Dorne and the Iron Islands

[Theda Baratheon]

I don't mind the Iron Islands, I love Asha; I just hate Victarion :lol:

[vjott]

I liked both the Iron Island chapters (Aeron Damphair, Victarion and Asha Greyjoy). We got to see more of the Iron Islanders' culture and values. I was also quite excited about the Kingsmoot and how Asha hoped to compete against her uncles. In the end, it turns out that she has the most sound mind on the Iron Islands, whereas Aeron is a fanatic, Victarion is a loyal dog and Euron is a madman. In all, I think that the Iron Islanders' are a greedy people but I guess they also subscribe to the Greyjoy words "We do not sow". The land they have isn't useful for agriculture so Asha had brokered a nice deal for some land along the shore of mainland Westeros but they weren't satisfied with that and went with the madman's ravings instead.

The Dorne chapters were a great refresher and had quite a different "feel" to them than the other Westerosi locations we got to visit before. I enjoyed the ambitions and plots of Arianne Martell and the Dornish culture.

To those that say that A Feast for Crows has almost no plot consider the following that took place:

1. The surrender of Riverrun
   
2. The revelation of the intentions of Doran Martell and Euron Greyjoy
   
3. Arya's whereabouts and activities
   
4. Jaime's character development
   
5. Cersei's descent into madness (including her reinstating an order of religious knights)
   

In addition, we got a lot of Westerosi history, the founding of Braavos, Valyrian history, the first Faceless Man and a look at what had become of the Brotherhood without Banners.

I call that a good read! :laugh:

[Brad the Bold]

My feeling are mixed about the Dorne and Iron Island chapters. My first peeve started with the atypical naming of all of those chapters.

Did it bother anyone else that these chapters broke the series rule of chapter names = POV character name? It drove me crazy from the first Damphair chapter. What does it mean? Why does GRRM change this only when we go to the Ironborn and Dornish POVs?

My next peeve is that I can't tell which of all these new players in the game are part of the end game and who is just filler. So Doran Martell and the Crow's Eye are players. Great. Where were they for the first 3 books, and will they last the next 3?

The Damphair/Crow's Eye/Victarion/Asha interactions are interesting and well written, but ultimately GRRM just teases at both the history ("Screaching hinges" and dead brothers) and the future. My worst fear is that the Crow's Eye is just a filler character to bring the McGuffin of Dragon Control to Dany so she can whip the dragons back in line.

[Foune]

The Damphair/Crow's Eye/Victarion/Asha interactions are interesting and well written, but ultimately GRRM just teases at both the history ("Screaching hinges" and dead brothers) and the future. My worst fear is that the Crow's Eye is just a filler character to bring the McGuffin of Dragon Control to Dany so she can whip the dragons back in line.

Part filler he may be, but GRRM has never created a filler character without depth and more purpose than the filler and I have confidence in that, there will problably be a great intruigue between him and Victorian aswell.

[TalalOfDorne]

My two favorite regions and my two favorite houses! They made Feast for me. The characters were amazing even though everyone called them boring. Their story is unique. I just cant get enough of them and hope to see more of them in the next books!

WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE BUT RISES AGAIN UNBOWED, UNBENT, UNBROKEN!

[~Shiera Seastar~]

It's the slow building up of the character's story that bores me death. Then, what you'll get in the end? A cliffhanger. It's just too much to bear. But Cersei's chapters are fun to read, I have to agree.

[Zursz]

Having read only 1 chapter of Dorne and 1 of Iron Islands, I can say I'm pretty excited about the subplots. Totally a different pace from aSoS, but I like the development, it just adds richness to the world and helps to create a story that isn't just linear.

[xSilence]

I really liked the Greyjoys chapters, but it was because I wanted to know more about them ^^

[Cory]

I was a huge fan of the dorne chapters and have a feeling it adds even more depth to the story, however. These iron islanders, I wouldn't care less if their drowned god swallowed em up whole

[ACB]

Sometimes I think that some of the important questions that we have about the book would be answered if we had a deeper knowledge about what happened in the Robert's Rebelion. At some point I think that the Dornish could help us with that. It's like a friend of mine said, it is plausible that the reason for war had been Lyanna's kidnapping? Maybe there are something in here that we still do not know...

Regardless that, I like all of the Dorne characters.

Regarding the Iron Islands, I still don't know what is their part in th history but taking into acount what happens in the final of the book I think they may be important in the future... However I did not enjoy the Damphair chapters. These are truly annoying for me.

I think the problem with AFfC is that we finished ASoS with very important happenings. And we don't want to know about other characters, we want to know what happens to the characters that we are used to.

[Cory]

I've noticed that we've gotten bits of Roberts rebellion in each book, I'd really like if at the end of the series, GRRM writes a book of the entire thing

[TheRebornProphet]

I really liked the Dorne chapters. And I really LOVED the Iron Islands chapters.

Ever since I read about Oberyn Martell, I have become very interested in House Martell. And now, we get to see where they live and how they live, which is great because it makes Westeros feel even more fleshed out then it already was. Area Hotah and Arianne Martell are my two favourites.

Ever since Theon's chapter's in A Clash of King's, I have been extremely interested in House Greyjoy and the Iron islands. It may be because I am from a place on the East coast that is mainly a fishing community, surrounded by the ocean, but I ADORE Pyke. It's so small and dangerous. Asha is extremely badass, so that makes her a great POV character. And for some reason, I love Aeron Damphair, because he is such a religious person and the Drowned God just interests me alot. I also love how he looks in my head. Victarion Greyjoy is just amazing, I love him as a character and I adore his helmet, (it's a kraken on his head, how awsome is that?)

So yeah, they were definetely my favourite chapters by far.

[Not_All_Ravens_Are_Grim]

Along with Sansa and Arya chapters, these are my favorite. I look forward to them eagerly. I dig the political intrigue within both sets of chapters (which is probably also why I loved the only Sansa chapter I've read so far- I'm greatly looking forward to her one day returning to King's Landing so that she can truly play the Game of Thrones. )

[Rhaegarsjoy]

Hate the iron islands chapters my firsts reading read everything but after that just skip all the iron born chapters if I've missed anything just check on here so glad to find this place everyone is like asoiafologist, much prefer the short version without those long ass pointless characters I find all of them boring they go on about their old ways but they're all desperate to really b part of the seven kingdoms instead of their grey waste of islands.

[Turin Turambar]

The Dornish chapters were my favorite also; interesting characters in a sunny, exotic region.

[The Bastard of Chicago]

I agree that Dorne and the Iron Islands were far more entertaining than Arya, Sam, and Brienne. Not even close.

[YouSnowNothing]

A lot of people complain about Dorne and the Iron Islands taking up too much time, but I don't think the locations are the issue here. Together, both plotlines take up only 9 chapters, and some great stuff happens in both (election of a new King, introduction of the magic dragon horn, an attempted royal coup, revelation of a Great House's loyalty to the Targaryens). The problem is that these 9 chapters are split between 6 different - and all new - POVs. Just as you're getting into the plot, BAM the POV changes and you're busy trying to figure out a brand new character, then BAM it changes again. It gave both plots a very fractured, confused and inconsistent feeling. This is easily solved by consolidating the POVs into one character. Arianne should have been the sole POV in Dorne. There is literally nothing we gain from the other POVs (Areo just introduces us to Doran, Arys' entire chapter is spent in one chapter with Arianne), instead we could've gotten to know her better, ready for when she becomes a bigger player in TWOW. The Iron Islands could easily be covered by Asha and/or Victarion - I'm tempted to say just Asha, as she's a much more interesting and sympathetic character, but maybe Victarion is more important going forward. Aeron is not needed - we don't need 10 pages of mad religious rambling before he decides to call a Kingsmoot. Just say that there's a Kingsmoot, and concentrate on developing the more important characters.

[Brady_Stark]

I love the Dornish and all that Dornish culture. And am I literally the only one who actually enjoyed the Aeron chapters?

He's an older man, and he's fiercely loyal to the cause of his house. 0

He's a good guy, and a straight shooter, and at least something happened in his chapters, unlike all 10,000 Brienne chapters of her wandering blindly through Westeros on a hopeless quest for a girl she's never even seen.

[Beathag]

I like the slow burn that is poisoning Dorne. I get the feeling that Dorne could explode with fury over House Lannister if the Prince were not keeping the lid on the pot. I like Dorne, the blood oranges and the pools, a lot

I am not sure about the Ironborn. Asha and Theon, just Ick. They complicate things for the North, but I have not twigged onto the Ironborn's importance in the overall story. There are just too many Ironborn POVs in the first bit of the book. The Horn to summon dragons is good, but who is going to blow a horn that cooks one's insides?

And I agree with Brady_Stark. Poor Brienne is on a fool's errand, and we learn only one thing. (Okay, okay, we see the horrors left by the soldiers...but we have seen a good bit of that from others). Then she gets strung up.

[Sarah Lannister]

I loved the House Martell chapters, and after reading Aeron's chapters, he's easily one of my favorite characters of all-time. His interactions with the maesters, and how he'll just sleep on the beach, cracks me up. I also enjoyed how Aeron's chapters talk about how he found his faith, it was pretty good. Victarion chapters are interesting, I enjoy how he wears plate, and is not afraid of sinking, lol. I would like to see Victarion and Aeron come together and talk religion after the events of ADWD. Asha is another great character I really enjoy.

With Dorne...I enjoyed the way the Sand Snakes were introduced, and how they each would like to proceed in avenging their father. Doran is great, Hotah is an interesting character and not so bad with the axe. Arianne is meh...got nothing against her, but meh. She's no Asha, that's for damn sure.