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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
help! my daughter is biting hair! what should I do?
feed her 1 day blinding stew
feed her 1 day blinding stew
Half ratings would be nice, worst of them so far. But that’s more a compliment to the others then an insult to this. ignoring half the characters really makes this tough to love, but hey atleast I didn’t have to endure any more chapters about Bran!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
shorter
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one is weird. If you’ve made it this far in the series, you’re apt to make it through simply to get to roll around in the world for 1000 pages. But I’d be lying to say this book is great. After finishing, the nature of the book’s perspectives being split in half feels way more accidental than intentional, and it’s almost like all of the interesting plot points got separated into A Dance with Dragons (or at least I hope so). This book is fine, but after spending a summer with it, I am genuinely having trouble remembering one significant moment from this book.
I’ve always heard that the community has a shared hatred for Cersei’s chapters, which are prevalent in this book, but my take on that is a controversial one, as I think Cersei Lannister’s perspective is the heart of this book. Eddard Stark drives A Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister drives A Clash of Kings, Arya Stark drives A Storm of Swords, and I think this is Cersei’s book. Is she a likable character? Absolutely not. But her story was the only one that had a good exposition and buildup to a conclusive end (even if it is a cliffhanger). Brienne just did a bunch of aimless running around in this book- I like Brienne, but to me, her story was honestly the one of the worst, barring that last chapter. Same with Arya and Samwell. Aimless running around. Sansa’s chapter I’ll agree on- they were awful. I did quite enjoy getting to look in on Dorne and the Iron Islands (although I wish he would’ve stuck to one perspective for each).
At the end of the day, this book just feels like a whole bunch of set up. Admittedly, I like where things are set up at. I can see where opposing parties are finally beginning to consolidate and how great that 6th book is gonna be. It feels weird to even call this book underwhelming, because that implies a build-up to something lackluster. To me, there wasn’t even a lot of build-up in this book. 1000 pages of exposition for Book #6. Can’t wait to dive into the other half.
At the end of the day, this book just feels like a whole bunch of set up. Admittedly, I like where things are set up at. I can see where opposing parties are finally beginning to consolidate and how great that 6th book is gonna be. It feels weird to even call this book underwhelming, because that implies a build-up to something lackluster. To me, there wasn’t even a lot of build-up in this book. 1000 pages of exposition for Book #6. Can’t wait to dive into the other half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture