I will never forget the gout. If there's one thing I took away from that novel it's that having the gout and watching children play in a pool go together like chocolate and peanut butter...but not TOO MUCH chocolate and peanut butter, because then you'll aggravate the gout.
Yeah, that was pretty much my thought. I suppose I should amend my post to read, "No way he remains dead."
Tyrion is the BOSS. But I can't help but despise Dany. The chapters are extremely slow, and add very little (so far) to the plot of the story. And the character herself is always going on about taking what is hers while spending 80% of her page time doing nothing. And I'll agree with you insofar as the books have gotten progressively better (with the exception of book 4, but I think that was a deliberate change of pace meant to illustrate the utter destruction that the wars have left Westeros in and how unprepared for Winter they are)
Ah fuck it, the spoiler floodgates are wide open now, so what the hell. Below are ALL OF THE SPOILERS FROM EVERYTHING! The thing I think is most likely to happen: He's dead as a doornail, but gets resurrected by Melisandre, same as Thoros of Myr resurrected Beric Dondarrion every time he kicked the bucket. And considering how resurrection works in A song of Ice and Fire, I think it's a safe bet that things are going to get really soul-crushingly depressing from that point. Also, Rosebud was his sled. And Bruce Willis was dead all along.
In fact, I found the books to be increasingly compelling, not the other way around. and now I finished Dance with Dragons just less than one week ago, I can now join the ranks of fans who really really want to just kidnap Martin and lock him in a cell until he finishes books 6 and 7, Misery-style...
Well, I may be the odd ball out here, but Tyrion and Daenerys chapters were among my favorites, not only because those are my favorite characters, but also because I was interested in seeing how the rest of the Martin's world (is there a name for it?) looks like. Also, fuck it, dragons, man!
I actually quite liked the Prince Martell bits in Dorne. It was slow, but it was a 'well paced' slow.
Mild Spoiler: Martin has released a few pages of Winds of Winter that indicate Jon Snow survived the attack. Other Spoiler: It's not entirely clear whether the scene of Winds takes place before or after the attack.
Tyrion didn't really DO much in Essos. I guess it'll pay off character-development wise later on for him to be humbled (further). But it wasn't exactly compelling reading. And it's getting to the point where I'm going to start skipping the Dany chapters entirely if they're not MASSIVELY improved in the next book. Having said that, the appearance of Rhaegar's son is HUGE.
Oh, he's SO dead. That attack would still kill people today with modern medicine even if paramedics and surgeons were there immediately. BUT Snow is not, so I think we'll see him live on in his second life.
How can you say that?! There was political intrigue! And...and undisciplined daughters! And...uh...there was...um...gout. Quite a lot of gout, actually.
I didn't look very carefully, so when I saw the thumbnail for this video, my first thought was "Is that Donald Glover saying 'Dorne is bullshit!'?" Needless to say, I clicked play so fast I think I broke my mouse, only to be disappointed when this (funny, clever, great) video was Glover-free.
I thought we've established that Dorne is bullshit? The prince being off'd had little impact on me. The most important part of that story arc was the two dragons getting loose. I had forgotten about the son of the dead prince. That definitely has some relevance on who has the best claim to the throne.
Really? A son of the dead prince comes back? A prince of Dorne gets killed? Tyrion! Nothing?
I didn't dislike Dorne. It has the misfortune of not being Tyrion or Arya or [insert favorite character here] mixed up with not knowing quite what the long term vision is. I do assume he has one. Then again, some people hate Brienne (and I love her chapters) and some people hate Cersei (and I despise the character while relishing in her obliviously self-centered viewpoint). For all the complaints of slowing down or whatever, I just like spending time in this world with these characters, and while there are some I enjoy better, there has never been a time that I've turned the page and groaned at whoever the new point of view will be. So far, I don't think it's too slow or too padded. And I have done much groaning and complaints of pacing/padding with a certain other fantasy series. It gets better? To me, for the whole thing it doesn't get any better than this.
I thought it was just me. I'm kind of a noob at fantasy books and everything outside of Westeros was just muddled up my brain and I was having trouble keeping track of who was who. It also didn't seem to have a lot of bearing on what was going on in Westeros.
Trying not to be spoilery-but don't read if you haven't finished Dance I am still holding out hope as that character didn't die on the page. It's not like a head was chopped off. Everyone else that died in the books to this point was pretty cut and dry that they wouldn't be coming back
I'm hoping the whole Dorne distraction will be necessary in the long run. I must be one of the few who liked it, regardless of it slowing things up.
***kinda sorta spoiler-ish for Dance*** Yeah, Storm was bad, but at least we knew what happened. The cliffhanger at the end of Dance is maybe one of the most frustrating things I ever encountered in a work of fiction. Damn it Martin, I was getting used to you horribly murdering every character I cared about (ok, not really), but at least make it quick and get it over with, don't turn them into some kind of Schrödinger's cat in between books. That's just... cruel.
Au contraire, I find Arya's story to be the most interesting one in the whole lot. Batshit crazy, yes. But it's batshit crazy in a world where winter can last for years, so I'm not finding it difficult to suspend disbelief. And the reveal of how they manage the face-changing disguises is amazing/horrifying.
Loved it! But no mention of how batshit crazy Bran or Arya's stories are getting? Those are the silliest parts for me now
That is my fear now....he needs to pull hard on the different threads of his story in the next book to bring everyone back to westeros...and it will feel rushed. sadly...the fourth and fifth books created a deep hole of nothing-muchness that is weighting down the series.
Nerd news, humor and self-loathing. Edited by Luke Y. Thompson
