A Dance with Dragons
05 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
I have lost count of how many books are in this series so far (between all of the two parters, some which are titled part one and two, others which aren’t but are actually set concurrently) – Phew. I am ashamed to say it is a relief to finally be up to date with them all and have no choice but to wait until Martin writes another book before I can continue.
Although my interest in the overall plot is still strong, the meandering storylines and over-use of different narratorive voices makes this a fairly exhausting series. And as Martin goes on, he seems to be finding it harder and harder to hold the threads of his epic masterpiece together. In my last entry, I criticised the plot for leaving all of the important characters’ storylines for this book (set concurrrently to this last). This time, I will criticise him for splitting the narrative so far and attempting to bring so many characters together (with Daenerys as the juncture point) that many of them simply spend too long travelling to do anything particularly interesting. There are also some rather neat conincidences, which seem to be Martin’s only way to hurry the narrative. Fortunately Tyrion’s wit carries us along – he journeys to Meereen to met with Daeneyrs at the behest of Varys the Spider. He befriends a secret prince before being enslaved and joining a company of sellswords. The Dornishmen also re-enter the narrative as Prince Quentyn attempts to win our silver Queen too.
In the North, Jon struggles to hold the Wall, reaching out to the Wildlings which bolster his numbers but alienate him from the other men of the Night’s Watch. Stannis marches on Winterfell, held by the truly contemptible Roose and Ramsay Bolton. Ramsay has held Theon Greyjoy as a prisoner for several books – we only now are made aware that he is still alive, deeply traumatised by the flayings and dismemberments he has been made subject too, causing him to unearth a new personality, the cringing, toadying ‘Reek’. We also receive notice that Brienne of Tarth (supposedly sentenced to death by Stoneheart) is alive and appears to be bringing Jaime Lannister to die in her place. Similarly we learn that Arya’s blindness is a test as she continues her training as an assassin in Braavos.
Whilst some of the dead appear alive, more deaths ensue. Jon receives word that Stannis Baratheon is dead, and as we leave Jon he himself has been stabbed in the back several times by his so-called brothers. Daenerys however appears reborn after behaving uncharacteristically cautiously throughout the novel – some choices on Martin’s behalf that I still dont pretend to understand.
What Martin has appeared to have accomplished though, is to have broken much of the power at King’s Landing, bring the inevitable return of Daenerys Stormborn to Westeros closer. Either way, with five years between this book and the previous, it may feel like a long time to me.
