Page 700: How To Train Your Drogon

Yes, by the way, I've been looking for a way to make a HTTYD joke ever since I read the line in Storm when Dany said she had no idea how to train her dragon. If only Hiccup made house calls.

Jon: I like Alys. She's the latest in a long line of pretty badass female characters that crop up from time to time. I'm a little shocked to see her so quickly married off to a wilding lord, but he actually seems like a decent guy, for what it's worth, and it looks like it might actually work out in some ways, as well as securing the Karstarks once again. Melisandre's warnings about the Wall worry me some. Between the Wildings, who I don't trust, and the Night's Watch men, who are increasingly chafing under Snow's rule (after killing Mormont), he's surrounded by knives. Neat that Val actually brought Tormund back. I like him, and things could get interesting if Jon can broker a peace. 

Daenerys: It sort of sucks to see Dany's peace be so hollow. She sacrificed a lot of herself for a peace she's totally unhappy with. But, she made peace. What really sucks is that she had to give up some valuable friends and allies to be hostages to the Yunkai. Not sure why she had to personally give up so many, doesn't seem fair, but again, it shows just how important this peace is to her. These last couple chapters have been short, with only bits and pieces of information. The pace is really building for something. Short, rapid chapters with the same characters over and over. Fun how he uses chapter length and pacing to build the tension. He uses the format of the novel to complement his storytelling. 

Theon: Note how his name has changed over the course of the novel. Reek, The Prince of Winterfell, the Ghost of Winterfell, and finally, at the close, Theon. Martin has been really careful to use the chapter headings to emphasize the identity crisis he's suffering, and we've seen him slowly clawing his way back toward humanity. This is where he's closest, I think. I'm surprised it took this long for Manderly and Frey to come to blows. I'm a little surprised to see Roose send them out of the castle. I mean, sure, protect the larger army by setting them out, but, you can't trust them, and they are just as likely to kill each other. It's a risky move for Roose. I really just hope that Manderly is actually still alive after getting slashed in the throat. It appears that he's alive for the moment. Things are really coming to a head here. I know Theon has his own subplot with Mance, but, I'm pretty tense about what happens with the White Harbor men. The part where he realizes just how wrong he has been, and that he should have stuck with Robb like he promised is a little sad. Yes Theon, you should have stayed by Robb's side. It might not have mattered, but at least you would have died with honor, and Winterfell would be intact. I'm a little shocked, but not really, that, yet again, a womanly scream ruins everything. For all the strong women of this story, the stupid ones who scream and do really dumb, incredibly counterproductive things at exactly the wrong moment still astounds me. But the, Jeyne was best friends with Sansa, so, no surprise there.

Daenerys: Special second entry for her this time. Usually I try not to do duplicates, but, Martin stacked them together so I'm making an exception. Not a whole lot going on here except the BIG THING THAT HAPPENS! As for the rest, a lot of it is really the final indignity. Slave markets within sight of her walls, the fighting pits back open again. All things she had staunchly opposed. What is it in this series about victories feeling as terrible as defeats? This is no exception it seems. I thought it was sort of amusing that she incidentally saved Tyrion and Penny. Frankly I think she was always wrong about some aspects of slavery and the fighting pits. She simply upset society too rapidly for it to adjust. Better to slowly introduce reforms. The scene where Drogon comes back was simply awesome, and we've all been waiting for this to happen since day one. Pretty awesome. I had to laugh when Hizdahr yelled "kill the beast!" because all I could think of was the song from Beauty and the Beast, which, coincidentally, Martin used to write for the live action tv show version of. Intentionally? Doubtful, but it is amusing. And seriously...Dany is such a badass! It was great, after all these defeats, after this hollow victory, after all the trials she had suffered, after being forced to pen up her dragons, to see her just totally take control, take command, and finally mastered a dragon. I can't wait to see what happens next, and I hope it involves her swooping back in to light stuff up!

Also, I took a peek at some of the chapter headings for the chapters to come, and there are some pretty weird ones. I've really enjoyed in the past how Martin uses the chapter headings to denote a change in status or identity for the characters, and if the odd names I see are any indication, there's a lot of upheaval ahead of me. 

Page 647: Old Friends and Sexy Time

Jon: Hm, they finally brought back up the Iron Bank of Braavos. I've long wondered if that particular plot thread that Cersei started by stiffing them would ever come back into play. It would be interesting to see if Braavos basically throws its support behind Stannis. To bring the Braavosi directly into play like that would also be an interesting way of bringing Arya back to Westeros. If they bring this up again, and I have to imagine they will, it could prove interesting. In the mean time, Jon again proves he's wise beyond his years by taking the opportunity to strike a deal to make sure they are all fed through the winter. That wasn't a guarantee before, and I think between that, and Jon's desire to make a deal with wildings, it could seriously increase the power of the Wall. Must mean something big is coming. I also worry about what price the Braavosi might try to exact, if this really was too easy a deal. Hm, I didn't see that coming. Alys Karstark. Well this makes things interesting. Jon has a chance to secure the Karstarks as loyal allies again, and a chance to thwart Roose's plans to catch Stanis unaware. You have to love it when little things like this pop up.

The Blind Girl (Arya): Hey, look who's back! Now, my feelings towards Arya in the last book were somewhat muddled. I felt a lot of her time was wasted, but I think in this book, we see that actually a great deal has changed! I think this is the first real evidence we've seen that her training in the House of Black and White really is imparting some serious skills and knowledge on her. She's learned foreign languages, learned valuable skills with using all her senses, and at the very end, is finally coming close to mastering another important skill that her brothers share. Clearly she's a skinchanger, just like Jon and Bran (though oddly, we've seen no evidence that Sansa is, as well). It's funny, because in Bran's chapter they mentioned that one in a thousand is born a skin changer. Clearly the numbers have to be a little more diverse than that, unless they're only among northmen, but then how odd is it that ALL the Stark children turn out to be skinchangers? Hm. There really is something special about the Starks. And the way that Arya is using her abilities to augment her training is pretty cool in a way that Bran's never really was, even if Bran was better at it. Her training is almost like being at Hogwarts. Potions class, language lessons, lying lessons, combat lessons, using her senses lessons. Very cool that they gave her her sight back at the end, and we can assume that she earned it, even if she may have cheated by using her skinchanger powers. I like that even as she moves through identities and training, she still hasn't lost who she is. She still remembers Arya of Winterfell, even if she has removed herself enough from that life to view Arya as someone else. I really hope Martin does some great stuff with her in the next book, or later in this one.

A Ghost in Winterfell (Theon): Geez, Theon is getting almost as much face time as Jon, Tyrion and Dany. I'm mostly not complaining, because without him we'd have a devil of a time knowing what was happening inside the walls of Winterfell. On the other hand, I don't so much care about him anymore. His little slow transformation from douchebag to broken sub-human back to human again isn't very compelling. However, I do sort of hate Martin for making me actually feel bad for Theon. I think we saw this a lot in Storm, but the only thing Theon really wanted was to be a Stark, but he didn't really understand them. So he conquers Winterfell to gain control, but learns too late that Iron Islands style rule doesn't get you love, it gets you fear, but he wanted to be loved. And it turns out he couldn't admit to himself that he wanted to be a Stark until after he'd helped destroy the entire family. Okay, that's pretty damned tragic. Doesn't mean I forgive him, he had daddy issues up the wazoo, but man, tragic. The random deaths in Winterfell are interesting. I'm guessing it's all Mance's work, rather than Manderly's. I also think the little kerfuffles between Manderly and the Freys are interesting. They will come to blows eventually. Oh ho, and what's this little bit about the tree whispering "Bran" to him? We were told earlier that you can't communicate through trees, but what I think he meant more specifically was that you can't communicate with the past (though it appears Eddard did start a bit when Bran called to him), yet, I swear I remember reading that the Children of the Forest used to chat via the WeirWood Web. So I don't see why Bran couldn't punch up www.winterfell.north and interact a bit with things around him. I figured it would take a special person to receive the message though, which makes Theon's interaction something interesting. If Stannis really is at Winterfell, things will come to a head there soon.

Tyrion: My only guess, if we're supposed to know the guy in the crowd who tried to bid on Tyrion, is that it's Ben Plumm. It seems like there was a lot going on there, but I don't think we were meant to know what all of it was. The only real points of interest in this chapter were: Tyrion and Jorah sold to a Yunkai'i, very close to Meereen, going to perform in Meereen.

Jaime: Old friend! Jaime in Feast actually kind of depressed the hell out of me. I'm betting since so little space is left in the book, this is probably the only look we'll get at him. It's nice to see him, and given how this chapter ends, it looks like he's finally back in the thick of things, and back with Brienne! The two of them together was probably some of the best stuff in Storm, so I'm glad to see it repeated. Kind of sad to see the very last remnants of the Kingdom of the North finally washed away. But I give props to the guys who held out that long with no hope of salvation. I like that in his deliberations with the two sides, he was calm, fair, even compassionate. We're seeing a much more mature side of Jaime, which has been building for at least a book now. Frankly, it's also a more lordly side. The old Jaime I never wanted to see in power, in fact, I wanted to see him dead. This Jaime, however, I'd like to see as Lord of Casterly Rock. I think we're at a point where he might be the best choice to restore the family name. Perhaps Tyrion, perhaps, but, he's headed down such a dark path. I just love that he's back with Brienne, probably off on some adventure to save Sansa! What I don't get, is why Brienne coughed up a totally implausible story to him. There's no way she found Sansa, Sansa is hidden at the Eyrie. And there's no way she's with the Hound, the Hound is dead, and someone is faking his identity. So either Brienne fell for the trap, or Brienne is a pawn in Catelyn's trap, and Jaime is falling into that. I'd really rather it be the first. If it's the second, it'll kill a great relationship possibly, and maybe kill Jaime in the process. Stoneheart doesn't seem to much care about nuances and redemption in her current state.

I also wanted to add something I forgot from Bran's last chapter. The girl and the boy in the square that Bran mistook for him and Arya were probably Lyanna and either Brandon or Ned. I thought that was a nice touch.

Finally, I want to talk briefly about sex. Oooo, this blog just got spicier! Really though, one of the more adult aspects of this series, other than its depictions of violence, is its graphic depictions of sex. I've talked about this tangentially when discussing other characters before, but I thought, being most of the way through this book, sex deserves another mention. Martin might get some flak from some people for gratuitously graphic sex scenes, but I really don't think that's fair. Sex scenes seem to come in two flavors: Brief, and incredibly brief. None of his sex scenes are every page after page affairs, like tawdry romance novels, that delve into ridiculous levels of awful prose and euphemism. They're usually a couple paragraphs at most. That's because sex is a narrative tool in these stories, but Martin only writes as much as he has to to get the point across, not merely to titillate. 

I think if you did a survey of every sex scene in this entire series, you'd find that they mostly function to establish relationships between the characters. Perhaps the two biggest scenes in this particular book, between Dany and Daario, and between Asha and Qarl, were highly revealing about the characters. Daario and Qarl are pretty much throwaway characters (Qarl more so, it seems). But it reveals a lot about Dany, her passions, and what she's willing to sacrifice in order to be what she perceives to be a good queen. The contrast between her passion for Daario and her obvious coldness toward Hizdahr (and note, there's a sex scene between her and Hizdahr that lasts all of two seconds) really emphasizes how much she is willing to sacrifice. As for Asha, it shows that she's not totally cold, and that on some level, her passions are deeply personal, rather than for titles, or for silly notions of love like Tristifer holds. It also shows how trapped even she is by custom and family. She can't marry the guy she really loves, because he's too low-born, even while she's not the gender or birth necessary to ascend to her father's throne, the Seastone Chair. I could go on and on about the sex in the other books, like Jon's sexual relationship with Ygritte, which was arguably some of the best character development in the series, or Cersei's various uses of sex to hold power over people (including a very telling scene where a lesbian encounter is her attempt to assert masculine power over another woman), but I think I've gotten the point across. There's little that's gratuitous about sex in these novels, and if you pay attention, you'll find that sex is some of the most demonstrative storytelling in here.  

Page 579: Plots Begin to Thicken (but could use some more flavor)

Jon: I have to say, from what little we've seen of her, I actually like Val. I actually sort of wish that Martin had done a better job of dehumanizing the wildings, because the three or four we've seen the most of; Mance, Val, Ygritte, Tormund, are all pretty cool and honorable. I trusted and still trust all four of them, though warily, because I feel like he's trying to get across that we shouldn't trust them, since they have some different sort of wilding honor. Either way, the contempt that characters like Bowen Marsh show for the wildings has never come across the me as believable, and therefore all of Jon's choices regarding what to do about them have come across as very reasonable where I think we're supposed to see them as gambles. Oh well. It's amazing, and perhaps a little unbelievable as well, that Jon often comes across as the wisest character among a bunch of close-minded bigots. Duh, obviously of thousands of wildings die at Hardhome then they'll all turn into wights, and wights are a far more fearsome enemy. Even after the Fist of the First Men, are they really so blind to the dangers? Hm. Perhaps, but still, Jon being alone in his thoughts on this is tough to swallow.

Tyrion: I honestly feel like most of his chapters have been fairly well wasted thus far. I miss the Tyrion of the first three novels. With the exception of introducing Aegon in the first half of the book, I feel like Tyrion could have been left out entirely until he just appeared in Meereen, and with a halfway decent explanation, like "he'd been on a ship this whole time," I would have been fine with it as an alternative. Aegon and Jorah could have gotten their own point of view chapters, which might have proven far more interesting, since I've always wanted to get inside Jorah's head. He's really quite interesting, and I've missed him being around. I'm sure this is all set up for Tyrion to be awesome again next book, but seriously, people waited ten years in between Storm and now for this? Meh. I would even be okay with these do-nothing chapters if they explore his feelings more. His feelings towards Jaime have to be more complex than simply "I'm going to kill him," but we don't see that, or any of his plans, or any serious internal monologue of a fascinating character. Lots of wasted opportunities, if you ask me. Still, I look forward to him finally getting to Meereen, even as a slave, if it means he'll soon be able to interact with Dany.

The Turncloak (Theon): Pfft, Roose Bolton is certainly one to talk about the old gods 'loosing their wroth' on anyone. Stannis might be a zealot and a southron, but he's a hell of a lot more honorable than Roose, and I have a feeling the old gods respect that more at the end of the day...though I bet they'd be pissed about him burning a godswood or two here and there. Talk about your "damned if you do" choices for the old gods. Mance's ladies are clever for trying to get Theon to reveal the secret of his invasion, but really, it depended on stealth and small numbers. On the other hand, with all the snow, Stnanis might be able to get a few guys over the top to open the door. You really have to wonder every time a character gets near either a crow or a heart tree if Bran is somehow listening in, especially with all the references that characters make to feeling like they are being watched. It's interesting to see both a difference side to the Stark family, as Lady Dustin reveals some facts about Brandon and even Rickard, and we see a bit more how the north was never really one big happy family. It also shows the role that one bad turn can play. Lady Dustin didn't like being slighted or having her husband killed, so now she hates Starks. People aren't very forgiving of the consequences of war, just look at the Karstarks. I kind of wish we could meet Brandon. More and more I'd love to read the story of Robert's rebellion. I think it would be awesome to see everyone in their prime, and to be able to see Rhaegar in action. They've done a great job of turning him into a tragic hero of sorts, dying for the Mad King. Could be an awesome story, and hopefully a shorter one.

The King's Prize (Asha): I tend to agree with Asha regarding their chances of taking Winterfell. I have to imagine most of the northmen would abandon Roose as well, given the right impetus, but can they will they? And can Stannis provide that impetus? Can they even get there alive? You have to give Stannis a lot of credit for never falling for the crap prisoners tend to try and pull in this series. He doesn't buy Asha's feigned claims of loyalty for a second. He might not have Robert's ability to make a foe a friend, but he's no fool, and he's not likely to bite without a serious carrot. I also love every little mention of the northmen's loyalty to rescuing "Ned's little girl." In a world where loyalty is rarer than dragons, where people abandon causes as quickly as they join them, I get warm fuzzies whenever a character talks about their loyalty to the Starks even years after Ned was killed, even after the entire family is basically lost. Manderly was grasping at straws to find Rickon, and the mountain clans are willing to brave a blizzard at the chance of rescuing Arya. All too rare.

Daenerys: First off, interesting to see that Martell still claims that Dorne has 50,000 spears available. Given how everything north of Dorne has bled its strength off in these wars (except Highgarden perhaps), I can't imagine anyone having a chance at conquering Dorne from inside Westeros. They should be safe for a generation, and if they joined an invading army, they'd be powerful indeed. Nice to see that Quentyn made it safely to Meereen, and they went right about springing his marriage proposal, about as quickly as she shut it down. She really is committed to peace for Meereen and her wedding to Hizdahr. I have to give her credit for sticking to her guns, even as the reasons to leave for Westeros pile up around her, and really, Quentyn has made the best offer yet. She capped it off with the actual wedding. Things are really starting to come together in Meereen, but it's impossible to say where it will go from here.

For the first time in the book, I really feel like we're starting to get to the cusp of important events.

Page 514: Old Friends Return

Tyrion: For the most part it's just a run-of-the-mill chapter. More and more, Tyrion's chapters feel a lot like Dany's chapters were for the first couple books; ain't much going on. Getting to know another dwarf honestly isn't all that compelling a storyline, especially considering this particular dwarf doesn't have all that interesting a storyline. The only real interesting bit came at the very end, with the mention of the tall and twisted thing headed to Dany, with ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood. Could that be Euron Greyjoy? We know that a lot of people are supposed to be converging on Meereen, we know he has a dragon horn, and we know that we haven't seen him or Damphair since the kingsmoot, and only Victarion has been seen, attacking the Shield Islands. Martin really likes to drop a ton of hints and mysteries into his stories. Sometimes they can be annoying (if for no other reason than the sheer volume of them, some chapters seem to open up a dozen new prophesies that take hundreds of pages to solve, it's a lot to process). Sometimes they can really be interesting if they're somewhat guessable.

Bran: I've actually found some of his chapters to be kind of disappointing. After all this build-up, which his character not really doing a whole lot, he finally gets to the thing we've been waiting for for literally a decade, and then nothing really happens. However, the new revelation that Bran can see back into time really does open up a lot of possibilities. I found it highly amusing that Bran was listening into Eddard's prayers when he first brought Jon back to Winterfell, but left out all the juicy bits we really want to hear! Nice tease, George! Really though, Bran could be a fascinating vehicle for finding out all sorts of things that we thought might have been totally lost with certain characters having died. It could also be a powerful weapon, since Bran can almost become more powerful than Varys at his best. But how fast will his abilities develop, and how much use will he make of them? If he's stuck hanging out with Lord Brynden forever, he's not really of much use to the larger cast of characters, and that really does need to change in the near future. I feel a little sorry for Meera and Jojen. They're sort of suffering uselessly at the moment. I hope that future Bran chapters really do something. Even history revelations would be interesting at this point.

Jon: Most of this chapter really seems contrived to get us to learn a bit more about Stannis. Part of me wonders if the Umbers and the Karstarks will really stay true to Stannis. We know that their allegiance is suspect, but usually Martin likes to blindside us with stuff, which, to me, means that the expected (Stannis getting stabbed in the back) is less likely to happen. Also, Manderly's forces are still a factor that hasn't been taken into account. I'm glad that the Mormonts showed up to help, despite their earlier reluctance, and that they hurt the Greyjoys badly. One little tidbit that I thought was interesting was the idea of taking two corpses back to the ice cells. Is he planning on doing a little experimentation with Others? Jon has always been fairly methodical. Burning them would seem wise, but perhaps he wants to experiment with dragonglass and Valyrian steel on them. An interesting, unexpected move. Again, I look forward to more exciting things happening at the Wall.

Daenerys: So, we see her as a woman of the people, washing and healing the sick, and then being the hard-hearted but wise queen by turning off her heart and turning on her brain by leaving those same sick to starve to death outside her walls. It was a difficult but wise thing to do, considering the Yunkai'i specifically drove the Astapori to Meereen as a sort of biological weapon. It was quite a surprise to see Brown Ben Plumm go over to the other side, if he truly did. He wasn't mentioned often, but his defection kind of came out of left field. Still, we know that Quentyn is on his was to Meereen now, so things could get interesting. Looks like he'll make it there before the wedding at this rate. Dany, for her part, finally gave into her desire to have Daario. Hopefully she cools her jets a bit now. I'm a little surprised that Martin hasn't gone into the male/female dynamics of power a bit more. Dany has taken Daario for a consort, and she talks of marriage, but does her marriage make Hizdahr her superior? Some of the coolest female characters of the book have been female ones who defy archetypal female roles (like basically any woman in Dorne). Martin is sidestepping that issue a little bit here, and I'd like to see it explores a tiny bit more.

The Prince of Winterfell (Theon): Two interesting things here: 1. Mance is at Winterfell already! He's clearly the singer who arrived with the "washerwomen." They've mentioned before that he plays the lute (or whatever) and has a fair singing voice, so it's clearly him. I only hope that he doesn't end up doing something foolish that ruins the plans that Manderly has. 2. The focus, from afar, on Manderly. He's playing his part well, though it's interesting that no one seems to think he has the stones to really go through with it. We know that he doesn't give a damn about rituals of bread and salt, not after what happened to his son. Could the food really be poisoned, and he poisoned himself with it? Or could his incredible fatness give him some sort of immunity? What does he have planned, and will he have a chance to pull it off under Roose's watchful eye? Or is he really as craven as Lady Dustin says? There's still so much that could go both wrong and right in the north. I'm genuinely at a loss to guess what will happen with all the forces coming together. My fear is that Stannis will be smashed, Rickon killed, and the treachery of the north finally secured with Roose Bolton in total control, somehow. But I really hope that he finds a way to come out of it alive, and that somehow, Manderly gets to march on the Twins, and that Davos finds Rickon. And if dreams were wishes...


The Watcher (Areo Hotah): OooOoOoOoo. So we're finally back to some characters from Feast for Crows. That means that the timeline has more or less caught up for most of the characters. In a way that's a little disappointing, as I feel like even less happened in the first half of this book than happened in Feast. So much of it was the beginning of a new set of plots and schemes. Only Stannis really did anything. On the other hand, Prince Doran is potentially setting into motion a lot of interesting pieces, many of which converge on King's Landing in interesting ways. I'm still awaiting the fallout of Cersei more or less being imprisoned by the High Septon. It's awesome to see Doran finally stand up for himself and really explain the power structure of Dorne to his wayward nieces. He was the perfect counterpart to Oberyn, and the Sand Snakes need to fall in line. That was a pretty cool moment.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the Feast characters return. I'm also really wondering who is going to die before the end of this. I fear there are simply too many threads at this point, and Martin will be compelled to end many of them before he writes the next book, if only to make it a little simpler to keep track of. Plus, it just seems like too much time has passed without a major tragedy that makes me want to throw the book across the room, so, I'm really worried about that. I keep getting sucked back in, and Martin has raised my hopes just enough to keep me invested...even though I just know he's going to dash them against the rocks.

Page 434: Hope Springs Eternal!

Tyrion: Curious how nice Jorah is actually being to Tyrion. Shackling him makes perfect sense since Tyrion is so slippery, but other than that he actually affords him several courtesies. I forgot how much I missed Jorah's wise, calm, melancholy attitude. Despite his follies, he's still a comforting presence. What I still don't get is what he hopes to gain by bringing Tyrion to Dany. What value does he suppose Tyrion has for Dany? Merely for being a Lannister? Perhaps as a hostage or to win some sort of favor for the bounty on his head? Clearly Jorah wants to get back in Dany's good graces, but I don't see how Tyrion is any sort of a tool for that. Clearly though, this works out great for Tyrion. We return once again to just being along for the ride with his adventures.

Jon: I'm not a big fan of how easily Melisandre was able to co-opt Ghost. I know how powerful she is, though really, I'm really wondering how the power structure of these novels works. Jon and Bran are wargs, Bran's power goes even further. Jojen has green dreams. All these powers are sourced to the old golds in the north and the Children of the Trees. Melisandre's power is totally different, because you have to be born with it and she was trained, or is it an extension of the same thing? I'd really like to know. Some sort of grand unifying theory would be great. I don't like her attempts to seduce Jon to her sway, though, I do think she has become a more interesting character of late.

Davos: Best chapter of the book by far! Well, plot-wise, it's the best chapter. I'm so glad that Manderly was just playing the Freys and that he even has Robett Glover hanging around, who also wants to help Stannis. "My son Wendel came to the Twins a guest. He ate Lord Waslder's bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with friends. And they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Freys choke upon their fables...the north remembers, and the mummer's farce is almost done." Did anyone not get a shiver up their spine when they read that? So badass, and so what I've been waiting for for thousands of pages. And on top of that, he's even still loyal to the Starks as kings. Nothing gives me tingles like the tiny bits and pieces of loyalty that are sprinkled throughout this series. "Roose Boltin lies about his part in the Red Wedding, and his bastard lies about the fall of Winterfell." Finally, all the secrets of the Red Wedding and of Winterfell's fall are out and known to at least one person. Now my only worry is that if Manderly leaves White Harbor, he'll be in serious jeopardy. I love that Manderly is willing to bend the knee to get even Rickon back to serve as the Lord of Winterfell again. ANY other character in this novel, it seems, would have used that as his own pretext for a power grab, but his loyalty to the Starks means he'll bargain for Rickon's safe return. Warm fuzzies! Warm fuzzies everywhere! And damn Martin for getting me excited and making me hopeful again when I know he's just going to ruin it later!

Daenerys: At least she was smart enough to listen to her counselors and not let disease into the city, which was precisely her enemy's plan. Judging from the end of this chapter, I think we're meant to assume that she's decided to marry Hizdahr. I guess we'll see how that goes. I hope Jorah and Tyrion get there soon. And when are they going to do something with the dragons?

Melisandre: This is one I was actually really looking forward to. It did not disappoint. Her motivations have always been somewhat vague but interesting. I think it's interesting that she thinks Stannis is Azor Azai, but a different red priest thinks it's Dany. I wondered how her magic works, and we get to see a glimpse into just how difficult it is for her to make sense of what she sees. Who is the girl in grey? Jeyne? Asha? Why do her powers work so much better near the Wall where the old gods are? Is it just because of dragons, or because of the old gods? And holy crap, Mance is still alive? There's a news story that didn't make Sportscenter. This really does change quite a bit up there, lots of new questions that require answering. One of the most interesting I think is that she seems to have made contact with the last Greenseer and saw Bran and Summer in the background as well. How does that work? They did magic hack into her connection? Are the old gods really the enemy of R'holr? It'd be cool if all the gods were someone interconnected. I really hope we get another chapter from her. I've never really trusted her, and neither has Jon up to now. Her motivations are vague.

Reek (Theon): Simply put: I hope those two Freys are dead. Eventually I want them all dead, let Walder see his massive family slowly shrink around him, when he of all people assumed the most that his line would survive. I like that we get to see the interplay between Roose and Ramsay, so we can see just how much discord there is between them. Roose really is a cold, calculating bastard. I can see why he and Tywin were well-matched to strike a deal. But Ramsay has little guile, and seems kind of stupid for all his "bravery."  I hope Roose's comment about the Starks being done and this being squabbling over spoils proves false. So much good can still happen. Now we just have to wait and see what plans Roose has for Theon.

And with this post, I'm all caught up to where I am in the story. I'm less than halfway through it, but almost to the halfway point. I've just finished moving across the country, so now that I'm settled in, I imagine the reading will go much more quickly. Please feel free to make comments when you wish, so long as they are spoiler-free up to the appropriate page number.

Page 350: The Minor Characters Go Big (and some go home)

Jon: I didn't think it would take long for Jon to start recruiting from the Wildings. I wish they'd give us some sort of indication as to just how many of them there are total, other than saying there are a lot. I think Jon trusts in their abilities, but he of all people will also be wondering at their loyalties. Something bigger has to happen at the Wall soon, otherwise why would they bother making him one of the biggest characters of the novel when nothing is really happening up there?

Tyrion: Ah, so greyscale will be something of an ongoing issue. Good to see that he got a little bit of alone time with Aegon. The boy is green, and could do with some of the doses of reality that Tyrion is so good at bestowing upon others. What I like even more is Tyrion being captured by who I'm guessing is Jorah Mormont. He needs to find his way back into the story, and frankly, back into Dany's counsel. His wisdom is much missed, and he'd be good backup for Barristan, so long as he drops the lovesick thing. Anyway, Aegon clearly has a lot to learn, and it could be interesting watching him try to land in Westeros, if he decides not to make for Dany (which, given her state of mind, would likely be a waste of breath at this point).

Daenerys: Possible marriage proposal on the table. Like I said in my last post, it looks like things are headed in a direction where personal sacrifice of some sort is to be Dany's lesson of the week for this particular city. While a good lesson in theory, it still seems wasted when she could simply return control of the city to someone like Hizdahr and just leave. Is the "woods witch" who foretold "the prince that was promised" the same one who did a reading when Arya was in the woods with Beric Dondarrion? Seems likely they are the same person. Some of her prophesies have already come true, though they're hard to interpret. So who is the prince? Was it Rhaegar, now dead? Is it supposed to be the newly refound Aegon? I think she might be wise to temporarily banish Daario, since he's a distraction, and would lead to rumors...though I also think a fling with him would be good for her.

The Lost Lord (Connington): At the very least, Aegon seems like a pretty forthright youth who's comfortable in command and with his own abilities. I hope they move swiftly so we can see what comes of his landing in Westeros. This could be pretty cool, but also a little awkward if they expect Doran to raise his banners for Aegon with Quentyn on his way to find Dany. Lots of pieces on motion with this plot thread, and it looks to only be heating up more and more.

The Windblown (Quentyn): Hey I called it, they joined a sellsword group to get free passage to Slaver's Bay. It wasn't a hard guess actually, since it made the most sense. Quentyn got his first real taste of battle and came out unscathed, but it won't be so easy next time. I don't blame Martin for creating a very simple path for Quentyn to get to Dany here. Oftentimes these plots are so convoluted that it's nice to see an easy one for once, even if he does hang a lantern on it.

The Wayward Bride (Asha): So to a certain degree, we're past the events of Feast now. Last time I remember seeing Asha she was slinking off the Kingsmoot after her Uncle was given the driftwood crown, and now she's back in Deepwood Motte, though I can't say I get why. They keep emphasizing that the Iron Born don't even really like to be inland, so why does she return to the sea of trees that she hates so much? Since Balon died, the whole Ironborn storyline is a little weird. I get the part from Feast where they attack and take stuff in the south, the islands and shores, but what are they even still doing in the north? Their whole reason for being up there makes no sense anymore, so why not leave and head south to do some reaving? Stubbornness and pride seem to be the only things keeping them there. So Stannis has reached Deepwood, and though it appears his wild mountain men have taken pretty serious casualties (nice to see that he rounded them up, by the way), he took the castle without much fuss it would appear. I'm going to assume that she survived somehow, and I wonder now, with Deepwood lost to her, what role she'll play in the future. I also wonder what Stannis' taking of Deepwood will mean for him in terms of northern loyalty, but I don't know what viewpoint characters we have left that can get us into his head.

Page 266: Revelations

Daenerys: After awhile, you have to wonder at Martin's imagination, for coming up with things like the sex dance that opens up this chapter. It certainly takes sex to the level of performance art in a way that regular porn probably never has. In many ways this chapter is a little frustrating, because Dany seems to be making more and more...let's say unwise, decisions. What does she really need to accomplish in Meereen? Her rule there has been an unmitigated disaster. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for freeing slaves, but, destroying the entire social fabric of a society in a way that leaves everyone poorer than they were before seems like an awful way to do it. The more well-off slaves lost their cushy lifestyle, the wealthy are angry and wrathful, terrorists roam the streets killing her troops, and even the regular slaves that you'd think would be happiest will starve if they don't solve the food shortage. It's commendable that she wants to stay and fix what she broke. But I wonder how much of a boon it would be to the city if she simply took her troops and left. From Astapor she learned that she needs to stay and take control of what she conquers. From Yunkai she learned never to leave an enemy at her back. From Meereen? It seems the story is trying to teach her about the sacrifices that a leader must make for her society. She wants to take everyone with her, and I while I find her "I'm only a naive little girl" schtick to be amusing, sometimes she really is pretty naive when it comes to longterm objectives, and that's where I agree with Barristan.

Jon: Neat look at some of the behind the scenes stuff of surviving at the Wall. I felt a little tinge of Tom Clancy when they started getting into the specifics of how to store food to last however many years, and portion sizes and what not. Sometimes detail is fun, sometimes it is tedious. Martin walks a fine line, but luckily his locations are usually so exotic that it works just fine. I thought the discussion between Jon and Stannis was interesting. First off, it shows that Jon is a total badass when it comes to war, strategy, and his knowledge of the north. That was sage wisdom he gave to Stannis. It really does pain me, as much as Jon, whenever Stannis reiterates his offer to make him Lord of Winterfell. How great a Lord he would be! Stark honor has already led to far too many deaths, and hopefully Jon's won't be another. Second of all, Jon is totally invested in helping Stannis bring peace to the north, and to oust the Boltons. Part of me wonders what he has against Bolton other than Roose being a douche in general, and to protect Arya, but he clearly has a vested interest in bringing peace to the north and restoring the Starks.

Tyrion: His chapters are troublesome in a way because, unlike in previous books where he was influencing events in powerful ways, he's largely been reduced to a spectator in this novel, thus far. On the other hand, the events he is witnessing are pretty interesting. One of the things I like about Martin is that, while he does pull a lot of crazy crap out of left field on us, most of it is very reasonably explained. Things like the Red Wedding suck, but they make sense, and for that matter, he dropped a ton of clues beforehand that align perfectly afterward. I'm not sure if he did his due diligence as well with Aegon being a live. It really, really complicates the plot to have another Targaryen pretender with a potential army at his back. In a way it makes Dany expendable, and at the moment, her purpose seems to only be a lightning rod to attract other characters who have more going for them than she does. I know that he's been introducing new characters all the time, but pulling this sort of switch at the last minute is a little melodramatic for me. Still, Aegon seems like a pretty interesting kid, as does Connington. Also, will anything come of Tyrion being attacked by someone with greyscale? Dangerous foreshadowing?

Davos: It seems like Davos and Stannis are the only two characters left in the entire show who actually have a vested interest in saving the north, and in relating that story back to us, the readers. This chapter was the first I think where I wanted to cheer out loud. Davos and Wylla voiced things I've been thinking for the last 2,000 pages. Vengeance! I've been pissed for the last two books that no one knows the length of the treachery Bolton perpetrated, or the treachery of the Freys. And it's frustrating that this information still has not gotten out, but at the very least these Lords should want retribution for the death of all their relatives at Frey hands, especially considering the ridiculous lies of the Freys. I'm still waiting for the truth to come out, and this time, it had damn well better. In the meantime, this matches up nicely with what we read in Feast, but I still hope that Manderly is putting on a show, and Davos survives.

Reek (Theon): How the hell has Jeyne Poole survive all this? Why would Cersei even bother keeping her alive and hidden all this time? She can't have planned for this, especially since Tywin was the one who came up with it. Well, it's bizarre, but it's also good, because she'll be more recognizable when that truth comes out. I can't believe they trusted the Boltons not to double-cross them. Other than serving as a viewpoint to peer in on the Boltons, I wonder what role Theon still has to play.