Evil Monkey Revisits George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows
Jeff:
You've re-read A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4)
by George R.R. Martin, too, haven't you?
Evil Monkey:
Yes. No way am I scaling the mountain that is A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five
without reminding my brain of prior context.
Jeff:
What did ya think?
Evil Monkey:
What did you think?
Jeff:
On count of three, we both shout out what we thought…One…Two…Three!
Jeff/Evil Monkey (simultaneously):
CORPSEY CORPSEY STABBY BLEAK STABBY CORPSEY GROSS HORRIFYING CORPSEY CORPSEY
Jeff:
Hmmm. What're the odds of that?
Evil Monkey:
Let's face it, it was both full of stabbyness and corpses.
Jeff:
What about the source of those hangings?
Evil Monkey:
Oh. My Gawd!
Jeff:
I know, right!
Evil Monkey:
And that fight by the sea, on the cliff!
Jeff:
Oh. My God. And what happens to the queen?!
Evil Monkey:
Oh my god! I know! And those ironborn extra-drowned guys!
Jeff:
And Stark's stabby daughter!
Evil Monkey:
You can see she's gonna bring a world of hurt down on somebody soon.
Jeff:
I know, right?! Wow.
Evil Monkey:
So…did you like it?
Jeff:
Did you like it?
Evil Monkey:
I soooo liked it.
Jeff:
Me, too. I thought it was great.
Evil Monkey:
And the first time I read it I thought it was a big stinking pile of monkey feces.
Jeff:
Me, too. It smelled just like you.
Evil Monkey:
No, it smelled like you.
Jeff:
Well, it smelled.
Evil Monkey:
What changed?
Jeff:
I dunno about you, but I read those first three books in like two weeks. I lost so much sleep reading those books it was like I was on crack. I couldn't stop reading them, and then I'd stop reading them because I didn't want them to end. But I got to them late, so Feast came out about six months after I finished the first three…and I wanted Tyrion and the dragon queen and all of those characters…and they weren't in there.
Evil Monkey:
And now you didn't want them?
Jeff:
Honestly, I had to consult Wikipedia to remember everything that had happened, so encountering Feast unmoored from my expectation of needing Tyrion in there, I thought it was pretty darn awesome. I now disagree with the haters. the writing is first-rate and the anti-quests along with the state of things for the queen and her son…nicely done. And those ironborn are bad-asses.
Evil Monkey:
They sure are. I'm hoping that daughter-heir kicks all their butts, though.
Jeff:
Me, too.
Evil Monkey:
I just about ran out of the room screaming when [redacted] returned. OMG.
Jeff:
I know! I don't know if people realize how much this series depends on horror, and a working knowledge of horror tropes.
Evil Monkey:
Yeah, grim grim grim.
Jeff:
Yup. Grim crack you can't stop scarfing down. This is like caviar for pessimists.
Evil Monkey:
Aye, it is. Coulda done without the Sam parts, though.
Jeff:
Always gotta end on a downer, don't you, dipweed?
Evil Monkey Revisits George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on June 13, 2011.
