About to start reading, is it that bad?

[Sarah Lannister]

If you love the world Martin has created, how could you not love this book? AFFC gives great insight into House Martell, into Oberyn's bastard daughters, introduces Euron and Victarion who are incredible characters, and so much more.

[fatbat1987]

If you love the world Martin has created, how could you not love this book? AFFC gives great insight into House Martell, into Oberyn's bastard daughters, introduces Euron and Victarion who are incredible characters, and so much more.

This.

aFfC was a great book imo. Loved the new characthers, loved that the pace was slowed down a bit, more time to savour Martins world.

I dont understand why some1 would hate / dislike this book.

[Achilles765]

It is not the best or my favorite by any means but it does introduce two new characters I love. Euron and Victarion greyjoy

[Crowzeye]

The thing is ASoS was soooo good and AFfC being only half a book couldn't match it's pace but AFfC is still awesome. The Bitch-Queen I Love To Hate's POV were WICKEDLY-AMAZING with all the politics and scheming.

[SidheKnight]

I haven't finished AFFC yet, and it's already my favorite so far!

Don't know why would anyone not like this book.

[ChrisSnow77]

I wouldn't say this book is bad by any means but anti-climatic comes to mind. ASOS the world is turned upside down in so many ways. By the end of the book there are so many shocks, so much turmoil. Half of westeros is under different leadership than it was at the start of the series.

There is a lot of introduction to characters which is hard when you're this far into a story... Jon, Dany, Bran, Tyrion are possibly the 4 main characters and they aren't in the book.

That being said, it weaves together a lot of things, parts of westeros both geographically and historically that were only hinted at before come to the forefront. We learn a ton more about Jamie & Cersei.

And although it's a lot more subtle, the land is in even more turmoil at the end of the book than it was at the start.

[MegaTechPC]

I understand your apprehension but trust me, its unwarranted. Basically anything this guy writes is fantastic. It does suck that the scope is radically narrowed in this book (and ADWD) but I personally found all of the story threads in AFFC to be extremely engaging. Jamie's "evolution" continues to be so well done I can't even put into words what an incredible job GRRM has done with this character. He went from one of my least favorites to one of my favorites and I love that! I guess the least engaging thread is Sam's but even that is definitely worth every page. Brienne's arc is kind of meandering but we learn a lot of back story about her character and her cliffhanger is excruciating (since we won't see her at all in ADWD). While I still personally dislike Littlefinger, Sansa's (Alayne's) POV chapters really flesh out his character's scheming and really took my breath away, to see the depths of his genius at playing the game of thrones. Petyr Baelish is easily the smartest character in this series (and maybe any other series as well). Cersei's chapters are becomign more and more satisfying the more I read them and her arc throughout this novel is worth the read in and of itself. Sorry I've kind of gone off on a tangent here but suffice it to say that AFFC is a fantastic book and is 200% absolutely worth the read!

[KhalDrewby]

I loved that Dorne was becoming a bigger part of the series. Meeting new characters is always interesting. The Iron Islands bored me, though. Frankly I don't like any of the Greyjoys.

Cersei chapters were my favorite. Though this book took me the longest (I had a 2-week hiatus because I just couldn't get through the damn thing).

[ChrisSnow77]

Also I think it's a little different when you're reading the books after the fact. I only started reading the series last year, and I've been reading them with only short breaks in between, so the fact that a lot of the main characters weren't in this book, wasn't the end of the world to me, because I knew I was going to pick up the next one right after I finished.

If I'd have waited 5 years for AFFC to come out... and then had to wait another 5 years for Dragons to actually see how my favorite characters were doing, it may have tinted my view of AFFC to the negative.

[MegaTechPC]

Yeah, that is a great point. I just picked up the series in January and like you said, I could just go book to book. Now that I'm on ADWD I'm starting to panic realizing there is no next book to go buy now! :(

[meeksha]

Honestly when i first started reading this book it took me a while (like a few hundred pages) to really get into it. Part of the reason is that asos was so action packed and intense and affc starts to slow down and in my opinion, a bit more passive aggressive. What I mean is that, people are talking about making these plans but so far we don't know what the aftermath is (I'm only on page 680 so i could be wrong).

This book is definitely worth the read. All the talking about doing things is really getting me pumped up to find out what happens! And the Jaime chapters are so funny! I love each one xD

*hoorah for my first post!*

[KalibakCruel]

Honestly when i first started reading this book it took me a while (like a few hundred pages) to really get into it. Part of the reason is that asos was so action packed and intense and affc starts to slow down and in my opinion, a bit more passive aggressive. What I mean is that, people are talking about making these plans but so far we don't know what the aftermath is (I'm only on page 680 so i could be wrong).

This book is definitely worth the read. All the talking about doing things is really getting me pumped up to find out what happens! And the Jaime chapters are so funny! I love each one xD

*hoorah for my first post!*

Congrats on the first post!

I forgot I made this thread, decided to come and revisit. I thought the book was really fun. I understand for people who waited years for it that it must've been a kick in the groin to not get half of your favorite characters, but I read affc right after asos and right before adwd so it wasn't hard on me.

Some of my favorite chapters are in this book and while the pacing is slower than asos (I mean how do you match that pace anyways? It was like a flurry of punches) the writing is some of the most satisfying to read.

[Zar Lannister]

I think AFFC is the point where Martin's prose is most polished... I think it's beautifully written.

My personal favorite is Clash, though.

[KalibakCruel]

Asos is still my favorite just because of the flurry, but affc was beautifully written.

[Golden Rose]

Don't worry, sh*t still hits the fan.

As long as you say that, now I'm going to go read it.

[ovis alba]

I think as many people I had my problems with it in the beginning and I would probably blame it on the fact that it felt "disconnected" from the first books at that point, because so many familiar stories were hanging in the air, while so many new ones were just setting of.

In retrospect I think I can appreciate it more, because it makes more sense in the overall context now than it did back when I read it.

[Drogon's Personal Trainer]

I've read Feast 3 times now. I'm not one of those people who only reads a story for action - I actually love all the intrigue and the politics. If I find characters interesting, I will read on. My main problem with Feast was the amount of bloat it had. As much as I love Brienne, her wanderings and encounters with random people (such as the Don Quixote type group) are excruciating on a third read. However, I loved the Arya chapters and the Cersei ones - even though Cersei comes across as even more bitter and twisted than in the first 3 novels, I did start to find reasons in her past for her present behaviour and actually started to sympathise with her. I also am a Dorne fan, so learning more about their world was enjoyable.

I'm afraid I skim all Iron Born chapters, whether it be a first read or a tenth. They just do NOT do it for me, I'm afraid (with the exception of our Theon, of course).

But I certainly don't think Feast deserves anything like the hate it gets. I just saw it as a great historical novel that could have done with a bit of a trim. :) Strangely enough, I've re-read Storm, Feast and Dance the most, and have only read GoT and Clash once.

[FakeJaqenH'ghar]

I'm three chapters in, enjoying it and starting to become a Dorne fan. l liked Oberyn and the Sand Snakes are hilarious to me for some reason, although I figure that isn't their intention. My feelings towards the Iron Islands remains to be seen, but if The Prophet was any indication of whats to come, I think I'll be able to deal.

[Vaelya of Asshai]

Personally, it's my favourite book so far, even though Daenerys isn't in it, one of my favourite characters, however this book introduces Arianne Martell, whom I love as a character and person, she only has I think 2 chapters, and appears in maybe 4 or 5, but they are great. Cersei, Jamie, and Brienne I feel have a lot of chapters, and I don't mind them that much, and I won't spoil it but it ends quite a cliff hanging moment. By the way,I haven't started a DWD yet, so I can't really be completely unbiased.