A Feast For Crows

[bluedaisy]

I hate you, George R.R. Martin. Except you're fantastic.
This book is incredible. It would be more incredible and less incredibly frustrating if it didn't end in at least three distinct cliffhangers.


I'm more or less happy with where Martin left Sam Tarly.
House Martell makes me want to read more, but I wouldn't have to throttle Martin just for making us wait to see where, exactly, Quentyn Martell is going (I suspect to Daenerys, so we'll see him in the next book, rather than in two), and to whom Arianne was betrothed.
Jamie is likely going to get dragged out of Riverrun by Tom O'Sevens to face Lady Stoneheard, but that's ok too---that's plot that hasn't happened yet, rather than plot he stopped in the middle of.
Victarion is going to Daenerys too, so we'll see the Krakens in the next book, too. That's fine.
Petyr Baelish is probably going to poison Sansa's Sweetrobin, to get her her throne, but I'm still not sure he won't change his mind and marry her himself first...
But...

ARGH!
Arya---blinded in the Temple of the Many-Faced God. Permanently? Blindfolded? Is this success towards her becoming a Faceless Man? Failure? We don't know! And we won't until book 6! Not fair.
Brienne---hanged for real? About to be saved? Again, we won't know until book 6.
Cersei and Margaery---Will the High Septon take them both? Will Jamie go to King's Landing? Will it be Jamie or Tyrion who strangles her (both her valenquar) or is the prophecy more indirect?


Books in 2006: 1

Comments

Cliffhangers

[tirinian.livejournal.com]

I think it's unlikely Brienne's actually dead. She's just not important enough to the story to have gotten all those chapters, if she is. While Martin is meaner to his characters than any other author I can think of, he also has a good sense for what the story is about. I think it's far more possible that Arya is permanently blinded, although I hope she's not. (I'm pretty sure it's the tea she drank that left her blind for now, rather than a blindfold.) And Jamie's not strangling anyone until somone magics up that gold hand of his to actually work. :-)

I described the book to someone else as "a good story in the world, that's not actually part of the series." All those back up characters whose plot ends with "and then we go look for Daenerys" feel like their plots could have been handled in a chapter each, when they get to Daenerys, or something, instead of taking most of a book.