I read early that this was the full story for half the characters rather than half the story for all the characters due to the length (and probably his publisher pushing him to get something out). I think I would have rather had half the story for all the characters because I am left wondering if the other book will delve backwards quite a ways into this one. Also, because of the nature of this series, even at the "end" you still wonder what is going to happen to the characters (except those that truly meet their end -- I guess Martin and Carey have something in common with killing off characters.)

I will admit to reading Arya's chapters all in a row, skipping everything in the middle, which is probably not the best way, but as she is my favorite character, it is hard not to do that. As for Brienne, all I can say is no, no, no! I am enjoying the growth of Jaime from boy-warrior into an actual man. I missed the Imp in this novel, as he was so prominent a character in all the previous books.

This book is shorter than the previous books at 700 pages. Also, a friend and I commented that it seemed that the trade paperback edition rather than the mass market paperback edition were what was available when we got it. I am not size careful, so it didn't bother me, but apparently it bothered her to have a different size than her other books. Plus, it is a bit unwieldy at that size.

An 8 hour drive back from a conference in Breckenridge, CO to Lincoln, NE is what allowed me to finish this book that I had been working on for almost 2 months. It seemed I could only ever read one chapter at a time. Despite the time it takes to read these books, I am fervently waiting for the next one. I still haven't totally decided what I think of the series, but this book I liked less than the previous books.