Official spoilerific discussion of A Dance With Dragons, the fifth book of George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire.
WARNING: This thread will contain massive spoilers for ALL FIVE BOOKS in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.
Last edited by Evil Agent; August 6th, 2011 at 11:45 PM.
I'm locking this thread until the actual publication day.
Thread opened, have at it folks!
It was such a great feeling to wake up this morning, knowing that the DANCE was waiting!
I made my way to the bookstore, and picked up my reserved copy. The seller had a slightly baffled look on his face, and said "They're selling like hot cakes!" I asked how many they had, he said "Only thirty. Not nearly enough." Glad I reserved mine!
It was also really cool to see the dedication to the fans. Werthead got a mention, as well as Winter and FaBio over at winter-is-coming.net.
I think I'll be taking my time with this one, to enjoy every page. The prologue and first chapter were really cool, and I want to make the book last. Luckily, I'm a slow reader these days. I assume it will take me a few weeks to get through. I'll be back to post when I'm done.
Back to the dance...
I know what you mean EA - I plowed through the first four with no concept that the series did not conclude with Crows. I am gonna take my time, savour each POV, really make sure I get what is going on. I just reread the first four but already there are things I am struggling to remember, especially with Dany b/c she was not realy in AFFC. I have just come to the first new POV and it is giving me the impression so much of this book is focused on Dany's story, or folks making their way to her. So much damn fun.
Werthead's summaries over at the Wertzone look really helpful. I'm trying to convince my friend to look at them, because he read the series 5 years ago and seems to have forgotten everything! But he's being stubborn, and insists on diving straight into Book 5.
Loved the first Tyrion chapter. The part where they stuffed him into a barrel had me laughing. Possible homage to The Hobbit?
I'm on to the first Bran chapter. This is also the first chapter that was not posted as a preview (unlike the first Tyrion/Dany/Jon chapters which GRRM posted on his website many years ago). So excited!
Just bought it, humming with anticipation. I notice our very own Wert seems to have gotten onto the dedications page! Top work, old son.
All the first povs have been new to me as I resisted them. Nice thought on the possible Hobbit nod there EA. Poor Tyrion. I am really intrigued about how things will play out in Mereen. I think I am gonna go and get my book.
I also noticed for the first time that one of the castles at the Wall is called Oakenshield. Definitely a Hobbit reference!Originally Posted by Daddy Darth
Not really a big fan of the series. It's too verbose for my tastes. As I was reading, I kept thinking to myself, "Get to the damn point!" But I digress. I went to B&N today, and man . . . that new book has a nice cover. I was also happy to see, on the back flap, a nod to my favorite book of all time: T.H. White's THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING.
I am 55 percent through according to my Kindle. Some of my favorite scenes in the series deal with mysteries of the past. I just finished a Theon chapter (and oh my how Ramsay makes me shudder) where Lady Dustin adds new perspective to past events when she explains her love/hate relationship with the Starks.
Things to look out for:
1) The ingredients to Lord Manderly's pie.
2) Theon having a slight impediment which isn't spelt out.
3) Melisandre getting an answer to her question from her R'hllor flame spell and completely missing it.
4) The name of a ship and where you might have heard it before (in the same book).
Is it bad that I caught Theon's slight impediment and missed the rest? Though in hindsight, I guess I kind of understand what Melisandre saw now.
I'm not good at ship names.
I want to add some. These may or may not be important:
1. An apparent logical disconnect in something said to Bran at the end of one of his chapters.
2. An ironic end to a minor character.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. And the second one isn't all that great.
I just finished the book. The writing is superb as usual, but I'm more then a little disappointed with the story. Allow me to quote from a review:
"Instead Martin breaks off the book on a series of titanic cliffhangers that dwarf anything seen previously, and only a few story threads find any sense of resolution."
(Massive spoiler ahead, don't read if you haven't finished the book)
Spoiler:
And as for Daenerys, I so anticipated on a dragon-invasion, yet at the end her Dornish prince is dead, possible her lover and bloodguard too, her dragons are not under her control and she's all but captured by Khal Jhaqo and thus even further away from Westeros.
According to the letter from Ramsay Bolten, Stannis is dead as well. As Jon says, there's too much truth in that letter to toss it away without further thought.
And to finish it all, one of the only 'good' Lannisters, Ser Kevan, gets murdered in the epilogue, resulting in even more chaos. Why him and not Bolten?
The only people I found some satisfaction with are Arya and the Ironborn. Here's hoping Theon is still alive...
This book gave me a bad aftertaste and knowing that I have to wait 5 years to know what happened does not help at all.
Last edited by Kazhan; July 16th, 2011 at 02:51 AM.
The story is the most important element to me, more than the characters, this is the most disappointing book I've read, partially cause of high expectations.
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