![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A Dance With Dragons
Aug. 9th, 2013 01:44 pmI just finished reading A Dance With Dragons, the fifth and final currently available book in the A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones books. I am super excited that I can now read fic and meta without getting spoiled any more! (If anyone has recs, that would be awesome.) First, my non-spoilery thoughts, then spoilers behind a cut.
-So far, the ASoIaF books seem to follow a reverse pattern to the original cast Star Trek movies in that the odd numbered ones have been much better than the even, IMHO.
-Dolorous Edd is the best. There's this great non-spoilery conversation that I think pretty well sums up Westeros:
Dolorous Edd: "This is going to end badly."
Jon Snow: "You say that of everything."
Dolorous Edd: "Aye, m'lord. Usually I'm right."
-I'm not one of those entitled jerks who demands that George R. R. Martin spend 14 hours a day at his computer typing constantly. I prefer quality over speed, and I fully understand that writing a big project often involves taking breaks. That said, is it time for The Winds of Winter yet? How about tomorrow? Next week? Oh fuck.
OK, I'm in Sherlock fandom, I can do this waiting thing. It's already been about two years since ADWD came out, so maybe another year and a bit is a reasonable hope? *looks up publication dates of previous books* There were SIX years between books 4 and 5? Pardon me while I collapse in the corner and sob.
Spoiler Time!
-Jon Snoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow! Multiple stab wounds = very, very bad. It's possible he's dead. However, the fact that his stabbing was the last we saw of the Wall in this book means that his death is not confirmed. Among other factors, Melisandre was close by and seems to want him alive. While she is creepy as fuck, she also has magic that might make a difference. I really hope it doesn't come to him being brought back to a state of not-quite-alive like Beric Dondarrion and Lady Stoneheart.
-Surprise bonus Targaryen!!! Wow, I definitely didn't see that coming. Young Aegon seems a good lad, but his existence sort of causes problems for Daenerys's claim to the throne of Westeros, doesn't it? He also seems very intent on proving himself in battle. I predict an upsetting death!
-Daenerys honey, I love you, and I think you are a Grade A Badass, but you don't always make the best choices, do you? How was chaining the dragons up in the basement a plan? Did you expect to be able to keep them there forever, and if so what did you think would happen to your people's perception of your power? Why not attempt to train and help them out with carefully supervised interactions with other people so they know not to eat any more children instead of traumatically chaining two dragons up, having one get away, and letting them all get increasingly feral? (Still, at least your choice to chain up dragons had more logic to it than Quentyn's choice to try to abscond with them. Seriously, how could anyone think that would work?) As for the situation within Meereen and the threat from outside, there were no really good choices in this messy situation, but I don't think marrying what's-his-face was the best of your bad options. Even if he hadn't turned out to be possibly murderous, the sad thing is that in a patriarchal society marrying a man is bound to reduce your power in favor of his.
So that wasn't great, but then you walked right up to Drogon when he was in the middle of a rampage and rode him into the sky, like a boss. MY KHALEESI. I LOVE YOU SO. Then it's time for a bit of a wander in the wilderness. Sure, why not? I don't know where we go from here, and the situation back with Ser Barristan in Meereen is not at all good, but Dragonrider Dany is such a huge leap forward.
(I very much appreciate that here we have a fantasy novel where politics aren't easy, where coming in as the glorious conqueror and changing the barbaric local laws doesn't automatically fix everything and can in fact lead to some pretty awful unintended consequences, but damn, I want that girl to succeeed.)
-Tyrion: that scene in the Sorrows with the mists and the stone men was creepy as hell. Excellent writing there. As for the rest, it's interesting to see how Tyrion gets by without the privileges of status and money. For someone raised in one of the most powerful houses of Westeros, Tyrion is remarkably adaptable. I don't know whether to be amused or frustrated that he got so close to Daenerys without actually getting to meet her, although she did save his life with her refusal to let the lions be loosed.
-Brienne is alive! She met up with Jaime, and then NO MORE INFORMATION????? Goddammit Martin. Maybe Brienne and Jaime can get Lady Stoneheart to refrain from killing Jaime by bringing her the head of Walder Frey?
-I hate that despite all the genuinely repugnant things Cersei has done, the thing that has so far earned her punishment is consensual sex, and not even the incestual sex with Jaime because that's unproven in the eyes of the law. She is a terrible ruler and a worse human being, but her fucking of Lancel and the Kettleblacks woudn't be a big deal if it weren't for the damn patriarchy. Screw that. I wish her punishment were (a) directed at the fact that she sends innocent people to painful death and (b) not so sexualized. Anyway, now she apparently has a Frankenstein knight?
-Theon Greyjoy is a selfish, honorless, petty, idiotic, savage, ungrateful, boneheaded murderer of children (and not even the relevant children, which somehow pisses me off even more). I loathe him. He deserves to die; he does not deserve Ramsay Bolton. No one deserves Ramsay Bolton, with the possible exceptions of the Mountain (who is already dead) and Walder Frey. (Joffrey almost made that list, but he gets 1% slack for the fact that he was still really young and also raised by Cersei.) I think the character of Ramsay is too over the top evil; he's less interesting than the series' more nuanced villains. I guess Martin might have reasoned that it takes a character that improbably monstrous to make a useless pile of puss like Theon look comparatively sympathetic. I still loathe Theon, but I am glad that he's away from Ramsay and gladder that he helped the wildling women get Jeyne Poole away too. He and Jeyne may well die in the snowy woods with Stannis, but that is infinitely preferable to a long life with Ramsay.
-Asha Greyjoy is the only Greyjoy whose name in a chapter heading doesn't make me groan in disappointment. She is awesome.
-I didn't think that Davos's reported execution in A Feast for Crows was likely to be real, and I'm glad to see my suspicions proven right! Hooray for Lord Wyman Manderley! I am anxious to see when/how Manderley goes public with his opposition to the Boltons and Freys. (And yeah, thanks to some spoilers I'd seen prior to the book I caught that he seems to have served up Frey pie to the Freys and Boltons at Winterfell, though I am interested to see if this will ever be confirmed. And he ate it himself, wtf?)
-I still adore Arya, but considered objectively she is fucking scary. She has seen so much death that she has decided to become it. I have no clue how (if?) her story is going to get re-integrated with the rest of the characters. Oh well. I still look forward to every chapter with my precious deadly assassin child.
-So now that winter has officially arrived, do the Starks have to temporarily change their house words? "Winter is coming" doesn't make as much sense when it is currently winter. My proposals:
"We told you so."
"Winter done came."
Or simply "WINTER."
-There were dragons in this book, and there was dancing, but I don't think anybody actually danced with the dragons. FALSE ADVERTISING.
There are entire important characters I haven't yet mentioned, but this entry has gone on long enough.
-So far, the ASoIaF books seem to follow a reverse pattern to the original cast Star Trek movies in that the odd numbered ones have been much better than the even, IMHO.
-Dolorous Edd is the best. There's this great non-spoilery conversation that I think pretty well sums up Westeros:
Dolorous Edd: "This is going to end badly."
Jon Snow: "You say that of everything."
Dolorous Edd: "Aye, m'lord. Usually I'm right."
-I'm not one of those entitled jerks who demands that George R. R. Martin spend 14 hours a day at his computer typing constantly. I prefer quality over speed, and I fully understand that writing a big project often involves taking breaks. That said, is it time for The Winds of Winter yet? How about tomorrow? Next week? Oh fuck.
OK, I'm in Sherlock fandom, I can do this waiting thing. It's already been about two years since ADWD came out, so maybe another year and a bit is a reasonable hope? *looks up publication dates of previous books* There were SIX years between books 4 and 5? Pardon me while I collapse in the corner and sob.
Spoiler Time!
-Surprise bonus Targaryen!!! Wow, I definitely didn't see that coming. Young Aegon seems a good lad, but his existence sort of causes problems for Daenerys's claim to the throne of Westeros, doesn't it? He also seems very intent on proving himself in battle. I predict an upsetting death!
-Daenerys honey, I love you, and I think you are a Grade A Badass, but you don't always make the best choices, do you? How was chaining the dragons up in the basement a plan? Did you expect to be able to keep them there forever, and if so what did you think would happen to your people's perception of your power? Why not attempt to train and help them out with carefully supervised interactions with other people so they know not to eat any more children instead of traumatically chaining two dragons up, having one get away, and letting them all get increasingly feral? (Still, at least your choice to chain up dragons had more logic to it than Quentyn's choice to try to abscond with them. Seriously, how could anyone think that would work?) As for the situation within Meereen and the threat from outside, there were no really good choices in this messy situation, but I don't think marrying what's-his-face was the best of your bad options. Even if he hadn't turned out to be possibly murderous, the sad thing is that in a patriarchal society marrying a man is bound to reduce your power in favor of his.
So that wasn't great, but then you walked right up to Drogon when he was in the middle of a rampage and rode him into the sky, like a boss. MY KHALEESI. I LOVE YOU SO. Then it's time for a bit of a wander in the wilderness. Sure, why not? I don't know where we go from here, and the situation back with Ser Barristan in Meereen is not at all good, but Dragonrider Dany is such a huge leap forward.
(I very much appreciate that here we have a fantasy novel where politics aren't easy, where coming in as the glorious conqueror and changing the barbaric local laws doesn't automatically fix everything and can in fact lead to some pretty awful unintended consequences, but damn, I want that girl to succeeed.)
-Tyrion: that scene in the Sorrows with the mists and the stone men was creepy as hell. Excellent writing there. As for the rest, it's interesting to see how Tyrion gets by without the privileges of status and money. For someone raised in one of the most powerful houses of Westeros, Tyrion is remarkably adaptable. I don't know whether to be amused or frustrated that he got so close to Daenerys without actually getting to meet her, although she did save his life with her refusal to let the lions be loosed.
-Brienne is alive! She met up with Jaime, and then NO MORE INFORMATION????? Goddammit Martin. Maybe Brienne and Jaime can get Lady Stoneheart to refrain from killing Jaime by bringing her the head of Walder Frey?
-I hate that despite all the genuinely repugnant things Cersei has done, the thing that has so far earned her punishment is consensual sex, and not even the incestual sex with Jaime because that's unproven in the eyes of the law. She is a terrible ruler and a worse human being, but her fucking of Lancel and the Kettleblacks woudn't be a big deal if it weren't for the damn patriarchy. Screw that. I wish her punishment were (a) directed at the fact that she sends innocent people to painful death and (b) not so sexualized. Anyway, now she apparently has a Frankenstein knight?
-Theon Greyjoy is a selfish, honorless, petty, idiotic, savage, ungrateful, boneheaded murderer of children (and not even the relevant children, which somehow pisses me off even more). I loathe him. He deserves to die; he does not deserve Ramsay Bolton. No one deserves Ramsay Bolton, with the possible exceptions of the Mountain (who is already dead) and Walder Frey. (Joffrey almost made that list, but he gets 1% slack for the fact that he was still really young and also raised by Cersei.) I think the character of Ramsay is too over the top evil; he's less interesting than the series' more nuanced villains. I guess Martin might have reasoned that it takes a character that improbably monstrous to make a useless pile of puss like Theon look comparatively sympathetic. I still loathe Theon, but I am glad that he's away from Ramsay and gladder that he helped the wildling women get Jeyne Poole away too. He and Jeyne may well die in the snowy woods with Stannis, but that is infinitely preferable to a long life with Ramsay.
-Asha Greyjoy is the only Greyjoy whose name in a chapter heading doesn't make me groan in disappointment. She is awesome.
-I didn't think that Davos's reported execution in A Feast for Crows was likely to be real, and I'm glad to see my suspicions proven right! Hooray for Lord Wyman Manderley! I am anxious to see when/how Manderley goes public with his opposition to the Boltons and Freys. (And yeah, thanks to some spoilers I'd seen prior to the book I caught that he seems to have served up Frey pie to the Freys and Boltons at Winterfell, though I am interested to see if this will ever be confirmed. And he ate it himself, wtf?)
-I still adore Arya, but considered objectively she is fucking scary. She has seen so much death that she has decided to become it. I have no clue how (if?) her story is going to get re-integrated with the rest of the characters. Oh well. I still look forward to every chapter with my precious deadly assassin child.
-So now that winter has officially arrived, do the Starks have to temporarily change their house words? "Winter is coming" doesn't make as much sense when it is currently winter. My proposals:
"We told you so."
"Winter done came."
Or simply "WINTER."
-There were dragons in this book, and there was dancing, but I don't think anybody actually danced with the dragons. FALSE ADVERTISING.
There are entire important characters I haven't yet mentioned, but this entry has gone on long enough.
