Seeing that AFFC has gotten quite a lot of negative reviews and some low ratings, I was expecting to be disappointed with the fourth book of the ASOIAF saga. Well, I WAS indeed a bit disappointed with the slow pace and "eventlessness" of this book, especially compared to the really mindblowing, crazy third book of ASOIAF.
I must say though that I, nonetheless, enjoyed this book well enough. Blame it on George's excellent characterisations
I was rather shocked at first when I saw that there was NO Tyrion in this book, NO Dany, hardly any mention of Jon Snow, and only a few chapters with Arya and Sansa. While I DID miss those characters, George made up for their absence by doing a FANTASTIC job on Cersei, Jaime and Brienne. Those three characters easily ran the show in AFFC.
Here are some more detailed thoughts:
Cersei & Jaime
So, umm, can you blame me for being happy about the Lannisters starting to fall apart? No? See, I thought so
I can't help it: I love(d) to hate Joffrey and I love to hate Cersei while my heart goes out to Tyrion and Jaime. While George managed to wring some tiny moments of sympathy for Cersei from me, I still love to hate her and I still hope that she'll get what she deserves in the end. I know that she, ultimately, just tries to do what is best for her children and tries to free herself from her father's immensely long shadow and the "chains" of being born with the "wrong" gender. She is, however, a pretty nasty, evil, cold-blooded piece of work. All the sympathy that I may - or may not - have had for her died again when it was shown what her Frankstein!henchman Qyburn had done to the innocent singer on Cersei's behalf.
It was really fascinating to see Cersei struggle with the hardships of ruling a kingdom and I almost -just ALMOST - felt sorry for her, seeing how it led to her giving herself up to heavy drinking, whoring and far-reaching paranoia.
For Jaime, however, it is probably the best thing that could've happen to him... breaking apart with his beloved twin sister. I NEVER would've expected to love Jaime as much as I do now. He's still full of flaws, but my heart truly breaks for him and with him... seeing him being caught between being the man Cersei and Tywin always wanted him to be and the man he TRULY wants to be: A man who sticks with his vows and (in my opinion) the man that Brienne is already seeing in him.
I literally squeed with joy when Jaime decided to ignore Cersei's desperate call for him to come back to King's Landing and rescue her. Way to go, bro!!! Looks like Brienne's had a HUGE impact on you, my friend! Yay!!
Brienne (and Podrick):
So, I've said it before and I will say it again: BRIENNE IS TOO DAMN LOYAL FOR HER OWN GOOD!
Truly, woman, this will be your death someday, yet I can't help it but LOVE you for being the way you are! You are my true knight in shining armour. Period.
Brienne will get an extra point from me for taking Podrick Payne along as her squire. Podrick! My sweet little Podpup! Even though Sansa Stark is effing MEANT TO BE with Sandor Clegane, I hope that at least you'll get the girl if George will not grant me my other wish. You'd make a great husband!
The Greyjoys and the Martells/Sands:
While I liked the Martells and Sands well enough, I kept wondering: Do we really NEED more characters and more storylines?? I hope that George has planned a really interesting and intruiging storyline for them. Until then, I will remain really wary towards those characters.
Same goes for the Greyjoys.
Well, I DO like Asha and I'm looking forward to seeing Theon again in ADWD, but I can't warm up to the rest of the Greyjoys. I never liked Balon and I don't really care much about Victarion and Aeron. And Euron's just creepy and evil. I hope he won't get anywhere near Dany!!!
Sansa
Sansa is the one character I'm most looking forward to seeing again in "The Winds of Winter". I'm DYING to see where her storyline is going... there are SO many possibilities. But please!!! Someone rescue her from Littlefinger's grasp!!! He is so creepy!!! I also hope that Sansa will be able to protect little Robert from LF's evil plans.
Arya
I love how Arya is becoming a real badass although I really don't have a clue where it'll take her in the upcoming books.
Samwell
Well, what can I say... I was hoping that Sam would get some more heroic stuff to do after all the amazing moments he had in ASOS. At least he got laid... haha
One last thing that I need to get off my chest:
WHAT IS IT WITH ALL THOSE DAMN CLOSE CALLS??? ARRRGHHHH!!!
Some moments I remember from Book 3 and 4 that drove me insane:
- Sam stumbling upon Bran... yet not being able to tell Jon about it!
- Sam stumbling upon Arya... yet not knowing that she is Jon's sister!
- Arya & the Hound reaching the Twins just at the very moment that Catelyn and Robb were murdered by the Freys!! What the hell!!
- Brienne walking by the Hound on the Quiet Isle, not knowing that it is him.
- Brienne ALMOST telling Gendry that he's Robert Baratheon's son... argh!!!
- Brienne being SO CLOSE to Sansa throughout the whole damn book, yet never quite getting there!
And I'm sure there must've been still many, many more. George, you're such a troll!!!
Anyway, I really enjoyed the fourth book and I think it was a great, first setup to the big events yet to come in "The Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring"