ADwD Thoughts
Finished it last night, but I wasn't really up to doing a big post on it. So here you go! Contains a bit of angry fangirl ranting, just to warn you.
I know what you're all probably eager to know my opinion on, but before we get to that I'm gonna get the rest out of the way.
Going into this book, I was excited for Dany, Quentyn & Tyrion. I was also kinda looking forward to Theon & Mel's chapters due to some weird morbid curiosity. I was not very excited about Jon, Bran & Davos. I generally find all their chaps boring.
I was pleasantly surprised when that was not the case. These books are taking forever, though! All in all, I don't feel like much really happened in this one. I started to get frustrated w/ the endless journeying & not arriving at destinations.
I've always thought of Davos's chaps as some of the most boring in the series, but I wasn't bored this time. I'm kind of excited for him to go hunting for Rickon on Skagos. Also, I love that Wyman Manderly is secretly badass! Hell yeah!
As for Bran, OMG BLOODRAVEN IS THE 3 EYED CROW!!!!!!!!! Didn't see that one coming. I squeed about that for a while after I read it. Congrats, Bran! Your chaps no longer bore the hell out of me!
I actually found myself liking Jon in this book! I enjoyed his chapters! He really dropped a lot of the emo (Tyrion picked it up), which was greatly appreciated. I think he made some good choices regarding the Wildlings. The NW is short on men, the Wildlings are there & if they stay beyond the Wall the Others could very well turn them all into a big army of wights. As for his death... I kinda saw the betrayal coming. I'm not convinced he's really dead since he's a pretty major character, but it would be like GRRM to kill him just when I started to like him. I'm guessing either he'll live on as Ghost or Mel will resurrect him. I'm leaning toward the latter.
Ramsay's letter? I say trap. He could have Mance, but if they actually fought Stannis wouldn't they have found Theon & Jeyne? I doubt they could've gotten too far in their condition during a huge blizzard. He probably wants to kill Jon to eliminate any competition for Winterfell.
& while we're on the subject of Ramsay, I totally had a flashback to Darsanga in the Reek chapters. It seemed pretty obvious to me that he raped Theon, & it seems like he castrated him too. I was never that much of a Theon fan before- I did feel a bit of sympathy for him but I still thought he was an ass. Seeing him completely broken just made me want to cry. I cheered when he started to recover & was no longer Reek.
Weird little side note: I kinda enjoyed his conversation w/ Roose. IMO he's the creepiest character in the whole series, but kind of morbidly fascinating at the same time.
Moving on to other creepy characters, I was actually looking forward to Mel's chaps & was disappointed that she only got one. I really disliked her, but I thought it'd be interesting to get inside her head. I admit she kinda rose in my regard during this book. Ghost seemed to like her, although that could've been some spell I suppose.
Moving on. I enjoyed Tyrion's chaps for the events in them & the locations they visited. I really enjoyed seeing the Rhoyne & Nymeria's city!! But as the journey dragged on, I wanted him to just get to Meereen already! His constant brooding over Shae, Tysha & killing his father annoyed the hell out of me. I think I've found where Jon's emo went! & joking about raping Cersei? Wtf NOT COOL TYRION. He's a favorite of mine but I'm really worried for him. Also I'm kinda shipping Tyrion/Penny now DON'T JUDGE ME.
Dany. She's one of my favorite characters in the entire series, but she really pissed me off in this book. She made so many bad choices! Her constantly mooning over Daario really irritated me; it was so obviously All Girls Want Bad Boys. Where is the smart, tough, strong Dany I love? She was forgetting who she was & showed little interest in going to Westeros. Btw, I kind of love that it actually got lampshaded in her last chap & couldn't help but picture the Mufasa in the clouds scene from the Lion King. Her riding Drogon was pretty awesome, though. Her last chapter was pretty wtf... Here's hoping Awesome Dany will be back in the next book!
Barristan is a fucking BAMF. We already knew that, but his chaps just increased his awesomeness.
"Aegon" & Griff. First off, I don't think that's the real Aegon. I think he's the Mummer's Dragon that's been mentioned. a fake!Aegon appearing was one of my big predictions for this book. However, I kind of like Griff/Jon Connington. I am shipping him & Rhaegar like Fed Ex right now, & I don't even like Rhaegar! Apparently GRRM confirmed that he was indeed in love w/ Rhaegar, which makes me quite happy. This needs to be fic. *clings to new ship since Dany/Quentyn was literally KILLED IN A FIRE.*
Jon Connington/Rhaegar is the new Delaunay/Rolande. You know it's true
& now, the Martells.
A few years ago. GRRM said that Martellfen would be very pleased by coming events. After reading this book, I'm left thinking either he flat-out lied or this refers to things that will happen in the next books.
Let's start w/ Quentyn, shall we?
I was a little disappointed that he wasn't like what I'd hoped for (a combination of Doran's personality & Oberyn's sex appeal, also really hot) but I still liked him. I like all the Martells. He was so adorkable. He did not become a favorite, however- that honor goes to Oberyn & Doran.
Many of you who've known me for a while know that some of my biggest hopes were that Dany/Quentyn would happen & he would become a dragonrider. When he decided to attempt it, I got excited but told myself not to get my hopes up too much. Since Quentyn had some Targ blood I thought maybe the dragons would respond to that. Boy, did GRRM smack me down hard. Silly, naive little Martell fangirl. I'm very upset about his horrible death, & a bit angry too. Why make him a full POV & then kill him in the same book he's introduced in? I'm just gonna assume that something that happened in his chaps will be important & GRRM couldn't have shown it through any other character. Otherwise it makes no sense. There were indications that he was gonna be important- he's even mentioned on the fucking book jacket blurb!
Congrats GRRM, you finally got me to cry! I've come close before, but this did it. My heart seriously aches for Doran. His sister, his niece, his nephew & his brother are dead, his wife left him & now his son's dead too. I know they can still have their revenge w/o Quentyn, but I'm still upset. *is seriously tempted to write fix-it fic*
Ok, done with the angry fangirl ranting. I loved the Areo chapter, & now after what happened to Quentyn I'm clinging to it fiercely. We got Mama Bear!Ellaria, who seems to have a good relationship w/ Doran! We have Arianne & Doran working together to great effect. I love how she defends him to the Sand Snakes. They were awesome too. I love how they are now finally working for Doran! Nym in KL should be awesome, & Tyene's gonna spy on the Faith! Also, Doran himself continued to be awesome. I love how he compared Oberyn to a viper & himself to the grass that hides the viper. EPIC.
I'm just gonna focus on Sand Snakes unleashed upon KL.
I know what you're all probably eager to know my opinion on, but before we get to that I'm gonna get the rest out of the way.
Going into this book, I was excited for Dany, Quentyn & Tyrion. I was also kinda looking forward to Theon & Mel's chapters due to some weird morbid curiosity. I was not very excited about Jon, Bran & Davos. I generally find all their chaps boring.
I was pleasantly surprised when that was not the case. These books are taking forever, though! All in all, I don't feel like much really happened in this one. I started to get frustrated w/ the endless journeying & not arriving at destinations.
I've always thought of Davos's chaps as some of the most boring in the series, but I wasn't bored this time. I'm kind of excited for him to go hunting for Rickon on Skagos. Also, I love that Wyman Manderly is secretly badass! Hell yeah!
As for Bran, OMG BLOODRAVEN IS THE 3 EYED CROW!!!!!!!!! Didn't see that one coming. I squeed about that for a while after I read it. Congrats, Bran! Your chaps no longer bore the hell out of me!
I actually found myself liking Jon in this book! I enjoyed his chapters! He really dropped a lot of the emo (Tyrion picked it up), which was greatly appreciated. I think he made some good choices regarding the Wildlings. The NW is short on men, the Wildlings are there & if they stay beyond the Wall the Others could very well turn them all into a big army of wights. As for his death... I kinda saw the betrayal coming. I'm not convinced he's really dead since he's a pretty major character, but it would be like GRRM to kill him just when I started to like him. I'm guessing either he'll live on as Ghost or Mel will resurrect him. I'm leaning toward the latter.
Ramsay's letter? I say trap. He could have Mance, but if they actually fought Stannis wouldn't they have found Theon & Jeyne? I doubt they could've gotten too far in their condition during a huge blizzard. He probably wants to kill Jon to eliminate any competition for Winterfell.
& while we're on the subject of Ramsay, I totally had a flashback to Darsanga in the Reek chapters. It seemed pretty obvious to me that he raped Theon, & it seems like he castrated him too. I was never that much of a Theon fan before- I did feel a bit of sympathy for him but I still thought he was an ass. Seeing him completely broken just made me want to cry. I cheered when he started to recover & was no longer Reek.
Weird little side note: I kinda enjoyed his conversation w/ Roose. IMO he's the creepiest character in the whole series, but kind of morbidly fascinating at the same time.
Moving on to other creepy characters, I was actually looking forward to Mel's chaps & was disappointed that she only got one. I really disliked her, but I thought it'd be interesting to get inside her head. I admit she kinda rose in my regard during this book. Ghost seemed to like her, although that could've been some spell I suppose.
Moving on. I enjoyed Tyrion's chaps for the events in them & the locations they visited. I really enjoyed seeing the Rhoyne & Nymeria's city!! But as the journey dragged on, I wanted him to just get to Meereen already! His constant brooding over Shae, Tysha & killing his father annoyed the hell out of me. I think I've found where Jon's emo went! & joking about raping Cersei? Wtf NOT COOL TYRION. He's a favorite of mine but I'm really worried for him. Also I'm kinda shipping Tyrion/Penny now DON'T JUDGE ME.
Dany. She's one of my favorite characters in the entire series, but she really pissed me off in this book. She made so many bad choices! Her constantly mooning over Daario really irritated me; it was so obviously All Girls Want Bad Boys. Where is the smart, tough, strong Dany I love? She was forgetting who she was & showed little interest in going to Westeros. Btw, I kind of love that it actually got lampshaded in her last chap & couldn't help but picture the Mufasa in the clouds scene from the Lion King. Her riding Drogon was pretty awesome, though. Her last chapter was pretty wtf... Here's hoping Awesome Dany will be back in the next book!
Barristan is a fucking BAMF. We already knew that, but his chaps just increased his awesomeness.
"Aegon" & Griff. First off, I don't think that's the real Aegon. I think he's the Mummer's Dragon that's been mentioned. a fake!Aegon appearing was one of my big predictions for this book. However, I kind of like Griff/Jon Connington. I am shipping him & Rhaegar like Fed Ex right now, & I don't even like Rhaegar! Apparently GRRM confirmed that he was indeed in love w/ Rhaegar, which makes me quite happy. This needs to be fic. *clings to new ship since Dany/Quentyn was literally KILLED IN A FIRE.*
Jon Connington/Rhaegar is the new Delaunay/Rolande. You know it's true
& now, the Martells.
A few years ago. GRRM said that Martellfen would be very pleased by coming events. After reading this book, I'm left thinking either he flat-out lied or this refers to things that will happen in the next books.
Let's start w/ Quentyn, shall we?
I was a little disappointed that he wasn't like what I'd hoped for (a combination of Doran's personality & Oberyn's sex appeal, also really hot) but I still liked him. I like all the Martells. He was so adorkable. He did not become a favorite, however- that honor goes to Oberyn & Doran.
Many of you who've known me for a while know that some of my biggest hopes were that Dany/Quentyn would happen & he would become a dragonrider. When he decided to attempt it, I got excited but told myself not to get my hopes up too much. Since Quentyn had some Targ blood I thought maybe the dragons would respond to that. Boy, did GRRM smack me down hard. Silly, naive little Martell fangirl. I'm very upset about his horrible death, & a bit angry too. Why make him a full POV & then kill him in the same book he's introduced in? I'm just gonna assume that something that happened in his chaps will be important & GRRM couldn't have shown it through any other character. Otherwise it makes no sense. There were indications that he was gonna be important- he's even mentioned on the fucking book jacket blurb!
Congrats GRRM, you finally got me to cry! I've come close before, but this did it. My heart seriously aches for Doran. His sister, his niece, his nephew & his brother are dead, his wife left him & now his son's dead too. I know they can still have their revenge w/o Quentyn, but I'm still upset. *is seriously tempted to write fix-it fic*
Ok, done with the angry fangirl ranting. I loved the Areo chapter, & now after what happened to Quentyn I'm clinging to it fiercely. We got Mama Bear!Ellaria, who seems to have a good relationship w/ Doran! We have Arianne & Doran working together to great effect. I love how she defends him to the Sand Snakes. They were awesome too. I love how they are now finally working for Doran! Nym in KL should be awesome, & Tyene's gonna spy on the Faith! Also, Doran himself continued to be awesome. I love how he compared Oberyn to a viper & himself to the grass that hides the viper. EPIC.
I'm just gonna focus on Sand Snakes unleashed upon KL.