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Otakon in three days. I gotta find me a ride to the airport.
And just because here are my thoughts on the 5th instalment of Game of Thrones. A Dance with Dragons.
Oh Dany. Daneary's entire story arc in this book was basically a recap of what GRRM had always said about how Robert Baratheon was good at claiming the throne, but not so much at ruling it. That final "You do not plant trees" line in her last chapter only re-enforced that idea. She is not a ruler. She is a conqueror.
Dany's one of my favorite character's in the story and it's been great to see her grown for a scared child who's pimped out by her brother, to a woman who uses her dragons to take down an entire city, but I too was very aggravated by chapter after chapter of Dany having no clue how to run a fucking city, marrying a jack-ass in hope of keeping the peace and lusting after a bad-boy.
I do however believe that GRRM wrote these chapters of Dany being an utterly shitty ruler and putting away the one thing that gave her power (the dragons), intentionally. He's always been good at writing flawed characters. I remember hating Sansa in A Game of Thrones and by A Storm of Swords, I was cheering for her when she was finally able to escape Joffery.
Dany throwing off her chiton- sorry torka and flying away with Drogon made it worth enduring the chapters though.
HOWEVER, I feel cheated because I really thought A Dance with Dragons would be about her training her dragons and getting her ducks-, well dragons in a row to fly off to Westeros and now that she's half-mad with hunger and shitting herself and back in Dothraki territory, I fear we won't even get that much in Winds of Winter. (I'm not sure if her final chapter meant that she's going insane because of her Targ gene's, or because she's out in the wilderness half-starving and sick from drinking unclean water. We shall see.)
As for other characters, for all the 'hurr durr rape and lemoncakes finish the book fat man', GRRM has a great knack for writing characters. Not just in terms of their grown or development but his ability to take characters you once hated, and turn them into people you root for to pull through.
I couldn't stand Jaime or The Hound in the first book and by book three they were some of my favorite characters.
So of course the Theon chapters were my favorite chapters and it was great to see him go from an utterly destroyed and broken man that his own sister didn't recognize to someone who was able to risk his life to save poor Jeyne Poole. The name progression to 'Theon' in the final chapter made me smile.
Tyrion I was just bored with. The first half is him drowning in booze, whores and his own self pity and I thought things would get exciting again once he meets Ser Jorah, but then we get stuck with Penny and the realization that (Gasp) Tyrion actually didn't have it half bad compared to the lives of commoner little people. I guess it's suppose to be an eye-opener and a lesson in humility for him, but it dragged on almost as badly as Dany's chapters did. Oh, and do you remember how Tyrion killed Tywin and he shat all over the place as he died? Well just in case you totally forget, GRRM will be happy to remind you. ... every time we get a Tyrion pov.
Arya's chapters I liked, but I feel like her time training with the faceless men needs to come to an end. Obviously, she's not gonna live out the rest of her days with them, so the likely next step will be getting her to where the rest of the action is.
I found Cersei's walk of shame to be fantastically written, though unlike Jamie, The Hound and Theon I still have little sympathy for her in spite of her utter humiliation and complete break-down. Her walk has gotten a lot of controversy from readers because of how degrading it was, but one, clearly these people skipped over every chapter labeled 'Reek', and two, even GRRM in an interview says outright that the walk was a punishment that was never inflicted on men. I think GRRM is a dirty old man, but I really don't think he's a misogynist. He's just writing a story that takes place in a very misogynistic world.
Yes, some of his women have been treated awfully, and some have actually fared far better then some of the guys he's written.
I for the love of me could not get into Jon Snow's chapters. I've never liked him as much as everyone else has and even when the Watch stabbed him to death, I only figured that he's "dead" the way Arya went "blind" and Brienne was "hanged".
Over all, I did find the book a good read. I feel like this and Feast for Crows were important for laying the foundations in the next step to take, so I think I'll be very satisfied with Winds of Winter when it comes out in ten years.
And just because here are my thoughts on the 5th instalment of Game of Thrones. A Dance with Dragons.
Oh Dany. Daneary's entire story arc in this book was basically a recap of what GRRM had always said about how Robert Baratheon was good at claiming the throne, but not so much at ruling it. That final "You do not plant trees" line in her last chapter only re-enforced that idea. She is not a ruler. She is a conqueror.
Dany's one of my favorite character's in the story and it's been great to see her grown for a scared child who's pimped out by her brother, to a woman who uses her dragons to take down an entire city, but I too was very aggravated by chapter after chapter of Dany having no clue how to run a fucking city, marrying a jack-ass in hope of keeping the peace and lusting after a bad-boy.
I do however believe that GRRM wrote these chapters of Dany being an utterly shitty ruler and putting away the one thing that gave her power (the dragons), intentionally. He's always been good at writing flawed characters. I remember hating Sansa in A Game of Thrones and by A Storm of Swords, I was cheering for her when she was finally able to escape Joffery.
Dany throwing off her chiton- sorry torka and flying away with Drogon made it worth enduring the chapters though.
HOWEVER, I feel cheated because I really thought A Dance with Dragons would be about her training her dragons and getting her ducks-, well dragons in a row to fly off to Westeros and now that she's half-mad with hunger and shitting herself and back in Dothraki territory, I fear we won't even get that much in Winds of Winter. (I'm not sure if her final chapter meant that she's going insane because of her Targ gene's, or because she's out in the wilderness half-starving and sick from drinking unclean water. We shall see.)
As for other characters, for all the 'hurr durr rape and lemoncakes finish the book fat man', GRRM has a great knack for writing characters. Not just in terms of their grown or development but his ability to take characters you once hated, and turn them into people you root for to pull through.
I couldn't stand Jaime or The Hound in the first book and by book three they were some of my favorite characters.
So of course the Theon chapters were my favorite chapters and it was great to see him go from an utterly destroyed and broken man that his own sister didn't recognize to someone who was able to risk his life to save poor Jeyne Poole. The name progression to 'Theon' in the final chapter made me smile.
Tyrion I was just bored with. The first half is him drowning in booze, whores and his own self pity and I thought things would get exciting again once he meets Ser Jorah, but then we get stuck with Penny and the realization that (Gasp) Tyrion actually didn't have it half bad compared to the lives of commoner little people. I guess it's suppose to be an eye-opener and a lesson in humility for him, but it dragged on almost as badly as Dany's chapters did. Oh, and do you remember how Tyrion killed Tywin and he shat all over the place as he died? Well just in case you totally forget, GRRM will be happy to remind you. ... every time we get a Tyrion pov.
Arya's chapters I liked, but I feel like her time training with the faceless men needs to come to an end. Obviously, she's not gonna live out the rest of her days with them, so the likely next step will be getting her to where the rest of the action is.
I found Cersei's walk of shame to be fantastically written, though unlike Jamie, The Hound and Theon I still have little sympathy for her in spite of her utter humiliation and complete break-down. Her walk has gotten a lot of controversy from readers because of how degrading it was, but one, clearly these people skipped over every chapter labeled 'Reek', and two, even GRRM in an interview says outright that the walk was a punishment that was never inflicted on men. I think GRRM is a dirty old man, but I really don't think he's a misogynist. He's just writing a story that takes place in a very misogynistic world.
Yes, some of his women have been treated awfully, and some have actually fared far better then some of the guys he's written.
I for the love of me could not get into Jon Snow's chapters. I've never liked him as much as everyone else has and even when the Watch stabbed him to death, I only figured that he's "dead" the way Arya went "blind" and Brienne was "hanged".
Over all, I did find the book a good read. I feel like this and Feast for Crows were important for laying the foundations in the next step to take, so I think I'll be very satisfied with Winds of Winter when it comes out in ten years.