The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance.
In King’s Landing the Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister, awaits trial, abandoned by all those she trusted; while in the eastern city of Yunkai her brother Tyrion has been sold as a slave. From the Wall, having left his wife and the Red Priestess Melisandre under the protection of Jon Snow, Stannis Baratheon marches south to confront the Boltons at Winterfell. But beyond the Wall the wildling armies are massing for an assault…
On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all.
My Review:
The POV's for this book are Theon, Asha, Dany, Jon, Arya, Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei, Victarian, Barristan Selmy, Quentyn, Jon Connington and Kevan Lannister.
At Winterfell, Theon is brooding about his lot in life, certain that Ramsay is playing with him and expecting death at any moment. A killer stalks the Castle and there are people who are intent on rescuing who they think is Arya and joining Stannis. Is Theon brave and stupid enough to betray the Boltons and help Jeyne escape? Asha is the prisoner of Stannis and survival is a struggle as they march through the snow towards Winterfell, losing people, horses and running out of vital supplies.
At The Wall, entertaining Queen Selyse as she barks orders at him is wearing thin on Jon as are Melisandre's vague death warnings. Alys Karstark arrives seeking sanctuary from a wedding to her uncle which will steal her birthright and reveals that her family are trying to betray Stannis by working with the Boltons. Jon needs to get word to Stannis about a possible trap. Tormund is willing to make peace with Jon but selling it to the angry Night's Watch men is going to be more difficult, with plans to let the wildlings through Castle Black to settle on land they tried to plunder. Jon receives a letter from Ramsay demanding that Theon and Arya be returned to him and Jon is ready to ride south to deal with the Boltons once and for all.
Daario is unhappy that Dany is going to do her duty for peace by marrying Hizdahr zo Loraq but the day before the wedding, Dany is amused by the arrival of Quentyn who also seeks her hand. He shows her a pledge to marry Viserys to Arianne to join Dorne to the Targaryens and wants to seal that pact by marrying Dany, who rejects him as she is betrothed. She agrees to reopen the fighting pits for her wedding but a deadly arrival by Drogon and an assassination attempt occur, and Dany decides to leave, abandoning Meereen to a power struggle between Loraq and her people. Ser Barristan Selmy is sure that Loraq tried to kill Dany and while the dothraki search for her, he has to decide whether to turn traitor to the new King or serve him. Quentyn embarks on his own foolish plan to take Dany's dragons.
Outside the walls of Meereen, Tyrion, Penny and Jorah have been sold into slavery but find that their master is kind if they behave themselves. However with a deadly plague starting to kill those around him in the camp, Tyrion decides it is time to plot their escape and seek refuge with the Second Sons. Now he needs to persuade them to side with Dany. Arya adapts to her new blind status and seeks another chance to prove herself. Aegon is determined to take Storm's End away from Stannis with some local help and Victarian discovers how useful a servant of the Lord of Light can be to his mission to get to Meereen and claim Dany.
At King's Landing, Cersei has realised that the only way to get out of her cell and back to Tommen is to confess her sins and do a walk of shame naked through the streets, which horrifies her. The humiliation is tempered when she is introduced to her new loyal soldier Robert who is there to defend her and kill her enemies. Kevan has agreed to stay in the city to bring some stability but Varys has his own plans in motion. Jaime ignores Cersei's pleas for help and is sorting out a dispute between warring clans when word reaches him of Brienne.
This was an excellent book with many great plot threads! I LOVED following Ser Barristan Selmy as he deals with the politics of Meereen, staying loyal to Dany and investigating Loraq and Quentyn's activities. I also really enjoyed Tyrion's slavery adventures outside the walls though Penny is becoming a bit too whiny for my liking. Tyrion as always is funny, smart and entertaining to read about. His realisation that they were supposed to die in the fighting pits just made him more determined to escape and I loved his new working relationship with Jorah. Now they really have the same goal in getting inside Meereen and to Dany. I found the whole Meereen story really interesting and having Ser Barristan as the main storyteller when Dany was gone was a great bonus as I love his character. Seeing the stupidity of Quentyn was also enjoyable to read about.
Cersei's walk of shame was enjoyable as we got to see it through her experience. It is always fun to see what the bad characters are thinking! Is it wrong to feel so satisfied that Jaime has abandoned her?! Asha's march to Winterfell was strangely compelling even though not much happened. I think GRRM nicely conveyed how bleak and deadly the snow was and the effect that it had on everybody. Stannis is such a good character in the books, being stubborn and unbending as he is. I think the actor in the TV series portrayed him faithfully as we see him in the books and I always like his story. I enjoyed seeing it through the eyes of Asha as his prisoner. Jon's troubles of course are escalating and I wanted to constantly shout warnings at him! I love his friendship with Tormund. Theon was never my favourite character but I enjoyed his plotting and the fears over how bad the escape plans were. The most surprising thread which I wasn't expecting is what Varys was getting up to! I love that guy!
The threads that didn't greatly interest me again were Victarian and Aegan. I feel that Victarian's constant brooding over losing the throne to his brother is getting wearing and he doesn't form any purpose except another man wanting power by marrying Dany. I'd rather we had followed Euron instead of him as Euron is much more interesting. The endless sea journey with Victarian really adds nothing to the overall story and he could just have easily been cut out after Euron emerged the victor. Likewise Aegan's journey doesn't interest me much. I feel that we have enough people trying to take the Iron Throne without him in the mix and he comes across as a stroppy teenager rather than potential King! Adding him so late into the story doesn't seem like the smartest thing and has added more work for the author in tying it all up as the series ends. I am glad that these two threads were cut out by HBO in favour of the more interesting people. I am pleased at least that we are leaving the politics of Dorne behind in this book as I was getting tired of Arianne and the bastards of Oberyn.
Having read the book, I now find myself pining for The Winds of Winter! I admit I have fears that all these threads will not be resolved in two books. There just seems to be too much. If the next book has everything from season six on HBO, it would contain the battle between Stannis and the Boltons, Dany's dothraki adventures and return to Meereen, Jon Snow's new direction and fight with Ramsay, the Meereen people all joining up together ready to move to Westeros, Bran and Arya starting their respective journeys, Sam in Oldtown, the Brotherhood, Brienne, Jaime while Cersei plots against the High Sparrow and the Tyrells in King's Landing, plus the threads of Victarian and Aegon-that would be a huge book and that leaves seasons 7 and 8 to be in the final book? I fear that it will take three books to finish ASOI&F and I dread how long we'll wait for that!
Read January 2019
5 stars.
