Contains: A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows A Dance with Dragons
Omläsning, många år sedan jag läste böckerna i A Song of Ice and Fire. Det som slår mig tydligare idag är hur TV-serien avviker från böckerna, karaktärer gör annorlunda saker m.m. Det tycker jag är lite synd, annars hade man bättre kunnat "fortsätta" när A Dance with Dragons slutar någon gång i slutet av säsong 5 i TV-serien, men det är tyvärr inte riktigt möjligt när handlingen är så annorlunda.
Four stars because, frankly, this book could have been 40% shorter, just by removing the obsessive need to describe everyone's clothes every second paragraph.
I was glad to see Tyrion again, my favorite character by far. But one of the problems I had with this book is that there was just not enough violence/action. And where was the sex? Hell, I practically grew back a hymen from all the purity. Sometimes entire sentences would go by without cannibals feasting on the entrails of their murdered enemies children, or crows feasting on the soft eye flesh of babies or hordes of soldiers gang raping an innocent. And the characters are just too damn nice, whether they were showing their love for their sea god by binding the hands and feet of beautiful young teenagers and throwing them into the ocean, or serving the homeless a feast of slaves who lost a lion fight, or blinding ten year olds and commanding them to slit the throat of a deserving enemy, or feeding their beloved a bowl …
I was glad to see Tyrion again, my favorite character by far. But one of the problems I had with this book is that there was just not enough violence/action. And where was the sex? Hell, I practically grew back a hymen from all the purity. Sometimes entire sentences would go by without cannibals feasting on the entrails of their murdered enemies children, or crows feasting on the soft eye flesh of babies or hordes of soldiers gang raping an innocent. And the characters are just too damn nice, whether they were showing their love for their sea god by binding the hands and feet of beautiful young teenagers and throwing them into the ocean, or serving the homeless a feast of slaves who lost a lion fight, or blinding ten year olds and commanding them to slit the throat of a deserving enemy, or feeding their beloved a bowl of poison fried locusts, well the kindness was just- too much.
Perhaps what scares the hell out of me is that every book I read after this will have nothing of interest whatsoever going on in it, and it will be all tea parties and prairie dinners since I am completely inured to every ghastly thing one could imagine plus a few skewered babies.
Layer upon layer of hard and brutal betrayal. This being the largest volume thus far, and I couldn't put it down. Dragons and retributions, revenge and people getting their comeuppances, this is as the rest, utterly compelling.
I am unsure as to why people aren't so pleased to hear this tale from the perspective of others we have only previously encountered through the main cast.
I for one, was intrigued by the new slant, and cannot wait to get my hands on the fifth volume. Well done!
Worth the incredibly long wait, but I'm not looking forward to the next interminable gap. Nice to revisit some of these characters after so long and I do get the feeling that Martin is now attempting to pull all the different threads of his story together which he needs to if we're ever to get a conclusion.
Please though, there's one death that I really don't want to be a death!
