[Arabesque]

I don't think so. He likes Japan well enough, and the name doesn't really strike me as a jab.

Anyho, since I had my Internet go out on Sunday and wasn't any better yesterday, I had the perfect pretense to just get on with reading the entire 800 and so pages.

General comments (nothing spoilerish):

-It certainly started off feeling a whole lot like A feast for Crows, but by the end it felt more like A Game of Thrones.

-I'm sort of lost as to what to say about the events that transpired in the 5th book. A lot of stuff had happened, for sure, but I can't say that a lot of it was important or really advanced the plot from the end of Feast by much.

-In fact, I would say that at least the events in the 4th book at least had for certain POV advanced the plot, albeit in several different directions, here while we have a slightly more unified central routes to take (3 to be exact) it feels like they don't really amount to anything ...

Well do a character overview rather than a chapter by chapter later on.

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

Spoiler for question:

Who may that be? It has been years since I read the last book. I re-read the part you referred to, but it is still unclear who it is.

Spoiler for :

Originally I thought it was the one handed smith, but the more I read the book the more I remembered he died back in book 3, so I think it was a different NW. Oops

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

Yes, I agree that chapter 6 is a slow chapter. Unfortunately there are a few chapters like that in the book. Sometime the strict PoV style of the story telling is a hindrance rather than a bless. To tell the story of what's happening, Martin must have someone there in the heat of things at that particular time, most time it gives the story more flesh and blood, other times we get what kind of food they ate or other useless space filling stuff.

The problem is that we already had 3-4 books of build up and what not for these characters, so it doesn't help to have additional build up as well here.

Also, I have to say that a lot of this book felt very filler-ish. I mean

Spoiler for :

Tyrion plot line goes. No. Where. Seriously.

He's on a ship, running away from King's Landing. Then on a boat with Illyrio. Then he goes with Griff. Then he's Jorah's captive, going to Dany. Then he's in a city, talking with an old lady and suddenly he's not a captive and on a boat. Then he meets another dwarf. Then he becomes a slave. Then he gets to Meereen, and there are lions and stuff, and then he joins the second sons and he has a plan to do something and ... what? Where does it all lead to? I mean yeah, we get to learn:

-History about Varys and Illyrio

-Tyrion knows lots about dragons (which we already knew) and shares some of that info

-Who Griff and Young Griff are

-The upside of slavery (it's not different blah blah blah justifying blah blah blah it's not black and white etc.)

-that he went through trouble

But it feels so aimless without any direction other than the vague get to Dany goal. I guess that's how it's meant to be since Tyrion is aimless after the 3rd book and what he learns he has done and the betrayal he endured. But it doesn't stop at him either.

Quentin ... man, do I hate all Dorne and Ironborn chapters. So pointless. He starts off okay like all Dorne chapters do, but then he goes down the whole ''But I'm the hero in this story, I can't go back home unless I bring something'' and I laughed when Rhaegal turned him to crisp, because it was so obvious that would be his death.

I think that what annoyed me the most about him was that after he does get to Dany and present her with the marriage alliance, everyone he meets asks him ''why are you still here?''. The man is proven completely pointless not only from a meta perspective, but in universe as well. No one understands why he's there, and everyone just want him to leave already.

So what was the point?

Asha ... again, what? Why did she have more than one chapter here, I can't say. And then Victorian ... bleh.

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

I read the book by the characters in the order who I likes most, so Arya first, then Dany, then Bran, then Tyrion and Jon, and the rest in the end. After the main characters I really have very little motivation for some of the side characters, especially since I know what happened to them in the end in some other character's story. That's the disadvantage of the order that I choose, but still I think Martin could cut some part out.

I think Martin should've cut a lot out. The Ironborn and Drone PoV's for start.

Originally Posted by Gooral

Spoiler for for those who hadn't finished ADWD book:

There is too much pointless talking here, descriptions, etc. Dany's chapters were a torture for me to read, 500 pages of reading how horny she is, wiping the bottoms of people that complained, spoiling the power she had by ignoring dragons and being helpless made me want to puke.

Spoiler for :

As someone who liked Dany, I agree with you. This book made her into mini-Cersei. Her last chapter was such a chore to get through, and her being so spoiled and stupid ... ugh.

Originally Posted by Gooral

Spoiler for for those who hadn't finished ADWD book:

If not for Barristan I would skip these chapters. Even Belwas was more interesting than her. Every non-Aria, Bran, Jon, Tyrion, Barristan, Davos, Mellisandre, Jaime chapter (and prologue and epilogue) was either bad or really bad. And by bad I mean boring, repetitive, annoying, etc. (not necessarily everything at once). Tyrion's chapters weren't that interesting either, although because he's a great character they were easier to swallow. Jon's chapter saved this book IMO.

Spoiler for :

Ser Barristan was actually pretty cool, yeah. Getting to see what goes on inside his mind made me like the guy more than I originally had. He's a simple warrior, and understands what he is and what he needs to do, but always speaks the truth (I cheered when he defended Ned). Really cool guy, Dany didn't deserve him as her guard.

And well, I agree with you, but I would add the Cersei 2nd chapter as another good chapter, I think.

Speaking of repetitive, was I the only one who thought that someone was going to say that Words are Wind is their house words at one point from how many times that phrase is mentioned?

Originally Posted by Gooral

Spoiler for for those who hadn't finished ADWD book:

Anyway, what really saved the book for me were Arya and Bran's chapters. Even though they've appeared only briefly it was theirs chapters that made me want to finish the book counting on seeing more of them (I intentionally didn't see how many chapters with them are in the Book).

Spoiler for :

That's because they are the only ones who actually done something and reached their goals in this book. Griff started out, but who knows if he succeeds or not?

Originally Posted by Gooral

Spoiler for for those who hadn't finished ADWD book:

And I agree that Aegon being alive wasn't the best move Martin could have done. It makes me think that other "Aegons" might appear (for example Lyana's kid, maybe even a girl assuming Jon isn't their kid or some Maester Amon's bastard grandson). It seems to me he added this plot twist for the sake of having a plot twist. Also I was annoyed by Tyrion's, Theon's and Dany's plot armors (especially Dany's). Even when they're in hopeless situations I know they will survive.

Spoiler for :

Well, look. Dany is too busy fucking around (literally and figuratively) in Meereen, and were already more than half way through the series and she still hadn't gotten her horny butt over to the Seven Kingdoms, and when someone promised to take her there, she ignored them and flew on a dragon and spent her time doing nothing but thinking everything is perfect. And then she admits that she doesn't belong in Meereen (#-_-)

And we need to get someone to actually have a claim to the throne, otherwise it would be Tommen (Even though I think Ramsy lied in his letter, I don't think Stannis will win. Maybe the north, but other than that ...) so rather than a plot twist for the sake of having one, it's more of a plot twist so that the story remains interesting, and the central conflict remains.

As for plot armor ... I don't think it worked well for Theon, imo