A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5

[brigdh]

Chapter 51 (Theon/Reek):
Whoa, Little Walder's dead! ...He was kinda evil, though.
Bolton's army is tearing itself apart. Maybe there will be nothing left by the time Stannis finally makes it there?
"Kneelers." OMG! Abel and the women are Mance Rayder and the spearwives. I totally should have been able to figure that out sooner.
Oh, poor Jeyne.
They totally would have made it if Jeyne hadn't screamed. On the other hand, can't really blame her.
I hope Theon and Jeyne live!


Chapter 52 (Daenerys):
"I am not your mother. I am the mother of your slaves." That is a great line.
It's Tyrion and Penny! I thought Dany would recognize him, somehow, or Tyrion would find a way to talk to her, but apparently not. If Jorah had been there, she would have. But this proves that the people fighting in the pits are not all free, no matter what Hizdahr is telling her. Don't trust him, Dany!
I am very glad they did not get eaten by lions. Not so funny. Though a bit ironic for Tyrion, I suppose.
Ugh, the boar is eating her. So much horror in this book.
...so, if Dany takes off her tokar, does she have something on underneath? Or is she naked? I am confused.
Oh man, Strong Belwas has totally been poisoned!
Drogon!
DANY IS RIDING A DRAGON. SO GREAT. I am really glad Dany finally got to have a moment of awesome in this book. She has been needing one.


Chapter 53 (Jon):
"The child is not clean!" Whoa, harsh. There has been a lot about greyscale and grey death and so forth in this book. I wonder if we're going to see a plague of it in Westeros.
Good plan, about taking gold and amber and so from the Wildlings.


Chapter 54 (Cersei):
Cersei! I'm so excited to see these characters from Feast for Crows, because I wasn't sure how much we'd get of them in this book.
I wondered at first if Cersei was going to do like Tyrion, and confess entirely irrelevant stuff. But no, she admits some of what she's accused of, and not others. Probably her best option, really, since no one else is coming to help her, apparently.
So, Jaime has been missing for an unspecified amount of time. I do hope Brienne didn't kill him.
It does seem odd that Maegaery managed to get free and not Cersei. I wonder what this "trial" is going to involve.
What knights does Qyburn know? I don't know where Cersei is going with this.


Chapter 55 (Barristan):
Ser Barristan! I am surprised to get his POV, but I like it.
Mention of a perfumed seneschal again. Since the boat seems to have sunk without a trace, and no one on it has ever reached Dany, I'm going to assume it was not that which the prophecy referred to. But there's still the question: Reznak or Varys?
Barristan regrets saving Arys from the Duskendale dungeons, interesting. More of this multi-generational consequences. It probably would have been for the best had Rhaegar become king, though. Can't deny that.
Whoa, Hizdahr tried to poison Dany. Or did he? I could totally see him doing, but I would think he would have waited longer, until his rule was more secure, to do it.


Chapter 56 (Victarion):
Good to finally see Victarion, as well.
Ew, infected wounds.
Moqorro! Was he the priest on the 'Perfumed Seneschal' boat? I think so- but too many new names in this book, it's hard to keep them all straight.
So, he killed the maester. Was he actually prolonging the infection, or did he just not manage to heal it? I'm not sure. It's not like this world has antibiotics, there's only so much he could do. Unless you have magic fire gods, I guess. It'll be interesting to see this Ironborn/R'hllor alliance.


Chapter 57 (Tyrion):
So, everyone is calling this disease the pale mare now? That seems odd, especially that people outside of Meereen are doing so. But it's kind of a cool metaphor, so whatever. Reminiscent of death on a pale horse.
Hmmm, Tyrion is acting unusual here. Is he deliberately trying to get the soldiers to make them go fetch the water themselves, or has being a slave changed him?
Clever, to go to Brown Ben. I wonder what Tyrion's plan is.


Chapter 58 (Jon):
Oh, Dolorous Edd. I like you.
Hostages. Pretty smart, Jon.
Hmmm, interesting stuff about the Horn of Joramun. I wonder if that's ever going to be a plot point.
"Dead things in the wood. Dead things in the water." That is incredibly creepy. This book is definitely descending into horror territory.


Chapter 59 (Barristan):
"Fools and children and young girls would choose fire every time". I like that line. And he's quite right, though I'm not certain it would have been that great of an idea for Dany to marry Quentyn, either.
Aw, Groleo is dead. He was a good guy.
...and Hizdahr is a total failure as king. No one is surprised.
Whoa! Kill the dragons! I don't think you can do that in a book named after dragons.


Chapter 60 (Quentyn):
"Men's lives have meaning, not their deaths." Excellent point! But Quentyn is so not going to listen to you.
Is Quetyn seriously going to try... what, exactly? Steal a dragon? Ride a dragon? Those all seem like terrible ideas.
Whoa, Pentos. That's a big payment. I wonder what the backstory is there; why he's quite so determined to rule/destroy/whatever Pentos.

Comments

[wolfpilot06.livejournal.com]

"Whoa! Kill the dragons! I don't think you can do that in a book named after dragons."

Hahaha this. :D

Anyways, mostly have been reading your notes while you've been reading the books with bated breath and a whole lot of amusement. XD

This is not a spoiler warning, because it's not a spoiler, but if you think very, very, very carefully about the Horn of Joramun, you may find yourself surprised about what you already know about it. I was totally startled earlier when the wildlings produced *their* Horn of Joramun, because I thought I knew where it was. >_>

**Wolf**

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you! Hmmm, I'll have to think about that clue. I hope no one blows the horn and the Wall comes down!

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

My reactions have been very similar to your reactions. I have been bummed about Dany, her lack of agency. Also, loved the Barristan chapter. And Tyrion, Tyrion; what is going on with Tyrion?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I did like where Dany got to by the end, but it took forever to get there. Which I understand, in terms of what the book is going for, but it's still a slog to read.