I've finished "A Dance with Dragons" (NO spoilers)

[Solly Mack]

and now I'm pouting. To be so cruelly kept waiting....(again)

"The Winds of Winter" can't come out soon enough.

[TZ]

1. Overall did you like it? I'm rereading Storm of Swords right now..

[Solly Mack]

2. Yes. Very Much...I'm fond of Arya Stark and she does appear.

[Iggo]

9. Me, too.

And boy is it a brick!

My backpack is noticeably heavier.

(EDIT: Not rereading it. I'm reading it for the first time. Still a brick, though.)

[NewJeffCT]

13. I'm about halfway through my Storm of Swords re-read

I'm amazed at how much I forgot (I almost forgot that Jaime Lannister had his own POV chapters in it...)

but, it's been a good 10-11 years or so since I read it, and I'm old now.

[XemaSab]

3. I was sulking for like 2 days after I finished

Things look mighty grim for one of our friends. :(

[Solly Mack]

4. I'm still sulking over that!

:(

[quakerboy]

34. Grim?

RR martin leaving you hanging? Never. I refuse to believe it.

Whatever. I am sure they will all die at the end of the series. That would be frustrating, so it makes perfect sense as an ending.

[Lucian]

5. We'll only have to wait, what, another 5 or 6 years for "The Winds of Winter."

Right?

[Solly Mack]

6. I hope not. Haven't read about a release date though.

[NewJeffCT]

14. Hopefully, with the pressure of the HBO series

GRRM will be inspired to buckle down and turn out books 6 and 7 in a more timely fashion... though, he did say that he hoped HBO would make A Storm of Swords into two seasons to give him more time.

[Frank Cannon]

24. Yeah, well, they can condense A Feast for Crows into a 2-hour movie.

So that shouldn't screw up the schedule too bad.

[NewJeffCT]

30. I'm guessing they'll combine Feast for Crows with Dance with Dragons

and make them into two seasons since some of the events take place around the same time frame.

[nolabear]

7. Just got A Feast for Crows so I'm set for the next six months.

LOL...not really, but they are long! Hope he's a genius at wrapping this up.

[Solly Mack]

8. LOL! Happy Reading!! I dread the next books as much as I look forward to them.

[Avalux]

10. OK - I haven't a clue what series you're talking about......

can you give me a rundown? I may want to start reading them!

Thanks! :hi:

[XemaSab]

11. It's the 5th book

in the series that starts with "Game of Thrones."

It's a fantasy that takes place in a medieval setting. Though there are magicians, dragons, and zombies, most of the book centers around different people trying to gain control of the throne(s). It's really violent, and the sex scenes are not sexy, but the characters are very compelling.

(As far as the fantasy elements go, in the first book the zombies show up twice, the dragons are mostly extinct, and there is one (1) act of real magic that ends horribly for everyone involved. Don't let the fantasy elements put you off.)

[Solly Mack]

18. What XemaSab said. Sorry about the delay - just returned home.

If you enjoy fantasy....this is a very good series to get lost in for a while.

[Xithras]

12. I'm....not...gonna....buy...it

I'm tired of the waits. I'll hold off reading it until the series is done. Or maybe next week. Depending on my willpower.

[Solly Mack]

17. LOL! G'head..wait...save yourself the heartache. Or not..it hurts soooo good!!!

[Betty88]

15. I just started it the other day

I have been doing nothing but reading this series since I saw the first episode of GoT on HBO. I almost don't want to finish it but I can't stop reading. I have a horrible feeling that the next one wont come out till HBO catches up, that would be what 4 or 5 years I'm probably going to pout too.

[Chan790]

16. If that's a true guess...

my guess would be that GRRM dies before he finishes the series and we're all gonna be very very pissed about it. HBO typically does 12-18 months between seasons and thus you're talking 5-7 before they catch up. They've got to move faster than that though or else the kid playing the young Lord Arryn will be TV's first breast-feeding teenager.

[NewJeffCT]

19. He's 62 or 63 years old now

I think with the pressure of the HBO series, he may write a bit faster and hopefully can put out book 6 in 3-4 years. However, Martin also mentioned that he hopes HBO makes "A Storm of Swords" into two seasons to allow him more time to write. To be honest, they should - they already cut out some from Game of Thrones, and both A Clash of Kings & A Storm of Swords are longer than GoT (and, Dance of Dragons is longer still...) and would require even more cutting.

[DeeJay]

25. Hah, not to mention Arya pretending to be a boy

when the actress is in full-blown adolescence!

[Solly Mack]

20. I'm going to reread them all now...and continue to pout.

[PassingFair]

21. I'm half way through the second one...

I feel like I'm living a double-life, which
hasn't happened to me with a book series in
a LONG time...

Thoroughly enjoying it!

[TheCentepedeShoes]

22. Looks like I am waaaay behind

everybody
Just heard about the books when the HBO series came out
We don't have HBO so did not see any of the series
I picked up a pb Game of Thrones last Saturday and seem to be hooked

[Solly Mack]

26. Welcome to the fold!

[Frank Cannon]

23. I just hope it's better than A Feast for Crows, which was, quite frankly, BORING as hell

A third of the book was spent on characters I couldn't care less about (mostly the Ironborn and the Dornish). Another third was spent on the wild-goose-chase quest of the Maid of Tarth, who I honestly couldn't tell if she is just a sloppily written character or if GRRM really intended her to come off as a gullible idiot. Only a few chapters were spent on characters or actions that I was even halfway interested in.

The entire book is people sitting around and talking, or people walking through a castle and talking, or people walking through the woods and talking. Pages and pages are spent describing heraldry of hundreds of incidental families, very few of which we will likely reencounter in the last three books. (And even if we do, who cares?) Literally NOTHING happens in nearly 1000 pages.

So I hope this new one is better than that.

[Solly Mack]

27. I was never bored though hungry for certain characters, less so for others.

The newest book does begin to explain a few things in more detail (to tie them together) - though it also leaves more questions unanswered.

[Frank Cannon]

28. The first three books were absolutely brilliant and addictive.

Never have I read so much in so short a time. I could not put those books down.

But A Feast for Crows is a chore to read. I'm about a hundred pages from the end, and it's killing me trying to get through it.

I am hoping that just by going back to characters that I really care about, Dance with Dragons will be better.

[XemaSab]

29. DwD was MUCH better

I confess that I skipped large chunks of FFC. :P

[Solly Mack]

31. You'll enjoy this book. You will. I think FFC is meant as the companion to the 5th book.

I believe both books were originally one book and he divided them....so you now have info that will come into play in A Dance With Dragons.

[seaglass]

32. I found the first 3rd of A Feast for Crows very difficult to get through

the Iron Islands stuff really bored me. Also not interested in the Catelyn story line so much - never could stand her. Asha and Arianne were kind of interesting and I did like getting more in depth with Cersei and Jaime.

I downloaded a sample of Dance with Dragons but haven't decided if I am going to buy/read it now - contemplating waiting until the series is over.

[Frank Cannon]

36. I think you have a good plan, and I may join you on that.

I checked out the reviews on Amazon, and it looks like the consensus is that Dances with Dragons has pretty much the same problems as FFC, even with more popular characters. (Of course, there are a few true believers who think it's terrific, but there are also those that still think that The Phantom Menace was a wonderful Star Wars movie.)

As much as I've loved A Song of Ice and Fire, I don't think I'm prepared to invest ~$30 for another near-thousand-page tome that will take me forever to read and will leave me underwhelmed. Probably better for me to wait until Mr. Martin makes it to the next book to decide. (At least, I hope he makes it.)

In the meantime, I have the HBO series, which I haven't seen yet and which will take several years to catch up to where I've read in the books.

[cemaphonic]

33. Yeah, he went a bit cliffhanger-crazy with this one.

The first 3 books definitely leave plenty of plot threads up for grabs too, but they also resolve their major storylines pretty well. In this one, it seemed like every single plot ended in a huge cliffhanger.

Lots of great stuff though - Lord Manderley and his pies especially. Plus, I never thought I'd feel sorry for Theon.

[Solly Mack]

35. Left us wanting more.

and pouting.

I liked the pies too. lol