In his "Cavil on Chronology," Martin tells us that most of the events that take place in the novel are parallel with the previous book so Dance with Dragons, for the most part, deals not with characters chronologically but geographically. If Martin was smart, he would have put parts of this book with the previous and vice-versa to make them more chronological and therefore easier and more enjoyable to read. For example, Davos chapters are back in this installment so they are the filled in details of what we already know happened to him already. There is also more of the same ad nauseum long-winded descriptions telling us what everyone is wearing when they enter a room and the same with respect of the various meals everyone is feasting on. Editing and removing these would shorten the works. The worst of course is adding more and more characters which continues to build up even more narrative debt. There are just way too many characters. As a result there are long stretches whereby you may go a whole book before you see that character again. For example, Reek pops up in this book and we haven't seen him since the second! My last complaint is that five books in and we still don't know many of the loose ends not resolved in the previous (For example: what happened to Benjen Stark?). Overall, Martin lacks focus. If I did not know any better, I'd say he's writing as he goes along.
In his "Cavil on Chronology," Martin tells us that most of the events that take place in the novel are parallel with the previous book so Dance with Dragons, for the most part, deals not with characters chronologically but geographically. If Martin was smart, he would have put parts of this book with the previous and vice-versa to make them more chronological and therefore easier and more enjoyable to read. For example, Davos chapters are back in this installment so they are the filled in details of what we already know happened to him already. There is also more of the same ad nauseum long-winded descriptions telling us what everyone is wearing when they enter a room and the same with respect of the various meals everyone is feasting on. Editing and removing these would shorten the works. The worst of course is adding more and more characters which continues to build up even more narrative debt. There are just way too many characters. As a result there are long stretches whereby you may go a whole book before you see that character again. For example, Reek pops up in this book and we haven't seen him since the second! My last complaint is that five books in and we still don't know many of the loose ends not resolved in the previous (For example: what happened to Benjen Stark? ). Overall, Martin lacks focus. If I did not know any better, I'd say he's writing as he goes along.