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A Thread of A Series of Books of A Song of Ice and Fire (BOOK AND TV SPOILERS HERE)
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I'm not actually a big reader of fiction. I used to be, but now I am older, I feel like I have read it all before, at least where genre fiction is concerned. I like ASOIAF because it feels more like the history books I read. History has even less qualms than GRRM about suddenly killing an interesting character. I love the very insane complexity that my husband doesn't get on with.
I started reading a few chapters every day during lunch and before bed. I was pretty invested in it and I'm not a slow reader by any stretch but those of you saying you could finish it "in a couple hours a few times a week" are nuts.
But really, we all know that Cat is to blame for the entirety of bad things in the series all because she was a bitch to Petyr when they were kids. :P
Reading for about an hour a night plus however much time I spend on the can in a given day I've managed to read 10 1/2 books of the Wheel of Time in ~5 months.
Granted that's a reread, so I can go a little quicker, but absent one chapter (some of Elayne's stupid succession bullshit) I've read every page. "I don't have time" isn't a particularly good excuse.
This is pretty much the time when fantasy fiction is the least predictable actually. The 90s and onward it's been stretching it's legs in a serious way.
I have a lot of friends that just flat out don't like to read. They claim it's because of school, they were so worn down with required readings that they didn't enjoy they just relate reading to not having fun. So they simply don't do it. I'm the odd one out that reads for fun and has a small collection of books.
I read GoT in roughly 12 hours, at work. Time isn't the issue, some people just do not like to read. I'm sure those same people will cry foul when their kids score poorly on mandated reading tests, but whatever.
To tangent slightly, I highly recommend starting the Malazan series with the fourth volume. It's divided into two books. The first of these follows a single protagonist (and his buddies) on his journey from a mountain fastness to the lands of men. Finish that "book", and then (if the world still seems interesting), pick up Gardens (suffer through it) and then read the rest in release order.
Thats an interesting way to start reading the Malazan series. Most commonly I see people reccommending starting with book 2. But its almost universally agreed that Gardens is the worst and you have to slog through it but they get better.
Whatever could go wrong? ;-)
edit: This was a post from the tv thread.
Had to double check which thread we were in, haha.
Loving the predictions that Frey tosses them out and the Starks head to the Eyrie.
The reason I suggest doing it that way is three-fold:
1) All the others (iirc) "jump" between two or three groups of characters. House of Chains, book 1 sticks with the one guy.
2) it's either before or during the events of Gardens of the Moon.
3) When reading Deadhouse Gates, the reader will encounter a familiar face.
I have a question about Littlefinger and Varys. Isn't Varys completely different in the show? I would have pegged Book-Varys as similar to show Varys up until I read the scene at the end of ADWD. But now Book-Varys explicitly said he wants to sow chaos in the realm to better pave the way for his plot, which makes Show-Varys' lawful order streak seem like a big departure. Unless that streak in the show turns out to be a feint.
0) POV characters - their name is right at the top
1)Super hero like names:
The Hound. The Mountain That Rides. The Knight of the Flowers. The King Beyond the Wall. Littlefinger. The Imp. Kingslayer. The Onion Knight. The Greatjon. Hot Pie. Barristan the Bold.
2) Have very distinct names. I couldn't have told you the guy's name was Jaqen H'ghar but when I read it I knew who it was.
3) Orbit fairly exclusively around one character. Bronn is pretty standard but has a strong personality and is always with Tyrion. Same with Jorah (Dae), or Syrio/Gendry (Arya).
There are exceptions but he does a good job keeping it straight. My wife has a coworker (female) named Yrag.
She also recently took care of a baby named Arya and thought it might be GoT related. Then the mother came in with a Pokemon shirt and they discussed PAXEast and it was confirmed.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
time for the Tyrells to change sides again
A field of roses will lean whichever direction the wind blows.
That sounds like a really terrible reference to menstruation to me.
shit, is this from the books?
I'd put Bronn in the same mindset.
not... explicitly? As far as I can remember.
It's a fairly accurate statement, though.
Yeah, I still believe in Varys. Everyone seems to jump on Aegon *gasp* enjoying combat to mean he's going to be a terrible king, but as far as plans to make a good king go, Varys really has the best. In fact, he's the only person who has a plan to get a good king on the throne. So I'm rooting for him, he has the best interests of the most people at heart.
And if he turns out to be crazy or evil then I'm rooting for Victarion because fuck everything.
I wasn't consciously quoting anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if something similar was in the text and I was subconsciously remembering it.
Varys has good intentions but his means are no less nasty then anyone elses.
Plus, Aegon displays none of the traits Varys thinks he does. He's not gonna be the king Varys hoped for.
Basically Varys wants to keep the realm intact and stable, and just get the Targs (and/or blackfyres?)(and/or fake-targs-who-are-actually-just-Illyrio's-kid?) in charge. But he wants to do it as cleanly and neatly as possible. Not that he wouldn't keep the civil war going if needed and kill a bunch more peasants, but if he can avoid it he will. Like Varys is never going to have a, "Me! It was me all along, mwuahahahaha!" moment. Even if all his plans pass he'll still be a fairly minor footnote most likely.
For Littlefinger causing the chaos is almost as enjoyable as profiting from it, because fuck those guys I'll show them! It's almost less about wanting the crown itself and more about it being a symbol to everyone that he won.
Hahah, yeah, this was just delicious. I can't wait for more episodes.
I think I felt the same way at that point in reading Storm. "Okay, everything has gone to shit, Robb's due to rebound any minute now... no, just some more badness, maybe in the next... 'Jaime Lannister sends his regards.' FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"
The two Frey boys negotiating with Robb remind me of
Again, Varys might be doing it for what he considers a "greater good". But his method has been the cause of great strife and bloodshed.
Wait, what?
I'm of the opinion that while Oberyn provided the poison, Varys probably delivered it.
I can kinda see it, the biggest point being Tyrion knowing he was in the bathroom after he knew what the poison did. So its possible. I can't help but feel like Doran would've known and told the Sand Snakes though if that did happen.