What would you change about ASOIAF?

[DogLover]

Seriously editing down Daenery's POVs, especially in ADwD. After reading a whopping ten-page chapter of one of my favorite POV characters, my heart would sink when I turned the page to find yet another 30-page Daenery's POV. Tyrion's were equally as dreadful (ADwD only).

Lose Aeron, Victarion, Areo, Arys, Melisandre, and Barristan as POVs.

No Qyburn at KL and no UnGregor.

Age up Daenerys and Sansa so there wouldn't be the creepy pedo factor between them and Drogo and Sandor.

No Maggy the Frog prophesy.

Initially I hated UnCat, but I'm becoming increasingly interested in "it" and the BwB.

ETA: No Samwell or Craster character. At all.

[Isalie]

aw come on. pink mast was hysterical.

Well I guess it's basically a meme at this point. But to stay somewhat serious on this topic I'll say that I hate phrases that breaks the spell, that makes me go back and wonder if I really read that. I guess they are bound to show up more often though when you write a novel of 1500 pages rather than one of 150.

[The Mountain That Posts]

ETA: No Samwell or Craster character. At all.

What's wrong with Craster? Without him, the ranging wouldn't have known Mance Rayder was amassing tens of thousands of wildlings, and without Craster, we wouldn't have had the disaster at his keep.

As for Samwell, I agree and disagree. I do think he is probably the most boring POV character in the entire series, but I don't think he as a character shouldn't exist.

[True_lord_of_york]

There are only 4 things I would change. 1 would be that Eddard brought Jon with him to court. 2 that Jon didn't say his vows and want to join Robb I war. 3 Jon becomes lord of winterfell when stannis offers it.(this most of all; in my opinion it would have made the story really awesome and made jons character even better; he could've just left the wall to slynt. 4 and last of all would be that Jon arryn had a real son and he was like in his early 20's. If this happened I feel the wot5k would have been nuts.

[Bluesnow]

There are only 4 things I would change. 1 would be that Eddard brought Jon with him to court.

I've actually always wanted more Eddard with Jon... or really Jon with anyone... but I just don't see how it could have happened. Bringing his bastard to court would have been out of the question I think. Sending him to the wall really isolated him a bit... besides Sam and Maester Aemon, and Donald Noye maybe, he doesn't really make any meaningful relationships with any of the other characters that have taken the black.

Part of me was really happy when Jon ran away from the wall that one time... then his brothers show up chanting their great oath and I'm thinking "RUN JON RUN before the honor in your blood starts boiling. Go see your brothers and whats going on with the rest of the plot" Was too late though :bawl:

If I was to make changes I would have liked Jon to meet back up with Bran or Arya by this point in the series D=

[adjppm1227]

I wish Viserys would have lived; I hated him and was happy when he was crowned, but his death was anticlimactic in my view. Martin could have had Daenerys go through fighting her brother for the khalasar, then having Drogo die. Also, I would have had Viserys die in a less dramatic way...simply leaving him in the Dothraki Sea would have been enough for me.

[StannisBamfatheon]

Not necessarily a change but I think it'd be awesome if Cat were not a zombie, but a living woman who's taken to hanging the Freys responsible for her wedding.

I concurrrrrr with this. Though if that happened we wouldn't have your badass avatar.

[Black Wolf Smith]

I would add more shadowcats and Brindle halfmen.

[ScottMaxAlice]

I missed this thread (silly me) and started my own!

I'm definitely not an author (nor an actor, musician or painter or anything else remotely creative for that matter) but I don't think that preculdes anyone from having an opinion on others work. I think GRRM has written some amazing stuff - I first started reading his work when I bought his Sandkings book of short stories/novella's back in...ooooh...1983/4? Somehow I missed the SOIAF until Game Of Thrones was released by HBO, but I've read them all now (more or less back top back they were that enjoyable)...but...there a few things I would change if I had complete editorial control. None of these changes are meant to be a criticism of GRRM in any way, but rather just a bit of personal preference I guess.

For me, I think I would lose the whole Dorne/Martell/Sandsnakes sub-plot as well as the return of Prince Aegon. I personally don't like that particualr direction nor do I care for the characters especially, and wonder whether with those sections removed, the books might be a little "tighter" plot-wise. In their place I would have liked to have seen more Rickon and Shaggydog and It would have been great if he and Bran and Osha had stuck together...maybe have a few more adventures on the road.

I'm not so sure on the whole Lady Stoneheart plot either - I think her death had impact that bringing her back as a zombie diluted a bit...

That's it really though...

Bring on Winds of Winter!!

[DogLover]

What's wrong with Craster? Without him, the ranging wouldn't have known Mance Rayder was amassing tens of thousands of wildlings, and without Craster, we wouldn't have had the disaster at his keep.

As for Samwell, I agree and disagree. I do think he is probably the most boring POV character in the entire series, but I don't think he as a character shouldn't exist.

What's wrong with Craster? What's right with him? And we could have had all that with another character as the plot device. Craster is just too skeevy to even read about. :ack:

Not only is Samwell boring, he's annoying. He even ruins Jon's POVs. (He's awful in the show, too.)

[Arkantos]

I didn't find Samwell boring...

Only the later Dany chapters were ever boring for me, I can't see why people hate the chapters of Bran, Jon etc.

[Éadaoin]

I didn't find Samwell boring...

Only the later Dany chapters were ever boring for me, I can't see why people hate the chapters of Bran, Jon etc.

I love Sam. :(

I do find Bran's chapters dull, even though I love him, too.

[Whitering]

I would not have ressed Cat, that's for sure.

I don't know if this will qualify as a pacing concern, but I don't mind Quentyn's storyline because Danny showed great maturity in turning him down. I think if he had showed up in Quarth with even a few ships, she would have said yes.

Having said that, we had too much of a travelogue from him that was not needed.

I would make all the Stark kids at least 2 years older. Unfortunately the issue is mostly Sansa; she needs to be that old because it is somewhat historically accurate. The rest of them are too young.

[Arkantos]

I love Sam. :(

I do find Bran's chapters dull, even though I love him, too.

But magic, cannibalism, CotF, nice liddle man, mind rape and the knight of the laughing tree... You guys make me a sad panda.

[Peko]

-Age up the characters by 3 years or so, just like the show

-Develop Essos better, particularly Slaver's Bay. Make the reader care about them and their people.

-Give all the Dorne PoVs to Arianne (no Oakheart and Hotah PoVs). She's be far the most interesting of the three, and I'm confident it would have made the Dorne stuff easier to get into the first time around.

-Give all the Iron Islands PoVs to Victarion (No Asha and Damphair PoVs), as he seems to be the most important with his dragon horn, etc. I love Asha, but her PoVs could have probably been done without in the grand scheme of things.

-Change the Prologues in ACoK and ASoS. Davos and Sam could have easily taken care of these events. I'd rather have characters who aren't in proximity of PoVs that can give us key revelations, like in the other three books. Although, I'm not entirely sure who I'd change them to.

The jury is out as of right now on Melisandre as a PoV.

[TheWizard]

Make AFFC and ADWD chronologically instead by region. The last time i read feast and dance i did it that way. I feel like it read a lot better but that is just me. Heres the link in case anyone is interested

http://boiledleather.com/post/24543217702/a-proposed-a-feast-for-crows-a-dance-with-dragons

[Stannis Gotta Stan]

I would cut SAm and Bran (or at least their POVs)... never really felt they brought anything meaningful to the story.

Age the stark kids, Electing the what, 15 year old Jon (I'm special!) Snow Lord Commander was beyond stupid and incredibly immersion breaking for me.

didnt like Uncat.

I would have liked some hints that Aegon was still around earlier in the series.

I would like R+L= Jon to be false... I hate the idea that the "hero" has to have special parents.

I love the books, those are just some of the things that bothered me or had me rolling my eyes.

[Ladylance]

I agree with aging up some of the children. I think the most problematic is possibly Arya, I feel like her chapters are already starting to involve some suspension of disbelief because she's still so young. I agree all of them could probably cope with being a few years older, however. Jon and Robb being a few years older (like in the show) would have been good as well.

I also think the number of PoVs has just got too high (although it's a little diffcult to see where I would cut). We could easily have cut Aeron, Arys, Areo, Barristan, Melisandre and Victarion. I think Samwell's PoV could also have been cut- unless we're going to see him do something interesting at old town. He had a few important chapters and a lot of filler- when the book has this number of PoVs, we don't need to see the same events from two perspectives as we do at the start of AFFC, and ADWD. Not convinced that Reek's PoV was 100% neccessary, although I have to say I like reading it. I'm not sure exactly who else could be legitimately cut, but I think the number of PoVs is far too high, as it makes it difficult to keep up with the exact thread of each storyline in AFFC and ADWD.

With relation to PoVs/characters, I do think AFFC and ADWD are too late to introduce the Martells/(f)Aegon respectively. Unlike the Iron Islands plotline, we litterally don't know any of these characters even exist until these two books,

and they seem (on the basis of the sample chapters) like they could be a major plotline in TWOW

. They don't have to be given PoVs, just their existance hinted to. Arianne could have come north with Oberyn, for example.

I would have also stuck to the character name = chapter format in the last two books. Not necessarily for Sansa, Arya and Theon, as their chapter titles represent their changing identities (although Theon's should have just been Reek/Theon), but for Asha, Victarion, Quentyn, JonCon, Arianne, and so on, the change in style at this late stage just seems odd, and I don't see what it's trying to achieve?

Contradicting all of this (purely to satisfy my own curiosity) I'd have enjoyed a Tyrell PoV (preferably Loras- I want to know if he is actually dying or not).

Too many characters have "died" offscreen, then been revealed to still be alive. I'm not talking about actual resurections, but Davos (at least twice), potentially Sandor, Theon, sort of Aegon, Bran and Rickon, Mance Rayder, and Jon is obviously going to be another one. And then there are other characters e.g. Asha and Brienne, where their chapter ends ambiguously, and you aren't sure if they have lived or died. In my opinion (though it's not worth very much) I think this device should be kept to a minimum by authors, because it makes "real" deaths lose their impact.

Having said all of this, I do love the books, but I do think that the first 3/4 were probably better constructed than ADWD, by which stage things just feel a bit unweildy.

[Mother of Kittens]

Ned's POV during his execution. I wanna know his last thoughts.