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A Song of Ice and Fire


Flare4War
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Just read them all. Some obviously are going to be more intriguing than others but they are all immaculate writing and well done books.

I thought Dance with Dragons was great, I don't understand why people are spitting at it. It was long, but I thought that was a good thing; especially after such a long wait.

So yeah, I would say just read all of them.

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I thought Dance with Dragons was great, I don't understand why people are spitting at it. It was long, but I thought that was a good thing; especially after such a long wait.

I was actually discussing that with a couple of friends who've also read them all. One of them said, for her, the reason why she enjoyed it less than the others was that it felt like very little happened, and little more got resolved, particularly with the characters across the sea. Which I don't agree with, but I can see that point of view - the first third of ADwD was basically a recap of things we already knew happened from AFfC, but from other character's POVs.

Oh, btw, I don't remember if it's already been mentioned in here or not, but if you play Minecraft and love ASoIaF, you owe it to yourself to check out http://westeroscraft.com/.

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it felt like very little happened, and little more got resolved, particularly with the characters across the sea.

This. Plus there was the character in Dany's story that looked like it was going to turn out fairly interesting only to turn out completely pointless (you know which one I mean if you've read it). Plus there seemed to be a ton of fake cliffhangers, where a chapter ended on a note that made it seem like that character was in serious danger, only for their next chapter to reveal that nope, it was no big deal, moving right along.

I wouldn't say that Dance with Dragons was bad, but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the previous books in the series.

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This. Plus there was the character in Dany's story that looked like it was going to turn out fairly interesting only to turn out completely pointless (you know which one I mean if you've read it). Plus there seemed to be a ton of fake cliffhangers, where a chapter ended on a note that made it seem like that character was in serious danger, only for their next chapter to reveal that nope, it was no big deal, moving right along.

I wouldn't say that Dance with Dragons was bad, but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the previous books in the series.

Daenerys's storyline was among my favorites in the first 3 books, but once it just stagnated HORRIBLY in the recent 2. I feel like I don't know any of the characters in her life, nor do I care about any of them. Meh.

But somehow, my favorite storyline has become Jamie's. Didn't see that one coming, but man, what a great character. SO much excellent development...

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I think Brandon has a point about the thread title; might get more action in here if people knew about it, especially with season 3 coming up.

Man, I am getting nostalgic for when I was talking to some guys about the show "I hope it's pretty good, the books are so badass". :'-(

I thought Dany's stuff in the last few books has been mad lame - I get it that she can't be conquering shit indefinitely, but the politics she was facing wasn't as compelling, because not all the sides were fleshed out. Part of the appeal of the main struggle is that all of the sides are explained a bit more. Tyrion's story of late has been feeling like it's treading water as well, with some odd twists that ultimately don't really feel meaningful.

Regardless, i'll finish book 6 within 24 hours of release when it come's out. XD

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This. Plus there was the character in Dany's story that looked like it was going to turn out fairly interesting only to turn out completely pointless (you know which one I mean if you've read it). Plus there seemed to be a ton of fake cliffhangers, where a chapter ended on a note that made it seem like that character was in serious danger, only for their next chapter to reveal that nope, it was no big deal, moving right along.

(All character names in this response are whited out to prevent spoilers.)

And I can agree with it, at least in part. I mean, for crying out loud, we don't really even merge back into the meat of the King's Landing storylines until the last quarter of the book, and then we get one, maybe two chapters for each character. I wanted to see more of Jaime and Cersei than we did.

I think for me, my biggest let down in the book was how... unfocused a lot of the new stuff felt. We had a LOT of new POVs, and many of them were quite interesting, but we only get two or three chapters for each. One of my greatest disappointments was that we get two or three chapters for Davos in the first third, and then nothing the rest of the book; I kept waiting for just one more chapter regarding him, even if it was a short, throwaway one, but no. Lord Jon Connington's content was particularly interesting, but again, we're left with barely anything from him.

My other biggest issue was that, for some reason, Tyrion's chapters just weren't grabbing me like normal. They're typically among my favorites whenever they show up in other books, but I just wasn't getting into the first third, or the last third, of his chapters as much as I wanted to. I did love the ones where he was on the river with Griff, and Ser Jorah's prisoner, though.

I dunno. The way I look at it, ADwD wasn't bad, but it doesn't necessarily succeed as a stand-alone volume in the series. It's definitely no Storm, and not quite Feast or Clash... but then, it was never intended to serve as a true stand-alone volume. It happens almost entirely simultaneously as Feast. And that's the thing - as a volume of extra material, serving as a bridge between Feast and The Winds of Winter, I think it succeeds.

One last thought: I was very glad the other day to run across an article where the showrunners for the series said that after they're done with the two Storm seasons, the seasons immediately after will be a mix of Feast and Dance, being filmed as an integrated whole. And that's really how it should be - there's no real reason to film the books separately.

EDIT:

I thought Dany's stuff in the last few books has been mad lame - I get it that she can't be conquering shit indefinitely, but the politics she was facing wasn't as compelling, because not all the sides were fleshed out. Part of the appeal of the main struggle is that all of the sides are explained a bit more. Tyrion's story of late has been feeling like it's treading water as well, with some odd twists that ultimately don't really feel meaningful.

Agreed.

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  • 1 month later...

I just assumed everyone here was a pirate :<

I actually caught it at my parents' house over break. My sister kept asking questions about the plot, my brother was cussing out the female characters every two seconds and my dad walked into the room to make silly comments. It was a nightmare but several scenes were worth it.

And now I'm screwed on campus. No HBO.

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I just assumed everyone here was a pirate :<

To be honest, if I hadn't already read the books 7x apiece, I would probably be tempted... but since I know ~75-85% of what will happen as a result (no way to know what the showrunners will change), I'm decently content to wait.

Although I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to see how well the actors they picked for Meera/Jojen do, ASAP. And of course, ALL the scenes between Jon Snow and Ygritte. And between Jon Snow and Mance Rayder. Hell, just ALL of the Jon Snow scenes would tide me over until the DVDs. And the Tyrion ones too, while we're at it.

(That probably didn't need spoiler whiteout, but better safe than sorry.)

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I just loved that show. My friend recommanded me to read the books but could find time for that. My gf started to read them and said there's much more in the books vs the show.. It's tempting but I guess I'm more visual anyway

Book 1 was VERY closely adapted in the HBO series. Book 2 made a ton of puzzling divergences. Book 3 is the best book I have ever read.* If only because you can only experience the story once without knowing what happens in the other film/literature iteration, I would read the books through the third book, A Storm of Swords. I can't imagine the HBO series will pull off any better what GRRM did in that book.

*ever

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