Was it a Feast or a snack?

[Gazz]

I actually agree with the author here.

Though i feel that George R.R. Martin is a FABULOUS author, the greatest i have ever read, and i love the series as a whole, 'A Feast for Crows' did leave me cold. It felt like he was trying to go through the drudgery of the 'in between' years and, indeed, irrelevant characters with this book (introcuding some drama now and again) simply to allow the transition between the youth of Dany, Jon, Bran and Arya to be a smoother, stabler passage in the next book.

That is not to say that it was a poor book - it was worth every penny i paid for it. That is to say, it is to be taken as read that it will not contain any highlight of the series. When we re-read the books, we will not look upon any moment in this novel as the defining moment for any of our favorite characters, with the exception of perhaps Cersei, for spoilers i won't reveal here.

It has, however, done the job that Sir Martin intended. It has filled a gap in time, and allowed us to explore fully the characters in-between phase in a way that for instance star wars certainly never could. To be honest. If I had never read any of George's previous works, Feast would be up there with the very best literary masterpieces i have ever read. It is only his supremely high standards to which i judge 'A Feast for Crows', and though it compares poorly, it fills a gap.

I hope the hooks it has left us with are explored in the next book, but either way, i feel that we can be sure that the next one has all the ingredients to be the best of the series. It has all my favorite characters (sans Jaime) for sure, and that will be its true Forté. It's almost as if the less enjoyable characters have now been pushed aside as the starter, so that we can now properly salivate our tongues for when the main course arrives...

[Werthead]

I dunno. The ending of Arianne's final chapter was pretty cool (when Doran reveals what a smart cookie he is), Arya's arrival in Braavos was excellently written and the final moment of Jaime's final chapter was very well done as well.

Also, since ADWD takes place simultaneously alongside AFFC, we'll be seeing Dany, Jon, Bran etc very shortly after we last saw them in ASoS. There won't be any time for them to 'grow up' in.

[KiwiBird]

I cant wait to see the north chapters, now that riverrun has fallen, the heat is on with the boltons and the freys versus the umbers and the karstarks. Cause i dont see the north fall in meekly, they are the first men and they aint going down without a fight, the south will soon find that out i think, that winning the south is comparably easier versus winning the north alongside it, cause alliances are easily made with money or other stuff in the south, the north will be less so, their honour will come in the way (beside from the boltons and those northerners close to the south, i havent met a bolton with honour in him)

and when sansa comes into play with the eyrie the lannisters and tyrells are in for a treat, especially with the ironmen harrasing them as well, i have a feeling they gonna abandon the north pretty quick the ironmen, but they gonna keep fighting the south

[Werthead]

AFFC actually explains some of the stuff that happens in the North (hopefully not a spoiler, but Sam starts off in the North and we get a brief glimpse of what's going on at the Wall before the rest of his story kicks in), including the way the factions fall out.

Let's just say that the North would be very formidable (Robb only had time to assemble 40-50% of the North's military potential before marching) if it wasn't massively divided. We have Stannis on the Wall seeking their allegiance, we have the Boltons in the east now entitled as Lords of the North (but most of their armies are still stuck in the South) and the Greyjoys in the west occupying quite a few castles. Also remember that quite a few of the Northern Houses may want to fight the Boltons and avenge Robb and Catelyn, but they are stuck because so many of their soldiers and followers were captured at the Red Wedding. The Umbers, for example, will not fight the Boltons as long as the Greatjon remains a prisoner in the Twins.

The only Northern Houses with full power of action (i.e. not under Greyjoy occupation or with hostages in the Boltons' power) are the Mormonts, Karstarks and Reeds. We find out how some of them are leaning in AFFC.

[KiwiBird]

the umber thing doesnt work for me, they will fight regardless the greatjon, i mean harrion karstark the true heir is also imprisonned, no they will fight, as for the ironborn, they have some castles yes, but they dont have any real strenght in forces, they are their in small scattered numbers, or at least thats how i read it, besides the freys are going down once the old man dies

[Wil]

I admit GM set up a lot of possibilities in Feast (Don't yall ferget that the Rose is now marching to King's Landing to free his daughter (and maybe fight the "faith"), or that a new fleet is supposedly on its way to Stannis, or that there's a new Villain in Old town, etc.). I just hope that ADWD provides more advancement of the big story in ADWD, instead of introducing more new points of view and more twists with no answers. I like mystery with action, not just suspense for the sake of suspense (I always thought Sherlock Holmes books were overrated). In the end I keep remembering that the story is about the fight with the Others (The battle on the Fist was great), and if that's not addressed, then it may be a while before we even introduce the strongest enemy (I don't want this series to reach 10, 11 books. That's too many). I know that's all taking place in the North (ADWD) but by the end of Feast we still hadn't heard any news about that coming down to the south, which means that anything that may happen with the Others probably won't happen till the end of the book (ADWD).
I don't want to lose track of the big picture because I'm busy reading about these, apparently, little stories.

[KiwiBird]

it arent little stories, the advancement of westeros and who is in charge is crucial in the fight against the others, if that is going to be necessary at all, cause i have a feeling these others may be evil but the god itself may be a neutral one, like rhollor seems to embody both the good and the bad, as well as with the seven.

[Werthead]

KB, I was actually referring to things that have happened in AFFC. Highlight if you don't mind spoilers:

House Karstark has sworn fealty to Stannis as King, the only northern House to do so. Stannis plans to march on Deepwood Motte and remove the Greyjoy forces from the castle to win their loyalty as well. House Umber has sworn fealty to Tommen and accepted Roose Bolton as their liege lord: remember that it is the Greatjon and the murdered Smalljon who we are basing our opnions of the Umbers on, but the Greatjon's uncles in ACoK who control the home castle are much more disreputable figures. The Greyjoy strength is more in strategic placement of their forces rather than overall numerical strength. They may abandon Deepwood Motte and Torrhen's Squre, but given a force can hold Moat Cailin against attack from the south with a small garrison, they will retain that stronghold to stop the Boltons and Freys entering the North and ending the last remnants of rebellion there.

Wil: from the sound of it your request for action in ADWD will be met with spades. Many hints can be gleaned from the appendix to ADWD, especially seeing the characters that Dany will be associating with. Similarly highlight for spoilers from the book itself, as these revelations are taken from spoiler chapters and chapters read out by GRRM at cons:

Qarth declares war against Meereen when Dany refuses to leave Slaver's Bay immediately and tries to get two Dothraki khals to attack the city. These khals are listed in the appendix for AFFC. Also, it looks like Jon Snow leads some of the Night's Watch in attacking Craster's Keep, where the murderers of Jeor Mormont holed up after killing Craster. Plus Tyrion is travelling through some very hairy territory with a military force with an attitude problem, Lord Manderly of White Harbour is playing a dangerous game with Davos as an unwilling pawn and Asha Greyjoy, severely pissed off with the world, 'gets embroiled in the affairs of the North' (which doesn't sound like it can end well). As for the Others...you forget Bran, whose storyline I think is going to lead to the secrets of this race.

All-in-all, I think ADWD is going to rock harder than AFFC, although possibly not as much as ASoS.

[KiwiBird]

okay, still i am guessing Stannis will soon control great parts of the north, the umbers can fall into his hands by taking the castle and imprissonning their lords, the boltons so far dont matter since their forces are south, as for the ironborn, so long as they have little forces in the north they are of no consequence either, since asha will probably make some sort of an alliance, that can be made with either stannis or the south, or not at all and then it in itself is most likely positive for the north, cause the ironmen will be holding that castle so that the south cannot pass it and thus not intervene, wich means the south is effectively cut off from the north, while the north itself can regroup itself, and if necesarry take the castle from the northside(wich is said to be possible)

[Werthead]

There is a more straightforward way of avoiding Moat Cailin, which is to go by sea. Unfortunately, no-one in the South really has any strength at sea in the region. The Redwynes are on their way home, the Greyjoys prowl the west coast and the Vale's fleet is likely too small. So the other forces are indeed stuck below Moat Cailin, unless the other Northern forces under Ramsay Bolton forces are numerous enough to dislodge the Greyjoys from the north.