and called me a soulless bitch for making her read a story full of compelling characters who go through terrible experiences and die. She said she hates Martin, but she is going to start aSoS as soon as her exams are over, and is looking forward to join the wait for the Winter xD.

After finishing aSoS I needed something light and refreshing, I got an Arto Paasilinna book on a Luteran priest and his bear mascot, some absurd fun was exactly what I wanted lol. At some point in the story, the bear gets a job as a waiter, it's just so silly

Sometimes I need to remind myself those people are not real, they're only fictional, but it's hard to keep that in mind all the time. I feel as bad for Theon as I would feel for someone I know, when I read his first Reek chapter I couldn't sleep thinking of what had happened to him and crying randomly...

[Sandor's Hound]

For the book is dark and full of terrors.

[Naathi Prince]

I grew up with Narnia, Tolkein, Prydain, and HP and I got into AFOIAF through the show (like a lot of people). The RW was hard. One of my absolute favorite scenes in the books was when Robb is declared King by acclamation. As someone who once was a 12 year old boy who liked to daydream he was Aragorn, the entire idea of it was absolutely amazing. To have grown men, grizzled warriors kneel, offer you their swords, and call you King? Probably one of the most uplifting scenes in the entire series. Then, he kills Robb! The Young Wolf. Who defeated the kingslayer and ravaged the Westerlands. The goddamn Young Wolf. But, remembering the scene where Robb was made King in the North and it took away the pain of Ned dying, I thought, "what goes around comes around" and the Manderly made some awesome pies.

[towerofjoy]

Okay, there is a LOT of bitterness to swallow in ASOIAF. But there are triumphant moments as well:

1. "Catelyn watched them rise and draw their blades, bending their knees and shouting the old words not heard in the realm for more than 300 years... The King in the North!!!"

2. "...for the first time in hundreds of years the night came alive with the music of dragons."

3. "She took a deep breath, lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack. I am a dire wolf and done with wooden teeth."

4. "Dracarys."

5. "The trumpets blew again and the knights charged, the name they cried was Stannis! Stannis! Stannis!"

6. "Edd, fetch me a block... Lord, stretch out your neck."

7. "I know about the promise. When we were beset and friendless, hounded from our homes and in peril for our lives, the wolves took us in and nourished us and protected us. In return, we swore we should always be their men. Stark men!"

8. "The North remembers, Lord Davos. The North remembers and the mummer's farce is almost done... And now I have a wedding to attend."