The whole series is like the Cleveland Brown's game "Two Decades of Dignity".

No one wins. You just do a little better each time.

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I find myself rooting more and more for them.

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Finished.

Ugh.

I'll wait until more people finish to post all my thoughts, but I'd be pissed if I waited 6 years for this.

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Just finished. Not happy. Trying not to nerd rage...

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75% done and so far I like it. I am nervous about what happens though after reading the TP and jackref posts.

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Its not really "what" happens that bothers me Hank. I don't want to say anything else until you finish though. Once you finish I will feel more comfortable posting spoilers in this thread as I think me, you, and Peeps are really the only 3 paying attention here really.

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If you and Peeps need to vent, feel free. Just start your first post with a warning and I will steer clear of the thread until I finish the book.

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It's okay.

I've already flooded jackref's inbox with pm's by cracky about my feelings.

I'm cool waiting until you're finished.

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Aye. We nerd raged the other night. I feel better

I look forward to your thoughts on it when you finish.

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90% done. FUCK this author.

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Poor Hank...

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I'm ok with that part. At least I am pretty sure I know what you are talking aboot at 90%. Thats not the reason to be mad though my friend. As soon as you finish please put your thoughts here - I want to see if they paralleled mine.

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SPOILER ALERT: Please do not read my post if you havent finished.











Seriously



















Multiple issues....

I hate that he basically made up a brand new character out of the blue to take over. That is lazy writing, Aegon was dead, dont bring him back because you are running out of ideas.

I thought I was pissed about the Red Wedding, I am 5X more pissed off about Jon. Bullshit! Not like that man, not like that.

And suddenly Varys turns from the whisperer in the shadows to a killing machine. Dont build up a character into something and then change their whole persona liek that because you cant figure out a way to finish off this story.

I knew going in that Sansa wasnt going to be a part of this, but at this point her story is too fucking important to leave out.

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Yes the Aegon part is bullshit. Not happy about that at all. We knew Connington was over there but all of a sudden Aegon? Very weak.

Jon isn't dead. The Mel chapter foreshadowerd a bunch of things and the repeated kill the boy to be a man phrase has me confident he either never died or Mel brings him back as Azor Ahai. The whole scenario played out as orchestrated by Mel. Reread the Mel chapter and then the last Jon chapter.

Varys has been a mummer from the start - we don't know what his endgame is but he has taken on differnet personas pretty easily so I am not bothered by that. What I am bothered by is the last 150 pages was all this set up of everyone converging on Mereen and nothing fucking happened. NOTHING. Victarion and the Iron Fleet, Yunkai, sellswords, etc etc and nothing fucking happened. Biggest farce of an ending ever. Dany wandering aimlessly is how that book ended. WTMF Martin. That is what has me pissed off. This whole Mereenese knot garbage and that storyline barely progressed. It was 400 pages of nonsense. THAT is the bullshit of this book. All the Westeros stuff was great. Manderly being a shady bastard - Frey dying - Bolton being a sadist creep - Stannis being a dumb fuck - all awesome.

So yea I waited 11 years for another incomplete book. The next one better be out in a year because he doesn't have this "knot" holding him back anymore. Fucking tell the story already.

Rack me.

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What a second?!?! He blamed the Meeren storyline for why it took him 5 years??? Give me a break, that part should have written itself. I mean we got to see another Dornishman try to get into the story and be killed right away We get to see Selmy turn into a politician And we get to see Dany have her fucking period in a river.

I was so underwhelmed by that whole storyline that I never even had the thoughts to get mad about it.

The Varys thing really bothered me. He never got his hands dirty, he just played his games and weaved his web, now he is killing half the council himself.

I hope you are right about Jon. I could live with him dying but not like that. He has to go out with Longclaw in his hands.

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Poor Hank...

I don't think Jon is dead. He's either the third dragon or the reincarnation of Azor Ahai. Melisandre says she keeps looking in the fires for Azor Ahai but sees only Jon Snow. Put 2 and 2 together.

The Meereen stuff really sucks now. I put up with it in the hopes of some resolution within this book. But it was a completely useless storyline. Why should I learn about the old families and the Sons of Harpy? And now Dany will spend the next book as a prisoner of Khal Johqo.

Aegon pissed me off originally, but I'm willing to give it a chance and see what happens. I need to find out how all of the intrigue and deception from Varys and Illyerio happened along with the decision to hide Aegon.

just felt like a filler book.

Incidentally I saw GRRM at the Comic Con GoT panel and I was hoping someone would punch him in the nuts.

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I'm glad I didnt wait 5 years for this book. I will tell you that. If his next book takes another 5 years I will not be nearly as excited...

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Dont read unless finished.









I went back and re-read some of the Jon stuff and I think you guys are right, I certainly hope so anyway...
The more I think about this the more upset I am getting. After 5 years and a new 1000 page book, the story is nearly right where it was at the end of Feast. And nothing has been said about Sansa!!! WTF is the gameplan moving forward on this... Winterfell fucking belongs to her, time to get the Vale moving.

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Yep. Just way too much useless stuff. It's almost like King with the Dark Tower. GRRM seems to be afraid of closing out the story.

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Good Analogy with DT. Started out great and then the writer lost his way. King knew it was too big and he wrote himself into the story to say as much. Martin is lost right now, he might have had a plan at the beginning but now it is just the never ending story.

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If a fat troll with a doofy hat ends up on the Iron Throne, I'm gonna be pissed.

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The High Priest of Ice Martin Georges will make an apperance next book to battle Melisandre.

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Laugh now, but I won't be surprised.

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Finally.

This one took the longest to read. Several...several reasons. First, let me point out some things from that review that this thread started with:



I could not disagree more with this. This book, to me, was littered with fits and starts. EVERY time things got going, we wound up at court with Dany again. There are chapters that literally go nowhere. One more chapter? How about, maybe tomorrow I'll pick this book up and something will HAPPEN. There were 3 points in this book that I started to question my loyalty to the series.

Now, a lot of readers thought that way about "Feast". I thought "Feast" was at least entertaining. It was full of amusing little characters and backstabbing. Cersei vs. Margaery was entertaining. And it was about 300 pages shorter than this.




Was this reviewer paid by Martin's publicist? He's back? To what, running his readers in circles? Say what you want about JK Rowling, RR, she at least kept her pace with *her* seven books.

You've got a big audience. You have a TV show now. You have a fucking obligation to see this series through. ENOUGH ABOUT THE GODDAMN SLAVERS! Every time I got to her chapters, I rolled my eyes. Here we go again...and again...and again.

Now, I still overall think the book is well written and it's got plenty of Martin's signature style and his regular characters are given plenty of life to breathe. But good Lord did he have to include POV's for every one of these characters? The Kingbreaker, The Queen's Hand...it got out of hand toward the end of this book, when I was really hoping things would start to HAPPEN.

Then what did happen annoyed me more than upset me. Is Jon Snow dead? I can just feel fanboy nation crying out. Well, we don't know...we can only speculate...for God knows how long. I'm pretty sure that ref's got the right of it. Besides, there is a concensus that Snow and Dany represent Ice and Fire, so how can Snow just die?

I really believe when this series is all said and done, that this one will be one of the hardest to get through for a reader who is trying to get through them all at once. This was 3 bitches and a bastard, Martin? You said a mouthful. Did you try reading what you wrote before you sent it to the publisher?

The meandering is obnoxious. This really DID feel like filler. I just don't care enough about Dornish history I guess.

Things I did like...

obviously, Tyrion.

Selmy. I've always liked him. Tormund. And I love Val.

I think the Reek chapters were some of my favorite. This is classic Martin. He's the author equivalent to dog's nose shoved in shit. You don't like the smell? (reek reek it rhymes with bleak) KEEP READING, ASSHOLE. I like that about him. And, it makes you really torn about how you feel about Theon.

So, this book was tough. It took me 7 weeks to finish reading. It was about as long as "Storm" and it took me 2 weeks longer to finish reading.

I think Martin better have a manuscript ready in the next year or so though...because now the clock is ticking if the HBO show continues. And it's time to get the story moving again. Books 4 and 5 were enough stand still. We need another "Storm"...the drought is a wasteland.

Glad you finished.

Jon isn't gon be dead.

The Meereen chapters were excruciating to read. And Dany was wasted. What's worse is she seems to be in no better position now.

Way too much filler.

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I knew I liked you for a reason.

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I already do.

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anyone know when season 2 starts?

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I would guess the spring.

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His best friend was already in immense pain and dying, why would he compound that by telling him the truth about his "kids" when there is nothing that Robert could do about it at that point. He couldn't tell Robert before because he had no proof. Quite convenient he got his proof and then there was a hunting accident.

Keep reading - not everything is revealed right away. Wheels within wheels...

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