A Feast for Crows
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The Third Act Twists
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The first half of A Feast for Crows kind of dragged for me simply because it introduced a bunch of new PoV characters and new storylines, so it took me a while to get used to them and care about them. Not to mention that many of my favorite characters aren't in it at all. Other that though, there's nothing wrong with the book. The story was really interesting and the various twists definitely improved it.
a feast for crows is a slow burn.it deals mostly with the iron islands and dorne. people we haven't seen too much of yet at this point. and while i enjoyed the iron islanders oncei gave up trying to remember all of their names, dorne simply bores the living shit out of me.
there is also a lot of repetition in the stories. jaime goes to various castles and ends sieges. brienne goes to various towns and villages searching for sansa, never finding her. arya does various tasks around braavos. it's all very monotone unfortunately.
however, it's strength is in the third act as you said. it really is able to pull all of these awkward acts together to a resolution that is more than a sum of their parts. which unfortunately is the exact opposite of a dance with dragons, which starts exciting and then meanders a bit and then kinda falls flat at the end with a large number of cliffhangers.
It was slow until the end. I also didn't care for the change in chapter title format. It went from being the persons name to something "clever." He continued this into book 5 as well. I wish he would go back.
I found this one to be the slowest of the series as yet. Although indeed in act 3 he finally gets his act back together. Next book has a faster pace.
Budd wrote: "It was slow until the end. I also didn't care for the change in chapter title format. It went from being the persons name to something "clever." He continued this into book 5 as well. I wish he..."Really? You didn't think Cersei getting busted or Doran's revelation were a pick up?
Budd wrote: "It was slow until the end. I also didn't care for the change in chapter title format. It went from being the persons name to something "clever." He continued this into book 5 as well. I wish he..."Really? You didn't think Cersei getting busted or Doran's revelation were a pick up?
I really felt that the Doran stuff was really slow. The cersei stuff was good and that is really where the story picked up and that last Sam Chapter was pretty good. Brienne meeting Cat was good and created some tension in the 5th book. I dreaded Sansa chapters. This was by far the weekest of the 5 books and book 5 is predominatley about people journeying to somewhere else. To have it follow the best book of the series probably makes it feel worse than it actually is though.
I think in books 4 and 5 he really starts pushing the history and mythology of his world. It is a huge world, with a long history. This slowed both books down. Add Sansa to book 4 and you get some very slow moving chapters.
Budd wrote: "I really felt that the Doran stuff was really slow. The cersei stuff was good and that is really where the story picked up and that last Sam Chapter was pretty good. Brienne meeting Cat was good ..."This is true, and by that I mean that book 4 and 5 showcased more of the world he built. I was originally hoping for a tighter narrative that ended in book 4, but that wasn't to be! And I am glad there was plenty about the Rhoynar, Volantenes, Braavosi, Ironborne, etc. The world is just freaking cool!
Matthew wrote: "The world is just freaking cool!"I agree so much with this! I don't care how long the story is or how long it takes to 'reach' anywhere. I just enjoy the ride, and love the scenery. :)
I thought the chapter title changes were kinda cool.
Some of the title changes were quite witty, but for the most part they irritated the hell out of me... sometimes I didn't even realise about whom I was reading till a part in the chapter...
Michael wrote: "Some of the title changes were quite witty, but for the most part they irritated the hell out of me... sometimes I didn't even realise about whom I was reading till a part in the chapter..."Ah, like that opening chapter where Arys Oakheart is wandering to Arianne's room to have hot, gratuitous sex with her? I found that one a little confusing at first, but then, there was sex! By the time I realized who was who and what was going on, it was like, who cares???
lol, like that one indeed, I was like... who the *bleep* is this...
Brienne's chapters were the most difficult for me to slog through in this book. I really liked the addition of Cersei because you get to find out how bat-shit paranoid she is.
Themetalmallet wrote: "Brienne's chapters were the most difficult for me to slog through in this book. I really liked the addition of Cersei because you get to find out how bat-shit paranoid she is."Aint that the truth! This book was powerful fodder for me and a bunch of others over at another forum where Cersei fans were arguing that she was somehow misunderstood and the victim of double-standards. Needless to say, those of us who've read beyond book I did not agree! Who can defend such a paranoid, narcissistic murderer by saying "if she were a man, no one would have a problem with her"? Pure crap!
As for the Brienne chapters, I agree there too. Its well established that Martin likes to flesh out his world and really add additional characters to the mix. But I also thought they were terribly long and boring. And kind of depressing, all that suffering in the Riverlands left by the war. Reminded me too much of Arya's long, drawn out struggle to get home.
Themetalmallet wrote: "Brienne's chapters were the most difficult for me to slog through in this book. I really liked the addition of Cersei because you get to find out how bat-shit paranoid she is."See, I liked Brienne's chapters because she became a completely-realized character for me and I got to really understand why she did some things she did in the previous books. Of course, I should have known better than to like a character...
I also was a fan of the brienne chapters. she is an intriguing character, and it's my hope that her journey doesn't end in the next book. i think the fact that it was slow is parallel to the rest of the book. it's a long book where not much happens for roughly 2/3 of the narrative. so things seem slow and drawn out. but, while there is little plot advancement there is character development, setup for dance with dragons, and development and expansion of the history of the kingdom and its peoples.
I found the hardest chapters for to read were the ones with Cersi and Sansa. I sorta started to carre for them then they ruin it by whining about their circumstances. Jon Snow is one of my faves and loved how he became Lord Commander with Sam's help.
I loved the Sand Snakes, I loved the Maribald/Brienne/Podrick dynamics. The mystery of Marywyn & Victarian. And Asha is fleshed out as a character. I loved the way Cersi spun out of control and how Qyburn became her instrument of mayhem.And Arya tranformation into ...?
Stephen wrote: "I loved the Sand Snakes, I loved the Maribald/Brienne/Podrick dynamics. The mystery of Marywyn & Victarian. And Asha is fleshed out as a character. I loved the way Cersi spun out of control and how..."...the Cat of the Canals?
I do not know what is up with Arya. Arya in search of family I understood, Arya in the House of the Muti-faced god has confused me. Arya the assassin? I can't figure out the next move. I wished for Arya , Nymeria and the Hound killing Boltons and Freys but now that wish seemed to have died.
Stephen wrote: "I do not know what is up with Arya. Arya in search of family I understood, Arya in the House of the Muti-faced god has confused me. Arya the assassin? I can't figure out the next move. I wished for..."Well, she joined the House of Black and White to learn how to be an assassin because that's the life she came to embrace after losing her family and becoming obsessed with vengeance. But as of book IV, she learned that Black Brothers were in town and that John Snow was now the Lord Commander. I'd say she's caught between wanting to find him and her sister and killing everyone on her revenge list.
Stephen wrote: "I do not know what is up with Arya. Arya in search of family I understood, Arya in the House of the Muti-faced god has confused me. Arya the assassin? I can't figure out the next move. I wished for..."I'd have to agree with what Matthew said as far as Arya concerned. I'm hoping that she'll be reunited with Nymeria at some point.
Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I do not know what is up with Arya. Arya in search of family I understood, Arya in the House of the Muti-faced god has confused me. Arya the assassin? I can't figure out the next mo..."Ah yes, her wolf pup. Though its hardly a pup by this point. They do make it a point to keep mentioning Nymeria don't they? I've been forced to wonder, mainly out of wishful thinking, that this is hinting at an eventual reunion.
Arya probably thinks her entire family is dead, much like Jon. Sam is the only 1 to have seen Jon, Bran, Rickon and Arya. He needs to see Sansa!
infael wrote: "Arya probably thinks her entire family is dead, much like Jon. Sam is the only 1 to have seen Jon, Bran, Rickon and Arya. He needs to see Sansa!"
She knows Jon is still alive, and she has reason to suspect Sansa is, though she knows she's also a hostage. As for Sam, are you hoping he'll be able to tell John his half-sister are still alive? That would be nice, considering half of what made book III so harsh was the fact that Catelyn, Arya and Sansa seemed to think everyone else in their family was killed off.
The third act twists are pretty much what made the book memorable for me. Before that I was a little bored and found it to be mostly filler. Doran changing his mind, Briennes one word, Jamie throwing the letter in the fire and Cerseis plans blowing up in her face were fantastic stuff.
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And then something happened, something which I really enjoyed because it added some serious verve to a series that seemed to be slouching towards a "Wheel of Time" kind of thing. First, Cersei's machinations blow up in her face when her attempts to ruin Margaery end up backfiring and landing her in the Septon's custody.
Then, Doran Martell, Maester Aemon, and the Ironborne all seemed to realize that Danaerys Targaryen was the key to their respective victories. Some wanted to use her, others thought she was Azor Ahai reborn, who would lead Westeros to victory over the coming Others. This revitalized my interest in the series and made me buy book V.
What did others think of these third act twists? Did they add to the story, save the story, take away from the story, or were you doing just fine before they even came up?