Friday, December 6, 2013

A Feast of Thrones (Or Something Like That)

WARNING: This post contains Game of Thrones


I have zero excuses for ignoring this site for so long. I'm just going to carry on as if I've never left.

The last time I wrote about the books I was reading, I had been reading (and watching) the Game of Thrones series. Well I've read the first four books. I would have no problem buying the fifth one, but I guess it's considered discourteous? rude? self-centered? to buy yourself something weeks before Christmas.

His writing style
Whatever.

I don't think my husband quite likes that I know what's going to happen in the show. I guess gasping out loud and dropping a few choice curse words does indicate that something major is going to happen. But to be fair, it's not like I shouted "Oh my God they killed ROBB" while reading about The Red Wedding.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Game of Thrones is a fantasy series based in the fictional kingdom of Westeros. A king dies, and all of a sudden everybody decides they want to be the king. Then George R.R. Martin kills everyone.

The first and second books were easy to devour. The third book took a bit more work. But the fourth book.

The fourth book. Ugh.

UGH.

Did you know that the fourth and fifth book both took place at the same time? They just follow different characters. And our pal Georgie added a lot of characters between the first and fourth book. A Feast for Crows follows mostly characters that I can't stand. Here's a rundown for you:

Interesting Characters

Cersei is as always interesting. Yes, she is a conniving evil woman who basically murdered her husband and king. But that makes the slow unraveling of her sanity all the more fun for the reader.

I know I shouldn't say it because Georgie will find this and then kill her, but Arya has always been one of my favorites. She has spunk (old timey descriptions are quite befitting of Arya.) I root for her in whatever situation she is in.
 end of interesting characters
Boring Characters

Jaymie positively bored the daylights out of me. Jaymie's growing dislike of his sister/baby mama leads him to leave the city for whatever reason. He whines about his hand like a toddler whining to watch more Mickey Mouse, and grows increasingly annoyed with everybody. 

Brienne's long walk to nowhere adventure is comparable to the Lord of the Rings movies. She walks a lot. Absolutely nothing happens to her that is important until the last chapter she is in.

Sansa exists, and Baelish is creepy.

Remember Theon Greyjoy? Not in this. But his annoying sister (who thinks a good practical joke involves incest) and his uncles are. And they all want to have a throne, too.

For some reason, the Prince of Dorne and his heirs are introduced as characters. They provide no value besides adding to the whole "heard a rumor there's a dragon."

Sam complains about everything. "Whaa, I'm too fat." "Whaa I want to get laid but I promised a tree I wouldn't." "Whaa Jon was a jerk and sent me back to my daddy."
end of boring characters

He'll end up being the only dragon tamer in Westeros.
The one good thing about A Feast for Crows is that I know those characters won't be in the fifth book. 

I  can't wait to read more about Hodor.