A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice & Fire book 5)
It's out tomorrow! It's been a long wait (6 years), but finally we get to find out what's happened to Tyrion, Dany and Jon Snow. We'll find out who Coldhands is (hopefully) and get some meaty dragon action - again, hopefully! I'm hoping for a bit more action than A Feast for Crows, which seemed to tell us a lot but not show it happening.
I expect it will take me a good 2-3 weeks to finish (given the size), and I would think that it will be the same with many readers, so can I ask that we please use spoiler tags for any big revelations we get in this one, at least for a month or so.
At this point, we still don't know who all the POV characters are, and I am looking forward to being surprised. The confirmed ones are:
Yeah, mine tried to arrive this morning. It wasn't downloading. I had a minor panic until I realised that my BT router was once again dead and reset it. PHEW!
Issues with my Kindle edition are:
- the maps are way too small on my Desire HD screen and there's no zooming option for them.
- there is a contents listing for the entire book, meaning that if I'd studied it too carefully I'd have known all the POVs coming. I skipped quickly.
Either it's the effect of Kindle reading dilating apparent length or the prologue is a MONSTER in terms of length.
Are you sure the zoom option isn't there? I have other books on Kindle for my HTC Desire S and I can zoom in on any pictures in those by double-tapping on them.
Last edited by LeftHandedGuitarist; 12-07-2011 at 12:07.
I re-read the first book during the Game of Thrones tv show. As I'm partway through the second I might as well read them all so I remember what's going on when I get to ADWD
I am going for the chapter summaries at Tower of the Hand. Life is too short to re-read 3000+ pages of something I have read fairly recently, no matter how much I enjoyed it.
Might read the whole lot all the way through when (if) the last book comes out in 2030
I've read the first two chapters, and so far so good. I have to mention that I felt an odd burst of excitement at seeing the names of the POV characters as I turned the page and saw whose story I was about to get back into!
I'm going to use the chapter naming convention that the Tower of the Hand website uses (eg., Tyrion I, Tyrion II, Dany I, Dany II, Dany III, etc.).
Prologue and Tyrion I
The prologue was quite beautifully written (and certainly not very long, as TheoGB seemed to be thinking!). Very nice to have another encounter with the Others - or were they wights? No real distinction was made from what I could tell. Varamyr presented an interesting character and it took me by surprise that he was able to attempt and enter another person, I thought it would be animals only.
Tyrion's chapter was great, classic. The dry wit was there from the off, and his encounter with the girl in his room was both fun, nasty and a little bit sad. I didn't think we'd be seeing Illyrio again.
The length of the Prologue was just in terms of how far I got through in my journey to work. Also in comparison to previous prologues rather than it just being 'long'. As I don't have the others on Kindle I didn't really have a comparion.
I think book 2 has the longest prologue, book 1 the shortest. The prologue to this one is roughly the same length or a little shorter than the ones to books 3 & 4 I believe (3 & 4's prologues were a little shorter than book 2's).
This line from the first Jon chapter intrigued me a lot:
Jon I
Once they had been six. Four remained... and one the white wolf could no longer sense.
This is referring to the 6 direwolves the Stark children originally found at the start of A Game of Thrones. We know that Sansa's wolf Lady was executed, and Robb's wolf Grey Wind was killed along with him, so that leaves four: Jon's wolf Ghost, Bran's wolf Summer, Rickon's wolf Shaggydog and Arya's wolf Nymeria who was run off. Who is the extra one referred to here that can no longer be sensed? Or am I missing the implication that the wolf is supposed to be Nymeria, who has "split off" from the rest of the pack?
Not having read the books since about 2007, I am struggling to recollect some of the names and what happened to certain characters.....perhaps I should have reviewed the other books again! I'm just after finishing the first Jon chapter but I just love how engrossed I can get into the writing again!
This line from the first Jon chapter intrigued me a lot:
Jon I
Once they had been six. Four remained... and one the white wolf could no longer sense.
This is referring to the 6 direwolves the Stark children originally found at the start of A Game of Thrones. We know that Sansa's wolf Lady was executed, and Robb's wolf Grey Wind was killed along with him, so that leaves four: Jon's wolf Ghost, Bran's wolf Summer, Rickon's wolf Shaggydog and Arya's wolf Nymeria who was run off. Who is the extra one referred to here that can no longer be sensed? Or am I missing the implication that the wolf is supposed to be Nymeria, who has "split off" from the rest of the pack?
Jon I
Pretty sure that refers to Bran being north of the wall and with Coldhands. That's how I read it and I'm sure there is a reference to Bran being out of "range" once he went through The Wall in ASOS 2.
Pretty sure that refers to Bran being north of the wall and with Coldhands. That's how I read it and I'm sure there is a reference to Bran being out of "range" once he went through The Wall in ASOS 2.
Jon I
Interesting. I just assumed it meant Nymeria but of course that makes more sense.
Well that was a great chapter! It felt nice to have something so unexpected to end it, as after A Feast for Crows lack of shocks I was almost getting used to it. This felt more like something straight out of the earlier books. And Janos Slynt was a right ****, good riddance!
This line from the first Jon chapter intrigued me a lot:
Jon I
Once they had been six. Four remained... and one the white wolf could no longer sense.
This is referring to the 6 direwolves the Stark children originally found at the start of A Game of Thrones. We know that Sansa's wolf Lady was executed, and Robb's wolf Grey Wind was killed along with him, so that leaves four: Jon's wolf Ghost, Bran's wolf Summer, Rickon's wolf Shaggydog and Arya's wolf Nymeria who was run off. Who is the extra one referred to here that can no longer be sensed? Or am I missing the implication that the wolf is supposed to be Nymeria, who has "split off" from the rest of the pack?
As Milo says it's almost certainly Summer as the following paragraph explains that Ghost/Jon can sense Shaggydog and Nymeria:
"Far off, he could hear his packmates calling to him, like to like. They were hunting too. A wild rain lashed upon his black brother (Shaggydog) as he tore at the flesh of an enormous goat."
and:
"In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her" - This is obviously referring to Nymeria and her pack that's been terrorising Westeros.
A little later it reveals Ghost knows Summer is beyond the wall, but it doesn't necessarily mean he can sense him at the present time:
"On the other side the wind was colder still, the wolf sensed. That was where his brother was, the grey brother who smelled of summer"
Hence I reckon it's summer he can no longer sense (which would make sense if Coldhands has led them to an enchanted place like the wall or maybe somewhere ancient beyond the realms of "magic).
This was a fantastic chapter. A fantastic fight sequence, very atmospheric with the wights appearing from under the snow and Bran taking control of Hodor and going on a rampage. Also some huge revelations: we meet a Child of the Forest, something I never expected and it also appears that a being is attached to (all?) the weirwood trees. And Bran is in love with Meera, that's sweet
Bran is going to fly; does this indicate that his warg abilities will allow him to enter birds, eagles... dragons?
There is a pretty enormous revelation here which completely passed me by, due to the fact that I haven't read the Dunk & Egg novellas. The creature attached to the weirwoods is in fact a character called Bloodraven. I wouldn't have known anything about this if I wasn't reading people's chapter discussions over at Tower of the Hand.
Oh, and Daenery's second chapter - holy ****, Drogon escaped?!? That cannot be good.
Well that was a great chapter! It felt nice to have something so unexpected to end it, as after A Feast for Crows lack of shocks I was almost getting used to it. This felt more like something straight out of the earlier books. And Janos Slynt was a right ****, good riddance!
Yes, great climax -
and well overdue. Thought the rest of the chapter went a little over the top though in rehashing the same chapter from Feast For Crows - it was nice seeing it from a different point of view, but GRRM went overboard with the cut & paste here!
and well overdue. Thought the rest of the chapter went a little over the top though in rehashing the same chapter from Feast For Crows - it was nice seeing it from a different point of view, but GRRM went overboard with the cut & paste here!
Jon II
I hadn't re-read AFFC in anticipation so I was happy enough with the overlap on that chapter.
Question:
Bran II
Actually not about Bran II but the chapter before and I didn't want anyone to read the POV title. So 'Reek' in this instance is Theon Greyjoy, right? A grim chapter to read, that one.
Just finished reading books 2-5 (well I am stuck in hospital with nothing to do but read), many cliff hangers unresolved, so I hope no 6 year wait for the next one.
Linear Mode
