YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Reading A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) from the 24th of May 2016.

I'm starting this now!

Page 111 Cersei (view spoiler)[ this book is already amazing!!! It has something different about it already. It's own unique tone! (hide spoiler)]

Brienne is a really great character!

207: Cersei (view spoiler)[ is it weird that I'm really liking getting to know Cersei in this book? We're getting to see her emotions over Joffrey dying. I may have hated him but he was still her son (hide spoiler)]

355: (view spoiler)[ Arya is another character that I'm loving in this book! But I must admit, I miss Jon's POV :( I miss Jon (hide spoiler)]

435: Samwell "He can slay me if he likes" that made me laugh so much!

570: Jaime (view spoiler)[ Jaime is a third character that is really shining for me in this book. The whole thing between him and Cersei is actually one of my favourite points at the minute! I hated it until this point but they actually have bitterness now! (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ ARYAS BLIND :o (hide spoiler)]

690: (view spoiler)[ Ser Osney deserves to be murdered!!! (hide spoiler)]

Finishing thoughts: I say this at the end of every book but this one may be my favourite yet! The length of these books don't even seem daunting to me now because they're so good!

King's Landing

(view spoiler)[ This was by far my favorite plot of the book. Cersei is really going crazy as she starts laughing at her own thoughts. Plus, what she did to Margaery. The ending to her storyline was crazy though. (hide spoiler)]

The Traveling Duo

(view spoiler)[ This is nothing against Brienne, but I was not that interested in her point of view. Perhaps it was the fact that I knew her quest was pointless due to spoilers, Therefore, it led me to dread her point of views. I only liked her point in the latter half of the book. (hide spoiler)]

Ship

(view spoiler)[ Samwell had such a simple point of view, which was a great break. I'm glad he and Gilly finally did the deed. (hide spoiler)]

Dorne

(view spoiler)[ This point of view slowed me down. I had no interest in Dorne. I could have finished this book in a shorter amount of time if I did not have to deal with that point of view. Especially, since it led to nowhere. (hide spoiler)]

Riverrun

(view spoiler)[ This was another interesting point of view. I loved the siege. It brought us into the final action of the book. (hide spoiler)]

Arya

(view spoiler)[ I loved Arya's point of view. She was trying so hard to become no one, but she can never escape her past. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3 - Brienne: (view spoiler)[ I love Brienne. She's one of my favourite characters. I want her and Jaime together. She is so bad-ass. (hide spoiler)]

Don't really know what chapter anymore so general updates.

20%: (view spoiler)[ This one is a little bit slower than the first three books. However, I think there is a good amount of information being given that gives this book as interesting yet different tone. I hoping it gets better. (hide spoiler)]

24%: (view spoiler)[ I do not usually like Cersei in this series. However, I am sympathizing with her and I find her story refreshing and different now that she lost Joffrey. It's interesting to see her thoughts that occur in her crazy mind. (hide spoiler)]

Connie wrote: "355: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I do like her POV! I am missing a lot of the old characters POVs especially Jon's. I thought there was more depth when there was more characters. However, George R. R. Martin is making it up by making these characters more interesting and with more information. (hide spoiler)]

Connie wrote: "570: Jaime [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I think there is bitterness because he now loves Brienne just as much as Cersei. I actually like the bitterness between them because we get to see the characters be who they are when they are now together. It's very intriguing to see. (hide spoiler)]

Page 42: The Captain of Guards: (view spoiler)[ I'm not liking all these random POVs, but I guess it will pay off in the end. (hide spoiler)]

Page 100: Samwell: (view spoiler)[ I love how loyal Brienne is to Catelyn. I know that when Sansa fins Brienne, she'll finally be safe. (hide spoiler)]

Page 165: Jaime: (view spoiler)[ He needs to come off his sister. I don't understand why he;s angry that Cersei was with other people (or cousins) when he was gone. A) She probably thought you were dead and B) You're twins for crying out loud! (hide spoiler)]

Page 332: Jaime: (view spoiler)[ I don't understand why Tywin's funeral process is still going. He's dead already get over it! Tyrion killed him, now just go on with the process. And I really don't think a stallion was necessary, but the Lannisters are all about luxury... (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Page 444: Arya: (view spoiler)[ I love how everyone assumes that Arya is dead when she's really learning to be "No One" with Jaqen H'gar, but she still recites her hit list. I don't think she's going to last because Arya's a feisty one; she definitely can't hide her feelings well. (hide spoiler)]

Page 557: Jaime: (view spoiler)[ And here starts Jaime's regular rant about who Cersei's sleeping with... (hide spoiler)]

Page 622: The Reaver: (view spoiler)[ The Greyjoys are too arrogant and that's probably why they aren't as strong as the other houses. I don't know how someone can be so sure of themselves when they go against a house like the Tyrell's. They're basically Lannisters, but with flowers as their sigils. And the Lannisters and Tyrells are strong allies. Plus they have Valyrian steel and Ser Loras (<3) so there's another advantage. (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[ Very eventful, but I wish I saw more of Tyrion and Dany and especially Jon. Maester Aemon's prophecy may have been a little biased considering he's a Targaryen as well. But I pictured the ending of the series as Dany and Jon ruling Westeros from the end of the second book. I'm awaiting book 5 so I can hear from the other Starks and my girl Dany! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3: (view spoiler)[ Brienne is a really good character in this book. She is definitely growing to be one of my favorites. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 10: (view spoiler)[ This book is really slow. I feel bad for Marillon because he was framed for his crime. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 20 (view spoiler)[ Seriously, after reading this section, I am really learning and realizing how much I like Brienne. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 30 (view spoiler)[ Jaime is bothering me again. No surprise... :| (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 45 (end) (view spoiler)[ Not my favorite book or ending. Just a bit... meh. Sam is pretty cool though. (hide spoiler)]

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Date changed. Restarting February 7th 2019. Happy Reading ☺

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Slowly cracking this open...

Tiera wrote: "Slowly cracking this open..."

Me too.. Here it goes!

gonna update in a few!

Prologue: (view spoiler)[ Well.. starting off making all the sense... or not lol. Not sure what is happening here but glad that rumors of Danny are making the rounds! (hide spoiler)]

Taken me almost two weeks to actually sit down and start this..

Prologue + Chapters 1-9

(view spoiler)[There's a few POVs in this book that personally I could do without. For example, Brienne. While she's a badass feminist icon, her chapters haven't really added anything to the story for me. Except maybe introduce us to The Sparrows, but even then it was a fleeting appearance.

Controversial opinion: I love Cersei Lannister. I believe that villains get the best character development and arcs, and Cersei's arc is just great, in my eyes. All she has ever wanted is to prove herself and rule the Seven Kingdoms. Because she was born a woman, she's always been looked down on and told she can't achieve what she wants. This has caused her to become more and more bitter over the years. Anyone who gets in her way will pay the price. I love it!

We're seeing a bit of tension between Cersei and Jaime, and their relationship is changing. Jaime is obviously torn up about his part in Tyrion's escape, and Tywin's subsequent death, and then what Tyrion had told me on his way out. I think over the course of this book and the next book, we'll see them become more and more estranged from each other emotionally.

(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 10-19

(view spoiler)[I'm really not enjoying this book like the previous ones (I feel like I've said that in every other BR I've done for this series). Maybe the quality is deteriorating with every book, but my god, this book is draggggggggging!

There is almost nothing happening in this book. The main storylines are Cersei and Jaime bickering and Cersei trusting no-one, Brienne's off looking for Sansa to keep a promise to Catelyn Stark (she's dead, I don't think she'll care if you give up - also, where will you take her to when you find her???), and the Iron Islands, which is the most boring place/storyline/characters in the whole series. Does anyone care about this shit?

Also, there's stuff going on up at the Wall, but my entire feelings so far about this book are who the fuck cares??? I'm pleased the TV show trimmed some of the fat and we weren't subjected to all of the Iron Islands bullshit.

A storyline I am kinda interested in is the Sand Snakes. Prince Doran has locked them up because he's worried about what they will do, and I'm like yeah, let them free and let's see what they can do. I know that they're supposed to be more badass in the books than they were in the TV show, so I'm excited to see them unleashed!

(hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3: Finally we get to someone I know! (view spoiler)[ How come it seems like we have all these chapters about people we don't know? Where are our usual peeps? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4: (view spoiler)[ I know that Jaime is better and all but I'm not so sure Brienne should be putting all this sudden faith in his honor.. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6: Ohh yaaaa (view spoiler)[ forgot about Arya using that coin, this god of many faces sounds a bit like Janos greek god of many faces and crossroads (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 17: (view spoiler)[ Cersei doing her thing, being her evil self.. I don't like her like you do Ash but I will say that her chapters are the best in this book... at least something is happening lol.
Shes pretty vengeful "In the dream it was Tyrion's head they brought her in their sack. She had it bronzed and kept it in her chamber pot." gross (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 23: (view spoiler)[ I look forward to Stansa's chapters more and more, she has changed quite a bit though still dumb naive.. she is learning things.. I hope she turns in to a conniving schemer like littlefoot. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 27: (view spoiler)[ well well look at Jaime telling people to call Brienne by name... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 33: (view spoiler)[ what did the aunt mean here? is she saying Jaime isn't Tywin's true son.. or is it more that Tyrion is more like Tywin than Jaime is? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 40: (view spoiler)[ Ok now I get it, Arianne was Visery's betrothed... Still don't know why we are spending so much time in her viewpoint.

What the heck is Petyr's endgame here!!! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 44: (view spoiler)[ WHAT.... Jaime said eff this I'm out and burned her letter! You freaking go Jaime! (hide spoiler)]

Finished: Definitely agree this book wasn't as good as the others.. (view spoiler)[ I think it was dragging because of all the chapters with people we didn't even know or have a connection with already. Also, yea Brienne's chapters were totes boring.. filled with her reminiscing of Jaime and saying over and over how shes is going to save Sansa.. Can't say I'm not happy Cersei isn't getting some of her own medicine. (hide spoiler)] One more to go Ash!!!

Almost there Tiera! Are you wanting to set up a BR for the last book?

Yea but no rush! We can hold off till next month to give you time to finish this one and get a break if you want. I'm down for whenever though!

I'm aiming to get this finished in the next couple of days. I'm about 2/3rds in.

So whenever you want to pick up book 5, I'll be down.

Chapters 20-38

(view spoiler)[Working my way through this, I will be finished in the next 24 hours!

As I've been complaining, not much is happening and it's a bit of a letdown. The previous three books were full of so much action and plot points, that it feels like this book is just dragging until we get to the next big plot point.

It feels like we're spending more time following Cersei and Jaime, and we're getting a lot of character development for the two (which is more than can be said about any other character in this book). It's interesting following Cersei and seeing her inner dialogue and seeing her struggling with Margarey's presence in the family. You can see that she's got her claws into Tommen, and in Cersei's eyes, that's not for the best, and she's eager to take the younger woman out.

I was surprised by the scene where Cerei and Lady Merryweather had a bit of sexual contact, for lack of a better word. Obviously there's no mention of her wanting to experiment with women in the tv show, so I was surprised that she decided to have some fun with the lady. We have very few LGBTQ+ characters in this book, so to see a main character exploring their sexuality was great.

Also, Brienne - give up at this point. You're not getting very far, hun.

(hide spoiler)]

Finished

(view spoiler)[So I feel like there was a lot more action in the last 10 or so chapters than the rest of the book.

It was interesting to see Cersei's plan to take Margarey down backfire. I knew that she would end up imprisoned by the High Septon, but I wasn't expecting it so soon.

I would personally love to see more Lady Stoneheart. I think she should have been included in the tv series. It's just such a great concept of Catelyn Stark being resurrected and becoming a zombie type being who is intent on exacting revenge on her enemies. Yes. I am here for that!

I also kinda liked Arianne and her little storyline in Dorne. It kind of mirrored Cersei (hear me out) and her feeling like because she was born a woman, that her father doesn't take her seriously, and she wants to prove herself as a strong woman. My heart did break when Ser Arys was killed, and she realised that she loved him and oh, it was so sad when she was imprisoned by her father. I wonder if the person she was betrothed to was Viserys? It was when Prince Doran mentioned wanting revenge and fire and I was thinking maybe it was Viserys and they were planning on taking back Westeros.

(hide spoiler)]