Is it me or have the last 2 books kinda rambled?

[Williamjsime]

I love the series, and 'A Storm With Swords' was AMAZING but 'A Feast of Crows' and 'A Dance with Dragons' -I'm 40% through the latter- seems to be a bit waffley with waffley characters (Sorry if this is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I just want to see if I'm the only one who thinks this). I've found myself skipping some of the book just because I feel like their character is going nowhere. Can someone reassure me it'll get better?

Will

[Duncan the Lunk'n]

i agree AffC and ADwD both take a step back and slow the story down after everything that happened in ASoS, but when you look at books 4 and 5 as taking place at the same time for most of the books, then alot more happens, the best thing about it was keeping all the story from KL in one book and and essos all together and not dragging it out over both of them... I thought the story picks back up towards the end of DwD

Welcome to the forums! :cheers:

[Williamjsime]

I hope it does pick up. I feel like Cersei's train wreck went on for far to long and AffC gave side characters and sub-plots way too much of the spotlight. I'm reading ADwD and I just want Tyrion to get to Volantis, and for Danny to get over the death of that child and leave Meereen. AffC and ADwD should both be much, much shorter in my opinion.

Thank you :P I hope to contribute :D

[Esa1996]

AFFC was boring in my opinion since the only POV I truly like in it is Jaime, all the others are boring or nearly so. I liked ADWD though, after my first read I put it right behind ASOS. I'm on my first re-read at the moment reading AFFC and ADWD as a single mega-book.

Also, a tiny spoiler here, but ADWD gets better towards the end and judging by the end. TWOW will be awesome, possibly better than ASOS.

[Queen Elsa]

AFFC and ADWD are the calm before the apocalypse storm and TWOW will be a bloodbath. So enjoy the presence of some characters while you can still read there comings and goings coz you never know when will be the last time you're going to see them.

Can someone reassure me it'll get better?

You mean AFFC/ADWD as they progress? Yes. In the beginning they are full of travelogues and some of the characters are being home schooled so the pace of the story is kind of slow. But once the narrative moved past the time frame of AFFC, there will be bombs exploding and there are certain events that will haunt you like

booyaah! :D

. Then your excitement will be cut short, leaving you craving for the next book to comes out.

As for the characters? Things will get even worst to them before they get better.

[Williamjsime]

Thanks everyone for your posts :D I think I'm gona skim through ADwD part 1 and then read part 2 more thoroughly.

[Marakh]

I like the world more than I like the story. I've always been a character/universe driven kind of guy than a "here's 10 000 things happening all one after another". I agree AFFC was kinda boring at times (especially The Ironborn, I seriously didnt G A F), but I'm reading ADWD right now, I'm about halfway through and I'm loving every page of it. Main reason would probably because Tyrion, Daenerys and more than half of the POV characters are all kinda tied up, and I can't wait to see where it all comes together.

Also, I like when things go up and down and not always up. Like in real life.

[Montey14]

AFFC was the more boring of the 2...I mean the endless Brienne chapters of her doing basically nothing until she has the fight with Biter.....the jamie chapters were good and some of the cersei chapters where she starts to become unhinged after her father dies are pretty good as well.....plus the lack of Tyrion chapters make it a tad boring as well....the little guy is quite an interesting character

[Atropis the Elf]

To new readers: do yourselves a favor and read AFfC and ADwD together. It's so much exciting.

Details here: http://boiledleather.com/post/25902554148/a-new-reader-friendly-combined-reading-order-for-a

[ReekTheFreak]

I'm going to get criticised for this but IMO I think Martins' writing and story telling take a sharp decline post ASoS. If you look at AFFC it tries to build up things that probably should have already been built up. Look at the chapter titles and you see so many none character names. IMO Martin should have divided book 3 into 2 books, like the TV series. The first half up to the red wedding and the rest with Tyrions trial spliced with some of the Iron Islands/Martell saga. As it is though when you get to AFFC it's infuriating suddenly reading up on these factions that you just aren't invested in. However, that isn't the only problem. Martin fails to get the plot moving along in AFFC. A lot of the chapters were just downright uncessary or could have been shortened much more significantly. There is also a lot of inner monologue ranting and it just became very tedious to read through. Samwell's POV was unnecessary IMO and could have been summarized in the final chapter where he finds Pate. Sansas' POV didn't have a plot, just circumstances and all we got on the final page was LF giving exposition and his plan.

So all in all I just think Martin loses the plot and direction post ASoS.

[Duncan the Lunk'n]

Book 3 actually has been released as 2 separate books in some places, but AffC wasn't finished for 5 more years

[Montey14]

I'm going to get criticised for this but IMO I think Martins' writing and story telling take a sharp decline post ASoS. If you look at AFFC it tries to build up things that probably should have already been built up. Look at the chapter titles and you see so many none character names. IMO Martin should have divided book 3 into 2 books, like the TV series. The first half up to the red wedding and the rest with Tyrions trial spliced with some of the Iron Islands/Martell saga. As it is though when you get to AFFC it's infuriating suddenly reading up on these factions that you just aren't invested in. However, that isn't the only problem. Martin fails to get the plot moving along in AFFC. A lot of the chapters were just downright uncessary or could have been shortened much more significantly. There is also a lot of inner monologue ranting and it just became very tedious to read through. Samwell's POV was unnecessary IMO and could have been summarized in the final chapter where he finds Pate. Sansas' POV didn't have a plot, just circumstances and all we got on the final page was LF giving exposition and his plan.

So all in all I just think Martin loses the plot and direction post ASoS.

I don't think the writing style takes a sharp decline...but the plot itself, as you said gets boring and tedious. I gather he was trying to give the story a chance to reload after the whirlwind events of book 3....I mean 4 major characters get knocked off and thats not counting the red viper. I think he had to give the characters a chance to regroup and plot out the rest of the story.....but yes it was a bit tedious at times .....some of the Brienne chapters were just a struggle

[Marakh]

AFFC was definitely poor in story telling. But I can't see how his writing style has declined. ADWD, especially the Tyrion and Jon chapters are excellent IMO.

[John Reynolds]

See, while I think the story lagged a bit (classic act 2 slowness, or in fantasy genre terms what I like to call the mid-trilogy blues) there is some really great scenes in AFfC, certainly better dialogue than anything found in Dance: Jaime and the Blackfish, Jaime and Aunt Genna, Arianne and Doran, etc.

[Red Tiger]

AFFC is boring when it comes to plot, but I liked the fact that it developed some ignored characters. Asha, Victarion, Aryanne, Doran. The only problem is, I really didn't need all the Brienne chapters and Cersei got plenty of attention in the previous books IMO.

[Ziemen]

It gets tedious but it is neccessary to give insight onto what has happened after the war, after half of the book, I started actaully liking AFFC though all of my fav characters were in aDwD. I believe this books were quite transitionary (at least til the end of aDwD), cause everyone needed to be in the same page, TWOW will be imo another aSoS

[That Demon Monkey]

I'm reading ADwD and I just want Danny to get over the death of that child and leave Meereen.

Don't we all...

[pamparius]

Tyrion's chapters get really boring in Dance.

[Beathag]

I have a card system. Ridiculous, of course, but i could not keep track of everyone. In ADwD, I stopped taking notes. All I could recall about the book was that a prince died. And someone in the North was stabbed. (Trying not to spoiler here.) That was a little over two years ago.

I remember being annoyed that "nothing" happened in the book -- the story line was not forwarded, just treading water.

Tonight I picked up ADwD, and read a chapter. I could not remember reading it. Then I flipped to the Epilogue, and it was all news to me.

Maybe I was in a fog when I read it. And, I did only read it once.

So, tomorrow, a reread.

[Hodoris]

I loved the last two books. So many exciting things happened in the these books. I think that GRRM has created a strong base for the last two books. Book 4 and 5 have great endings with a possibility of some awesome things that are waiting to happen.