For anyone still reading, I just wanted to let you know that I still plan to finish off Feast, but I've been held up by real life care for awhile. I'm actually still reading Feast, I'm just not taking notes while I do it like I've been doing. When I get the chance, hopefully soon, I'll go back to the last chapter I left off at and I'll reread and take notes as usual. From the looks of things, this is one book where knowing what happens really hasn't spoiled anything, since the foreshadowing was so heavy that almost nothing has come as a surprise. Actually, nothing has come as a surprise.
I will say this though: Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully is officially one of my favorite minor characters. I love him for his loyalty, and his general badassery. It's really a shame beyond shames that he won't be in the HBO series.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Page 398: Plots and Intrigue
Sam: His reluctance to becoming a Maester is somewhat puzzling. He hates fighting and has a clearly demonstrated thirst for knowledge and learning, which is exactly what being a Maester is about. Is it just the disdain that his father instilled in him from a young age? Or is he genuinely afraid of something? Other than that, it's a fairly normal Sam chapter; awkwardness, despair, childhood trauma. The only difference is that he didn't tell others to stop calling him Slayer. I question whether or not Aemon will survive the journey.
Jaime: As always, your chapters continue to be some of the most interesting. We see him clearly trying to do the right think with his uncle Kevan. Ironically, Tyrion was right about Lancel, but lied about killing Joffrey. I love Bronn's little act of defiance (mixed with homage, I presume). It's nice to see that it wasn't just Lannister gold that tied Bronn to Tyrion, though, clearly from how they departed one another that was certainly a major factor. Jaime is certainly displeased with Cersei's vicious streak. And I guess this is the chapter for weaving in larger plot elements, since they went exposition-happy in the scene with the Small Council. Lots of interesting larger context details. The Greyjoys have everything north of Moat Cailin, but how could they possibly hold it? Bolton is trapped at the Twins. I'd love if one of the title characters in Dance was Howland Reed, so we could finally get a viewpoint into the Crannogmen (who seem to be putting up a pretty good fight against the Ironborn). I love that Jaime confronts both Cersei's desire for power, and her unraveling all at once. I'm a little sad that Tyrion's voice about Cersei's affairs is still ringing in his head repeatedly. He's clearly conflicted by how he views Cersei now, and the love he had for her. Did anyone else notice the line when Jaime is talking to Loras Tyrell where Loras literally said he prefers books with less writing and lots of pictures? He really is a pretty fool isn't he? What is the significance of the "kingmaker" comment at the end the chapter? It ends with a kind of abruptness that suggests it should be a "dun dun dun!" moment.
Cersei: Even more plot exposition in this chapter, and some of it is disturbing. Cersei gets lot of gears in motion this chapter. Balon Swann is being tasked for something in Dorne, perhaps to retrieve Myrcella? She's cutting off money to the Braavosi, which I have to imagine will both piss them off, and create some interesting stuff to play with for Arya and possibly Tyrion if he ever makes it there. And by the way, where is Varys? Did he sneak off with Tyrion? I'm a little disgusted to see the Umbers join with the Boltons after what the Boltons did, especially given that the Umbers were the Starks' greatest champions. Perhaps that will change. The truth, after all, is still hidden. I guess we are getting news from the north, but precious little of it, and it's terrible. It'll be interesting to see how some of this stuff plays out first hand when we read Dance. Finally the first words about dragons are percolating in Westeros, and I'm not surprised that they are summarily dismissed. The plot to kill Jon and discredit Margery is interesting, but I don't see it working for a number of reasons. First of all, most of these kinds of plots are usually hatched off-camera. We only find out about them when they fail or succeed (and the track record for killing favored characters is pretty good, so, usually they come out of nowhere and succeed, a la Ned and Robb). The fact that we're being let in on the ground floor leads me to believe that it will fail. Plus, killing Jon would be disastrous, and I would hate Martin forever. Plus the Kettleblacks are morons. I think this will blow up in her face. I think a lot of what she is planning will blow up in her face. She's headed for a fall.
The Iron Captain: This one is Victarion Greyjoy. I'm pleased to hear that the crannogmen are giving them such a hard time in the swamps. Victarion seems to have pretty bad luck with wives. Not only did he lose three, but he lost the third one by killing her after finding out she cheated on him with his brother, who promptly rubbed the whole thing in his face. Euron sounds like a douchebag. Asha's exchange with Victarion is surprisingly delightful. She's certainly full of zippy dialogue. I was complaining a post ago about the novel spending too much time with the Ironborn, but now I have to say that I'm finding them surprisingly interesting. I'm actually pretty interested in seeing who wins between Asha, Euron and Victarion. Euron is the only one we haven't seen a lot of, except for what people have said about him over the last two books. Doesn't sound like he's a very well regarded guy. Victarion has a couple of odd qualities about him. He's not an arrogant jerk like a lot of the others, and has a thread of self-doubt or hesitance in him that someone like Asha, for example, totally lacks. But he seems a decent enough guy. I like his relationship with Aeron.
The Drowned Man: Aeron again of course. Very interesting to see people picking a king. It's like a modern election. They have their platforms, and some of it involves a cult of personality, some of it outright buying support, but perhaps the most important part is the underlying message. Victarion promises the north, Asha promises a small piece of the shore while discrediting Victarion and Euron throws the Hail Mary and says he can deliver the whole of Westeros with dragons. And this is told from the point of view of Aeron. His reactions are interesting, as he is both surprised by the reactions of others, and by his own reactions to what the captains say. But of course the most interesting part is the horn that Euron supposedly brought back from Valyria. Lots of stuff there too of course. The description of the horn certainly makes it sound magical. Euron sailed to dark places of the world, and it's not a surprise that he brought something like that back, though how he knew what to look for is another question. I have to wonder why no one has raided Valyria for goodies. And again, what the hell happened to Valyria! That's a story that needs telling at some point! Some big questions regarding the horn and how it might play out later in the larger story. Will the horn control the dragons over Daenerys' commands? How much natural control, as a Targaryen, does she have over them? Or can Euron steal them all away with that horn?
The power of horns is now officially a recurring theme. The Horn of Winter supposedly has the power to thrown down the Wall, and who knows what other powers. And this Horn now supposedly has the power to control dragons. I'm surprised that Martin hasn't done more with the power of voice, in the way that Frank Herbert did with Voice and the Bene Gesserit.
Hopefully some of these plots will get wrapped up here, and I won't have to wait for ALL my answers until Dance, but, I know I'll have to wait for some. Martin has already said that he's pushed back material to Winds of Winter in order to give us some answers to questions left behind in Feast. Hopefully I'll get those answers sometime this year.
Jaime: As always, your chapters continue to be some of the most interesting. We see him clearly trying to do the right think with his uncle Kevan. Ironically, Tyrion was right about Lancel, but lied about killing Joffrey. I love Bronn's little act of defiance (mixed with homage, I presume). It's nice to see that it wasn't just Lannister gold that tied Bronn to Tyrion, though, clearly from how they departed one another that was certainly a major factor. Jaime is certainly displeased with Cersei's vicious streak. And I guess this is the chapter for weaving in larger plot elements, since they went exposition-happy in the scene with the Small Council. Lots of interesting larger context details. The Greyjoys have everything north of Moat Cailin, but how could they possibly hold it? Bolton is trapped at the Twins. I'd love if one of the title characters in Dance was Howland Reed, so we could finally get a viewpoint into the Crannogmen (who seem to be putting up a pretty good fight against the Ironborn). I love that Jaime confronts both Cersei's desire for power, and her unraveling all at once. I'm a little sad that Tyrion's voice about Cersei's affairs is still ringing in his head repeatedly. He's clearly conflicted by how he views Cersei now, and the love he had for her. Did anyone else notice the line when Jaime is talking to Loras Tyrell where Loras literally said he prefers books with less writing and lots of pictures? He really is a pretty fool isn't he? What is the significance of the "kingmaker" comment at the end the chapter? It ends with a kind of abruptness that suggests it should be a "dun dun dun!" moment.
Cersei: Even more plot exposition in this chapter, and some of it is disturbing. Cersei gets lot of gears in motion this chapter. Balon Swann is being tasked for something in Dorne, perhaps to retrieve Myrcella? She's cutting off money to the Braavosi, which I have to imagine will both piss them off, and create some interesting stuff to play with for Arya and possibly Tyrion if he ever makes it there. And by the way, where is Varys? Did he sneak off with Tyrion? I'm a little disgusted to see the Umbers join with the Boltons after what the Boltons did, especially given that the Umbers were the Starks' greatest champions. Perhaps that will change. The truth, after all, is still hidden. I guess we are getting news from the north, but precious little of it, and it's terrible. It'll be interesting to see how some of this stuff plays out first hand when we read Dance. Finally the first words about dragons are percolating in Westeros, and I'm not surprised that they are summarily dismissed. The plot to kill Jon and discredit Margery is interesting, but I don't see it working for a number of reasons. First of all, most of these kinds of plots are usually hatched off-camera. We only find out about them when they fail or succeed (and the track record for killing favored characters is pretty good, so, usually they come out of nowhere and succeed, a la Ned and Robb). The fact that we're being let in on the ground floor leads me to believe that it will fail. Plus, killing Jon would be disastrous, and I would hate Martin forever. Plus the Kettleblacks are morons. I think this will blow up in her face. I think a lot of what she is planning will blow up in her face. She's headed for a fall.
The Iron Captain: This one is Victarion Greyjoy. I'm pleased to hear that the crannogmen are giving them such a hard time in the swamps. Victarion seems to have pretty bad luck with wives. Not only did he lose three, but he lost the third one by killing her after finding out she cheated on him with his brother, who promptly rubbed the whole thing in his face. Euron sounds like a douchebag. Asha's exchange with Victarion is surprisingly delightful. She's certainly full of zippy dialogue. I was complaining a post ago about the novel spending too much time with the Ironborn, but now I have to say that I'm finding them surprisingly interesting. I'm actually pretty interested in seeing who wins between Asha, Euron and Victarion. Euron is the only one we haven't seen a lot of, except for what people have said about him over the last two books. Doesn't sound like he's a very well regarded guy. Victarion has a couple of odd qualities about him. He's not an arrogant jerk like a lot of the others, and has a thread of self-doubt or hesitance in him that someone like Asha, for example, totally lacks. But he seems a decent enough guy. I like his relationship with Aeron.
The Drowned Man: Aeron again of course. Very interesting to see people picking a king. It's like a modern election. They have their platforms, and some of it involves a cult of personality, some of it outright buying support, but perhaps the most important part is the underlying message. Victarion promises the north, Asha promises a small piece of the shore while discrediting Victarion and Euron throws the Hail Mary and says he can deliver the whole of Westeros with dragons. And this is told from the point of view of Aeron. His reactions are interesting, as he is both surprised by the reactions of others, and by his own reactions to what the captains say. But of course the most interesting part is the horn that Euron supposedly brought back from Valyria. Lots of stuff there too of course. The description of the horn certainly makes it sound magical. Euron sailed to dark places of the world, and it's not a surprise that he brought something like that back, though how he knew what to look for is another question. I have to wonder why no one has raided Valyria for goodies. And again, what the hell happened to Valyria! That's a story that needs telling at some point! Some big questions regarding the horn and how it might play out later in the larger story. Will the horn control the dragons over Daenerys' commands? How much natural control, as a Targaryen, does she have over them? Or can Euron steal them all away with that horn?
The power of horns is now officially a recurring theme. The Horn of Winter supposedly has the power to thrown down the Wall, and who knows what other powers. And this Horn now supposedly has the power to control dragons. I'm surprised that Martin hasn't done more with the power of voice, in the way that Frank Herbert did with Voice and the Bene Gesserit.
Hopefully some of these plots will get wrapped up here, and I won't have to wait for ALL my answers until Dance, but, I know I'll have to wait for some. Martin has already said that he's pushed back material to Winds of Winter in order to give us some answers to questions left behind in Feast. Hopefully I'll get those answers sometime this year.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Page 306: I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar!
I guess the title of this post mostly refers to Cersei and Asha, but really, the four chapters covered here contain a lot of strong women, to the point where I'd call the more interesting character in Ser Arys' chapter Arianne rather than The Soiled Knight. As a side note, it occurred to me while reading these chapters that I'm 300 pages into this book and nothing has really happened yet. I'm not really complaining, because what's being discussed is still pretty interesting, but compared to the plot-heavy elements of previous books - especially Storm - it's a little glaring to have 300 pages of just talking with nothing actually happening. It's not unusual to have set-up chapters before a major event, but it seems like much of the action has died down, yet the Lannisters are always referencing a war that appears to largely be over. I think part of the difficulty here is that Martin didn't know what was happening in the north at the time, and since Dance has to take place largely concurrently with Feast, he can't do anything in Feast involving the north without knowing what happened. That sidelines Stannis and other northern characters who remain in the north. Or it could be that I'm entirely wrong and events are yet to come in this book, but that strikes me as a major limitation of the format he chose.
Asha: Asha is an interesting choice. We've seen Damphair and in previous novels Theon, and now Asha. I think later we see Victarion as well. Other than the Starks and the Lannisters, we've never had an eye into so many characters in a single family as we have with the Greyjoys, who really seem an odd choice since at the moment they are really so far removed from the greater events of Westeros. The variety of viewpoints so far in this book is staggering. Only Brienne and Cersei are getting serious repeated facetime. I thought her Uncle's comment at Harlaw was pretty interesting: "What has happened before will perforce happen again." Has someone been watching Battlestar Galactica? ("This has all happened before, it will happen again") Lots of questions regarding Asha. How reckless is she? How bold? Her behavior with Tristifer was interesting. Actually the whole encounter was pretty interesting. Lots of gender role reversal going on there. First off, even his name sound fairly feminine. Tristifer? Part of me wants to identify it with a name like Christopher, but comes off as more of a Jennifer. Anyway, there's the fact that he's pined for her for years, saving himself for her, while she has been out whoring and drinking on the coasts of Westeros. Major role-reversal. Then she slaps him down hard. What's interesting in her conversation with Tristifer isn't just that she's another gender-bender, it's that she rejects a myriad of traditional female roles; wife, mother, daughter and even sister (given her brief interactions with Theon). She's a female Theon, but without even the few moral compunctions that Theon picked up in Winterfell. She might not want to literally be a man, but she likes the lifestyle. I think she has a better chance than Cersei of actually achieving her dream of sitting a throne of power, but that chance still seems slim. Though Cersei and her both desire the same goal (to rule in their own name), Asha appears to clearly be made of sterner stuff.
Cersei: Speaking of King's Landing's resident nutcase. I wonder if the "raging fire" referred to at the end of the chapter was in reference to the burning of the Tower, or if that's a reference to the rage Jaime must have felt at her announcement that Osmund would be attending to her that night. It's a clear slap in the face from her to him. She continues to see Tyrion behind every corner, and literally behind every wall. It seems the discourse between Cersei and Jaime has changed, in that she insults his intelligence a lot more than she used to (and that's relative to the fact that she never used to regularly abuse him). She actively loathes him now. I think this in part because Jaime has outgrown her. He's evolved as a character, and she's devolved a bit. She liked him when they were on the same (very low) moral playing field, and when he was her minion to a degree. Now that he's refusing to support her, she hates him. Part of the problem there is that now he's more her equal, or at least, stands up for himself, so she doesn't like him. I also hate the disdain that Cersei has for Tommen. He's a king, gentle soul. Like I said in my last entry, he's a part of Jaime that has only recently risen to the surface, but she clearly favors her crazy dead son. Interesting that Sandor Clegane is alive. And I love the irony in Cersei deriding Margery Tyrell from flitting from King to King in an attempt to be Queen, in essence marrying for power, when all of Cersei's choices from day one have been about her acquiring power either for her family or for herself personally. Ironically, Margery might not be acting out of love, but Cersei is - love of power.
The Soiled Knight: Ser Arys Oakheart, Kingsguard, sworn to protect little Myrcella Baratheon. Nice to finally be back in Dorne! Lots more cultural touches about Dorne here, and I can't say I care for some of them. The food is super hot, because the landscape is super hot, and oh, the women are hot-blooded and hot-tempered, and highly sexual creatures. Honestly what I find the most problematic here is the way Martin treats hot, foreign environments, which is eerily similar to how English writers wrote about African and Carib women and environs during Colonial times. But this is fiction, so I'll assume that the similarities are coincidental, and take this more as evidence of laziness to create a less stereotypical culture than an outright allusion. Arianne is defying some of my early expectations of how she might be. I hadn't expected this whole super sexy, manipulative side of her. Martin pulled the wool over our eyes with our first impressions of her as the doting daughter. Also interesting how we get little snippets of Aemon Targaryen. Arianne repeats the line from Harlaw about events repeating themselves over and over. It's kind of sad that Ser Arys is perfectly able to identify the character flaws that lead to serious lapses of judgment by the men of the Kingsguard. and yet he willingly walks right into one with Arianne. Oh well, they aren't called character flaws for nothing. Arys is laughably malleable, though his conflicted nature is neat. We've seen Jaime struggled with some of his duties to the Kingsguard before (plus, you know, the Kingslaying), but Jaime skirted right around the ones regarding sex and kids. Arys has his biggest problem with the vows of chastity and no child having. What damage can Arianne really do? If the Prince dies, Arianne could marry Arys, declare Myrcella for queen, and Dorne could attack the north (well, relatively the north, I mean, I live in Michigan and consider Ohio part of 'the south') feeling perfectly justified. Other than that, I don't see what she could be going for. But she's clearly cunning, perhaps even more so than the Sand Snakes, who I could see her freeing if the Prince died.
Brienne: Her backstory is interesting, though it doesn't yet do anything to really complicate or expand on her character. It's just more evidence that she had a rough, non-traditional childhood and that no one respects her. What I did like about this chapter was Randyll Tarly, who we finally get to see have a more significant role. By all accounts, he's an extremely stern, but fairly decent guy considering he lives in Westeros. His judgments are harsh, but he's not being random or unfair in his punishments, and he's actually helping real people, which we've seen precious few doing. He seems to stand for tradition, both in his work ethic and in his rigid beliefs in gender roles. I thought Brienne's observations about women were interesting. She says that women can be just as cruel as men. She said that in the same chapter that she described a pretty cruel joke that the men of Renly's camp played on her. But one of the things I like most about these books is the way they defy gender role stereotypes (even while indulging in them), and that having women be cruel and selfish isn't off-limits. Both genders have characters that represent various points of the moral spectrum. It's fair. Though I will say that the "good" women have generally been somewhat boring. Brienne might be a badass, but she's a snoozefest, and everyone wants to throttle Sansa. Arya is the only badass who is also interesting, but she's still a child. Still, at least there's variety!
Asha: Asha is an interesting choice. We've seen Damphair and in previous novels Theon, and now Asha. I think later we see Victarion as well. Other than the Starks and the Lannisters, we've never had an eye into so many characters in a single family as we have with the Greyjoys, who really seem an odd choice since at the moment they are really so far removed from the greater events of Westeros. The variety of viewpoints so far in this book is staggering. Only Brienne and Cersei are getting serious repeated facetime. I thought her Uncle's comment at Harlaw was pretty interesting: "What has happened before will perforce happen again." Has someone been watching Battlestar Galactica? ("This has all happened before, it will happen again") Lots of questions regarding Asha. How reckless is she? How bold? Her behavior with Tristifer was interesting. Actually the whole encounter was pretty interesting. Lots of gender role reversal going on there. First off, even his name sound fairly feminine. Tristifer? Part of me wants to identify it with a name like Christopher, but comes off as more of a Jennifer. Anyway, there's the fact that he's pined for her for years, saving himself for her, while she has been out whoring and drinking on the coasts of Westeros. Major role-reversal. Then she slaps him down hard. What's interesting in her conversation with Tristifer isn't just that she's another gender-bender, it's that she rejects a myriad of traditional female roles; wife, mother, daughter and even sister (given her brief interactions with Theon). She's a female Theon, but without even the few moral compunctions that Theon picked up in Winterfell. She might not want to literally be a man, but she likes the lifestyle. I think she has a better chance than Cersei of actually achieving her dream of sitting a throne of power, but that chance still seems slim. Though Cersei and her both desire the same goal (to rule in their own name), Asha appears to clearly be made of sterner stuff.
Cersei: Speaking of King's Landing's resident nutcase. I wonder if the "raging fire" referred to at the end of the chapter was in reference to the burning of the Tower, or if that's a reference to the rage Jaime must have felt at her announcement that Osmund would be attending to her that night. It's a clear slap in the face from her to him. She continues to see Tyrion behind every corner, and literally behind every wall. It seems the discourse between Cersei and Jaime has changed, in that she insults his intelligence a lot more than she used to (and that's relative to the fact that she never used to regularly abuse him). She actively loathes him now. I think this in part because Jaime has outgrown her. He's evolved as a character, and she's devolved a bit. She liked him when they were on the same (very low) moral playing field, and when he was her minion to a degree. Now that he's refusing to support her, she hates him. Part of the problem there is that now he's more her equal, or at least, stands up for himself, so she doesn't like him. I also hate the disdain that Cersei has for Tommen. He's a king, gentle soul. Like I said in my last entry, he's a part of Jaime that has only recently risen to the surface, but she clearly favors her crazy dead son. Interesting that Sandor Clegane is alive. And I love the irony in Cersei deriding Margery Tyrell from flitting from King to King in an attempt to be Queen, in essence marrying for power, when all of Cersei's choices from day one have been about her acquiring power either for her family or for herself personally. Ironically, Margery might not be acting out of love, but Cersei is - love of power.
The Soiled Knight: Ser Arys Oakheart, Kingsguard, sworn to protect little Myrcella Baratheon. Nice to finally be back in Dorne! Lots more cultural touches about Dorne here, and I can't say I care for some of them. The food is super hot, because the landscape is super hot, and oh, the women are hot-blooded and hot-tempered, and highly sexual creatures. Honestly what I find the most problematic here is the way Martin treats hot, foreign environments, which is eerily similar to how English writers wrote about African and Carib women and environs during Colonial times. But this is fiction, so I'll assume that the similarities are coincidental, and take this more as evidence of laziness to create a less stereotypical culture than an outright allusion. Arianne is defying some of my early expectations of how she might be. I hadn't expected this whole super sexy, manipulative side of her. Martin pulled the wool over our eyes with our first impressions of her as the doting daughter. Also interesting how we get little snippets of Aemon Targaryen. Arianne repeats the line from Harlaw about events repeating themselves over and over. It's kind of sad that Ser Arys is perfectly able to identify the character flaws that lead to serious lapses of judgment by the men of the Kingsguard. and yet he willingly walks right into one with Arianne. Oh well, they aren't called character flaws for nothing. Arys is laughably malleable, though his conflicted nature is neat. We've seen Jaime struggled with some of his duties to the Kingsguard before (plus, you know, the Kingslaying), but Jaime skirted right around the ones regarding sex and kids. Arys has his biggest problem with the vows of chastity and no child having. What damage can Arianne really do? If the Prince dies, Arianne could marry Arys, declare Myrcella for queen, and Dorne could attack the north (well, relatively the north, I mean, I live in Michigan and consider Ohio part of 'the south') feeling perfectly justified. Other than that, I don't see what she could be going for. But she's clearly cunning, perhaps even more so than the Sand Snakes, who I could see her freeing if the Prince died.
Brienne: Her backstory is interesting, though it doesn't yet do anything to really complicate or expand on her character. It's just more evidence that she had a rough, non-traditional childhood and that no one respects her. What I did like about this chapter was Randyll Tarly, who we finally get to see have a more significant role. By all accounts, he's an extremely stern, but fairly decent guy considering he lives in Westeros. His judgments are harsh, but he's not being random or unfair in his punishments, and he's actually helping real people, which we've seen precious few doing. He seems to stand for tradition, both in his work ethic and in his rigid beliefs in gender roles. I thought Brienne's observations about women were interesting. She says that women can be just as cruel as men. She said that in the same chapter that she described a pretty cruel joke that the men of Renly's camp played on her. But one of the things I like most about these books is the way they defy gender role stereotypes (even while indulging in them), and that having women be cruel and selfish isn't off-limits. Both genders have characters that represent various points of the moral spectrum. It's fair. Though I will say that the "good" women have generally been somewhat boring. Brienne might be a badass, but she's a snoozefest, and everyone wants to throttle Sansa. Arya is the only badass who is also interesting, but she's still a child. Still, at least there's variety!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Page 226 - Now It's Time for Character Growth!
Cersei: I have this feeling that if given the chance, Tommen would actually be a pretty good king. I think we've seen enough indications that he suffered some torment from Joffrey (the seen where Jaime tells him to go away inside, and he trailed off saying that he used to do that with "Joffy"), which I think brought out his more sensitive side, rather than making him angry or violent like Joffrey. I actually think this is Jaime we're seeing. Joffrey was crazy, and that was Cersei's doing. Tommen is a gentle spirit, and I think on some fundamental level, that's a reflection of his father. Anyway, Cersei is more full of herself than I could have imagined, and I already thought she was pretty well lost to her own delusions. She seems to literally suspect everyone of treachery. She sees Tyrion's hand behind everything, even sees her family set against her. As an aside, I'm sure everyone loved Uncle Kevan's rant against Cersei. After seeing Cersei's delusional, narcissistic speech about how when historians look back on this period in time, they'll remember Queen Cersei, while Tywin will be only a foot note. Kevan's speech was nice because she's off her rocker, and people clearly know it. And I loved his comment about Cersei's parenting skills regarding Joffrey. We've only really seen Kevan as either a background figure, or a broken figure. Now we're seeing him as a Lannister, and Tywin's brother. I liked his advice, especially possibly drawing Randyll Tarly into the picture. His name is being dropped a lot, and I think he'll have to play a larger role in order to make Sam's eventual confrontation with him more meaningful. Finally, I liked the little bit in Brienne's chapter about who would be regent with Tywin gone. People suspected Kevan or Jaime, or even Mace Tyrell, but no one even said Cersei's name. Nice to see the difference between how she views herself, and how everyone else does.
Jaime: Poor thing. He still loves Cersei, and is jealous and angry with her over her "relations" with those two idiot knights. I always questioned the fact that it seems like in the Cersei/Jaime relationship, Jaime clearly loves Cersei more than she him. In fact, I'd say they both love Cersei more than either loves Jaime. His moment with Tommen at the Sept was a little bittersweet. I think you can clearly see in that scene that despite what he has said in the past, or whatever peace he thinks he made with the situation, Jaime really does want to be a father to Tommen. I think he knew what a monster Joffrey was, but sees Tommen as someone that needs a father, and he wants to fill that role. Cersei is standing in the way. I like that, in the absence of his sword hand, we see him exercising his mind a lot more than he used to. He always said that Tyrion got the brains and he the brawn, but maybe it's just because he never really tried before. It's sad to see him so broken though, racked by feelings of guilt and uselessness. He'd gone from villain to tragedy.
Brienne: Still continues her fruitless search for Sansa. Perhaps her little insight about blood seeking blood will lead her to the Vale, but it still seems like some major obstacles are in her way, and these novels are pretty damned light on quest fulfillment. Something usually gets in the way. I liked the little snippet of backstory regarding her various attempts at courtship over the years, or at least, a combination of her failed attempts and her father's failed attempts. Most interesting was the one brief mention of a youthful love interest. It's interesting because Brienne is probably the least sexualized or even sexual character of the book. She's certainly the least sexual woman. Even Sansa is sexualized, not necessarily as a sex figure, but in that she has romantic desires, and is described as beautiful. Brienne's only "love interest" thus far has been Renly, but I don't think that was romantic love; it was reverent, worshipful love. I thought that something could theoretically develop between her and Jaime, and I still think that's possible in a way because they both challenge each other in unique ways. Jaime needs a strong woman (where Cersei fits the bill), but he also needs someone loyal (where Cersei fails and Brienne has no equal). I maintain that they would be a very interesting combination if they ever get back together again. Some of my favorite scenes in Storm of Swords were when Brienne was with Jaime.
Sansa: Well well well Sansa, we meet again! You, the source of so much misery, boredom and despair in my life. What has always bothered me the most about Sansa is her role as the personification of the damsel in distress. These novels are chock full of strong (though flawed) female characters. Even Catelyn, arguably the other weakest character, for all her faults, was still tough to a degree, but her weakness was her family, and it undid her. Sansa is just plain stupid. It's not even about being naive, or deluded; it's that the lightbulb hasn't gone off yet, and she remains in the dark. From the beginning of this chapter, I would say that Sansa has been demoted to merely being a lens through which to view Littlefinger's schemes. But as the chapter goes on, it appears that daylight is finally beginning to glimmer. I'm conflicted here. I loathe Littlefinger. He's possibly the most ruthless, cunning and evil character of the entire series, but for all his faults, he actually seems to be having some sort of positive influence on Sansa. He's doing what no one else has done; he's actually taking her under his wing and teaching her, and she's responding. Everyone else just called her stupid and waited for something to click, but she never got it by herself. Hence my problem. He's a terrible human being, but perhaps he has some valuable lessons to teach Sansa. However, he's trying to erase her identity as a Stark in the process.
It's fascinating that again we see Sansa and Arya put into parallel situations. Arya has many names, many identities, that she has had to adopt in order to survive in her time in the wild, but she never lost sight of Arya Stark. Her current refuge in Braavos rejects her one true identity, just as Littlefinger is trying to replace Sansa Stark with Alayne. The challenge now is how much both girls can internalize and protect their true identities. It seems like Sansa has indicated that she has learned more than Littlefinger suspects, and that she really can remain Sansa on the inside and fool them as Alayne on the outside. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I feel like Sansa might have just gotten interesting.
Up next is an Asha chapter, who should be interesting to explore. I think we'll see parallels between her and Cersei, both being women who feel they are owed some sort of power but are being told no because they are women.
Jaime: Poor thing. He still loves Cersei, and is jealous and angry with her over her "relations" with those two idiot knights. I always questioned the fact that it seems like in the Cersei/Jaime relationship, Jaime clearly loves Cersei more than she him. In fact, I'd say they both love Cersei more than either loves Jaime. His moment with Tommen at the Sept was a little bittersweet. I think you can clearly see in that scene that despite what he has said in the past, or whatever peace he thinks he made with the situation, Jaime really does want to be a father to Tommen. I think he knew what a monster Joffrey was, but sees Tommen as someone that needs a father, and he wants to fill that role. Cersei is standing in the way. I like that, in the absence of his sword hand, we see him exercising his mind a lot more than he used to. He always said that Tyrion got the brains and he the brawn, but maybe it's just because he never really tried before. It's sad to see him so broken though, racked by feelings of guilt and uselessness. He'd gone from villain to tragedy.
Brienne: Still continues her fruitless search for Sansa. Perhaps her little insight about blood seeking blood will lead her to the Vale, but it still seems like some major obstacles are in her way, and these novels are pretty damned light on quest fulfillment. Something usually gets in the way. I liked the little snippet of backstory regarding her various attempts at courtship over the years, or at least, a combination of her failed attempts and her father's failed attempts. Most interesting was the one brief mention of a youthful love interest. It's interesting because Brienne is probably the least sexualized or even sexual character of the book. She's certainly the least sexual woman. Even Sansa is sexualized, not necessarily as a sex figure, but in that she has romantic desires, and is described as beautiful. Brienne's only "love interest" thus far has been Renly, but I don't think that was romantic love; it was reverent, worshipful love. I thought that something could theoretically develop between her and Jaime, and I still think that's possible in a way because they both challenge each other in unique ways. Jaime needs a strong woman (where Cersei fits the bill), but he also needs someone loyal (where Cersei fails and Brienne has no equal). I maintain that they would be a very interesting combination if they ever get back together again. Some of my favorite scenes in Storm of Swords were when Brienne was with Jaime.
Sansa: Well well well Sansa, we meet again! You, the source of so much misery, boredom and despair in my life. What has always bothered me the most about Sansa is her role as the personification of the damsel in distress. These novels are chock full of strong (though flawed) female characters. Even Catelyn, arguably the other weakest character, for all her faults, was still tough to a degree, but her weakness was her family, and it undid her. Sansa is just plain stupid. It's not even about being naive, or deluded; it's that the lightbulb hasn't gone off yet, and she remains in the dark. From the beginning of this chapter, I would say that Sansa has been demoted to merely being a lens through which to view Littlefinger's schemes. But as the chapter goes on, it appears that daylight is finally beginning to glimmer. I'm conflicted here. I loathe Littlefinger. He's possibly the most ruthless, cunning and evil character of the entire series, but for all his faults, he actually seems to be having some sort of positive influence on Sansa. He's doing what no one else has done; he's actually taking her under his wing and teaching her, and she's responding. Everyone else just called her stupid and waited for something to click, but she never got it by herself. Hence my problem. He's a terrible human being, but perhaps he has some valuable lessons to teach Sansa. However, he's trying to erase her identity as a Stark in the process.
It's fascinating that again we see Sansa and Arya put into parallel situations. Arya has many names, many identities, that she has had to adopt in order to survive in her time in the wild, but she never lost sight of Arya Stark. Her current refuge in Braavos rejects her one true identity, just as Littlefinger is trying to replace Sansa Stark with Alayne. The challenge now is how much both girls can internalize and protect their true identities. It seems like Sansa has indicated that she has learned more than Littlefinger suspects, and that she really can remain Sansa on the inside and fool them as Alayne on the outside. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I feel like Sansa might have just gotten interesting.
Up next is an Asha chapter, who should be interesting to explore. I think we'll see parallels between her and Cersei, both being women who feel they are owed some sort of power but are being told no because they are women.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Page 140 - Opening Gambits
So I've had a bit of an extended absence, sorry about that. I know couple readers have been clamoring for updates, and I'm finally back into it. I picked Feast up again in December, but couldn't quite get back into it. I think I was just burned out from having read so many novels for classes last semester. I'm hoping to power through it now over the next week and change, before this semester really gets off the ground. I went back and reread Feast from the beginning, so I have a couple things to add to what I've said before.
Areo Hotah: Just to add a little bit here, I wanted to reiterate how interested I am in seeing what Martin does with the Sand Snakes and Arianne. He's a little heavy-handed in his attempt to establish these characters quickly as both similar and entirely different from each other, with competing and overlapping goals and motives, and entirely different personalities.
Cersei: Just to add a bit from her first chapter. I found her dream about the Iron Throne to be particularly interested. It cemented her somewhat mentally unbalanced fears of Tyrion as boogeyman (which play out a lot more in subsequent chapters as she sees his hands behind every possibly treachery about her). Bur I also found it interesting because the Iron Throne both trapped and injured her. She craves the power of the throne, but also seems to fear its inherent dangers. She's not the fearless Lioness of Lannister that she wants to be, or acts like. She'a a pale imitation of Tywin, who like him or not, was a masterful strategist, full of cunning. More on this later.
New stuff!
Brienne: Oh good! Brienne is always an interesting character to analyze. Sure her character is a little flat sometimes, but she's good fodder for explorations of gender bending in these books. So, what do we have here?......zzzzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzZZZzzz....hm.hmmm...hm? Oh, sorry, I must have nodded off there. Yes, we get it, her search is futile. She's alone in the wilderness searching for a needle in a haystack. I think most of us got that from the get go, but thank you for spending multiple pages hammering away at the fact that she's somewhat clumsily attempting the impossible. Her next chapter, I hope, shall improve.
Sam: Sam! Hooray! What a pleasant surprise! I thought for sure we wouldn't see him again until Dance, but lo and behold, Jon is sending him south to keep us company. I really like this move for a lot of reasons. One, Sam is one of the few truly sympathetic characters left in the novel with so many things focused on the south, which is largely a pit of vipers. And also because I think I'm rooting for Sam more than most of the other characters. I want him to find his courage. I don't want him to become a badass (let's face it. he's a geek, but he doesn't have to be so meek about it). I want him to find his pride as well. I also like this because we finally get a viewpoint into Oldtown. I think the Maesters have been a critical puzzle piece too long ignored in the story. There's also the fact that Sam's father is nearby, and at least one of the Sand Snakes has expressed an interest in sacking the city. That's to say nothing of the prologue where the master key was stolen. Something's going down there, and Sam will be in the thick of it. I think at some point, Sam will have to meet up with his father. I wonder if he'll even get the Tarly sword out of it, but I doubt that, and I don't even think I want it. Sam wasn't meant to be a warrior, but that doesn't mean he has to be a coward.
Arya: I have a feeling that Arya's chapters are all going to be really weird. I hope that this first one is just a one off, and that after this things smooth out a bit. I also feel like Arya is going to have to give up a lot if she wants to stay where she is. That could ruin her for me a bit. I like her spirit, but I don't like that she's become so jaded so fast. I wonder how much of her identity she can give up and still be a character we can like. I'm not saying a new Arya would be unlikable or uninteresting, but comparing her to the old Arya might ruin it for a lot of people. Still just speculation though. Maybe they'll just train her to be a badass and she'll come back to Westeros to finish off her list. I have to say that I'm also glad that in addition to being jaded, she IS learning a bit of mercy, or at least regret. She feels bad about killing the kid in the bar, and about leaving The Hound to suffer. She isn't totally hardened yet. There's also the line about being hungry, but not for food. For what? For a home? For a place to belong in general? For vengeance? Perhaps simple companionship.
Final Observations: Some parallels with hands. There's Tywin and Jaime. One is the THE Hand, killed, and the other is a symbol of war whose war-making ability is severed when his hand is amputated. There's also the parallel of Cersei's desire for power coupled with her fear of the throne in her dream. Martin certainly loves to create parallels like this. He likes to link multiple characters with a trait or physical feature, but have the characters otherwise be totally at odds, which forces you to really question and analyze their relationship.
Areo Hotah: Just to add a little bit here, I wanted to reiterate how interested I am in seeing what Martin does with the Sand Snakes and Arianne. He's a little heavy-handed in his attempt to establish these characters quickly as both similar and entirely different from each other, with competing and overlapping goals and motives, and entirely different personalities.
Cersei: Just to add a bit from her first chapter. I found her dream about the Iron Throne to be particularly interested. It cemented her somewhat mentally unbalanced fears of Tyrion as boogeyman (which play out a lot more in subsequent chapters as she sees his hands behind every possibly treachery about her). Bur I also found it interesting because the Iron Throne both trapped and injured her. She craves the power of the throne, but also seems to fear its inherent dangers. She's not the fearless Lioness of Lannister that she wants to be, or acts like. She'a a pale imitation of Tywin, who like him or not, was a masterful strategist, full of cunning. More on this later.
New stuff!
Brienne: Oh good! Brienne is always an interesting character to analyze. Sure her character is a little flat sometimes, but she's good fodder for explorations of gender bending in these books. So, what do we have here?......zzzzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzZZZzzz....hm.hmmm...hm? Oh, sorry, I must have nodded off there. Yes, we get it, her search is futile. She's alone in the wilderness searching for a needle in a haystack. I think most of us got that from the get go, but thank you for spending multiple pages hammering away at the fact that she's somewhat clumsily attempting the impossible. Her next chapter, I hope, shall improve.
Sam: Sam! Hooray! What a pleasant surprise! I thought for sure we wouldn't see him again until Dance, but lo and behold, Jon is sending him south to keep us company. I really like this move for a lot of reasons. One, Sam is one of the few truly sympathetic characters left in the novel with so many things focused on the south, which is largely a pit of vipers. And also because I think I'm rooting for Sam more than most of the other characters. I want him to find his courage. I don't want him to become a badass (let's face it. he's a geek, but he doesn't have to be so meek about it). I want him to find his pride as well. I also like this because we finally get a viewpoint into Oldtown. I think the Maesters have been a critical puzzle piece too long ignored in the story. There's also the fact that Sam's father is nearby, and at least one of the Sand Snakes has expressed an interest in sacking the city. That's to say nothing of the prologue where the master key was stolen. Something's going down there, and Sam will be in the thick of it. I think at some point, Sam will have to meet up with his father. I wonder if he'll even get the Tarly sword out of it, but I doubt that, and I don't even think I want it. Sam wasn't meant to be a warrior, but that doesn't mean he has to be a coward.
Arya: I have a feeling that Arya's chapters are all going to be really weird. I hope that this first one is just a one off, and that after this things smooth out a bit. I also feel like Arya is going to have to give up a lot if she wants to stay where she is. That could ruin her for me a bit. I like her spirit, but I don't like that she's become so jaded so fast. I wonder how much of her identity she can give up and still be a character we can like. I'm not saying a new Arya would be unlikable or uninteresting, but comparing her to the old Arya might ruin it for a lot of people. Still just speculation though. Maybe they'll just train her to be a badass and she'll come back to Westeros to finish off her list. I have to say that I'm also glad that in addition to being jaded, she IS learning a bit of mercy, or at least regret. She feels bad about killing the kid in the bar, and about leaving The Hound to suffer. She isn't totally hardened yet. There's also the line about being hungry, but not for food. For what? For a home? For a place to belong in general? For vengeance? Perhaps simple companionship.
Final Observations: Some parallels with hands. There's Tywin and Jaime. One is the THE Hand, killed, and the other is a symbol of war whose war-making ability is severed when his hand is amputated. There's also the parallel of Cersei's desire for power coupled with her fear of the throne in her dream. Martin certainly loves to create parallels like this. He likes to link multiple characters with a trait or physical feature, but have the characters otherwise be totally at odds, which forces you to really question and analyze their relationship.
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