Katerine459 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Ok, I've read the wiki articles about how GRRM's original strategy was to skip 5 years between books 3 and 4, and just have 6 books total, but this didn't pan out, so he decided to begin where book 3 left off and then separate book 4 into two books, according to geography. I get that. Truly. But...GODS, this is frustrating!I'm currently in chapter 26 of AFFC. For context, these are the current (as of the end of book 3/beginning of book 4) things/characters I want to read about, in descending order of how much I want to read about them:- Dany- Tyrion- Arya- Bran- Jaime- Jon (and anything involving the Wall, including Samwell chapters)- Sansa- Davos (and anything involving Stannis)- Arianne (and anything involving Dorne)- Cersei- Brienne- The growth of grass- Anything involving the Iron Islands.So... yeah. It's... frustrating. I WANT A DANY CHAPTER! And what's with all of these Iron Islands chapters? Do they have anything (other than as obstacles, that is) to do with the Wall or with Dany, which, when you get right down to it, are the only two plots that ultimately matter? As of ASOS, it's very clear that almost everything that happens in Westeros is mainly interesting because of how it will impact the final war, between Dany and the Others (that's foreshadowed in ASOS. A lot :) ).But anyway, the main reason I'm posting is... I think GRRM may have made a fatal error here. I keep seeing dropped references to "The Golden Company broke its contract with Myr." Plus there was one, very interesting, dropped reference to a puppet show being shown in the streets that shows a dragon swooping in and eating the lions. There's a story behind that. I know there is. And I know I'll probably learn it when I read ADWD.But they're just dropped references. ASOIAF is chock-full of dropped references... people who read AFFC when it first came out were never going to remember those particular references six years later, when ADWD came out. How does GRRM plan to take care of that?Clearly, these references are holdovers from when the two books were one, and when we saw the references, we were supposed to immediately know what they were about, from the (missing in AFFC) chapters. I wonder if he just forgot to take them out, or to add more importance to them so that readers would remember them six years later? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atropis the Elf Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I kind of get what you mean and I had the same feeling when reading AFfC. I see you're currently at chapter 26 of AFfC, but you could start again and combine those two books, followng this spoiler-free link: http://boiledleather.com/post/25902554148/a-new-reader-friendly-combined-reading-order-for-a Upon my re-read of ASoIaF, this way of reading AFfC and ADwD made much more sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejhawman Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 This is one of the points where the series gets weaker - events must be referenced that won't properly be followed up until later. You have to get well into ADWD before things make sense. I'm actually coming from the other direction: I read snatches of AFFC (mostly the Arya and Cersei chapters) then ADWD straight through, then went back to read all of AFFC just to understand what was going on. It works once you see the whole picture, but it's a BIG picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodsteel bitterraven Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 And what's with all of these Iron Islands chapters? Do they have anything (other than as obstacles, that is) to do with the Wall or with Dany, which, when you get right down to it, are the only two plots that ultimately matter? To answer your question, YES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady-Nymeria Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I have finished aFfC, but haven't started aDwD yet. I think that the new storylines (Dorne and the Iron Islands) will start to affect Dany's storyline, the same way Davos's and Stannis's affected the one happening in the Wall. I agree that the detail of the Golden Company might have been forgotten by the readers after 5 years, but many of them (and I include myself) have the habit of rereading. However, I agreewith you in the fact that this "strategy" is messy and difficult to understand. I will reread the books as in the links after finishing Dance, to put the story in order in my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That Demon Monkey Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I started ADWD first (Since AFFC was not available in my town) and read about halfway in the first book. Then I got AFFC and I am enjoying it WAY more. I much prefer the politics to the strangeness and magic of the further lands. Also the fact that there are no Dany chapters is my #1 reason for loving it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Eric Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I loved the AFFC despite there being no Tyrion. In fact I think that's a better book than DWD. The Greyjoys of Iron Islands are great as are plots being cooked up by prince in Dorne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That Demon Monkey Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 plots being cooked up by prince in Dorne. ...with onions and fiery Dornish peppers ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious Fire Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I felt the same way when I started reading the book for the first time, but it changed when I was halfway through. A lot of elements are involved into the storyline with all the Iron born POV and Arya living in Braavos. Not everything is about Dany at the edge of the world and Jon in the Wall. We learn a lot about the history of Westeros in this book, also. Ps. Cersei's chapters are so much fun to read and have a lot of great lines since Mean Girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter_Rose Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Yeah I pretty much planned to re-read the entire series before I read DWD. Since I only buy books when they are in mass market paperback I'm pretty successful. I've re-read all of AGOT, ACOK, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through my re-read of a ASOS. I am a little mixed about re-reading AFFC but I think I might enjoy much more now that I have a better idea of what's going on. I'm a big fan of Tyrion and I was pretty disappointed that he didn't show up in AFFC. I probably shouldn't have read the forward where GRRM explains how the book is essentially 1/2 of what DWD was supposed to be. The Tyrion cliff hanger in ASOS drove me crazy all through reading AFFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annara Snow Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Ok, I've read the wiki articles about how GRRM's original strategy was to skip 5 years between books 3 and 4, and just have 6 books total, but this didn't pan out, so he decided to begin where book 3 left off and then separate book 4 into two books, according to geography. I get that. Truly. But...GODS, this is frustrating!I'm currently in chapter 26 of AFFC. For context, these are the current (as of the end of book 3/beginning of book 4) things/characters I want to read about, in descending order of how much I want to read about them:- Dany- Tyrion- Arya- Bran- Jaime- Jon (and anything involving the Wall, including Samwell chapters)- Sansa- Davos (and anything involving Stannis)- Arianne (and anything involving Dorne)- Cersei- Brienne- The growth of grass- Anything involving the Iron Islands.So... yeah. It's... frustrating. I WANT A DANY CHAPTER! And what's with all of these Iron Islands chapters? Do they have anything (other than as obstacles, that is) to do with the Wall or with Dany, which, when you get right down to it, are the only two plots that ultimately matter? Uh... no, they are not "the only plots that ultimately matter". What does "ultimately matter" even mean? Matter to what or whom? But anyway, the main reason I'm posting is... I think GRRM may have made a fatal error here. I keep seeing dropped references to "The Golden Company broke its contract with Myr." Plus there was one, very interesting, dropped reference to a puppet show being shown in the streets that shows a dragon swooping in and eating the lions. There's a story behind that. I know there is. And I know I'll probably learn it when I read ADWD.But they're just dropped references. ASOIAF is chock-full of dropped references... people who read AFFC when it first came out were never going to remember those particular references six years later, when ADWD came out. How does GRRM plan to take care of that? People can re-read books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katerine459 Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 People can re-read books. Yes, they can... it only takes about... 45 hours... :) The casual fan won't, is my point. They would read AFFC, and then read ADWD 6 years later when it comes out, and expect that either everything important will be memorable, or that they will be reminded of how it fits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Elsa Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Ok, I've read the wiki articles about how GRRM's original strategy was to skip 5 years between books 3 and 4, and just have 6 books total, but this didn't pan out, so he decided to begin where book 3 left off and then separate book 4 into two books, according to geography. I get that. Truly. But...GODS, this is frustrating!The five years gap worked well with the children but not the adult ones 'coz Martin can't juz let them chillin' out without doin' anything for five freakin' long years while the children are gettin' trained. But yeah, t'was frustrating not having to read your favorite characters' chapters (my favorite POVs to read were Dany, Jon, Tyrion, and Arya but my preference changed after reading Dance :P). I read Feast so quick on my first reading juz to get over it so then I can move on to the next book that's why I missed a lot of details (anyway, I did some rereading and fell in love with Cersei so I'm ok :D). Ps. Cersei's chapters are so much fun to read and have a lot of great lines since Mean Girls.I was LMAO reading her POVs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIrDuncan the Tall Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 If this is your first read at least you have the advantage of both books being published and didn't have to suffer through the years between book 3 and 5. During this reread Im going to follow one of the threads of recombining books 4&5 chronologically instead of. geographically. Check out there is few ways to arrange the chapters. Wish the publishing company would release a special version this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annara Snow Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Yes, they can... it only takes about... 45 hours... :) The casual fan won't, is my point. They would read AFFC, and then read ADWD 6 years later when it comes out, and expect that either everything important will be memorable, or that they will be reminded of how it fits. You'd have to be an idiot to believe that you can remember everything after 6 years. Anyway, those hidden references, hints and foreshadowing aren't written for casual fans and casual fans aren't going to be obsessing over them, Casual fans will only see the revelations when they happen, while hardcore fans have already built theories before that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godoka Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 I honestly think that splitting the book into two and chucking in new POV chapters with characters who have been fringe at best was such a horrible move on his part. I won't pretend to have a "better way" of handling it, but that good lord this is hard for me to cope with. It's taken me four or five tries to read Feast AND Dance. The Boiled Leather's combined reading list has helped a lot, but it still leaves a sour note with me. So I understand your frustration. Still, it ends up being worth all that effort, despite the incredibly unconventional approach. Oddly enough, Feast ends up being the most memorable and interesting of the books for me so far, so... Go figure, I guess? It's really the timeline issue that messes with my head the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Snow Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 love AFFC and ADWD, they are amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellieBom Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Ok, I am just starting to read Feast. I've only read the first 2 chapters and it's my first time going through the whole series. Would you guys suggest reading both books combined? I'm very tempted to try it this way. I feel like I just found a secret passageway! http://boiledleather.com/post/25902554148/a-new-reader-friendly-combined-reading-order-for-a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellieBom Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 If this is your first read at least you have the advantage of both books being published and didn't have to suffer through the years between book 3 and 5. During this reread Im going to follow one of the threads of recombining books 4&5 chronologically instead of. geographically. Check out there is few ways to arrange the chapters. Wish the publishing company would release a special version this way. Re-reading this thread again, I'm doing it. I'm going to read both books simultaneously. PS. Do we have spell check on this board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettStark Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 This enrages me a lot when people talk about Feast. I've read people on these forums who even ask if its okay to skip the chapters that have nicknames for their titles. WHAT!?! Do people not realize its still a first person chapter? To me, I love the world of Westeros and want to read more and more about each part of it. There was a reason George created a giant world, and if anything I'd want him to write even more about different areas of it. It is an epic story, so he can't just ignore Dorne etc. Trust me, keep reading, there is a reason the Ironborn have first person chapters....and it involves one of your favorite characters. If you're a fan of the books, then you should be a fan of readings all about the world. You may develop favorites as we all do. I'm 3/4 through DWD, and the Dany chapters are probably my least favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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