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shipperxFinally finished A Dance with Dragons. I know it took me a while, but I think it actually worked better for me with not rushing thought. Thoughts (and spoilers) behind the cut:
* So, clearly Jon Snow isn't really most sincerely dead. Just don't buy it. A couple of thoughts spring to mind. First, Martin spends a great deal of time early in the book discussing wargging. This is there for a reason, and not just for Bran warging. Or for Arya warging into the cat. Jon's consciousness could easily warg into Ghost. But not even that is the end of the story. I'm thinking Melisandre is the other part. She's a red priestess and it was a red priest who has been going around resurrecting people in the Riverlands. Plus she foresaw the knives. So I'm thinking Melisandre will take action and Jon's consciousness is preserved in Ghost. Plus, this would in turn free Jon from his vow. The vow is until his death... well, if he has died, he's now lived to the terms of that vow. So, basically, Jon Snow is so not dead.
* I'm less certain about Stannis, but it strikes me that they've just started the sub plot with the Iron Bank and the whole plot about Westeros defaulting (and how odd is it that this is a subplot? Also... how prescient is it that this is a subplot?) But, Martin, just started that plot and at least for now it's hinging on Stannis, so while that doesn't guarentee that Stannis is alive, it does make me curious.
* Arya's plot was creepy. For several books now I've not known quite how to take her plot. Though I still really love her.
* Dany... OMG, she's young? I'm glad they came back to her at the end, because if they hadn't I would've remained quite angry with her. Going back to her made clear that she didn't know what was going on and also made clear that she didn't really have a way back anyway. Still, Martin made her very young in a lot of ways in this one because her whole obsession with Dario drove me nuts.
* Liked being in Selmy's head... and I'm thinking that Tyrion is going to come into play in that plot (though was Selmy not looking during the fight, because why would Selmy not have recognized Tyrion?)
* All in all, I was surprised that Tyrion's plot didn't end in as many tears as in the last few books. But I guess they already had him in a deep, dark place in the beginning. I liked Penny's addition to his plot. I can't really tell whether she's really and truly is just supposed to be a friend or whether this is a slow romance. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. That said, I do think whatever she's meant to serve, she served a good role here. I think Tyrion needed someone with a heart and who didn't see the world as a deep, dark abyss to deal with. His having to help someone else, went a long way towards getting him to cease wallowing, and he needed to cease wallowing. So Penny has served a good purpose no matter what. And I think Tyrion/Jorrah could be as fun as Tyrion/Bronn.
* Okay, I admit it, Theon won me over to actually root for him... which I never would've believed. Never. Guess it goes to show how inordinate suffering can win good will. At this point Theon deserves a redemptive death. Although, I think he's going to be helping Asha, because I'm pretty sure she's going to use Theon to call for a new round of electing an leader of the Iron Islands.
* I enjoyed Asha in this book.
All in all, I was expecting this book to be even darker (not that it's without darkness, because it's Martin. There's plenty of darkness. I was just expecting yet darker still).
It took me forever to make it through A Dance with Dragons, but I made it through Dark Summit in a day. It more or less works as a sequel to Into Thin Air, even though the two books have different authors. Into Thin Air covers the Mt. Everest expedition that got 12 people killed in 1996 {as written by one of the people on the expedition -- Jon Krakauer (who aslo wrote Into the Wild. Personally, I preferred Into Thin Air. Into the Wild had too much romanticizing of its subject and too many excuses for what really seemed to be largely mental illness (seriously.), whereas Into Thin Air seemed to be being written while Krakauer was still in the throes of a hell of a lot of guilt and thus seems more brutally honest to me.)} What was always haunting about "Into Thin Air" (in the edition that I read) was the follow-up that revealed at at some point or another, virtually everyone in the book who had continued doing extreme climbs post 1996 had almost all died premature deaths.
It's why I think people who climb Everest are crazy. It's a punishing, cruel trek, that kills people every year. But if Everest doesn't kill them, it's like they keep climbing until something does.
Anyway, Dark Summit was written (by a different author) about several expeditions to Everest in 2006. That year, eleven people died. (The author says that the average is five people die on the mountain every year. That year as one British guy was dying over the course of a couple of days 40 other climbers went right by him... as he was dying.
That's the thing about those Everest books. Between the oxygen deprivation, the harsh terrain, and the obsession that people have with reaching the summit, people are crazy, and reckless, and... hard. Death comes easy there. And people are willing to say "he died doing what he wanted." The author of Dark Summit, unlike Krakauer, is less inclined to romanticize this. He wonders why people do it. The trek to the summit of Everest seems to suck any euphoria out of it, so why do they do it? And how do they handle knowing that this, that, and the other person died along the way. How do you choose to leave someone to die? And much like Beck Weathers on the 1996 trip who was left to die... and didn't. The 2006 epiditions also left a man to die on the mountain... who didn't.
Everest climbers have some crazy. It's interesting to read about, because it shows human nature in a lot of different lights. But I do have to wonder like the author, what on earth drives people to do this knowing that no matter how athletic and determined you may be, that Everest regularly takes a toll of losing digits and lives. every. year.
* So, clearly Jon Snow isn't really most sincerely dead. Just don't buy it. A couple of thoughts spring to mind. First, Martin spends a great deal of time early in the book discussing wargging. This is there for a reason, and not just for Bran warging. Or for Arya warging into the cat. Jon's consciousness could easily warg into Ghost. But not even that is the end of the story. I'm thinking Melisandre is the other part. She's a red priestess and it was a red priest who has been going around resurrecting people in the Riverlands. Plus she foresaw the knives. So I'm thinking Melisandre will take action and Jon's consciousness is preserved in Ghost. Plus, this would in turn free Jon from his vow. The vow is until his death... well, if he has died, he's now lived to the terms of that vow. So, basically, Jon Snow is so not dead.
* I'm less certain about Stannis, but it strikes me that they've just started the sub plot with the Iron Bank and the whole plot about Westeros defaulting (and how odd is it that this is a subplot? Also... how prescient is it that this is a subplot?) But, Martin, just started that plot and at least for now it's hinging on Stannis, so while that doesn't guarentee that Stannis is alive, it does make me curious.
* Arya's plot was creepy. For several books now I've not known quite how to take her plot. Though I still really love her.
* Dany... OMG, she's young? I'm glad they came back to her at the end, because if they hadn't I would've remained quite angry with her. Going back to her made clear that she didn't know what was going on and also made clear that she didn't really have a way back anyway. Still, Martin made her very young in a lot of ways in this one because her whole obsession with Dario drove me nuts.
* Liked being in Selmy's head... and I'm thinking that Tyrion is going to come into play in that plot (though was Selmy not looking during the fight, because why would Selmy not have recognized Tyrion?)
* All in all, I was surprised that Tyrion's plot didn't end in as many tears as in the last few books. But I guess they already had him in a deep, dark place in the beginning. I liked Penny's addition to his plot. I can't really tell whether she's really and truly is just supposed to be a friend or whether this is a slow romance. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. That said, I do think whatever she's meant to serve, she served a good role here. I think Tyrion needed someone with a heart and who didn't see the world as a deep, dark abyss to deal with. His having to help someone else, went a long way towards getting him to cease wallowing, and he needed to cease wallowing. So Penny has served a good purpose no matter what. And I think Tyrion/Jorrah could be as fun as Tyrion/Bronn.
* Okay, I admit it, Theon won me over to actually root for him... which I never would've believed. Never. Guess it goes to show how inordinate suffering can win good will. At this point Theon deserves a redemptive death. Although, I think he's going to be helping Asha, because I'm pretty sure she's going to use Theon to call for a new round of electing an leader of the Iron Islands.
* I enjoyed Asha in this book.
All in all, I was expecting this book to be even darker (not that it's without darkness, because it's Martin. There's plenty of darkness. I was just expecting yet darker still).
It took me forever to make it through A Dance with Dragons, but I made it through Dark Summit in a day. It more or less works as a sequel to Into Thin Air, even though the two books have different authors. Into Thin Air covers the Mt. Everest expedition that got 12 people killed in 1996 {as written by one of the people on the expedition -- Jon Krakauer (who aslo wrote Into the Wild. Personally, I preferred Into Thin Air. Into the Wild had too much romanticizing of its subject and too many excuses for what really seemed to be largely mental illness (seriously.), whereas Into Thin Air seemed to be being written while Krakauer was still in the throes of a hell of a lot of guilt and thus seems more brutally honest to me.)} What was always haunting about "Into Thin Air" (in the edition that I read) was the follow-up that revealed at at some point or another, virtually everyone in the book who had continued doing extreme climbs post 1996 had almost all died premature deaths.
It's why I think people who climb Everest are crazy. It's a punishing, cruel trek, that kills people every year. But if Everest doesn't kill them, it's like they keep climbing until something does.
Anyway, Dark Summit was written (by a different author) about several expeditions to Everest in 2006. That year, eleven people died. (The author says that the average is five people die on the mountain every year. That year as one British guy was dying over the course of a couple of days 40 other climbers went right by him... as he was dying.
That's the thing about those Everest books. Between the oxygen deprivation, the harsh terrain, and the obsession that people have with reaching the summit, people are crazy, and reckless, and... hard. Death comes easy there. And people are willing to say "he died doing what he wanted." The author of Dark Summit, unlike Krakauer, is less inclined to romanticize this. He wonders why people do it. The trek to the summit of Everest seems to suck any euphoria out of it, so why do they do it? And how do they handle knowing that this, that, and the other person died along the way. How do you choose to leave someone to die? And much like Beck Weathers on the 1996 trip who was left to die... and didn't. The 2006 epiditions also left a man to die on the mountain... who didn't.
Everest climbers have some crazy. It's interesting to read about, because it shows human nature in a lot of different lights. But I do have to wonder like the author, what on earth drives people to do this knowing that no matter how athletic and determined you may be, that Everest regularly takes a toll of losing digits and lives. every. year.
