Before reading this I thought that George R.R. Martin depending on the conclusion of the series could in fact be compared to Tolkien. After reading this George Lucas's handling of the Star Wars saga is a better comparison. In fact that comparison does a complete discredit to Lucas's handling and continual tinkering of the Star Wars saga.

I purchased the kindle edition at midnight the night it was released and it has taken me this long to force my way through it. I can only take so much before I become so frustrated with his handling of the characters and saga or completely bored in his story telling that I have to give it up for a few weeks before getting the stamina to pick it up again. In the end not much happens. It is a feat in itself to write 1000 pages where nothing really happens. Characters that were interesting become trite, boring, and two dimensional. The new POV's are completely disinteresting and abruptly stop any momentum the book begins to build. After reading this I free I need to make an apology to all of the people over years I told had to read this series.

What is the biggest problem with this series? It is apparent that George doesn't have any idea where it is going! If you haven't read the New Yorker article that came out about a half a year ago about George R.R. Martin and the series, do so. After reading that article, attending a talk/book release for Dance with Dragons, and considering the time line of releases it is clear he doesn't know where the story is going. My wife who hasn't read any of the books but read the article and attending the talk/book release came to the same conclusion. Consider this, in 5 years he released the first 3 books which were incredible. It then took him 10 years to release the next 2. It wasn't because he was getting them just right, it is because he has no idea what to right. He threw away about 300-400 pages from Dance and Dragons and redid it.

This is evident in his POV's. George has written many primary characters into a dead end. He takes them to a location which has no more story or decides the main action should be taking place somewhere else so those other characters basically get abandoned. Where is Sam and Sansa? Jaime has 1 chapter in 1000 pages while Cersei and Arya each have 2. There is really no need for any of the new POV's George just needs to figure out his story for the remaining of the saga and make sure his characters are in the right place. George wrote about 150 pages of which are essentially the misadventures of Tyrion. He could have done it in 10 pages. It should have been, "Tyrion takes a boat to Meereen. The boat gets hit by a storm. Another ship picks up the survivors as slaves which also has Mormont on board and the both get sold outside Meereen." I just saved 140 pointless pages. What about Griff then, who cares about Griff.

Midway through this book I thought that perhaps HBO by combining Feast and Dance and then using artistic freedom could perhaps salvage this saga but now being at the end I think it is hopeless. I could care less about any further books in the story nor the HBO series. If I'm HBO I'd be worried. If they attempt to follow these last 2 book no one will be watching the show by the end of the fifth season. It would take a heck of a turn around to redeem the series. At this point I'm rooting for the Others to infest all lands and kill every character.
Before reading this I thought that George R. R. Martin depending on the conclusion of the series could in fact be compared to Tolkien. After reading this George Lucas's handling of the Star Wars saga is a better comparison. In fact that comparison does a complete discredit to Lucas's handling and continual tinkering of the Star Wars saga. I purchased the kindle edition at midnight the night it was released and it has taken me this long to force my way through it. I can only take so much before I become so frustrated with his handling of the characters and saga or completely bored in his story telling that I have to give it up for a few weeks before getting the stamina to pick it up again. In the end not much happens. It is a feat in itself to write 1000 pages where nothing really happens. Characters that were interesting become trite, boring, and two dimensional. The new POV's are completely disinteresting and abruptly stop any momentum the book begins to build. After reading this I free I need to make an apology to all of the people over years I told had to read this series. What is the biggest problem with this series? It is apparent that George doesn't have any idea where it is going! If you haven't read the New Yorker article that came out about a half a year ago about George R. R. Martin and the series, do so. After reading that article, attending a talk/book release for Dance with Dragons, and considering the time line of releases it is clear he doesn't know where the story is going. My wife who hasn't read any of the books but read the article and attending the talk/book release came to the same conclusion. Consider this, in 5 years he released the first 3 books which were incredible. It then took him 10 years to release the next 2. It wasn't because he was getting them just right, it is because he has no idea what to right. He threw away about 300-400 pages from Dance and Dragons and redid it. This is evident in his POV's. George has written many primary characters into a dead end. He takes them to a location which has no more story or decides the main action should be taking place somewhere else so those other characters basically get abandoned. Where is Sam and Sansa? Jaime has 1 chapter in 1000 pages while Cersei and Arya each have 2. There is really no need for any of the new POV's George just needs to figure out his story for the remaining of the saga and make sure his characters are in the right place. George wrote about 150 pages of which are essentially the misadventures of Tyrion. He could have done it in 10 pages. It should have been, "Tyrion takes a boat to Meereen. The boat gets hit by a storm. Another ship picks up the survivors as slaves which also has Mormont on board and the both get sold outside Meereen. " I just saved 140 pointless pages. What about Griff then, who cares about Griff. Midway through this book I thought that perhaps HBO by combining Feast and Dance and then using artistic freedom could perhaps salvage this saga but now being at the end I think it is hopeless. I could care less about any further books in the story nor the HBO series. If I'm HBO I'd be worried. If they attempt to follow these last 2 book no one will be watching the show by the end of the fifth season. It would take a heck of a turn around to redeem the series. At this point I'm rooting for the Others to infest all lands and kill every character.