Since the new book is out and I have some free time I finally decided to start on the fourth book. I'm about a third of the way in and find myself ... bored? Did anyone else feel this way? Minor spoilers: Spoiler It seems to me that Martin's women are all very single minded, a bit delusional and, to me, very boring. Sansa, Brienne and Cersei all feel like that. It's not like what happens around them is not interesting, but the way they're are presented makes me care for them and therefore the events surrounding them a lot less. And proportionally, at least so far, it seems most of the book is centered around them. Is Martin just not that great at writing feminine characters or is this a case of 'culturally correct' characters? Then again, Arya and Daenerys are great. The chapters of characters I'm truly interested in are few and far in between.
Keep going. By the end of aDwD you'll be fiending for the next book. aFfC and the first part of aDwD are slow, especially compared to aSoS. Stick with it. The end of the latest one is worth the work.
Sticking with it is not really a question. I'll probably be rereading the series many times. Just wondering whether others feel the same about A Feast for Crows.
The answer is yes. I can't recall at the moment how I felt the first time I read Feast but the internet community surrounding the series has a large group that finds Feast very slow and plodding. So you're definitely not alone.
Not a heavy spoiler, but in response to some commentary about feast v ADWD. Spoiler I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed by AFOC. It focused almost entirely on characters I didn't care about. Meanwhile, all this shit is going down with the other characters you don't get to see. Then, the hiatus, and some interviews with GRRM about how he wasn't sure he could put out ADWD without letting down his fans, made me pretty nervous about picking up ADWD. However, it's a huge return to form. Chapter after glorious chapter of Jon, Tyrion, etc. AFOC is basically the boiled brussel sprouts you have to eat before you get to the delicious, nourishing bourbon and coke of ADWD.
I'm going to create a new thread for discussion of the entire series that will be full of spoilers so we don't have to dick around with the tags any more. Leave this thread to discussion of the television series.
There's one thing bothering me, hopefully one of you can help me out with it. In the book, I remember Drogo's wound gets infected because (the witch says) he refuses to leave whatever she tried to heal him with alone. As far as I remember, it's never stated clearly if she poisoned him, though I didn't get the feeling she did. In the show, with the way the witch spoke about her temple being burned and her people people, I got the impression she intended (and succeeded) at killing him. So what's the real deal? Did he end up dying from an infected wound or was he really poisoned?
Yes. It's not spelled out, but you can spread blame between Mirri Maz Du'ur and Nature. Mirri certainly claims the lions share of the blame vocally.
I'm about 200 pages into CoK and it's been slow so far. However, I'm guessing it will ramp up soon. Spoiler I'm still wondering about the story with Daenerys since they haven't mentioned anything yet. Easily the best story so far has been Tyrion as the Hand of the King. He definitely has some balls.
The first 400 pages of Clash of Kings is slow. It focuses on introducing a few new characters and getting people into position. Then around page 400, shit starts to get REAL.
I'm going to leave this here. Season 2 info. <a class="postlink" href="http://android.eonline.com/article?id=276123" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://android.eonline.com/article?id=276123</a>
Fucking youtube tags. Here, season 2 trailer: <a class="postlink" href="http://youtu.be/rOzXsqoJhtE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://youtu.be/rOzXsqoJhtE</a> Can't wait.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/cNLc5Nf9YxA[/youtube] Can't seem to get the embed to work, but here's a 2 minute trailer for the upcoming season.
I'm almost finished with the second book, and it's even better than the first. Thank god they made this into a series instead trying to cram the books into movies, and dido for HBO picking it up. I watched the first season immediately after finishing book 1. I don't watch a lot of tv, but this is the first show in a long time to get me instantly hooked. I hope they continue to be faithful instead of branching off. The source material is too good.
I'm in the same boat. I'm almost finished with the second book as well. I read this last night, and I really hope they make the following scene in this season. Spoiler Danaerys walking through the warlock house (of shadows I think) in Qarth. Holy. Fucking. Shit. That was weird as hell. It would take some time and real effort, but that'd be very cool if they put it in this season. I haven't read far past it (to Dany's next chapter) so I'm not sure how much impact this has on her story line.
Big deal for the rest of the series. Prophecies and visions that people are still speculating over and trying to decipher. Pay attention to what they say. The prophecies sound vague and opaque but they will make more sense the further you get.