Sooo, what do I have to say about it? First off, I can not believe that I would actually miss the PoV of people I used to hate.
As you know when I finished the fourth book, I was looking forward to reading about what happened with the other characters - but I never actually thought that there will be so little to read about them. The fact that George Martin totally avoided Bryenne's storyline frustrates me to no end.
Also, with the little mentions I got about Rickon and the wildling girl I realized that I have no idea what's happening on THAT front either, and after so many books I WISH I'd know.
And then there are Jaime and Cersei. I freaking want to know where Jamie went with Bryenne, and I wanted to see more of that Cersei-torture.
I have to admit that I've been tricked into believing that Cersei will be actually murdered in this book (yes, Emő, I'm looking at you). When previously the curse (or prophecy) was mentioned my Cersei, I kind of wondered who will it be, and Emő made me think that in this book I shall get to find out. Well, it didn't happen, although I DO have a theory (mainly that it will NOT be Tyrion. The prophecy only mentions a younger brother doesn't it? Is Jaime perhaps younger than Cersei by a few minutes? what about Joffrey's younger brother? OR a Stark kid... hm, so many variables...)
Oh, and besides being surprised at most of the book, I have to say that I DID manage to guess what will happen on some fronts, mainly that Arya's blindness is just a part of her training - and I also had the feeling that Drogon the dragon will make a BIG entrance in the arena.
Oh, and to tell you the truth, even if Dany's part started to kind of bore me (she seemed so stupid and naive in these last books), now it made me curious about what will happen with the khalasar.
And speaking about Dany... it brings me back to Jon. Which WAS a big surprise, even tho I should have gotten used to the part by now where if the dire wolf is acting strangely, I should expect something will happen.
I don't think that Jon will die from this (or is that just hoping?), and I definitely don't think that Stannis will lose yet. Things are definitely not looking good for them, but I don't think this is the end.
Davos is another surprise - and not a good one this time. I was hoping to see the last of him, and instead I get another cliffhanger (come on, GRRM, aren't there enough unresolved issues? At this rate we will all die before the whole things ends. Just like Lost did.)
I get it that the details of the descriptions and the conversations are there so you can make yourself a part of this fictional world (how else would you get to know it, right?), but really, in the last two books nothing BIG happened.
Besides those few murders (and I haven't even lifted an eyebrow at some of them), we only ever got endless descriptions.
Sure, Bran seemed to also reach the point where he was heading to, but nothing really happens there. And yea, everyone suspected that Theon wasn't dead. No freaking surprise there either. At the rate this is going nothing will surprise me anymore. (Really? Did GRRM really have to make an "intelligent" walker? - I'm guessing it was possessed or something. What happened there anyway? Is it just me, or is this a POTC moment, with the guy practically being ONE with the tree/ship?)
Oh and where the hell is Sansa? I hate that little bitch, but I still wanted to know what's happening there.
Back jump to Tyrion - he is hilarious in this one, and I'm glad that we could catch a glimpse of a girl dwarf (and I'm absolutely curious about the movie scenes with them riding a pig and a dog). Still, his storyline didn't advance much either. I don't even know what he has in mind at the moment. Is he looking for his ex-wife? (please don't make it a weird prince-charming-saves-the-princess story). Is he trying to get revenge? Where is he going? Why is he doing what he is doing? CLIFFHANGER. KA-BOOM.
I really think that GRRM should have made these last two books a little bit shorter, and fitted them into ONE. As I said, nothing important seems to be happening - and why did he even introduce new characters just to kill them off in another chapter? Also, how much of a dumb-ass can you be to anger a dragon, when you KNOW you can be hurt by fire? Dumb-ass.
Oh and another character - Cersei's uncle (I don't even remember his name). Was he even mentioned before? Am I just confusing people now (there ARE many of them), or did GRRM just pull this guy out of nowhere? I absolutely hope that the next two books will lack these boring characters.
Mainly, because I don't give a fuck about them. I only want to know what happens to those people I read about from the first moment.
And I still can't get over the fact that I was promised dragons, dammit. The whole book got a title just for them. Where the hell was that dance, GRRM? The most I got from this was a retarded guy trying to walk up a mountain. This is DRAGGING OUT too long. Especially if you want to keep introducing new people.
I really can't imagine how most of these stories will be resolved at this rate besides having to be killed off. Or is GRRM trying to pull a Hollywood here and write 10 more books entitled ASOIAF 7 - part one, part two, part three and so forth?
Is this Diablo 3? Having to wait for YEARS, thinking about how awesome it will be, and when we get it we realize that it's a piece of crap? Yeah, I was expecting more. A lot more. I'm impatient, and I want my stories to be filled with action and not boring descriptions all the time.
Let me tell you guys, If you are an enthusiast (or you just don't want to leave a series alone until you exhausted every book about it), you'll love this. It's 1000 pages of getting glimpses of another world. It might be as exciting as going on a trip to another country. Sure, it's all nice and fun, but after all you get to eat is take-away and all your clothes are dirty and you smell like a dog suffering from the Flux, you want to get home.
And this is where my rant should end. What did you think about the book, guys? Is it just me that was disappointed?
