Tag: brienne of tarth

A Dance With Dragons: A Review

House-a-song-of-ice-and-fire-29965891-1920-1080Done at last! It seems like its taken me forever to finish this novel. And yet, now that it’s done, I find myself missing it already. After weeks on end of being immersed in Martin’s epic fantasy universe, it’s hard going without! What’s more, given how long – loooooong! – it took him to produce this last novel, who knows how long it could be before the next one comes out?

But I digress… I bought this book looking for some closure to the previous four, especially in the last one. With events in A Feast of Crows seeming to drag a bit, and the sudden twist and promise of resolution that came at the end, I was eager to see how things turned out. And, true to form, Martin managed to  provide some degree of resolution while still managing to drag things out further.

And of course, there were even more cliffhanger endings this time around. Damn you Martin, five books in and you still have me baited like a worm on a hook. You better produce the next book in a year’s time like you promised to do last time but didn’t or KAPOW! Oh, and there really better be only two more books. After all you’ve put us through, you owe us a final resolution, dammit!

Okay, that’s enough threats for now. Onto the story…

Plot Synopsis:
a-dance-with-dragons-coverAs promised in the epilogue for Crows, A Dance With Dragons completes the narrative that took place in the previous book, covering all the stories that didn’t make it in there and offering a balance to the other perspectives. This includes stories involving Tyrion, Daenerys, Davos, Brandon Stark and John Snow, while also offering more on the threads involving the Martells, Cersei and the Ironborn.

Initially, the story parallels events in the previous book, the first few chapters taking place before Crows ends. But by the end, things once again pick up and continue, bringing the entire story to an end where everything is poised for several more major developments. Essentially, it all comes down to four perspectives, with events taking place in the North and South of Westeros as well as the Free Cities and Slavers Bay in Essos.

The Wall:
a-song-of-ice-and-fire-the-wallIn the north, where Jon Snow has taken up his role as the Lord Commander and is seeing to preparations for the Others and dealing with the aftermath of Mance Rayder’s assault. After saying goodbye to Samwell Tarly, Gilly, and Maester Aemon, who are being dispatched to Oldtown, he continues in his negotiations with Stannis Baratheon. After burning the captive Wildlings, which include Mance Rayder, who will not swear feality and embrace the Red God R’hllor, he prepares to march South.

As usual, Jon Snow tells him the Watch will not take part in his war. Stannis’ appeal to the Northmen is also complicated by the fact that the Lannisters have installed Roose Bolton as ruler of the North and the Freys are allied with them. However, the Karstarks are willing to fight alongside him and John tells him that he will find an army in the Northman hill clans who owe loyalty to no lord.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire-melisandreMarching south, Stannis leaves Melisandre and his queen, Sylese, in John’s care. Against the queen’s advice, and that of his Brothers, Jon arranges for a peace treaty with Wildlings, promising them food and safety south of the Wall in exchange for their service in manning it against the Others. Thousands of Wildlings are admitted, with the promise of many more thousands to come.

Melisandre also begins sharing her visions with Jon Snow. In addition to telling him that there is a murder plot against him, she also reveals that Mance Rayder is alive and the man burned was Rattleshirt, who’s identities were switched using sorcery. He dispatches Mance south to rescue Arya from Ramsay Bolton, unaware that the girl he is set to marry is actually Jeyne Poole. Eventually, her warnings come true as his brothers turn on him and stab him in the yard.

a-dance-with-dragons-bran-starkNorth of the Wall, Bran search for the Three-eyed Crow leads him, Hodor and the Reeds to a secret cave where the last surviving Children of the Forest dwell. As they take shelter in the cave, they meet the “Three-eyed Crow”, whom they call the “Last Greenseer”. He is a former human member of the Night’s Watch, who has been sitting on an underground weirwood throne for so long that its roots have fused into his body. He explains to Bran that he has been appearing to him as the Three-eyed Crow in his dreams so that he could lead him here, and train him in greensight.

Bran learns that there is truth to the belief that the sacred weirwoods are the eyes and ears of the Old Gods: the trees are capable of seeing and hearing all around them, and recording it in their memory for centuries. They also allow a greenseer at one weirwood to see and hear events going on at another in the present, and communicate through them. Using his increasing powers of greensight Bran sees memories of his father Ned Stark at Winterfell’s godswood in the past, and communicates with Theon Greyjoy at the godswood in the present.

Free Cities:
a-song-of-ice-and-fire-tyrionHaving fled King’s Landing with the help of Varys, Tyrion arrives in Pentos where is taken in by Magister Illyrio. Tyrion is then sent south, and learns along the way that Varys’ plot involves the son of the late Prince Rhaegar, Aegon Targaryen, who was thought to be dead. He was raised by John Connington, the former Hand of the King under King Aerys, who now commands the Golden Company – the largest and most skilled mercenary army in the Free Cities.

After traveling with Aegon halfway across Essos, Tyrion is kidnapped by Jorah Mormont in Volantis. After being banished by Daenerys, he hopes to deliver Tyrion to her in the hopes that she will take him back. However, Tyrion and Jorah are shipwrecked and sold by slavers to a Yunkish merchant, who then travels to Meereen to take part in the siege. After reaching the city, a plague begins ravaging the Yunkai’i army, and Tyrion and the others escape in the midst of the confusion. They then signs on with the Second Sons mercenary group and plan to switch their support to Daenerys.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire-arya-starkMeanwhile, in Braavos, the girl once known as Arya Stark continues in her training as one of the “Faceless Men”. This includes taking away her sight and forcing her to find her away about the House of Black and White using only her other senses. She is then tasked with killing her first target, a corrupt merchant, using poison. After succeeding, she is admitted to the guild to complete her training.

Slaver’s Bay:
Daenerys continues to rule Mereen as queen, but is beset by murders carried out by the Sons of the Harpy, a resistance group committed to restoring the old ways. In addition, she learns that Astapor was sieged by the Yunkai’i and the people she freed there massacred. Refugees come to the walls of her city seeking help, as a plague known as the “Pale Mare” or “Bloody Flux” is decimating their people. Temporary shelter is placed outside for them, but it is clear little can be done.

a-dance-with-dragons-Meereen_cityIn order to end the resistance and cement peace with the Yunkai’i, Daenerys agrees to marry Hizdahr zo Loraq, a Mereenese nobleman. Her mercenary captain, Daario Naharis, whom she has taken as a lover, is not pleased, but goes along with it out of loyalty to her. In addition, to prevent her dragons from killing people and livestock, she has them chained inside the pyramid, except for Drogon, who escapes capture and flies away.

Shortly thereafter, the Yunkai’i and Volantene armies arrives at her doorstep and a tentative peace is arranged, with hostages exchanged. Daenerys also agrees to open up the fighting pits, as a compromise with her new husband, and attends the first spectacle with him. During the fights, Tyrion and Penny joust, Strong Belwas is poisoned (but survives) and Drogon arrives and begins attacking the fighters and guards. After reaching him, Daenerys climbs on his back and is ferried away.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire-dany_drogonBarristan Selmy takes over with a provisional council and is made to believe Hizdahr attempted to poison Daenerys and is leading the Sons of the Harpy. He then arrests Hizdahr and begins planning with those loyal to Daenerys to attack the Yunkai’i camp before they can launch their own attack. However, these plans are stalled when Quentyn Martell, Prince of Dorne, and his Dornishmen try to steal one of her dragons and fails.

Having failed in his attempt to court Daenerys, he and his men hoped to return to Dorne with a dragon in tow. Instead, the dragons break free, Quentyn is killed, and his men are arrested and taken into custody. Meanwhile, Drogon flies Daenerys to the Dothraki Sea where Dany, starved and ill from being stranded in the wilderness, eventually encounters the khalasar of Khal Jhaqo, a former Bloodrider to Khal Drogo who betrayed her after Drogo’s death.

The North:
Having secured his army, Stannis and his forces march on Deepwood Motte and take it from the Ironborn, capturing Asha Greyjoy in the process. This swells Stannis’ ranks further as House Glover and House Mormont join Stannis’ army and decide to march with him on Winterfell. To cement his control over the north, Ramsay Bolton orders his bastard son and their supports to march to Winterfell to hold the mock wedding with Arya (Jeyne Poole), and Stannis plans to attack him there. However, Stannis’ host becomes bogged down in the terrible snows that begin falling, forcing them to stop and slowly starve.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire-stannisDavos Seaworth is taken prisoner in White Harbor after going ashore and trying to enlist House Manderly’s support. However, Lord Manderly secretly frees Davos and tells him that he is only feigning allegiance to the Boltons since the Lannisters are holding his son Wylis as captive. He is also planning revenge against the Freys since they murdered Ser Wendel Manderly at the Red Wedding. He enlists Davos help to find Rickon, who is apparently at Skagos with Osha, so the northmen will rally around a living Stark heir and rebel against the Boltons.

Meanwhile, Theon Greyjoy is revealed not to be dead, but is languishing in the Dreadfort prison and brutally tortured by Ramsay Bolton. He is freed to serve him as “Reek”, and travels with him to Winterfell where he waits upon Jeyne Poole. With the wedding complete and the snows hemming them in, Roose Bolton and his bannermen wait for Stannis to attack and slowly begin to turn on each other.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire-ashaEventually, and with the help of some serving maids, Theon arranges to free her and escapes the city just as the Manderlys and Freys begin open fighting. They travel together into the wilderness, where they are intercepted by Mance Rayder, and ride to Stannis’ camp. Theon is then reunited with his sister Asha.

The South:
Cersei Lannister, imprisoned by the Faith of the Seven, confesses to several of the less grave charges against her to alleviate her suffering. These include adultery and sleeping with her cousin Lancel Lannister, but stops short of admitting that she murdered King Robert, or that her children are actually the product of incest. The Faith is willing to release her, but she must still stand trial and make the penance walk naked back to the Red Keep.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire-great-septHumiliated, Cersei places her hope in a trial by combat, hoping that a new knight named Ser Robert Strong will champion her. Some mystery surrounds Ser Robert, as he is as huge as Gregor Clegane, and is never seen sleeping, eating, or using the privy. Ser Kevan, who now serves as the Hand, suspects that it is Ser Gregor and that some kind of sorcery has been used by ex-maester Qyburn to resurrect him.

In the Riverlands, Jaime Lannister arrives with his army at the siege of Raventree Hall where he manages to negotiate the surrender quite painlessly. The last stronghold of Robb Stark’s kindgom in the Riverlands bends the knee, and Jaime relocates his camp when he gets word that Brienne of Tarth was seen in a nearby village. After arriving, Brienne of Tarth comes to his camp tent and tells him that she has found Sansa Stark and she is in danger from Sandor Clegane.

a-song-of-ice-and-fire_storms-endIn the Stormlands, Aegon Targaryen and Jon Connington arrive with the Golden Company in order to recover the Iron Throne. Taking Tyrion’s advice that their arrival would be met with jubilation, Connington prepares to march forward and take Storms End, believing that Dorne will raise their banners and march to their aid. When word reaches King’s Landing, Ser Kevan advises marching, but Lord Tyrells wants to hold off until after Maergerys trial.

In his solar, Varys sneaks in and murders Kevan Lannister and Grand Maester Pycelle with a crossbow. Before Kevin dies, Varys reveals to him that he supports Aegon, and that he is trying to prevent him from fixing the damage Cersei had caused in her attempts to build Tommen’s power base. Varys declares that with Tommen back in Cersei’s control, the kingdoms of Westeros will spend their strength fighting each other while Aegon prepares to conquer the Seven Kingdoms.

Summary:
And there we have it. After five books, the story stands poised, once again, on the edge of knife. After first learning in Crows that all roads were leading to the East, that virtually every faction was placing their hopes in Daenerys and conspiring to bring her home, it also became clear that there was another Targaryen heir that had plans of his own to restore the Dragonborn to the Iron Throne.

What’s more, many threads are proceeding towards culmination. Though Cersei seems to have freed herself from captivity in the Great Sept, her plans to get back in charge seem all but thwarted. At this point, its obvious that the Tyrells are in control, that Tommen’s power is temporary, and with Varys’ assassination of Ser Kevan, that the way is paved for Connington and Aegon Targaryen to assume the throne.

But of course, there were plenty of uncomfortable cliffhangers too! For one, Jon Snow’s betrayal by his brothers puts him in a bit of a bind. I am wondering how he will come out of all this, whether he will be saved by Val, Melisandre, some of his brothers, or some of his Wildling allies. On the other hand, its entirely possible that Martin is finished with him and plans to kill him off, a la Ned, Robb, or the many other main characters he’s killed so far.

Then there’s Daenerys’ thread, where she has gone from being the frying pan into the flame, having been whisked away from the siege of Meereen to captivity with Khal Jhaqo. Once more, I am hoping this doesn’t drag out because lord knows Martin has a real knack for putting his characters through endless trials and diversions before they finally get to where they are going. Or he kills them! In any case, the war of Five Kings will not officially be over until she resolves all her problems in Slaver’s Bay and makes it back to Westeros.

And again, after many books and all the hints he’s dropped about “skin-changing” and “Greenseers”, Bran finally seems to have found his way home and realized his true purpose. And personally, I found this to be quite interesting, in that it delved deeper into the mysteries surrounding the Children of the Forest and the history of Westeros before the First Men came. It will be interesting to see how this is woven into the larger story, which I assume will have to do with the legend of Azor Ahai reborn (in Daenerys) being fulfilled.

Overall, I really enjoyed the way this installment in the series took us deeper into the culture of the Free Cities, especially Volantis with its Tetrarchs, elephants, cuisine and drink, and its abundant use of tattoos. I also enjoyed the chapters that moved between Meereen, the Yunkishmen, and the culture portrayed throughout. And of course, the way the plot against the Lannisters is coming along was very pleasing to see. I hate that house and any kind of misfortune which could result in their destruction appeals to me! Now if he can just see his way to restoring House Stark, or just letting some of them know that the others still live, I would be even happier!

Only two books to go, presumably! No telling when the next installment, The Winds of Winter, will be released. But if I could be so bold, might I implore Mr. Martin to please get it done! After waiting five years for book five, we fans are kind of hungry for a finale. What’s more, HBO is going to needs those book if they are going to keep turning out new seasons! You don’t want to get on their bad side, sir. They’re ruthless!

Speaking of which, only thirty-nine more days to go til season three kicks off! Woohoo!

A Feast For Crows!

a_song_of_ice_and_fire_version_2_by_scrollsofaryavart-d4rabm1We come to it at last, the fourth and final book in the Song of Ice and Fire Box Set! Wait, what? There’s a fifth book, and two more on the way? And I just bought the fifth book and promised to review it too??? Son of a bitch! Sigh… Alright, let’s get things moving and review this bastard. Lord knows George RR Martin isn’t done writing books, nor I in reading them, apparently.

Ha! I joke because it’s fun, and true. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had originally planned to quit after book four, but then decided some months back to buy the latest installment in the Song of Ice and Fire series thanks in part to the rave reviews it was getting from friends and critics. But the choice was cinched just the other night when I finally finished Crows and enjoyed how it ended.

To put it simply, A Feast For Crows felt like an afterthought to the series, a depository for the story lines that weren’t particularly important and didn’t make it into the previous volumes in the series. Hence why it took me so long to complete it – coupled with the many other books I started while in the middle of it – it really was a slow read! But upon completing it, I found that there were some rather interesting twists that made the story interesting gain, not to mention worth following!

What’s more, Martin ended the story with the misleading chapter entitled “Meanwhile, Back At the Wall”, which was really a letter to the audience stating that what they had just read was really only half of what he had planned as a fourth installment. At this point in the story, he had so much to say that he felt the only way he could say it all was to either write a massive single-volume or split it in two. And he could either write all the stories half-way, or write half the stories all the way, and leave the others for the next.

And of course, that’s what he did. Whereas the story lines of Cersei, Jaime, Samwell Tarly, Brienne, Arya, Sansa, and a host of other secondary characters get their due in this installment, the equally (if not more important) narratives of Jon Snow, Tyrion, Daenerys, Bran, and others would be reserved for book five. And like I said before, I could see the wisdom and crass commercial value in this! Damn you Martin, making me buy more of your books! Here’s what happens in this book:

Plot Synopsis:
The book opens with the War of Five Kings coming to an end. With most of the major player dead – Robb Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, Tywin Lannister, Renly Baratheon, and Balon Greyjoy – and Stannis defeated at King’s Landing, the war has reached a lull and it seems that House Lannister seems poised to inherit the entire realm. All that remains is for them to seize the last of the Stark’s strongholds (like Riverrun, which is still holding out) and to push the Ironmen back from all the ports they’ve seized.

However, the realm is still beset by intrigue as old scores are being settled and new plots put into action. At the same time, Cersei finds that despite the removal of all her enemies, as well as the death of her eledest son and father, she is unable to wield absolute power, and gradually begins to turn inward and succumb to paranoia and self-destruction. And of course, Sansa is still hiding in the Vale, doing her best to remain hidden and attending to Lord Baelish’s ongoing schemes…

King’s Landing: As is quickly becoming apparent, Cersei is incapable of running the realm on a day to day basis, which is made worse by the fact that her Council, which is staffed by loyalists, is ineffectual. At the same time, there is her growing distrust of the Tyrells and their apparent attempts to position Margaery to inherit the throne. As such. Cersei begins scheming to bring the House down.

At the same time, she has to come to terms with the crowns creditors, which include the Iron Bank of Braavos and the Faith of the Seven. In the former case, she fails and the crowns assets are entirely frozen. In the latter, she agrees to the restoration of the Faith Militant, a military order that is answerable only to the High Septon. However, in so doing, she allows for the accumulation of armed zealots in the capitol, most of whom believe her to be an adulterer. It also means the Faith now has its own army in place and is less compelled to accept her authority.

In her bid to lessen the Tyrell’s influence over the masses, the court and her son, she sends Ser Loras Tyrell to help with the siege of Storm’s End. He is mortally wounded in the assault and may not survive. Cersei then interrogates Grand Maester Pycelle and learns that he has been giving Margaery moon tea, and that she and her cousins have been having elicit sex with multiple suitors.

She turns Margaery and her maids over to the faith and has Ser Osney Kettleback, whom she has been bedding, testify to her falseness. This backfires however when Osney is interrogated by the Septon and reveals how he has been sleeping with Cersei and murdered the previous Septon on her orders. Cersei is jailed in the temple and hopes Jaime will return to fight for her…

The Riverlands: Jaime is sent north to assist in the siege of Riverrun and assist in bringing order to the war torn region. He succeeds in the former endeavor, ending the siege bloodlessly by convincing House Tully to surrender peacefully. The next step in his task is to locate the Brotherhood Without Banners, Lord Beric Dondarion, who is dead at this point, and Stoneheart (Catelyn Stark, who are still active in the Riverlands and hanging Lannisters, Freys everyone who had a hand in betraying House Stark. Afterwards, he gets word that Cersei needs his help, but tosses her letter into the fire.

Brienne is also in the Riverlands now after following the trail of Sansa Stark. Her companions include Ser Podrick Payne (former squire to Jaime) and Ser Hyle, one of Renly’s old knights. In time, they are set upon and captured by the Brotherhood and brought before Stoneheart, where she learns her true identity. Since she is carrying a Lannister sword, Catelyn believes she is in the service of the Lannister’s now, and demands she kill Jaime as a test of faith. Brienne refuses, and is sentenced to hang along with her companions.

Dorne: Picking up where A Storm of Swords left off, there is the growing plot by House Martell to avenge the death of the Elia and make Myrcella the queen of Westeros. They have not been appeased by the death of Ser Gregore Clegane, as they know it was Prince Oberyn who killed him, and that Tywin Lannister was behind the murder. Doran Martell, the ruler of Dorne, must now deal with the plotting of his bastard nieces – known as the Sand Snakes – who want war and to avenge their fathers death. He has them all locked in the tower, but soon finds that the plot is extending to his own daughter, Arianne.

For some time, she has been bedding Ser Arys Oakheart of the Kingsgaurd, and uses him to abduct Myrcella and try and install her as queen. When this fails, she too is placed in the tower and Ser Arys is killed. But before long, her father hauls her before him and tells her of his true plans. He too wants revenge, but has more subtle plans. This involves sending her brother Quentyn to the east to bring back “Fire and Blood” – Daenerys Targaryen – who he believes was prophesied to restore Westeros to its former glory.

Iron Islands: With the death of Balon Greyjoy and the ongoing war against the other Houses of Westeros, there is a question of who will lead the Ironmen. Aeron Damphair, the high priest of the Iron Islands, calls a Kingsmoot, a gathering to determine a successor, which becomes hotly contested by Asha and Victarion, Balon’s daughter and brother. However, Euron Greyjoy – Balon’s oldest brother, known as the exiled “Crow’s Eye”- is chosen as king due to his promise that he can control dragons with a recently acquired horn. He too sends out a party to travel to the east and find Daenerys with the intent of taking her dragons and conquering all of Westeros.

The East: Arya Stark arrives in Braavos and finds her way to the House of Black and White, a temple associated with the assassins known as the Faceless Men (of whom Jaqen H’gar was a member). She begins her training as an initiate and takes on a new identity, a girl who goes by the name of “Cat of the Canals”. However, her former identity continues to assert itself in the form of wolf dreams, and also when she comes across members of the Night’s Watch who are in town. This includes Samwell Tarly, whom she meets without knowing, and when she murders his companion Dareon for abandoning his brothers. The morning after Dareon’s murder, she admits to the Kindly Man that it was “Arya” who committed it, and is given a glass of warm milk as punishment. After drinking, she wakes up blind the following morning.

Meanwhile, Sam, Gilly and Maester Aemon stop on the way to Oldtown, where they hope to uncover the mystery of the one who has been prophesied. Aemon now believes this to be Daenerys as well, and seeks information about the “Lady with Dragons” to the east so he can help restore his niece to the throne. Sam finds a ships of Summer Islanders who claim to have seen the dragons firsthand and agree to take them to Oldtown. Aemon dies in transit, and Gilly and Sam become intimate over their shared sense of grief. When they arrive in Oldtown, Sam sends her to his family’s holdings for her own safety – as the Iron Men have been reeving in the region. He then proceeds to the Citadel, where he is told that Daenerys is the one prophesied to save the realm, and he begins training to go and find her.

Summary:
As I may have said already, this book largely felt like a depository for threads that were not part of the main story. After events in the previous three novels, one would think that the fourth book would have something on the Wall and the growing threat of “The Others.” However, the ongoing story about Arya’s new life in Braavos, the conspiracy in Dorne, Cersei’s own machinations at King’s Landing, and the leadership struggle amongst the Ironmen – all these felt like diversions from the climactic storyline. And after three books, I was beginning to get quite impatient for it. It’s like, C’mon, when are The Others going to attack? When is all this prophecy going to be revealed?

However, by the end, it became abundantly clear where Martin was going with this. At last, we find out that Daenerys is not just a contender for the Iron Throne, but the subject of the very prophecy that was being foretold since the second book, when the Red Comet first appeared. What’s more, by the end, it was abundantly clear that all the threads appearing in this book were closely related. The Iron Islanders, the Nights Watch, and the people of Dorne are all seeking Daenerys, and it’s clear at this point that she will be coming back to Westeros in force, and might even be seen as a force of liberation after all the infighting.

In addition, Cersei’s fate at King’s Landing was a welcome twist. While there are those who see her as a sympathetic character who’s only doing what any man in her position would do, I see that and all the talk of double standards as crap! Crap, crap, crap! She’s a cruel, selfish, and narcissistic woman who only cares about herself and condemns anyone who doesn’t do her bidding. So to see her get hers after all this time made me quite happy. It was also fitting that Jaime, whom she shunned when it became clear he wasn’t sympathizing with her, would spurn her appeals for help.

All of this was just enough to pique my interest in the series again, which was beginning to wane after Robb Stark was killed and it became clear the war was going to drag out and end in the Lannister’s favor. Not only that, but the War in the North, the prophecy involving the coming darkness (i.e. the Others) and Daenery’s own campaign to return in force; all of these seemed to be dragging inexorably on. As I said before, it seemed like the original story, with its three dominant threads, could have been wrapped up nicely in three books. And with book four beginning with all these secondary threads that seemed unrelated to the main plot, I was really beginning to tire.

However, Martin managed to wrap things up nicely. And coupled with all the nice reviews I’ve been hearing about book five, I will continue to read and report on what comes of things. I really, really hope for the sake of the series and his readers that things proceed towards a climax now. Because of this ends up being a “Wheel of Time” scenario after all, where the story just keeps going and going, I will be sorely disappointed and forced to give up. Here I go with A Dance of Dragons, wish me luck!

A Dance with Dragons, bought!

Hey all. I doubt if anyone remembers, but a few months back when I began reviewing A Song of Ice and Fire, I said that I would be ending the series with the fourth book. After completing A Storm of Swords, I figured one more book was enough. After all, with Dragons just released and the buzz claiming that there would be at least two more books to come, I was sure that I would have to cut myself off or risk being totally sucked in to Matrin’s “Wheel of Time”esque vortex.

But, and here where’s things get awkward, that was a lie… apparently! Last night, I finally finished A Feast for Crows and purchased A Dance with Dragons. And believe it or not, it was the not the cliffhanger ending in book four that made me want to do that, though that helped give me a final push. In truth, friends of mine, such as Goran Zidar, and a slew of other people have been saying how book five is really good and covers all the threads that were strangely missing from book four. So really, the decision to buy it was made several weeks ago, but after getting into the last few chapters, a number of sudden twists piqued my interest and I found myself wanting to know what happened right away!

And, interestingly enough, I also discovered that the final chapter of Crows was not a chapter at all, but a note from the author. In it, he explains that book four was the way it was –  namely, bereft of any information about Tyrion, Jon Snow, Daenerys, or Stannis and Melissandre – for a simple reason. Basically, he went this way because to include what he had planned for all of these characters – plus those of Samwell Tarly, Cersei, Sansa, Arya, Brienne, Jaime, et al, – would have turned Crows into a tome the likes of which had not been seen since War and Peace. Okay, he didn’t say it in those words, I’m just adding them for dramatic license 😉

Hence, he decided to break all he had planned for the fourth installment in the series into two volumes. And instead of telling all of the stories half-way, he chose instead to select half the stories and tell them in full, the rest to be followed up later. I can see the wisdom in this, and the marketing angle, because it certainly worked on me. Damn you, Martin! I swear that this is the last of your books that I’m going to read… It probably won’t be. I’m sure I’ll be checking out book six, especially if this one is as good as they say. I hate you, sir! Keep up the good work!

Game of Thrones Romantic Comedy Mash-up!

Think Game of Thrones meets a bad romantic comedy! That’s what some rather enterprising fans managed to pull off with this mock trailer for GOT Season 2. Following the logic that all the relationships in the story could be broken down and pitched as a series of cliched love triangles, these fans took a series of clips from the show, added some cheesy pop music, and voila! Delicious satire was born.

Yes, it seems to work too, doesn’t it? It’s all funny and patronizingly heart-warming, until you remember that most characters in this story wind up losing their heads, being gelded or getting a golden crown 😉 Ah who cares, its fun stuff!

Game of Thrones, Season 2 Finale!

Well it’s come at last. The big second season finale, the wrap up after the siege of King’s Landing, and the cliffhanger ending north of the Wall. And to be honest, I think this was the first episode I truly enjoyed. Not saying the other’s weren’t enjoyable as all hell. It’s just that with this episode, I found that I was finally putting aside the critical, comparative eye and just watching the show. Too bad too. But I guess I’ll have all summer to enjoy the re-runs. In the meantime, here’s what I thought about the season finale!

Valar Morghulis:
The mood is festive in King’s Landing, at least for most. Having secured the city from Stannis’ attack, Tywin Lannister and Ser Loras Tyrell are hailed as heroes. To cement the victory and the newfound alliance between House Lannister and House Tyrell, Joffrey agrees to marry Margaery Tyrell, rendering his marriage to Sansa null and void. Sansa is overjoyed, but must keep that herself. She is approached by Lord Pyter Baelish, who says he can smuggle her out of the capitol and bring her home.

Meanwhile, Tyrion wakes up in his new room to find that he’s been stripped of his duties as Hand of the King. His father has taken that role, and his Tyrion’s loyal followers have all been paid off and sent away. He is alone and virtually friendless, but luckily, he still has Shae and the allegiance of Varys, who appears to be hatching his own schemes with Ros, the lady of the night who works in Baelish’s brother. Robb announces his nuptials with Talisa, much to the chagrin of his mother. She warns him that Walder Frey is not a man to be crossed, but he is insistent that he proceed with his marriage as planned.

At Qarth, Daenerys enters the House of the Undying where she is confronted by the mages. Her dragons have been put in chains and so is she. However, her little scaled offspring begin belching fire at the mages and shattering their chains once they are reunited with her, and she quickly escapes with them in tow. Returning to Xaro’s house, Dany and her kin throw him into his chamber, which appears to be empty after all, and loot his house of anything of value. They proceed to the docks to buy what ships they can.

To the north, Theon is betrayed by his bannermen who kill him and set Winterfell ablaze. Brann, Rickson, Hodor and Osha leave the safety of the catacombs and begin heading north to the Wall where they believe they will be safe. Arya meanwhile meets up with Jaqen who is on his way back to Bravos. He invites her to come, but she says she must head north to her home. He gives her a coin and the words “Valar Morghulis” and tells her that they will buy her way to Bravos should she change her mind. He changes his face and bids her farewell.

And beyond the Wall, John and Qorin finally have at it and John manages to kill him. This moves earns him the Wildlings trust, and it appears that was what Qorin had in mind all along. He is taken to the Wildlings encampment in a frozen valley where he sees tents as far as the eye can see. And lastly, the Night’s Watch at the First of the First Men are best by White Walkers. Emerging from the snow and ice, they come in droves and shriek out a terrible, bone chilling war cry!

Final Thoughts on the Finale:
Well, once again I have to say that the did a very good job of adapting the novel to the screen. The ending was bone chilling and a real cliff-hanger,and they managed to do a good job of wrapping up all the seasons threads. When season 3 comes around, they will be in perfect firing position to pick the story up and take it even further towards resolution. Of course, changes were made again, but I have to say that with one exception, I was unanimously in favor of them this time around.

But before I get into that, I need to mention one change from the previous episodes that I totally forgot to mention. In episode 8, Arya and her pals make their escape thanks to Jaqen’s help. However, how they went about doing this was quite different than from in the book. There, Arya told Jaqen that she would un-utter his name if he freed the dungeons of all the Stark captives so they could take Harrenhal from the Lannisters. Since this would be done when Lord Tywin and the bulk of his army was away, there would not be enough men to defend against all the freed prisoners.

The plan worked, and Lord Bolton took command of the castle in the name of the Starks. However, that didn’t change Arya’s fortunes much, as she no one believed she was the Stark girl and she remained cupbearer, only this time to Lord Bolton. Jaqen had left at this point, giving her the coin and instructions on how to get to Bravos, so she had to free herself. She did this by killing a guard in the night and escaping with Gendry and Hot Pie, sans any help.

Of course, I could see why they simplified all this by having Jaqen simply kill the guards and letting her go free. It was a convoluted plot thread that took way longer in the book to resolve itself. And the same is true in this episode where we see both Theon’s betrayal and Sansa’s planned escape from King’s Landing being truncated. In the book, Theon was betrayed by one of his own, yes, but it was far more complicated. Essentially, Lord Bolton’s bastard was one of the men Theon freed from Winterfell’s dungeons, unbeknownst to him.

When he found that no help was coming from his father, he sent several men out to look for helpers. The bastard Bolton rode home, where he raised an army of his father’s men and returned just as Robb’s bannermen were outside the city. His forces set upon them and defeated them, and then were welcomed into Winterfell by Theon as liberators. However, the bastard of Bolton then killed Theon and ordered Winterfell razed, out of spite for how they put him in prison.

Complicated huh? Far better to just have Theon betrayed by his own men who then chose to raze the city and make a run for it, since it was obvious to them that no help was coming. And of course, Sansa’s planned escape from King’s Landing was more – you guessed it – complicated in the book. Here, it was Ser Dontos, the disgraced drunkard who’s life she saves at Joffrey’s tournament, offers to help free her during Joffrey’s wedding to Margaery Tyrell. In time (spoiler alert) she learns that he is being helped by Lord Pyter Baelish who is once again motivated to help her because of the love he has for her mother.

But once again, to simplify this and cut down on the necessary screen time, they leave out all of her secret meetings with Ser Dontas and speed ahead to Baelish simply telling her, “I can get you out”. Personally, I would have liked a secret deal being struck early on much better. The conspiratorial nature of it, as she was forced to endure Joffrey’s beatings and the queen’s abusive nature, was much more intriguing. Finding out that Pyter was involved was a good revelation too, which was effective since it was saved for the last minute.

Last, but not least, there was the changed nature of John’s “defection” and his fight with Qorin. Already they changed things, as I said in my previous posts, John and Qorin were taken prisoner together after he set Ygritte go. There was no prolonged scene between John and Ygritte in the wilderness with her trying to temp him with her Wildling wiles (ha!). But alas, they seemed to tie that up when it was revealed that both he and Qorin were taken and Qorin wanted him to make up for his failure.

And it was clear that Qorin was executing that plan when he attacked John Snow, baited him to anger, and then let him win their fight. But he did all that without explaining what he wanted John to do. This is something that they will be forced to answer for in season 3. Either John will decide to play the role of defector merely to stay alive, or he will be genuinely torn between his genuine affections for Ygritte and his duty to the Night’s Watch.

Oh yeah, and that added plot thread involving Ros and now Varys. Not sure what they’ve got planned there, all I can tell you is it never happened in the book. In fact, as I’ve pointed out numerous times now, nothing involving Ros happened in book II. Much like Dany’s attendant, Doreah, they seem to be inflating her role and keeping her alive a lot longer than in the book. But I assume there is a reason for it. After all, Doreah’s character very quickly dies in book II, and the way they kept her around was ultimately better in the series. I can only assume her plot with Varys will connect back to actual material from the book and wrap up nicely in the end.

But that’s another season and another series of posts! Right now, all I want to think about was that ending. White Walker everywhere, blue-eyed zombies taking to the frozen field, ready to lay down a hurting. And of course, that war cry at the end and the way the camera pans out to show just how many of them there are… Spine-tingly-dingly!

Thoughts on the Season:
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with what they did with this book and can see the logic in all the changes they made. I also liked how they brought back Jason Momoa to reprise his role as Khal Drogo, even if it was short lived. Seeing him portray the burley, tough, and yet gentle leader of the Dothraki was one of the highlights of season one. Even though I couldn’t stand the re-imagined Conan movie, or perhaps because of that, it was good to see him back in this role again.

And let’s not forget, the seige of King’s Landing, the climax of book II, was a real highlight for this season. Beautifully rendered, well-executed and choreographed, and ultimately very faithful to the book. In all adaptations, the writers and designers have their work cut out for them, but these guys have managed to pull it all off with limited resources. But then again, dedication and a great cast can do that! I can honestly say that despite all the wonderful costumes, settings and storyline, the biggest selling point of this show is the acting. George RR Martin is quite the writer, but the cast has always managed to deliver.

Well, that’s it for season two. Now begins the winter of our viewing discontent, otherwise known as summer reruns! See you next season with G-O-T… Season 3 (rhymes!), otherwise known as A Storm of Swords. It’s sure to be a blockbuster!

Game of Thrones (Season 2 Ep.8)

Quite exciting! It’s no fun being sick as a dog, but one benefit is that it gives you plenty of time to catch up on your TV shows and post about them. And that’s precisely what I did today. After some writing, intermixed with coughing and hacking, I managed to catch up on my GOT!

And I was pretty enthused. Last episode, I had a few gripes about the changes they had made from the original text. Yeah, most were just fine, better really since they avoided some convoluted plot twists or needless events.

But there was one, the capture of John Snow by the Wildlings, that I couldn’t quite see the wisdom of. That represented a big changeover from the text, and I wondered how they planned on resolving it with this episode. And wouldn’t you know it, they did it again! I guess the writers really do know what they’re doing with this one.

Alas, they still managed to change some other things, much to my chagrin. Now I got to wait another week to what happens with that. They sure know how to keep audiences in suspense, damn them! Anyhoo, the recap!

The Prince of Winterfell:
The episode begins with Theon at Winterfell, where his sister arrives with her kinsmen from Moat Cailin to tell him no help is coming. His father has taken exception to his seizure of Winterfell, and his execution (staged, of course) of the Stark children. Rather than withdraw as ordered, Theon opts to stay and fight, even though it will mean certain death.

At Harrenhal, Arya loses her chance to kill Tywin Lannister when he decides to take advantage of the lull in the war and ride south to assist King’s Landing. She meets with Jaqen and arranges a new plan. In exchange for her not naming him as her third victim, he will help them escape. Jaqen honors his promise and kills the guards holding the gate at night. Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie escape!

Meanwhile, Robb returns to his camp to learn that his mother has set Jaime free. He is outraged and orders his mother put under guard. Shortly thereafter, he and Talis finally give into their feelings for each other and get it on! This will naturally cause problems, since Robb is compelled to follow his heart and dishonor his betrothement to the Freys. And of course, Brienne continues south with Jaime, who is driving her nuts and actively planning his escape.

At King’s Landing, Tyrion and Cersei continue to play their little game of cloak and dagger. She plans to blackmail him by seizing the woman she thinks is his whore, but Tyrion sees that she has the wrong woman. He goes to Shae and tells her they must be more careful from now on. However, more pressing is the coming siege of King’s Landing, which is only two days away!

And of course, John Snow faces capture in the North. Interestingly enough, so has Qorin Halfhand, the only remaining ranger in their group. He tells John that he must make up for his failure, and plans to do it by setting John up as a defector. On person who seems interested in this is Ygritte, who has saved his life already by claiming Rayder wants to interrogate him.

Good Points and Bad:
Okay, good stuff first since that is where I left off. Last time, I was wondering how they would resolve the little issue of how John and Qorin were supposed to be captured together, but only after John swore to him that if they were taken prisoner, he’d do what he had to to infiltrate the Wildling’s camp.

Well it seems they came up with a solution for that, probably had it in mind from the beginning. After being captured, John discovers that they took Qorin as well, thanks to the trail he left chasing Ygritte. Feeling guilty for this failure, Qorin decides to tell John that he must defect in order to make up for it. He begins denouncing John in front of the other Wildlings to make his eventual defection seem realistic.

Now the bad stuff, though it really doesn’t amount to much. Again, they made a change, but in this case it was more of an omission and possibly a delay. In the story, like the miniseries, Cersei overplayed her hand with Tyrion when she brought whom she thought was “his whore” forward. Tyrion repayed this by letting her know that she had the wrong woman and the men who she thought were working for her are in his employ. She is pissed, but can do scarcely anything about it.

However, here we see Tyrion play along and leave to find Shae, who he then tells to be careful. Seems wise, didn’t want to let her know she’s missed with her ploy, but unless they show this later, it constitutes a big omission, and this stuff is kind of important. No spoilers, but it does set up something that happens during and after the big siege.

Speaking of which, the stage is now set for that to happen! Stannis and his forces are two days away, the preparations continue, and Tywin Lannister is riding south to drum up what support he can for the defense. What’s more, the Lord of Bones was introduced – very nice by the way! – and John’s “defection” and his relationship with Ygritte stand to be developed further. I’m intrigued and looking forward to the climax. Not to keen on the long wait for season three though!

 

Game of Thrones (Season 2 Ep. 7)

Back with the lastest in Game of Thrones Season 2! As I finished with saying last time, it is by this latest episode in the series that the differences between book and series become most apparent. These were not a bad thing, mind you. But they did hint at a sort of pattern this time around.

Episode 7: A Man Without Honor:
Theon begins looking for the escaped children, but to no avail. He decides to stage their deaths and sends news to Robb in the south. Daenerys begins looking for her dragons, only to find that she’s in the middle of a plot launched by Xaro and the Undying to seize control of Qarth. Robb travels from his encampment with Talisa to deliver his terms to the enemy, leaving Jaime behind to attempt his escape.

Meanwhile, war is on its way to King’s Landing. Tyrion and Cersei worry about Joffrey’s ability to lead. Sansa meanwhile reaches womanhood and is terrified that she must now bear Joffrey’s children. While trying to make his way back to their encampment, John Snow is taken captive by the Wildlings.

Good Points and Bad:
In short, the big threads from episodes 5 and 6 come together and the divergences really become clear. To break them down succinctly: Robb never left his encampment to deliver terms, thus giving Jaime a chance to escape. Nor did he kill his cousin in order to make this happen. To top it off, Catelyn did not let him go to keep the peace in the camp while Robb was away. All this happens quite differently in the text.

Robb is off on campaign, his romance happens off-camera, and he returns to learn that Catelyn has set Jaime and his cousin go with Brienne because the (fake) news of her son’s deaths has shaken her terribly. She wants her daughters back and is even willing to trust Jaime at his word, and Brienne to deliver him and bring her daughters back. And, as said before, this all took place at Riverrun, not in some encampment along the way.

Second, John did not get lost in the wilderness with Ygritte only to get captured by the Wildlings. He let her go, returned to his camp, and was only taken prisoner after they caught a glimpse of Mance Rayder’s forces and were overtaken. Before that, Qorin made John promise to allow himself to be taken and learn what he could about their plans. By being taken prisoner against his will, the subplot about John’s supposed defection is now gone.

Last, but not least, there was no plot by Xaro to take over Qarth. Nor was there any attempt to steal her dragons to lure into the House of the Undying. She accepted the invite and went in, and Xaro’s plot never went beyond offering her marriage. Clearly, they were trying to sex this plot line up since there really wasn’t much going in the book compared to the other threads. But this constitutes a major addition, not just a change.

Out of all this, I can see where things are going: John will now be a captive in the Wildlings camp and have to convince them he’s willing to betray his brothers. This was already present in the text, but part of what made it convincing was the fact that John had made a promise to Qorin. What’s more, Qorin died in a staged fight between them, which means they’ll have to find another way to kill him off in the show.

Daenerys plot thread will pretty much resolve itself given what happens next (no spoilers!), but this still feels like a major divergence. And the changes involving Jaime, Robb, and Catelyn will also re-converge with the set storyline easily enough, just the particulars have changed. For example, now it will just be Brienne and Jaime travelling south, which is fine considering that his cousin dies in transit anyway.

So aside from some necessary rescripting, the makers are still being faithful to spirit of the books, if not the word. What’s more, I find myself approving of some of the changes they’ve made. It honestly seems like the writers were looking for more plausible resolutions and explanations in a number of cases, not to mention opportunities to flesh out things which only get mentioned in the text.

And of course, the big battle at King’s Landing is still yet to come. Ohhhh, so exciting!

Game of Thrones (Season 2 Ep.5&6)

Back with more from season two. Last time, things in the show left off with Theon Greyjoy heading for Winterfell, John and his brothers making camp in the Fist of the First Men, Arya being brought to Harrenhal to wait on Tywin Lannister, and the rivalry between Renly and Stannis Baratheon coming to a head. In episodes 5 and 6, we see these threads developed further and got some more twists along the way. As always, I felt that it was all a faithful if not a 100% accurate adaptation of the story.

Episode 5: The Ghost of Harrenhal
This episode was named in honor of the thread involving Arya and her incarceration in Harrenhal. While serving as Lord Tywin’s cupbearer, she meets up with Jaqen H’gar who tells her that he owes her three lives. She selects the first, the torture expert they call “The Tickler” and sees take him a terrible fall which breaks his neck. In the south, Renly Baratheon is killed by Melissandre’s dark shadow. Brienne is believed to be the culprit, forcing her to flee north with Catelyn Stark.

Tyrion learns of Cersei’s plan to use wildfire to defend King’s Landing and assumes control of the defense planning. To the North, John Snow meets Qorin Halfhand, the legendary man of the Night’s Watch, and joins him on patrol. On Pyke, Theon continues to have problems garnering respect from his Iron kin. He comes up with the bright idea to attack Winterfell once he’s drawn its host away.

In Qarth, Daenerys receives a proposal from the wealthy trader who took her in (Xaro Daxos). In exchange for her hand in marriage, she can have half his wealth, more than enough to buy all the ships she needs to travel back to Westeros. He is not the only one taking an interest however, as it is clear that the “Undying”, the mystics of Qarth, are also interested in the “Mother of Dragons”.

Episode 6: The Old Gods and New
While on partol with Qorin, John Snow and the brothers kill a Wildling party. A woman named Ygritte is taken captive, but escapes before John can execute her.After chasing her down, they are forced to spend the night in the wild together.

Theon manages to take Winterfell and demands its submission, which Bran is forced to give. He escapes later when Osha – the Wildling captive – seduces Theon and sneaks them to safety.

In King’s Landing, Myrcella is sent off to Dorne and an angry crowd tries to mob Joffrey and his family. Sansa is briefly captured, but the timely arrival of the Hound saves her. Arya is discovered stealing one of Tywin’s letters and must select her second victim for Jaqen. He dies on Tywin’s doorstep, making Tywin think they have an assassin in their midst.

Robb and Talisa continue to fall for each other, a growing source of concern for his mother. In Qarth, Daenerys continues to struggle to find financial backers of men who will give her the ships she needs. She returns to Xaro’s compound to find most of her host murdered and her dragons stolen…

Good Points and Bad:
Okay, this time around I thought I’d coalesce the good and bad points into one, mainly because they are similar. For starters, there is what they did faithfully. Renly’s death, Arya’s communion with Jaqen, the riot in the city, and Theon’s sack of Winterfell were all well within the parameters of the text. However, when it came to differences, they are bigger and more frequent.

For starters, the show continues to show Robb on campaign with his mother and Jaime in tow. In the novel, Jaime remained as a prisoner in Riverrun while Catelyn was in the south. Upon her return, she did not see Robb until he returned from campaigning, nor did anyone know about his relationship with Talisa until he returned. So putting them all together in one place was clearly a way to cut costs and simplify the shoots.

Second, at no point during Daenerys stay in Qarth were her dragons stolen. This seemed like an obvious attempt to add some drama and set up what happened in the next episode, another change which they thought to introduce. Third, there was the storyline with Ygritte. Suffice it to say, things deviated from the text. John did not chase Ygritte into the wilderness and spend a night full of temptations with her, he let her go. Later, they would be reunited, but as a result of something entirely different. Here too, I am restricted in what I can say because I don’t want to spoil things who haven’t seen episode 7 yet.But rest assured, I’ll explain all this in the next post.

Overall, I didn’t see too much wrong with any of these changes. As usual, they seemed like a way to compress certain elements of the plot and explain stuff that constituted background but was not actually dealt with in the text. However, the fact that they are starting to multiply is noticeable at this point, and has a way of giving geeks like myself pause 😉

Up next, episode 7!

A Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice, book III)

Back with the third installment in the Song of Fire and Ice series! By the end of book II, A Clash of Kings, a number of interesting developments took place. Stannis Baratheon’s attack on King’s Landing ended in failure, Robb Stark’s campaign south began to suffer some setbacks, and John Snow had taken up with the Wildlings. In addition, Theon Greyjoy was killed, Winterfell was burned to the ground, Arya escaped and began heading north once again, and young Bran began to head for the Wall with his companions, pursuing a prescient dream.

A Storm of Swords:
The third novel picks up where all these strands left off, with the War of the Five Kings, the war beyond the Wall, and with Daenerys Targaryen’s ongoing efforts to secure an army and return to Westeros. Much like book II, Storm contained a sort of climax where a major battle takes place, this time at the Wall. John’s time spent amongst the Wildlings also gives the reader insight into the lives of the Wildlings and what is driving them south.

At the same time, there is a great deal of detail given to the world of the East, where Daenerys is travelling to the ancient slaver cities of Astapor, Yunkai and Mereen. Much like Qarth in book II, these eastern cities are clearly inspired by the ancient cities of Asia Minor and the Middle East (aka. Babylon, Antioch, Jerusalem, etc). However, there were also some rather dire developments as well. Like I said in my previous post, George RR Martin is never one to shy away from killing off main characters or devastating his readers. Whereas he kind of shied away from that in Clash, this book got right into it! But more on that in a bit. First, I’d like to get into the overall plot of the novel…

Plot Synopsis:
Starting at the Riverlands, where Robb Stark and his armies are gathered, we learn that the Wolf has suffered from some serious errors in judgement. For starters, his uncle, contrary to Robb’s orders, threw off his long-term strategy by engaging Tywin Lannister’s armies at the river crossings. Though they were victorious in thwarting them, this move upset Robb’s plans to lure Tywin closer to his home town of Casterly Rock, where Robb hoped to outflank him and end the Lannister’s involvement in the war.

However, Tywin instead deployed the bulk of his forces to attack Riverrun once Bolton began beating him. Tywin failed to take Riverrun, but deploying his forces here instead of further east meant that he was in a better position to redeploy south once he learned that King’s Landing was threatened. Their victory over Stannis also led to an alliance between House Tyrell and the Lannisters, which meant they would be doubly hard to beat.

In addition, while he was campaigning in Lannister country, Robb fell in love with a young woman from a smaller House and married her. This decision was an insult to the honor of House Frey, the Lord that controls the Twins (the river crossing to the north) and one of Robb’s most powerful allies. Now it was necessary for him to travel to the Twins and make amends, promising his uncle’s hand to one of Frey’s oldest daughters in order to salvage their relationship.

And last, but not least, he also has the defiance of his mother to deal with. It seems that while he was away campaigning, she set Jaime Lannister free and told Brienne to escort him to King’s Landing. On his honor, she made Jaime swear that he would return her daughters to her as soon as he arrived at the capitol. A desperate hope, but given what happened to her boys (she believes them both to have perished at Winterfell at his point) she was both desperate and distraught.

Naturally, Jaime has plans of his own and attempts to escape at the first opportunity. Unfortunately for him and Brienne, his escape attempt alerts some marauders to their presence. As soon as he obtains a sword, he attacks Brienne, the two fight for some time and the noise alerts a band of Bloody Mummers. These men are now in the employ of Lord Roose Bolton of Harrenhal, and they are taken captive. To ensure Jaime’s cooperation, Vargo Hoat, the leader of the pack, slices off Jaime’s hand. Without his sword hand, Jaime becomes a depressed shell of his former self, and begins to contemplate his choices and allegiances.

When Robb and his host arrive at the Twins, they are pleasantly surprised. Despite Lord Walder Frey’s reputation for being a bitter and vengeful man, he seems committed to making this new marriage happen. And his uncle is even pleasantly surprised when he sets eyes on the Frey girl, who doesn’t appear to be as hideous as his other offspring! Everything goes well on the wedding night as well. Though the food is not so good, the wine is plentiful and people begin to get soused. However, once the bride and groom are hauled off, Frey has another surprise in store. Crossbowmen emerge from the gallery and begin firing on them! Robb and his banner men are quickly surrounded, and Robb and his mother are killed!

Back at King’s Landing, celebrations are being held! With their victory over Stannis’ forces, the people are jubilant and welcoming House Tyrell as liberators. In addition, Lord Tywin has taken the role as Hand of the King since Tyrion has been bed-ridden with injuries and is suspected of trying to harm Joffrey. Also, it seems that the new hand has made some changes to Joffrey’s wedding arrangements. Instead of marrying Sansa, as was arranged under King Robert, he now wishes to cement the Lannister’s new alliance with the Tyrell’s by marrying Joffrey to Lady Margaery Tyrell. Sansa is relieved, until she is informed that she will be wedding Tyrion instead, who isn’t particularly happy about it either.

Now two weddings must be held. The first, of Sansa and Tyrion, is a sham affair that is rushed through with minimal pomp and ceremony. For the second wedding though, much time and effort are spent and no expense is being spared. In addition, Sansa finds herself being taken into the confidences of the matriarch of House Tyrell. As Joffrey’s previous betrothal, she would like to know just what kind of man her granddaughter is marrying. After learning that the old lady is an honest and gentle person, Sansa tells her the truth: Joffrey is a monster, she says, and her granddaughter should be afraid. The old lady thanks her for her honesty, and begins plotting…

The wedding festivities are lavish and Joffrey appears to be taking well to his new wife, which leaves Sansa fearing for her life. Tyrion is similarly worried, knowing that Joffrey hates him and Cersei and their father both suspect him of treachery. He worries that the boy will try to kill him and his new wife, but they are both saved when something unexpected occurs. In the midst of eating from a massive pigeon pie that was prepared for the event, Joffrey chokes and dies horribly. More to the point, the girl Sansa disappears in the midst of his death. All eyes go to Tyrion, who is promptly arrested for the boy’s death.

After suffering in the dungeons of King’s Landing for a time, Tyrion is brought forth and put on trial. He is forsaken by everyone, including his mistress Shae, who appears to have been threatened into giving him up. All hope appears to be lost for Tyrion, but he then receives an offer from an unlikely source: Lord Oberyn Martell, the Prince of Dorne. It seems that the people of Sunspear still hold the Lannister’s accountable for the deaths of two Martell children who were murdered during Robert’s revolt. The one responsible was Sir Gregor Clegane (“The Mountain”), but they suspect Lord Tywin was the one who gave the order. He agrees to fight for Tyrion if he requests a trial by combat as part of a plot to kill Gregor and eventually put a Martell on the throne.

Without options, Tywin agrees, and as expected, Cersei chooses Gregor as her champion. The fight goes well for Oberyn, who employs cunning and speed to defeat Gregor with a poisoned spear. However, before he can deliver the final blow, Gregor takes Oberyn by the throat and kills him with his bare hands. Tyrion is once again doomed, and Gregor is destined to die a slow and terrible death. However, Tyrion finds help from an unlikely source once again, this time from his brother who has returned.

After hearing of Robb Stark’s death, Harrenhal once again changed hands and Jaime was set free. Having undergone a change of heart, he decided to bring Brienne back with her. Upon his arrival, he and Cersei have a falling out over his brother’s supposed guilt, and he decides to set Tyrion free. This consists of showing him a secret stairway that will take him to the coast, but Tyrion decides to head up instead. Having served as the Hand, he knows the secret stairs lead to the Tower of the Hand, where his father currently resides…

When he enters, he finds Shae warming his bed. She pleads and offers him the usual denials, telling him she was threatened and had no choice. Tyrion, sick of betrayal, decides to strangle her with her own jewelry and then sets out to find his father. After grabbing a crossbow from the bedroom wall, he finds his father in the privy and corners him there. After some harsh words are exchanged, he fires a bolt into Tywin’s stomach and leaves him there for dead.

With both Joffrey and Tywin dead, Cersei takes up the role of Hand and crowns her youngest son, Tommen, as king. In addition, she charges her newly-estranged brother with finding and killing Tyrion. As the new Lord Commander of the Kingsgaurd, it is his duty to track down the assassin, but he is obviously conflicted given the fact that he played a rolein his father’s death. Once the funeral is over, he decides to sets Brienne free and gives her a new sword named Oathkeeper. This was apparently Joffrey’s wedding gift from Tywin, which was reforged from the Valyrian steel of Ned Stark’s old sword. He then tells her to go forth and keep her oath to Catelyn to find Arya and Sansa.

Also, it should be noted, Cersei begins to go nuts as a result of recent events. In addition to losing her son and her father, it is also clear that her incest has become common knowledge. The Tyrells also appear to be positioning themselves to take the throne down the line. It is even intimated that the Tyrell matriarch was the one who poisoned Joffrey because of what Stansa told her about him. Now that Tommen is king, it is he who must marry Lady Margaery Tyrell, but since he’s so young, she believes she must be the power behind the throne.

Sansa is meanwhile ferried away with the help of Lord Donton, a disgraced ex-knight who Joffrey was in the habit of abusing, but whom Sansa was kind to. For some time, they were planning her escape, and when she learned that she would be wed to Tyrion instead of a Tyrell, she agreed to his plans. After helping her escape on the night of the big wedding, she is transferred to a ship waiting for them down by the water. Her rescuer, it seems, is Lord Petyr Baelish, who plans to take her to The Eyrie where he is about to wed her aunt (Catelyn’s sister). After delivering her aboard, Donton is killed to cover their tracks.

She is then brought to the coast of the Vale of Arryn where she meets Petyr and her aunt. While it is clear that Lady Lysa loves Petyr, it is also clear that he doesn’t love her, but instead is carrying a torch for Sansa. After arriving at the Eyrie, he kisses Sansa in the courtyard, sending Lysa into a jealous rage. Later on, she invites Sansa up to the throne room and threatens to throw her out the Moon Door, but Petyr intervenes. After talking Lysa down, he confesses to her that he only ever loved her sister, and then tosses her out the door! He then moves quickly to blame the minstrel and bribes Lysa’s bannermen to ensure their loyalty to his rule.

Meanwhile, Arya’s trip north brings her and her companions into some strange company. Having escaped Harrenhal, she now comes into contact with a group of men known as the Brotherhood without Banners. These were the men whom Ned Stark had sent out to deal with the raids in the Riverlands, but who now are protecting the countryfolk from raiders and Lannisters. Leading them is Lord Beric Dondarrion who has picked up an usual companion, the red priest Thoros of Myr. Here too is another worshiper of R’hllor, who has apparently used his magic to resurrect Beric, a couple of times!

Having been taken in by the company, they soon find Sandore Clegane, who fled King’s Landing during the siege, and put him on trial for his many crimes. Sandore request a trial by combat and narrowly wins when Beric’s sword breaks and he dies. However, Thoros is able to resurrect him yet again, and Sandore is free to go. But before he leaves, he is sure to take a hostage – Arya Stark! The two then travel north together since Sandore is hoping to ransom her to her brother. This journey takes them to the Twins, just in time for Lord Bolton’s supposed wedding. When the pandemonium strikes, Arya is forced to flee and is only saved by the intervention of Sandor himself.

In time, Sandor is critically wounded and Arya leaves him behind. She makes for the Vale of Arryn where she decides to board a ship and head for Braavos. She does this because Jaqen H’ghar, the killer she helped free, gave her a coin before departing which he claimed was from Braavos. The coin contained the inscription “Valar Morghulis”. When she arrives at the port, she speaks these words to a Braavosi Captain, who replies “Valar Dohaeris” and agrees to take her aboard. They set sail for the free city of Braavos and Arya bids farewell to her past life.

To the East, Daenerys and her companions are still busy trying to recruit an army. On the recommendations of Lord Mormont, they set course for Slaver’s Bay believing that they will be able to recruit an army from the Unsullied. These are apparently warrior-slaves who have been raised from birth to fight, feel no pain, and obey any and all orders from their commander. With her new-found friends, Arstan and Strong Belwas, they arrive at Astapor where she agrees to surrender one of her dragons in exchange for a large host. However, she then tricks the slavers by ordering the Unsullied, once they are transferred to her ownership, to kill all the city’s slave masters.

With her new army and a host of freed slaves, Daenerys sets course for the city of Yunkai next. Here, she finds another slave stronghold that is protected by a host of mercenaries. After meeting the enemy’s mercenary brigades, she is aided by the defection of one of their Captains. With his help, they attack the mercenary encampents at night and this city falls shortly thereafter. Finally, she and her host move on to Mereen, the last of the slave cities, but find it walled and heavily defended. They set camp and begin the long process of besieging it.

But first, some revelations are made. On the one hand, she discovers that Arstan is in fact Ser Barristan Selmy, the former Lord Commander of the Kingsguard who Joffrey dismissed. His true purpose, it seems, was to find the heir of the Targaryen line and bring her home. At the same time, she learns that Jorah Mormont was originally sent to spy on her for Robert. However, when the order came that she was to be assassinated, he changed his mind and enlisted with her. Daenerys is outraged. It seems that the prophecy told to her by the Undying of Qarth is coming true. She has been betrayed twice now, which means she will betrayed once more before the end.

To have them make amends, she orders Barristan and Mormont to sneak into the city  through its sewers with a host of Unsullied at night and open the gates. They succeed, and the city is taken shortly thereafter. She forgives Selmy and makes him the Lord Commander of her Queensguard, but decides to banish Lord Mormont. In the meantime, she decides to set up camp at Mereen and contemplate how she will become the ruler that Westeros needs.

Finally, things to the north are also proceeding apace. Having been captured by the Wildlings, John Snow is brought before Mance Rayder. He is asked to explain why he would defect, and wanting to be convincing, John tells him something approximating the truth. He says he defected because he is sick and tired of being “the bastard son” and wants to be free. Rayder believes him, and John is soon reunited with the young Wildling woman he met earlier and spared.

Her name is Ygritte, and she is clearly taken with John. As time goes on, they become close and claim each other, Wildling-style! As a result of all this, John’s feelings of betrayal deepen, but he made an oath to Qorin to learn all he could, so he continues. In time, this bears fruit when he learns that the Others are what is driving the Wildlings south. Hence why they are determined to take the Wall and claim the northern lands of Westeros for themselves.

He also learns that Rayder had been desperately searching for the Horn of Winter which the Wildlings believe is magic. By sounding this horn, he believes he can melt the Wall and take out the Night’s Watch easily. However, in the meantime, he must commit his forces to attacking the Wall conventionally and sends John and Ygritte with an advance party to scale it and do reconnaissance on the other side. Once over, John escapes from the Wildlings once more and rejoins his brothers at Castle Black.

His loyalties are heavily suspect and few believe his story about Qorin orders, but his loyalty is proven when Ygritte and the advance party attack Castle Black. They manage to defeat the Wildling party, and Ygritte is killed by a stray arrow. John is torn by the loss, but there is little time to mourn. On the other side of the Wall, Rayder has over forty-thousand Wildlings, giants, mammoths and seige engines prepared, and begins his assault. John is given leave to command the defense of the Wall against this first assault, and things go relatively well.

Outnumbered but not outclassed, John and his brothers manage to thwart the first wave. John is then invited to parlay with Rayder, who reveals that he has found the horn after all. He tells John that he cold destroy the Wall with a single blast of the instrument, but he would rather capture it intact since it is the only thing that will keep the Others at bay. John considers his offer of a negotiated truce, but their parlay is cut short when Stannis’ surviving armies take to the field and destroy the Wildling encampment.

For months, the Night’s Watch had been pleading for aid and soldiers to be sent north to the Wall, and now it seems that only Stannis has chosen to answer. He tells John what the priestess Melissandre believes, how the return of the Others is just a prelude to the return of her god’s sworn enemy – the dark one. Stannis asks for John’s support and promises him Winterfell in exchange, but John is chosen by the Night’s Watch as their new commander and must refuse.

In the epilogue, we see how the Brothers Without Banners have taken one of the Frey men prisoner. After interrogating him about the massacre that happened at the wedding, the reanimated body of Catelyn Stark arrives and orders his death. It seems that the priest Thoros has used his magic to resurrect her as well, and now she is intent on revenge!

Strengths/Weaknesses:
Book III was, in my opinion, a step down from books I and II. On the one hand, there was plenty of action and plot developments to keep the reader interested, and plenty of surprises besides. However, not all of them were welcome to this humble reader. For starters, when Robb Stark is murdered at the court of Walder Frey, I was incensed! I very nearly put the book and the series down for good! Was it not enough that Martin had to kill off Ned Stark? No, he had to kill his son and Catelyn too? The Starks are supposed to be the heroes of this series, dammit! You can’t just keep killing them off! Yes, I was mad…

But it was not just the fact that sympathetic characters kept getting murdered. It was the confusion it caused. Basically, every story has a set of main characters, people that help drive the story forward. When a character dies off, it naturally falls to another to keep the story going. Now we all know that Martin uses many characters and perspectives in his novels, but most of these are secondary and rarely heard from. It’s the main perspectives that tell things of the greatest importance, and usually there are only a few of them. When these people die, it has the effect of making the reader think that they weren’t so important after all. And if it keeps happening, the reader can become cynical and will not form the usual emotional attachments to characters. When that happens, a story dies, at least from the point of view of the person reading it. It’s all about emotional attachments Martin, you can’t keep traumatizing us!

More than that, I was beginning to feel tedious and depressed by the way Arya and Sansa’s sad stories kept going on and on. For two books now, Arya has been trying to get home, only to be waylayed, taken prisoner, get free, taken prisoner again, get free once again, then only to find out that her family is dead. Thus she decides to go to Braavos because she thinks she’s the only Stark left. And she’s just a kid! How depressing! Sansa, on the other hand, has to endure Joffrey’s constant abuse, the prospect of sex with Tyrion, and then is set free only to find herself a prisoner again, just under different circumstances. As if the rapacious and cruel Lannisters weren’t enough, now she has to deal with the murderous and creepy Lord Baelish!

And even before Robb was murdered, the setbacks he was been forced to endure were beginning to get tedious. In spite of all his early successes, its becoming abundantly clear that he’s going to lose the war. First his strategic plans get interrupted, the Lannisters succeed in the south and make a new alliance, Theon stabs him in the back by seizing Winterfell, his attempts to liberate it fail, Winterfell is then burned to the ground and his brothers killed (presumably). Then, on top of all that, he learns that his alliance is likely to fall apart because he chose to follow his heart. And just when it seems like things are going to be okay on that front, he’s and his mother are betrayed and murdered! It’s like, we get it! War is hell, especially this war, and the bad guys are winning! But can’t you give us some happy news for a change?

But like I said, the book had plenty of things to keep the prospective reader interested. After picking it back up (after about a week or so of stewing), I found plenty of good things to keep me interested in the series. For starters, Joffrey finally got what was coming to him, Lord Tywin also bought it while sitting on the privy, and Catelyn was revealed to be alive (albeit in a somewhat hideous form). This was all nice to read, mainly because I was getting so sick of Joffrey that I was just waiting for someone to give him a “golden crown” as well! His and Tywin’s death also brightened Tyrion’s storyline a lot, seeing as how his constant struggle with his cruel family was also beginning to get Kafka-esque. Given that he is one of the few sympathetic characters from that thread, it was nice to see him get a little payback! Now if someone would just whack Cersei we’d be in business!

And of course there were all the plot developments that kept satisfying my curiosity. Much like in book II, there were plenty of things that I was just waiting to hear about that finally got revealed. For instance, I was dying to know what would become of the Others invasion, of the civil war, of Daenerys’ plans to return to Westeros, and of Bran’s visions. After so much build-up, set-backs and plot twists, I was dying for some resolutions! And as usual, George RR Martin gives it out sparingly, providing clues, some answers, and a few interesting tidbits, all the while ensuring that things keeps rolling into the next book.

All in all, I liked this book. It was a very decent follow-up to A Clash of Kings and maintained the commitment to realism, detail and world-building that the series is famous for. My problems really only stem from the fact that at times, the books are too realistic, too detailed, and contain far too many plot twists. However, it would be unfair to say that any one book fails in this regard when its really a cumulative effect. Anything bad that I can say about this particular novel always begins with “at this point in the series…” Mainly, I was just hoping that things would be close to some kind of resolution. That’s another thing that’s important when writing. When audiences wait too long for a resolution, they’ll also lose interest. I hope Mr. Martin is writing this down 😉

Speaking of which, I am currently nose-deep in A Feast For Crows. See you soon with the review for that one!