GoT: You read or you sleep

[thistlechaser]

Folks who are reading A Dance with Dragons, what are you thinking so far? I'm not looking for spoilers, just like it/don't like it? Are you hooked?

I don't know if it's me or not, but I'm having a really hard time getting into it and I'm certainly not hooked yet. I've read about 10% so far. I don't dislike it, but I have no great drive to read it either. "Meh" sums up my feelings so far.

I don't think it's because my expectations were too high, though I do suspect it's something wrong with me personally and not the book. I'd much rather experience this through the show instead of reading -- one hour once a week and see lots of stuff happening vs slowly reading every day and so little happening. I think my attention span has shrunk to a new low, blah.

Comments

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

I'm not disappointed, but...I don't know. It wasn't that long ago that I read the series, but I can't remember fuckall that happened. It mentions Tyrion not having a nose, and it takes some serious thinking "oh right, lost his nose in the battle where he almost drowned." Or the stuff about Bran following a mystery dead guy...I don't remember how that started at all.

I'm enjoying the book, but I definitely won't be losing sleep to read it. Also, I'm way more prone to skip over food paragraphs than I used to be. And so Illyorio served dinner with roasted blah blah and blah in wine and 5 types of wine and blah with garlic from my own garden...Rich feast, got it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Gah, yeah, that's such a big issue for me. There was a Mystery Person Reveal at the end of an unnamed chapter (I think you've read it already if you've been through the garlic), GRRM didn't use the guy's last name until the last sentence of the paragraph, so I assumed it was supposed to be SHOCKING, but I couldn't remember who the guy was or why he was important.

One of the chapters mentioned Tyrion killing Shea (OMG spoilers for last book!), but I didn't remember that happening at all.

The food paragraph thing seems like a big issue overall. I never noticed in the last books, but he's so wordy. I want to shake him and say "Get on with it!".

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Kirby had a great suggestion (below). Check wiki and read about the plot of each of the previous books. It helps a ton! There's so much I forgot.

[vswest.livejournal.com]

Everyone I know who's reading it right now keeps gushing over how much better they think it is than Feast but...I liked the last one a lot better. :<

I think it's just that with the exception of Tyrion, I don't really care about any of the characters in this one. And I agree with Voidmagus in that it's hard to remember what happened a bit. Feast dragged it out so much longer and now we're going back in time so it's alongside the events in Feast and it's just...confusing.

I thought I'd finish it the first night, but I'm still maybe five chapters in.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed, I liked Feast so much better.

Agreed on characters, too. Daenerys doesn't just disinterest me, I don't like her at all. Everyone likes Jon Snow, but I find him kind of meh (though better than he is in the show!). Bran is kind of interesting, but the only character in the book so far that I love and am fully interested in is Coldhands.

I think we're about the same amount through it. I'm in a Jon chapter, dealing with the two baby boys.

[vswest.livejournal.com]

See, it's the opposite for me. "Meh" on Dany, but I cannot stand Jon.

He's a black and white character in a world where everyone else is shades of grey, and while that contrast is necessary to drive the plot along and make things interesting, it's really jarring to leap into his Gary Stu brain for a point of view chapter to me as a result.

Still way better than he is in the show, though, agreed. XD

And yep, that's right where I am!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the more I'm reading, the more I'm ugh'ing at him. On the other hand, I'm starting to remember why I liked Tyrion chapters. The more he talks, the better things are.

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

I'm about a third in. It _does_ start slowly, but is picking up.

I recommend spending a few minutes and reading the wikipedia summaries of the first four books. I'd forgotten a lot!

One thing I like about the series, personally, is that they spend time exploring the characters and world that isn't just pure plot. Like the Harry Potter chapters when they're in class or hanging out in the common rooms. I love that stuff! And I fully acknowledge that most people hate that kind of thing.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good idea to check wiki! I know it was only a couple years since I read the last ones, but I've forgotten so much.

I usually (used to?) like all that extra non-plot stuff, but at the moment I'm not patient enough for it.

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it, but I thought it was funny that another friend posted, right immediately after your post, "My spoiler-free review of A Dance with Dragons" :)
http://cuddlycthulhu.livejournal.com/1593239.html

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for the link! I could agree with most of that, as much as one can without having read the whole book.

And to kill two birds with one comment: On Bacon Salt, had you tried it before and liked/disliked it? Or just wanted my opinion on it?

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

No I have not actually tried it myself, but I am curious.

Oh, speaking of Bacon...
http://www.holytaco.com/flowchart-determine-what-religion-you-should-follow/

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

I guess that would make me Ba-curious?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*snerks!*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Heh! I should be either wiccan or buddhist (depending on if my cat counts as black or not). If I had to be religious, either of those would work for me!

[fealubryne.livejournal.com]

I'm about 400 pages in right now and... well, I guess I'm the odd man out in this thread. I love it. I started reading and couldn't stop. Maybe it's all the stress or something, but it's sort of my little escape from the world right now and compared to the other stuff I've been trying to read lately the writing style just flows beautifully. It's been a few months since I read Feast, but everything came right back to me the minute I started Dance. I can't say that I think it's slow, either. I'd actually say it moves pretty fast, kinda rapid-firing new information at you. Feels faster than GoT to me, but... well, who knows.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh! Well I'm glad you're enjoying it! I wonder if it has to do with how long since Feast was read? I read it when it came out, so ... wow, I guess five years ago. (I knew that was how long the wait for this book was, but somehow I didn't put it together.) I think Kirby's suggestion of reading the wiki pages will help a lot. I did over lunchtime. So much major stuff I had forgotten! Like Rob being beheaded and the whole wedding and... well, almost everything.

[liedra.livejournal.com]

I reread A Feast for Crows just before DWD came out, and I'm really glad I did - or it wouldn't have made any sense at all! I'm loving it - it's something *new* in this world that I haven't read yet. I am loving how all the POV chars keep sort of inadvertently interacting with each other, and you can see them all moving into place for ... something, I'm not sure what yet cos I'm only 1/3 through. But I'm loving it all. The only issue I've had was the reading the Jon chapters and thinking "hang on, Sam's not here though, he's in Oldtown!" which sort of jolted me out of the "feel" if you know what I mean. But it all caught up eventually and I can *kind of* see why he did it, it was just a bit disconcerting.

Definitely reading it whenever I can - usually I pick up the free newspaper to read on the Tube but instead I'm bringing my Kindle everywhere I go now!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Rereading was a good idea! I realized, as little as I remember, I could have reread the whole series first and it would be like reading it again for the first time. Plus this book would make more sense!

[pomr.livejournal.com]

I got into A Song of Ice & Fire way late, as a result I read all the books before this one about a month before this one came out. :) I'm liking it so far, nice to see some new stuff I've been wanting since book one.

Tyrion is my favorite, him and Arya. I can't wait to find out if Arya is actually blind (and hopefully gets reunited with Nymeria) or if it is a temporary condition. Of course...GRRM is not a big fan on temp trauma, so I've got a feeling she's blind for good. :(

I admit that GRRM sometimes puts some stuff in there that I could really give a shit about -- like in Feast where they focus on the point of view of some nobody character to prove that bandits are bad. Um. Yeah. We get that. Or anything involving Theon Greyjoy, what a putz. He had one moment of accidental virtue when he saved Bran a book or two back, and as far as I can tell has never had any others. Even his family clued in he was a piece of shit. :)

Anyway, I'm nearly half through it and overall like it a lot. Looking forward to the end of the time twisting. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that's handy you read the whole series right before! So you're not lost like so many others of us. :P As mentioned in the comments below, a few of us have forgotten even chapter character. "Reek? Who the hell was that?"

[machinegirl.livejournal.com]

I keep having to Google shit (like the whole Reek thing), and it's obvious that he finished the book in April (on the day that would have been my 10 year anniversary with my exhusband, funny enough), but I'm still into it. Probably because I waited six freaking years.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Reek thing boggled me as well, but I didn't bother returning to my computer to look it up. (And sometimes forget that I can do more than read books on the iPad...)

I'm getting more into it as the book goes on. I wish I could read more now, but I have an eye strain headache from reading all morning. :/