@@StevenBryson-p3t The WoW chapters that have been released are some of the best in the whole series IMO. Definitely read those and do a video on them.
@@DrAwesome43 How worth it is it? I really want to wait for WOW to come out before I read them to have an authentic experience with as few spoilers as possible, so are they worth reading to lose that?
Brienne's confession to the priest just broke my heart: "A daughter." Brienne's eyes filled with tears. "He deserves that. A daughter who could sing to him and grace his hall and bear him grandsons. He deserves a son too, a strong and gallant son to bring honor to his name. Galladon drowned when I was four and he was eight, though, and Alysanne and Arianne died still in the cradle. I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter."
Her inner monologue just makes her SO complex, and it's why I felt I had to talk about her so much in my Martin female character video. She likes who she wants to be, but she also loathes it! It's such a real human emotion!
@@Bookborn It shows the struggle of her not fitting into a gender norm- being a woman but womanly- and how that isolates her leaving her without a role in her society. George rights the struggles of women in a society like Westeros amazingly
"She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand." And that's when Brienne became the embodiment of perfection. 😭
Cersei's chapters alone carry Feast, she's incredibly entertaining. But even without them it's the most thematically rich book in the series. I think it's the book I've reread the most, maybe ever. Only complaint is we should've gotten more focus on the REAL evil plot going on, that being Cersei's maids shrinking her gowns.
My maids are shrinking my gowns too. They're also shrinking my feet I can't even see them anymore. Why would a just God allow such evil into the world.
Quinn! I hope you and the other theory peeps are planning a collab with Bookborn. I think she should take Glidus' theory quiz haha. But seriously, it has been SUCH a pleasure after being on a several year theory deep dive to experience the books through fresh eyes (especially someone who is doing such a good analysis). But it would be fascinating to have a conversation with some theory peeps about certain scenes (no spoilers!) like the story Meera tells Bran in the hills - I had no idea of the significance the first two times I read, until I read an analysis of it. The thing about these books, is most of the fun is the unraveling the web of connections!
I don’t think Cersei’s gaining weight because she’s pregnant (although I do see that as a viable and valid theory). I think it’s more to parallel her to Robert. She starts doing things like Robert would (eating and drinking excessively, being physically cruel to women and children, making bad political decisions and fantasizing about a long-dead possible marriage partner)
ok this is an excellent point, I didn't even think of that part of the robert transformation! That makes more sense in the long run, tbh, although I'd love the drama of a pregnancy haha
Robert wasn't cruel to children, he just was neglectful and took no interest in Cersei's bastard children. He actually was very fond of his first born bastard daughter and wanted to bring her to court but didn't after Cersei threatened to have her killed if he did.
9:05 “I don’t distrust you because you’re a woman, I distrust you because you’re not as smart as you think you are.” - The Goat himself, Tywin Lannister
The fact that Brienne is also Dunk’s descendant makes it extra special. George told us we would learn one of the characters was descended from Dunk in this book and then Brienne gets that shield. Plus she’s super tall
@@kimtherrien8643he is. I believe that George has stated that there are four characters in the current story that are descendants of Dunk. The two confirmed ones are Brienne and Hodor, the other two are not yet known/confirmed. However a lot of fans have speculated that the remaining two are the Clegane brothers.
A woman of culture, Feast of Crows is the best book in the series, the broken man speech, Cersei's descent to madness, Brienne being a Knight, Victarion introduction (he's a dumbass, but a badass), Arya actually learning something and DORNE!!! one of the most interesting parts of Westeros. It's a great book
Jamie’s arc of figuring out his identity and coming to terms with his relationship with Cersei throughout this book made it one of my favourites for sure. The story concluding with him finally breaking free from Cersei by refusing her letter for help was so satisfying to read
Been saying this for a decade... Jaimie along with another character I won't mention for fear of spoilers for Bookborn is on his way to having the absolute best arc of the series.
I agree, in the show he goes back to KL but when he burned the letter in the book I was like huhhh wait huh. So unexpected and so good at the same time!
“She narrowed her eyes. “What is our heart’s desire?” “Vengeance.” His voice was soft, as if he were afraid that someone might be listening. “Justice.” Prince Doran pressed the onyx dragon into her palm with his swollen, gouty fingers, and whispered, “Fire and blood.” is my personal favorite chapter ending of any book in the entire series
If we're talking when it came out, I think people were mostly upset about splitting up Dance, increasing the series length and thus waiting times. Looking back those fears weren't really unfounded.
If you are a fan of Margery, the show portrayal of her is actually one of the rare moments where they enhanced the character a lot and you get SO much insight into her.
@@maxperez-stable6796 Allister and Margaery feel like more intense versions of their book character but Jorah is a very different character. Instead of Jorah I'd mention Kevan, he's more prominent in the show than in the book and I think S5+S6 were better for it.
@@pinto9779yeah but I liked that Jorah is a deeply tragic character in the books. the whole story of him (the ugly boy from a shthole somewhere in the north) has his glorious moment at a tourney and wins the heart of a beautiful girl that leads to him ruining himself and do a crime; only to fall in love with a girl that is too beautiful and mighty and important for him again... he makes the same mistake twice, prefers ignoring all reality and believes in his idealized (and self centered) ideas of love. We all know somebody like that.
@@SuzakuX I understand why people fear tWoW might never come out but weirdly I never held on to that notion, I see it as a 100% certainty that it will come out. At the same time, I'm 99.9% sure ADOS will never come out.
One thing I love about Brienne's POV is that we finally get to see the peasants' point of view as well. We've seen the conflicts almost exclusively through the eyes of kings, lords, and other nobles. When you think about it, it's really crazy that so many people have to go to war just because a guy they've never met was executed for treason. George is a pacifist and it's nice to see that side even more clearly now. Also, I have to mention that the Broken Men monologue is just perfect and I'll end this with my favorite quote: "Seven, Brienne thought again, despairing. She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice."
@@BookbornThat monologue is George's entire central theme for the books. War breaks people for no good reason, and it's the common who suffer most when the lords play their game of thrones.
Yes, yes, yes! When I first read The Broken Men monologue I was absolutely stunned and realized at that moment that GRRM was without a doubt a brilliant writer. I think it is the best part of the whole series and mention its theme to as many people as I can when ASoIaF is being discussed. Bookborn, I am glad you were also affected by that wonderful story within a story. I have been reading fantasy and science fiction for 65 years and think that Game of Thrones is one of finest series I have every read. Thank you all for continuing to keep the discussion alive.
@@Bookborn “The War of the Ninepenny Kings?” asked Hyle Hunt. “So they called it, though I never saw a king, nor earned a penny. It was a war, though. That it was.” That is without a doubt my favourite passage
Arya is in the shoes of the smallfolk through out Clash and Storm, she is literally enslaved first by Lannister than by Bolton. Brienne's chapters are great reading and there is more insight to the plight of the smallfolk, but it isn't the first time we see how the common man is affected when great lords play the game of thrones.
Yessss! Not gunna lie, you did scare me with the thumbnail about having bad taste. Breath of relief that you’re talking about people who dislike AFFC. It’s my personal fav.
I was confused at first as well lol. I feel like I see feast mentioned as a favorite more than the other books, though maybe that’s just bc it has more haters so therefore more defenders
Also that, if George R.R Martin sees himself as Sam does he mean that he HAS a fat pink mast? This what I think about when I look at his face in interviews and I try to forget it@@DongusMcBongus
@@DongusMcBongus At this point in our timeline, we're so used to the idea that it ain't coming that we'll all just happily and eagerly take her alternate timeline review of the book!
Cersei knows Loras & Renly were lovers. I don't think she understands sexuality, she just thinks of it as some sort of alternate kink, which is why she toys with the possibility of "exposing" him & Margaery as lovers. But, yeah. That's why she refuses to have him train Tommen, when she notes that Loras had squired for Renly, and doesn't want the same sort of relationship forming between them. "The Knight of Flowers was no sort of man for any boy to emulate" "I know what he (Loras) is. I won't have him near my son." "Ser Loras lusts for glory as real men lust for women..." She knows.
Yeah I mean I def used straight flippantly for ease of describing it but she talks in this book to me as if she didn’t know, since she thinks it’s ridiculous that Margery and Renly didn’t consummate the marriage and considers trying to seduce loras. Now the second one I could see her doing no matter what because she’s so self centered she thinks everyone loves her, but the first one…
@@Bookborn I don't think she gets sexuality. To her, a woman's body is a thing men use to assert their power over her. Of course Renly would do it to Margaery when they were naked together. She isn't gay, after all, and she did ... that .... to Taena. That Loras or Renly would not want to have sex with a woman is just not in it for her, or at least it indicates some sort of weakness or deficiency on their part. Because to her, that's the way of the world, you're the getting stomped on the face with a boot, or you're wearing the boot. Boots are for stomping and there's something wrong with you if you have one and don't stomp. I legit think that if she was in a marriage with a decent man who respected her, and tried to be nice to her, and acknowledged her bodily autonomy, she'd hold him in contempt. Notice, that her sex life with Jaime, from what we see, despite her claims that he's the only partner she enjoys, is also rather violent and abusive, and neither of them is super-interested in each other's consent. Bran describes their interplay as wrestling (which MIGHT be what normal sex would look like to a kid his age, but intercourse doesn't necessarily look like that), Jaime is definitely violent to her in the sept when he returns, she in turn is violent toward him after his return, and he has to fight her off in the Kingsguard quarters. Cersei is all about power, and it absolutely makes sense to call her relationship to Jaime when they were young, a form of grooming. That line she delivers to Ned, that they made the thesis statement of the execrable TV show, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die," is actually an expression of her narrow conception of power, as a zero sum game, where anyone else having any power is a loss for you, and someone to target. That also explains the incompetence of her reign as regent in this book - the feudal system is all about sharing power, or at least trading power for support. Cersei can't build a coalition, she can't get buy-in for her policies, because she isn't willing to cede anything back. Jaime's scheme to have Mace take Storm's End doesn't occur to her, because the idea of giving a rival a command and authority to carry it out is beyond her frame of reference. To Cersei, competence is a threat, dissent indicates enmity, disloyalty and sabotage, and failure is proof of incompetence and ill will. It's how she is one of the few characters who is acutely aware of the ways in which her gender is discriminated against, marginalized and victimized by their society, but also has absolutely zero problems with it happening to anyone but her. She is very aware of the abuse Sansa is suffering at Joffrey's hands and horror she is feeling in her marriage to Tyrion, and objectively empathizes, for lack of a better description, but she won't life a finger to do anything about it. To her, that's the natural way things go. You have periods, you get raped, your husband beats you and you have to wear skirts instead of carry a sword belt. This is not an issue that needs to be reformed, any more than lactation is. Her objection to it happening to her, is that she is not a weak woman like all those other women, she is actually strong and powerful and does not deserve it, it's all the fault of those men conspiring against her, personally. She doesn't object to men or disregarding female authority, she is mad that they are doing it to HER, because they are mistaking her for a run of the mill weakling woman. So, in summation, Cersei is aware that Loras prefers to have sex with men, and is not interested in sex with women, and sees it not as his sexuality, but as some weird deficiency of willpower or ambition, an inexplicable failure to take full advantage of a fundamental ability. And she doesn't want him anywhere near Tommen, because Tommen is already falling short of Cersei's measure of strength, of which Joffrey, Tywin & Robert are more proper examples.
Every time the Lannister twins do something terrible I'm like that "I pretend I do not see it" meme. I never thought when I got into this series that they would be some of my favorite characters but here we are.
Whenever I hear someone say that this is weak installment, I'm like damn, I wish all books were this disappointing. Jamie is my favorite character in the series. I am all in on this book. I think the Lannister's are the most fascinating characters in all of fantasy.
Finally, someone else who loves Feast as much as I do. An extremely needed follow up to Storm that gives the reader time to understand this new status quo and reorient after the constant churning they Storm did. I think a lot of the really good stuff in Storm wouldn't be as effective if it didn't have Feast to tackle the fallout, especially the death of Tywin.
Ok that’s a PERFECT way to describe it. Storms absolutely churned everything and destroyed everything, and feast is the aftermath. It’s the emotional follow up to tell you about the fall out
@@BookbornI'm pretty sure that's actually why it's called A Feast For Crows. If A Storm of Swords is a term that describes a battle, then A Feast For Crows is the bloody aftermath.
I’m more optimistic than most about the books being finished. George has already written almost 1500 pages for Winds of Winter. No way that doesn’t get published at some point in some form. As for the final book, we’ve seen this with other authors if they pass away. For better or worse, there is a lot of money to be made. There will at least be some kind of fight to get a book out.
My personal opinion as someone very new to the fandom is that we will see Winter. It seems that there is too much written, like you said. We probably won't get springs. I know George is very against other authors finishing series, so for his sake, I hope they don't do it 🤷♀
Im also more hopeful than most. I think scrapping his previously planned 5 year time jump threw a serious wrench in the series and caused a lot of problems down the line for the story and characters. Thats why Winds has been so tough for him. We know hes a “gardener” when it comes to writing, but he claims hes already known how it would end for a long time. Hopefully after finally churning out Winds he has a clear vision for the path to the end, so the final book wouldnt take him nearly as long. Its gets really tiring seeing th community talk so casually and callously about GRRM’s mortality, as if theyre all waiting on bated breath for him to drop dead any second now.
@@Bookborn I think that Dream of Spring will not take 10 years to write and that it will be shorter than Winds. Already Dance took longer to write, and Martin admited that he was stuck at converging the plot and chronology of certain characters. I assume that is also his problem now with Winds. Hopefully the paths of the main characters will already converge in Winds, which could give him an easier time when it comes to progressing the plot of DoS (assuming that he know how he wants to end the story). Maybe I'm too much of an optimist. Anyway I have some 120 books I want to read so I will be happy wheneverthey come out, of they do. In the meantime I will go trough my backlog.
I've kind of accepted of what may happened and I prefer we get a book that matches the quality of the others in the series, rather than get something asap that's trash. Because nothing will ruin a series more than a awful sequel/ending, and you can see many examples of that happening.
The Brienne story is super excellent. I love the bits about "The Hound". The motif of his helmet representing emotional armor and cruelty. I felt like it was contrasted with Brienne's lack of a helmet and her willingness to protect the innocent. Though she feels insecure sometimes, she doesn't take it out on others like Sandor did.
@@BookbornMay I ask when you plan on starting the final book? Next month? P.S: I think you'll like A Dance with Dragons even more, especially the very mysterious themes of the north.
I read these books a decade ago and still spend a good amount of time in the fandom, but you experiencing these moments for the first time brings me so much joy!
Every ASOIAF review of yours just fills my heart with joy! The fact that you're experiencing the books for the first time and having this wondrous sense of discovery of this world and these characters❤❤ It makes me so happy!
Feast is such a great book, Aurane Waters is my favorite minor character in the series. Show up, look like Cersei's teenage crush, get her to finance a ton of ships, and then go off to be a pirate at the first sign of trouble
Meanwhile in the show, Theon gets a sprinkling on his head. If I remember right, they did actually have Euron drowned, but by then they totally ruined Kingsmoot so idc.
@@DongusMcBongus what you didnt like that they removed the whole reason Euron was selected over everyone else? Who needs gold and magic horns that burn a mans lungs out, he can say he has a big 🐓 and that is enough! 😂
How else would you think of it? They hold them under the water until they drown, then do chest compressions to bring them back. It's literally as she described it. Not even any allegory or anything, just literally drowning and cpr
the moment I knew I loved brienne was when she defended the orphans at the inn against the brave companions. She knew she was outnumbered and would most likely die but fought them anyway because it was the right thing to do
she's always trying to do the right thing and it's such a great look into the themes of the novel, and I love connecting that to the themes of Dunk and Egg too
21:00 yea yea yea. HOW can the TITLE of the chapter being just a single first name, the name of the POV, and have it be that emotional. it’s crazy. it so well done that a single name makes my heart so heavy. argh. poor sansa
I don’t really view Cersei as being “dumb”, more like she sees herself as the center of the universe and thinks so highly of herself that she’s never allowed to be wrong. She’s willfully blind and obsessed with her own greatness just like Tywin. And like her father, if she actually stopped and LOOKED, she would see stuff that’s right in front of her
That attitude reminded me a lot of Coriolanus Snow (Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). Man was so far up his own butt he couldn’t think about anything except how it relates to him and constantly misinterpreted other people’s actions and motives because of it.
I guess for me, that attitude shows and proves her ignorance, and thus reads "dumb" to me. The more intelligent you are, the more you understand that you must see things from different viewpoints, or the more you see how much you don't know (that great Shakespeare quote "the fool thinks himself wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool")
Don't think Cersei is like tywin at all, she thinks she's like tywin but she's certainly not like him at all. I think Tywin didn't want to believe Jaime and cersei were a thing rather than being completely ignorant. Cersei on the other hand is arrogant on another level, thinking she is way smarter than she actually is. Thinking she is never wrong is exactly why she's dumb. That's not to say she isn't smart at all, but her arrogance is definitely her downfall.
@@reggiega7989 Well we don’t have Tywin as a POV so we can never be sure, but my comment was mainly referring to how they both wish to be better than their fathers and make their family (and themselves) great but they willfully turn a blind eye to the problems that brought down all they wanted to achieve. Cersei makes terrible political decisions because she’s so busy thinking so highly of herself and Tywin alienates his children and turns them against each other with his cruelty despite wanting them to essentially inherit the world, causing major conflicts. They’re very different characters, but I think they’re going down similar paths
@nevaehaho61 see i agree that tywin wanted to be better than his father and make his house great again. Cersei on the other hand is influenced by complete selfish desire. Her idea of making her family great revolves around her being powerful and everyone else being second. The only problem tywin has is he understands the needs of other political factions but he doesn't view his children the same way, he just expects them to do his bidding because he's their father. Cersei is just full of arrogance over everyone and is beyond paranoid that everyone is out to take her "throne". Cersei treats her children very different to the way tywin treats his, I understand what you're trying to suggest I just disagree with the comparison
BASED. Like I said, I didn’t like it that much on the first read through. But on reread, IT’S AMAZING. It’s not my favorite but holy heck why did I not like it as much the first time? I also think, and forgive the crass analogy that people don’t like Feast and Dance because it sets up so much for Winds to be the next SoS that we all have literary blue balls. Seriously, George is spinning like 100 different plates and he sets them up masterfully in book 4 and five. And we’re all just waiting for that sweet plot release.
Yeah, I mean, I can't really speak yet since I haven't read Dance, but a lot of people's complaints that I saw of AFFC and ADWD is that they have become to unwieldy. But, tbh, I just don't see that yet. These feel like the books that are setting up the emotional stakes for the end of the story. It seems completely possible to tie it all up in two books still.
@@Bookborn I think George uses the metaphor of untangling a knot. I think you’ll get that vibe on the end of book 5. But, a small silver lining of it taking so long to get Winds is that even though the plot is incredibly dense, you have a lot of time to dissect it lol
11:15 I think an important part of this is that it doesn't feel like she is getting actual comeuppance for all the genuinely terrible choices she's made. Ultimately, it's the 'crime' of fornication (i.e. being a sexually liberated woman) that brings her down. Which nicely echoes the early points in the book that whilst she is a terrible leader/person, she does also face very real sexism.
I don't think you picked up on this but Cersei gave the faith that power with the intention of harming Margarey. It's 100% solely a result of her actions.
I love “Dunk and Egg” and Brienne is also one of my favorite characters in ASOIAF. But when She got her shield painted I was like “-Ok, that’s cool” then I read “A Knight of the seven kingdoms” and I was like: “ -Holly S**T! The shield ”
Following your journey with this series has been amazing. It's bittersweet that there's only one review left. After Dance, it'd be cool to have a video of you reacting and giving your perspective on all the crazy theories the community has come up with over the past decade
I'm surprised you didn't touch on the "Broken men" speech by septon Meribald in Briennes' chapter! It's one of the most beautiful monologues in the series in my opinion! Your reviews are so insightful, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on it :) :)
The minute I uploaded this I realized I never talked about it 😭 ONe of the best speeches in the entire book/series and I didn't touch on it??? It made me tear up
I agree with your take on The Broken Men speech, as have many other commenters here. I had to stop reading the text when I finished the monologue and just went into daze thinking about what it meant. It is an excellent piece of writing and makes the entire series worthwhile.
@@Bookborn Maybe after finishing Dance, and taking a break, you could do a video about passages/moments/character etc. that really stuck with you from the series, possibly including that speech?
@@leonember9234 My top five monologues of the series, along with the Eustace Osgrey one from Dunk & Egg, Jaime's confession, the Greyjoy election speeches(which kinda builds on each other), and the one at the end of Winds if you know you know.
Septon Meribald’s Broken Men speech was the best chapter I’ve read in the whole series. Every once in a while I will randomly pick the book off my shelf just to read that part
This was my favorite book mostly because of the Cersei chapters. I loved how different her mind worked and how the trauma from her childhood has shaped her into the paranoid, unstable and hedonistic person she becomes. I also found myself feeling really bad for this "villain" I had hated in the earlier books. I wish she'd never visited Maggy's tent, I think her mind would have been in a much better place.
yeah, you know, I didn't really focus on Maggy's part of her worldview. I think Cersei was probably always a selfish person, so I don't necessarily think it would've completely changed her, but I DO wonder if she wasn't so motivated by avoiding her fate, how she would change. It's really interesting to think about
@@BookbornI don’t think she would have been too different since she murdered her friend for having a crush on Jaime in the same scene where she received the prophecy. I think the prophecy actually has helped her unwittingly in how others perceive her. Inside her head I was actually surprised how she thinks of her children, in that she doesn’t really have any affection or love for them. She is fiercely protective of them, but she also views them as her tethers to life, as the prophecy said they would predecease her. If they live, she lives. People outside of her head lack the context of her protectiveness and so she gets a reputation as someone who may be a lot of things, but it can’t be denied she loves her children. It softens so many other people’s perception of her. But she has no empathy and only sees others in how useful they are. If her children weren’t mentioned in the prophecy I could see her being apathetic or even resentful of them. How much less trust would others have had for her if it was clear that she felt love for no one? Could that have hindered her ability to pull off what few plots she managed, if she didn’t have that reputation as a loving mother? She is not emotionally intelligent enough to be able to fake it; she can’t read how others perceive her well enough. But the prophecy motivates her behavior in a way that actually endears her to others because they don’t know that she is essentially guarding her Horcruxes, not doting on her children.
Feast has so many fantastic lines of writing. I didn't appreciate it at first but on a re-read I was enthralled and it's my second favorite behind Storm of Swords in the series now. "How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king?" ~ Jaime Lannister "There have always been men who found it easier to speak vows than to keep them." ~ Ser Arys Oakheart "Sometimes there is no happy choice, Sam, only one less grievous than the others." ~ Maester Aemon "Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray." ~ Euron Greyjoy
So I had heard from some friends that Feast was their least favorite of all the books. So I remember reading it and loving it. Septon Meribald's speech might be my most favorite moment in fiction. It's that good.
I agree with you. Among all those thousands of wonderful words, the broken men speech hit me the hardest and made me stop reading and reflect on life in general. What an excellent writer!
@rn Can't wait for you to get to them sometime in the future! One of them may be one of the most consequential chapters in the series, and makes AFFC even more meaningful for me.
Excellent observation about Dunk and Brienne, amazingly George has basically confirmed that Brienne is Dunks descendant, she got the idea from a shield in her fathers armoury which must have been Dunks shield
OMG I feel so vindicated. My favourite is still the third novel, but this is a literary superb effort. The feels! When Brienne buries poor Nimble Dick, or when Arya buries Needle under the steps, oh I was such a mess of tears!!! Also, regardless ASOIAF was never about gloryfing war, it is clear to me that Martin went deeper in some chapters, specially with Brienne going through the Riverlands. The feeling of overwhelming hopelessness and wreck had in my opinion been influenced by what was happening then during the Irak war and how Martin saw the future.
I think something "funny" with Cersei and sexism is that despite her speech, she is really incredibly sexist in her mental description of other woman around her. Someone made a compilation, and reading it, like jeez, basicly every other woman around her is either someone bellow her that do well not to forget her place, frigid/old/ugly and should get punished for it, or a wh*re. It's kind of crazy.
Feast is definitely the most under appreciated in the fandom. I'll admit, I wasn't a big fan the first time I read it. But I was also unaware of the fact that is was split and kept waiting for Tyrion chapters lol. This one had so many great quotes and scenes. The Broken man speech might be my favorite speech in the entire series. Brienne stepping out to fight even though she knew she had no chance "She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand." So so good. And Arya giving up her sword. "Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile." Probably the most heart breaking scene to me in the series. Oh and Maester Aemon "Egg... I dreamed that I was old." This book was heavy. But Cersei's comedy balanced it out haha
I do love Feast. Brienne’s quest may be my favorite storyline in the series, and I quote at least two or three lines from it fairly often. The “Broken Men” speech by the traveling septon, and the decision to use the “magic sword” are such incredible moments. Sam’s story does feel very half finished, but it feels like a really good first half. Like, he’s gonna get to Oldtown and be ready to be the man he needs to be there. And Jaime. God, what even is there to say about Jaime, except that I think Martin’s prose is firing on all cylinders during Jaime’s chapters here.
Feast wasn’t my favorite of the series but I still loved it. I really think that Jeoff’s death broke Cersei causing her to be incredibly more paranoid than she already was. It’s really interesting watching Jaime and Cersei’s paths are opposite despite being twins.
Sorry, for the late comment. I just started watching your videos. I really like them. You say you like Brienne. Did you know that before GRRM removed the 5 year time jump in the story, Brienne ends up going to Essos to look for Arya? To survive, she joins a sellsword company and in 5 years she ends up becoming Pretty Meris in Dance with Dragons. GRRM liked this character so much, he made her a separate character in book 5. Anyway, food for thought.
I’m a big defender of AFFC and ADWD. I think they’re both brilliant. ADWD’s highs are higher and lows are lower than Feast, but they’re two unfairly maligned books by the wider fanbase imo
A Feast for Crows is controversial because there are so many new POVs, while many of the fan favorite characters don't appear. I found it hard to get invested on my first read, but going through it a second time, I found I loved the Ironborn and Brienne storylines.
I love that you get that this series isn’t as dark as everyone thinks. I wish people would recognize that just because bad things happen doesn’t mean it’s not hopeful
I am so happy for your reaction, @bookborn! I agree: Feast For Crows has excellent character development, not to mention very intriguing new plot lines. too. One thing that I believe most people don't understand is that they see Feast For Crows as the worst book of the series because they are actually in deep "reader mourning" after the devastating events of A Storm of Swords. I mean, many of our favourite characters just died, and the ones alive are going through major grieving processes themselves. In my mind, that down feeling was meant to be elicited by this book, which in my opinion is another great testament of George's brilliance as a writer!
the reason why people say affc is the worst is because most fantasy readers are only interested in plot and worldbuilding. nerds have no appreciation for themes or character development. "nothing happens" yeah dude that's the point
I love these reviews of yours. You are absolutely correct about Cat, Sansa, Theon (and later Reek), Stannis and so much more. Even the fact that you like Feast the most is just... correct. With that being said: As the world's greatest Cersei fan (yes, I know she is a horrible person, I am not delusional about that, still, I am rooting for her), I am going to have to defend her from you though. She is most definitely not dumb. Time and time again, she has proven that she is capable of quickly coming up with a solution when hard pressed, the most notable examples being her handling King Robert as well as Eddard Stark. Had the plan of sending Ned to the wall been successfully implemented, as intended, her regime could have appeased the Northerners and prevented lots of the terrible conflict to follow. It was Joffrey who destroyed that option. In many instances, she has the right notions, as even Tyrion has to admit (for example when moving Tommen out of KL before Stannis attack on the City). Speaking of which, with Cersei and Tyrion, one is really not better than the other when it comes to cooperating with each other. Yes, Cersei is resentful of him, even unfairly so, but the moment Tyrion arrives, he does everything in his power to deteriorate that relationship further. The Tommen incident in particular is actually quite baffling to me. In general, if Cersei digs her own grave because of her stupidity, really, Tyrion is not that far behind in that regard. One could even make the case that he was even more effective in doing so, given his trajectory in books 3 and 5. You mentioned that she does not realize Loras is gay, but this is blatantly untrue as her inner thoughts allude to that several times in the text. You also mentioned how she does not realize that Jamie is no longer hers, yet she clearly thinks about how he has changed, how he became a stranger to her and how she cannot trust him all the time. Her pleading for him to help her is more an act of despair. Also, might we add that a sizeable chunk of her imprisonment, namely the incest charge is something they BOTH had a part in. I also do not agree with the statement that Cersei somehow groomed Jamie. Their thing, as gross as it is, is mutual. Her distrust of Tyrion is completely warranted. Her distrust of the Tyrells is likewise. And we even get to see where her main flaw, her paranoia, stems from, which is the childhood trauma of the prophecy. In fact, that trauma is as much at the center of her being as Tysha for Tyrion or Aerys (no, my stage name is not derived from ASOIAF) for Jamie. Where the brothers try to gain love/honor/redemption based on terrible events from their past (as in "This lies behind me, let us look forward and improve things"), Cersei is plagued with essentially a vision of her doom *in her future*, something she desperately tries to evade but is uncertain in how to achieve. Naturally, there comes a point, precisely when the prohecy begins to manifest, where she begins lashing out and losing focus. Lastly, I am not saying she is the most brilliant player in the game, but her so called stupidty is a big misconception in my mind. And she achieved her achievements despite being a woman. She was never instructed in anything but being a courtly lady and passive queen. She did not have an education when it comes to politics. Tywin never intended her role to be anything but an ornament as well as binding the Crown to House Lannister via marriage. I shall love her wreaking havoc after reaching her final form across hopefully both TWOW and ADOS.
Cersi taking on Robert’s vices is a fucking brilliant bit of character work. I came convinced GRRM went to the future, saw Andrew Tate and then went back to 1992 and wrote Petyr Baelish. On tone, I think it depends what you mean by dark. I think the thesis of ASOIAF is that struggle in the face of the realities of the world is worth it, in that sense it is actually deeply hopeful. Dance has probably settled as most fans least favorite, but it has at least one good sucker punch in store
So glad you love it as much as I do! The Brienne chapters are a breath of fresh air for me. Its so nice being in the head of a wonderful person. In ASOIAF, they're few and far between.
So thank you, thank you, thank you. You are such a bright point for me whenever you post a video and watching you experience these for the first time is so fun. Keep it up.
I'm pretty sure you're gonna love Dance as much as Feast. It's gonna hit you with stuff you won't believe even after just reading it, in terms of plot, characters, great new settings, themes... Can't wait for your last review! Also, it would be amazing if you could dedicate a little video about Lady Stoneheart, since you forgot to talk about her in more depth. Knowing Catelyn was your favourite character, I believe it would be super interesting to hear your thoughts on such a twist for her.
I love Feast! And it definitely gets better on a reread. I agree with your sentiment about how Sansa and Arya are both having to abandon their Stark identities at this time. Their stories often mirror each other throughout the series. And identity is definitely one of the overarching themes in the series. However, I do have some hope for both sisters. For Arya in particular the fact that she cannot dispose of Needle is a good sign. I absolutely adore the following quote from her chapter where she is throwing all her possessions into the canal, with the exception of Needle. “Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile. He used to mess my hair and call me “little sister,” she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.” That gets me every time!
Literally subscribed because I found myself checking this channel everyday for your review on Dance with Dragons. I also never saw the show and coincidentally started reading the books around the same time and found your channel after searching for recent reviews on this series 😁
Hi Bookborn! First time seeing your content - great breakdown! Must have been the ASOIAF tag that got you on my feed! If you'd like to get one of those in-depth analyses, I can't recommend Preston Jacobs' channel enough. He's arguably one of the best theorizers of the series, and you're right about George's thematic and linguistic complexity - it can be challenging to tease out the various plots, sub-plots, and greater perspective, and Preston is one of the few people who has read George's entire bibliography in order to fully understand what the author is trying to say and likely to do in the future. I'd love to see your reactions to some of those videos - particularly the Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth sections!
Fascinating that I came across your channel last night and first thing today you review the book I’m currently doing another read through on. It’s nice hearing a fresh perspective.
I've always thought that his choice of language, 3:00 , was meant to reflect the vocabulary of the point of view character the chapter(s) perspective is written. I don't think people censor the language of their own thoughts, so for these perspectives to be credible there are going to have to be some graphic descriptions of what the character is experiencing. I do get your point completely. I just always thought the choice of language, the weirdness of it, was meant to reflect the world through that character's eyes.
While all ASOIAF books are great this one is my least favorite. It is not bad but after ASOS I was so excited to read what would happen next. Only to see all these chapters about completly new characters who had little to do with previous events. So the first time I read the book every time I saw a character I didnt know yet I got frustrated and would try to "get it over with" as quickly as possible. Only upon reread I actually realised how great some of the new characters actually are. Especially the Greyjoy brothers.
Watching your first impressions videos has been a delight, even though I'm a bit late. I'm on my third read of the series and I wish I remembered more of how I felt about everything back 11 years ago on my first read. Martin is the author that led me to start a reading journal, but I only started when I was reading his other works, and I don't have any reviews for asoiaf. AFFC is also my favorite and I remember loving it the first time too. I still can't figure out why I love the Greyjoys.
Personal opinion of course: Feast For Crows is GRRM at his most GRRMiest. I won’t say it’s my favorite (that’s still Storm of Swords, I’m boring). It’s all about focusing on this well known peacenik’s thoughts on the outcome of war, the pros and cons of religion and oaths, the fickle nature of power, and circles within circles of plots and counter plots and can all get lost in on itself. As such I kinda think it’s one of the deepest and most interesting to reread with an eye toward what is being done both in front of us and being hinted at between the lines. And of course, it has the Broken Man speech. I love the Broken Man speech.
Been waiting for this video, was not disappointed! I don't know if it's your style to revisit books/series after you've reviewed them, although I guess your Sansa/female characters video suggests that it is; I hope you aren't hesitant to do more videos on ASOIAF covering things you didn't have time for, thought were interesting etc. We're all here for it, and I should think your youtube data for these videos show we don't mind long videos either! Glad to see you in the comments confirming that the Broken Men speech moved you, it's a peak of this great book for sure.
I read Cersei as a brilliant condemnation of the roots of patriarchal hegemony. I don’t think Cersei is turning intro Robert without any of his good qualities I think she’s always been an amalgam of Robert & Tywin and if she was a man she would be powerful as those two men are. Even IRL people act like Tywin is so smart and Robert was so brave when in reality they were irrational violent men who only gained power because they were able to excercise violence as men. Basically I think George’s criticism of patriarchy gets at the very roots of its evil, that being the way that it centres capacity for violence as the fundamental virtue that grants power.
When you were talking about Cersei I was so hoping you would bring up how she criticises Robert in her POV, but then throughout Feast she takes on his negative traits (she drinks excessively, mistreats those around her, makes poor decisions, hurts Taena in bed). AND YOU DID! I never really see this brought up in discussion of nuances of Feast in particular. Really well dome video! Great great great! Cersei has to be my favourite POV in Feast (hopefully better in Winds (and Dream if she survives that long) and we can see her have to almost face reality and consequence. She is so well written and layered.
Brienne and Jaime's characters and character development are basically my favourite parts of the whole series, so yes I agree this book rules And I love the expanded viewpoint we get on Cersei. She thinks - correctly! - that the world undervalues and underestimates her because she's a woman. But then she mistakenly thinks that means she's secretly a genius and all her ideas are awesome
The first time I read Feast, I also wasn't happy becaue after Storm I wanted more Tyrion and Danny quick. However, in the years since, it's the one I tend to go back to, and if I'm going to play Dotrice's audiobook, it's always Feast.
We knew the books were split. It wasn’t a secret. I still think it will be finished. I think George has an outline so if he does die a good writer or multiple writers will be able to finish the book.
Based for acknowledging the books aren't going to be finished. I know GRRM gets upset when people say/suggest this, but we're just facing the facts. The man wrote himself into a very, VERY messy corner that he can't dig himself out of and has spent waaaaayyyyyyyy too much time on side projects. Would be like Tolkien spending years and years working on the Silmarillion and other first/second age adjacent texts instead of finishing The Return of the King. Sad thing is, no one is going to care about the extended lore/history of Westeros and the Targaryens if the main story is never finished.
Feast gets better with each re-read. Jaime’s arc is probably the best in the series, Cersei’s chapters are an absolute joy…I even enjoy most of Brienne’s chapters, especially when they join up with the Septon and Dog. Edit: I forgot about Dumb as a Stump Victarion, the man who’s literally too stupid to die
I know this review is already 40 minutes long but I wish it was 2 hours, I love feast and brienne and Jaime in this book were so perfectly written I could talk about them for days
First time I read feast I remember being so bored. Second time I did the combined reading which feels completely different, and mostly I was stressed jumping between books. Third time omg it was soooo good, I think I actually like it more than dance
you have to realize the Valonqar prophecy has been driving Cersei slowly insane and increasingly paranoid for much of her life. When Joff dies it kicks into overdrive.
![ลองสั่งของจากแอพ temu ถูกจริงหรอ?? [โกงไหมครับ ep.88 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RTcZSQTiDZw/mqdefault.jpg)
‘I’m taking a break before reading winds of winter’ yeah babe we all are lol (i know you mean dance I’m just joking)
LMAOO 😭😭😭🤣🤣
Loved your AFFC review.especialy Jenna Lannister. You got dance and winds mixed up near the end fyi.
@@StevenBryson-p3t The WoW chapters that have been released are some of the best in the whole series IMO. Definitely read those and do a video on them.
I think when you have a sex with your husband it like stennis with his wife 🤔@@Bookborn
@@DrAwesome43 How worth it is it? I really want to wait for WOW to come out before I read them to have an authentic experience with as few spoilers as possible, so are they worth reading to lose that?
Brienne's confession to the priest just broke my heart:
"A daughter." Brienne's eyes filled with tears. "He deserves that. A daughter who could sing to him and grace his hall and bear him grandsons. He deserves a son too, a strong and gallant son to bring honor to his name. Galladon drowned when I was four and he was eight, though, and Alysanne and Arianne died still in the cradle. I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter."
Her inner monologue just makes her SO complex, and it's why I felt I had to talk about her so much in my Martin female character video. She likes who she wants to be, but she also loathes it! It's such a real human emotion!
holy fuck, even re-reading now in your comment made me tear up a bit. I love Brienne so much.
this is genuinely one of the best chapters i’ve ever read
I haven’t read the books but hits HARD
@@Bookborn It shows the struggle of her not fitting into a gender norm- being a woman but womanly- and how that isolates her leaving her without a role in her society. George rights the struggles of women in a society like Westeros amazingly
Arya = Cat
Sansa = Alayne
Together they are Catelyn
You have genuinely upset me just now. I never once put that together.
No wayyyyyy I can't believe I never saw this
Mind Effing BLOWN
Everytime you read the books you find something new! George is the best
I recognized that Arya was taking Cat probably as a homage to her mother, but I didn't connect the Alayne part 😭 all I know is pain
"She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand." And that's when Brienne became the embodiment of perfection. 😭
BRIENNE TRUTHERS RISE!!! I love her so so so much
Brienne is a 👑 among knights
She is awesome! I like her in the show as well, but in the book, she is phenomenal.
"no chance, and no choice"
instant goosebumps
@@alastorcorvus Oh yeah, this on of the best line of all ASOIAF. So powerful!
Cersei's chapters alone carry Feast, she's incredibly entertaining. But even without them it's the most thematically rich book in the series. I think it's the book I've reread the most, maybe ever. Only complaint is we should've gotten more focus on the REAL evil plot going on, that being Cersei's maids shrinking her gowns.
Everyone is just jealous of Cersei and trying to bring her down 😞
My maids are shrinking my gowns too. They're also shrinking my feet I can't even see them anymore. Why would a just God allow such evil into the world.
The same handmaids conspiring with all the beets to usurp King Tommen. 🤢🤢🤢
Ah, come on Quinn, we all know the real baddies are the Squishers.
Quinn! I hope you and the other theory peeps are planning a collab with Bookborn. I think she should take Glidus' theory quiz haha. But seriously, it has been SUCH a pleasure after being on a several year theory deep dive to experience the books through fresh eyes (especially someone who is doing such a good analysis). But it would be fascinating to have a conversation with some theory peeps about certain scenes (no spoilers!) like the story Meera tells Bran in the hills - I had no idea of the significance the first two times I read, until I read an analysis of it. The thing about these books, is most of the fun is the unraveling the web of connections!
I don’t think Cersei’s gaining weight because she’s pregnant (although I do see that as a viable and valid theory). I think it’s more to parallel her to Robert. She starts doing things like Robert would (eating and drinking excessively, being physically cruel to women and children, making bad political decisions and fantasizing about a long-dead possible marriage partner)
ok this is an excellent point, I didn't even think of that part of the robert transformation! That makes more sense in the long run, tbh, although I'd love the drama of a pregnancy haha
100% it gives the irony of someone turning into the person they hate the most
Fetch Cersei the gown stretcher!
You heard The Hand. Go find the breastplate stretcher! NOW!
Robert wasn't cruel to children, he just was neglectful and took no interest in Cersei's bastard children. He actually was very fond of his first born bastard daughter and wanted to bring her to court but didn't after Cersei threatened to have her killed if he did.
"Oh no! Cersei's dumb!" Classic!
9:05
“I don’t distrust you because you’re a woman, I distrust you because you’re not as smart as you think you are.”
- The Goat himself, Tywin Lannister
"Look mom! Cersei's being dumb again."
oooh is that a show quote@@lukaslambs5780
Yes@@Bookborn
@@lukaslambs5780Charles Dance inhabited that role so perfectly. My brain read that in his voice.
The fact that Brienne is also Dunk’s descendant makes it extra special. George told us we would learn one of the characters was descended from Dunk in this book and then Brienne gets that shield. Plus she’s super tall
This detail makes me happy
Theory is that Hodor also might be descended from Dunk.
@@kimtherrien8643he is. I believe that George has stated that there are four characters in the current story that are descendants of Dunk. The two confirmed ones are Brienne and Hodor, the other two are not yet known/confirmed. However a lot of fans have speculated that the remaining two are the Clegane brothers.
@@swaggerdagger5168 or Left and Right
@@Bookborn Also, I rereading A Storm of Swords and in the bath scene Jaime calls her "thick as a castle wall".
That made me so ridiculously hyped.
You’re telling me fat pink mast isn’t peak george
Please please yall gotta stop reminding me of these phrases 😭😭 im trying to erase them from my world view
Pale. Sticky. PRINCES
It certainly is some of George's prose.
@@BookbornDon't go to subreddits. Fat pink mast is certified meme 😅
Two words: Myrish. Swamp. 🖖
A woman of culture, Feast of Crows is the best book in the series, the broken man speech, Cersei's descent to madness, Brienne being a Knight, Victarion introduction (he's a dumbass, but a badass), Arya actually learning something and DORNE!!! one of the most interesting parts of Westeros.
It's a great book
Say it louder 👏
Come ON, dont forget the KINGSMOOT
Can’t believe most of this stuff (especially Dorne) didn’t get adapted into the show
Feast is my least favorite but the broken man part and the kinsmoot were some of my favorite parts of the series
It's my second favorite upon a reread. It was my third favorite originally, but I now put it over Clash of Kings.
Jamie’s arc of figuring out his identity and coming to terms with his relationship with Cersei throughout this book made it one of my favourites for sure.
The story concluding with him finally breaking free from Cersei by refusing her letter for help was so satisfying to read
SO SATISFYING and unexpected!
Been saying this for a decade... Jaimie along with another character I won't mention for fear of spoilers for Bookborn is on his way to having the absolute best arc of the series.
I agree, in the show he goes back to KL but when he burned the letter in the book I was like huhhh wait huh. So unexpected and so good at the same time!
It was amazing moment! It's my favourite bit of the book
@keanancupido One of the many dirty deeds of Dan and Dave.....
“She narrowed her eyes. “What is our heart’s desire?”
“Vengeance.” His voice was soft, as if he were afraid that someone might be listening. “Justice.” Prince Doran pressed the onyx dragon into her palm with his swollen, gouty fingers, and whispered, “Fire and blood.”
is my personal favorite chapter ending of any book in the entire series
People were just upset there were no Tyrion, Dany or Jon chapters.
Pretty much
Yeah, but the Cersei chapters alone made up for it.
If we're talking when it came out, I think people were mostly upset about splitting up Dance, increasing the series length and thus waiting times. Looking back those fears weren't really unfounded.
Personally it was the Arya and Samwell chapters also the iron born that I loved the most about this book
And I still am lol
If you are a fan of Margery, the show portrayal of her is actually one of the rare moments where they enhanced the character a lot and you get SO much insight into her.
The few chacaters that have a better show counterpart are Ser Allister, Ser Jorah, and Margery
@@maxperez-stable6796 Allister and Margaery feel like more intense versions of their book character but Jorah is a very different character. Instead of Jorah I'd mention Kevan, he's more prominent in the show than in the book and I think S5+S6 were better for it.
@@maxperez-stable6796 idk I think that the point of jorah is that he's a creep to dany and the show erases that and just leave him as good guy
@@pinto9779yeah but I liked that Jorah is a deeply tragic character in the books. the whole story of him (the ugly boy from a shthole somewhere in the north) has his glorious moment at a tourney and wins the heart of a beautiful girl that leads to him ruining himself and do a crime; only to fall in love with a girl that is too beautiful and mighty and important for him again... he makes the same mistake twice, prefers ignoring all reality and believes in his idealized (and self centered) ideas of love. We all know somebody like that.
Euron's introduction completely opened the series up to so much more. The lovecraftian TRUE villain of the story. Bro is an absolute madman.
"Lovecraftian". How true!
Winds might never be published, but we got the Damphair preview chapter which is one of the coolest in the entire series IMO.
@@leonember9234Quite a stretch.
@@SuzakuXthe problem is that's when he starts being cool. In affc they barely get started with him.
@@SuzakuX I understand why people fear tWoW might never come out but weirdly I never held on to that notion, I see it as a 100% certainty that it will come out. At the same time, I'm 99.9% sure ADOS will never come out.
20:17 The Broken Man speech from Brienne chapter is literally one of my favorite moments in the series.
That seems to be a theme with many of the commenters here. I agree.
One thing I love about Brienne's POV is that we finally get to see the peasants' point of view as well. We've seen the conflicts almost exclusively through the eyes of kings, lords, and other nobles. When you think about it, it's really crazy that so many people have to go to war just because a guy they've never met was executed for treason. George is a pacifist and it's nice to see that side even more clearly now.
Also, I have to mention that the Broken Men monologue is just perfect and I'll end this with my favorite quote: "Seven, Brienne thought again, despairing. She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice."
I teared up during the Broken Man monologue 😭
@@BookbornThat monologue is George's entire central theme for the books. War breaks people for no good reason, and it's the common who suffer most when the lords play their game of thrones.
Yes, yes, yes! When I first read The Broken Men monologue I was absolutely stunned and realized at that moment that GRRM was without a doubt a brilliant writer. I think it is the best part of the whole series and mention its theme to as many people as I can when ASoIaF is being discussed. Bookborn, I am glad you were also affected by that wonderful story within a story. I have been reading fantasy and science fiction for 65 years and think that Game of Thrones is one of finest series I have every read. Thank you all for continuing to keep the discussion alive.
@@Bookborn “The War of the Ninepenny Kings?” asked Hyle Hunt.
“So they called it, though I never saw a king, nor earned a penny. It was a war, though. That it was.”
That is without a doubt my favourite passage
Arya is in the shoes of the smallfolk through out Clash and Storm, she is literally enslaved first by Lannister than by Bolton. Brienne's chapters are great reading and there is more insight to the plight of the smallfolk, but it isn't the first time we see how the common man is affected when great lords play the game of thrones.
Tywin to Cersei: "I don't distrust you because you're a woman, I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are"
Is that from show, book, or both? So brutally honest.
@@reedarnold7905It’s from the show, and therefore isn’t canon.
Still a very in character thing to say from Tywin, if it was in the book.@@shvzvzjshvzhs3160
Yessss! Not gunna lie, you did scare me with the thumbnail about having bad taste. Breath of relief that you’re talking about people who dislike AFFC. It’s my personal fav.
I just cannot believe how many people told me I was going to hate this book. WHERE. WHEREEE!!!!
I was confused at first as well lol. I feel like I see feast mentioned as a favorite more than the other books, though maybe that’s just bc it has more haters so therefore more defenders
I got that impression too lol i didn’t initially click until Preston mentioned you and then i realized i interpreted your thumbnail the wrong way.
Yeah same i came here with a pitchfork and a torch
TEH Myrish swamp has traumatized more than the Red Wedding
Not one mention of the “fat pink mast” tho.
Also that, if George R.R Martin sees himself as Sam does he mean that he HAS a fat pink mast? This what I think about when I look at his face in interviews and I try to forget it@@DongusMcBongus
Nooooooooo! how dare you make that connection! I hate u@@ninisilver
@@ninisilverforget?? why????? GRRM OwO
You called Dance Winds so much and it was like salt in the wound every time
freudian slip?? 😬
She’s actually from the better timeline. Her videos are magically seeping into our dark universe.
@@DongusMcBongus At this point in our timeline, we're so used to the idea that it ain't coming that we'll all just happily and eagerly take her alternate timeline review of the book!
@@DongusMcBongusJust realise it. The fans will pay for the lawyer 😊
Cersei knows Loras & Renly were lovers. I don't think she understands sexuality, she just thinks of it as some sort of alternate kink, which is why she toys with the possibility of "exposing" him & Margaery as lovers. But, yeah. That's why she refuses to have him train Tommen, when she notes that Loras had squired for Renly, and doesn't want the same sort of relationship forming between them.
"The Knight of Flowers was no sort of man for any boy to emulate"
"I know what he (Loras) is. I won't have him near my son."
"Ser Loras lusts for glory as real men lust for women..."
She knows.
Yeah I mean I def used straight flippantly for ease of describing it but she talks in this book to me as if she didn’t know, since she thinks it’s ridiculous that Margery and Renly didn’t consummate the marriage and considers trying to seduce loras. Now the second one I could see her doing no matter what because she’s so self centered she thinks everyone loves her, but the first one…
@@Bookborn I don't think she gets sexuality. To her, a woman's body is a thing men use to assert their power over her. Of course Renly would do it to Margaery when they were naked together. She isn't gay, after all, and she did ... that .... to Taena.
That Loras or Renly would not want to have sex with a woman is just not in it for her, or at least it indicates some sort of weakness or deficiency on their part. Because to her, that's the way of the world, you're the getting stomped on the face with a boot, or you're wearing the boot. Boots are for stomping and there's something wrong with you if you have one and don't stomp.
I legit think that if she was in a marriage with a decent man who respected her, and tried to be nice to her, and acknowledged her bodily autonomy, she'd hold him in contempt.
Notice, that her sex life with Jaime, from what we see, despite her claims that he's the only partner she enjoys, is also rather violent and abusive, and neither of them is super-interested in each other's consent. Bran describes their interplay as wrestling (which MIGHT be what normal sex would look like to a kid his age, but intercourse doesn't necessarily look like that), Jaime is definitely violent to her in the sept when he returns, she in turn is violent toward him after his return, and he has to fight her off in the Kingsguard quarters.
Cersei is all about power, and it absolutely makes sense to call her relationship to Jaime when they were young, a form of grooming. That line she delivers to Ned, that they made the thesis statement of the execrable TV show, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die," is actually an expression of her narrow conception of power, as a zero sum game, where anyone else having any power is a loss for you, and someone to target.
That also explains the incompetence of her reign as regent in this book - the feudal system is all about sharing power, or at least trading power for support. Cersei can't build a coalition, she can't get buy-in for her policies, because she isn't willing to cede anything back. Jaime's scheme to have Mace take Storm's End doesn't occur to her, because the idea of giving a rival a command and authority to carry it out is beyond her frame of reference. To Cersei, competence is a threat, dissent indicates enmity, disloyalty and sabotage, and failure is proof of incompetence and ill will.
It's how she is one of the few characters who is acutely aware of the ways in which her gender is discriminated against, marginalized and victimized by their society, but also has absolutely zero problems with it happening to anyone but her. She is very aware of the abuse Sansa is suffering at Joffrey's hands and horror she is feeling in her marriage to Tyrion, and objectively empathizes, for lack of a better description, but she won't life a finger to do anything about it. To her, that's the natural way things go. You have periods, you get raped, your husband beats you and you have to wear skirts instead of carry a sword belt. This is not an issue that needs to be reformed, any more than lactation is. Her objection to it happening to her, is that she is not a weak woman like all those other women, she is actually strong and powerful and does not deserve it, it's all the fault of those men conspiring against her, personally. She doesn't object to men or disregarding female authority, she is mad that they are doing it to HER, because they are mistaking her for a run of the mill weakling woman.
So, in summation, Cersei is aware that Loras prefers to have sex with men, and is not interested in sex with women, and sees it not as his sexuality, but as some weird deficiency of willpower or ambition, an inexplicable failure to take full advantage of a fundamental ability. And she doesn't want him anywhere near Tommen, because Tommen is already falling short of Cersei's measure of strength, of which Joffrey, Tywin & Robert are more proper examples.
Every time the Lannister twins do something terrible I'm like that "I pretend I do not see it" meme. I never thought when I got into this series that they would be some of my favorite characters but here we are.
yes yes we can all pretend Bran never happened, I'm with you
@Bookborn I mean, he lived! 😂 Got magic powers out of it to boot!
@@McHobotheBobo I mean looking at how that’s going that magic honestly may end up being more of a curse than a blessing 😂
@@Dell-ol6hb A small price to pay for peace! Lol
Whenever I hear someone say that this is weak installment, I'm like damn, I wish all books were this disappointing. Jamie is my favorite character in the series. I am all in on this book. I think the Lannister's are the most fascinating characters in all of fantasy.
Finally, someone else who loves Feast as much as I do. An extremely needed follow up to Storm that gives the reader time to understand this new status quo and reorient after the constant churning they Storm did. I think a lot of the really good stuff in Storm wouldn't be as effective if it didn't have Feast to tackle the fallout, especially the death of Tywin.
Ok that’s a PERFECT way to describe it. Storms absolutely churned everything and destroyed everything, and feast is the aftermath. It’s the emotional follow up to tell you about the fall out
@@BookbornI'm pretty sure that's actually why it's called A Feast For Crows. If A Storm of Swords is a term that describes a battle, then A Feast For Crows is the bloody aftermath.
I missed that the Hound survived, too.
I agree with you about publication order. I'll always read that way.
The Hound becomes "The Gravedigger".
I’m more optimistic than most about the books being finished.
George has already written almost 1500 pages for Winds of Winter. No way that doesn’t get published at some point in some form.
As for the final book, we’ve seen this with other authors if they pass away. For better or worse, there is a lot of money to be made. There will at least be some kind of fight to get a book out.
My personal opinion as someone very new to the fandom is that we will see Winter. It seems that there is too much written, like you said. We probably won't get springs. I know George is very against other authors finishing series, so for his sake, I hope they don't do it 🤷♀
I heard George ordered to burn the manuscripts if he ever died
Im also more hopeful than most. I think scrapping his previously planned 5 year time jump threw a serious wrench in the series and caused a lot of problems down the line for the story and characters. Thats why Winds has been so tough for him. We know hes a “gardener” when it comes to writing, but he claims hes already known how it would end for a long time. Hopefully after finally churning out Winds he has a clear vision for the path to the end, so the final book wouldnt take him nearly as long.
Its gets really tiring seeing th community talk so casually and callously about GRRM’s mortality, as if theyre all waiting on bated breath for him to drop dead any second now.
@@Bookborn
I think that Dream of Spring will not take 10 years to write and that it will be shorter than Winds.
Already Dance took longer to write, and Martin admited that he was stuck at converging the plot and chronology of certain characters.
I assume that is also his problem now with Winds.
Hopefully the paths of the main characters will already converge in Winds, which could give him an easier time when it comes to progressing the plot of DoS (assuming that he know how he wants to end the story).
Maybe I'm too much of an optimist.
Anyway I have some 120 books I want to read so I will be happy wheneverthey come out, of they do.
In the meantime I will go trough my backlog.
I've kind of accepted of what may happened and I prefer we get a book that matches the quality of the others in the series, rather than get something asap that's trash. Because nothing will ruin a series more than a awful sequel/ending, and you can see many examples of that happening.
The Brienne story is super excellent. I love the bits about "The Hound". The motif of his helmet representing emotional armor and cruelty. I felt like it was contrasted with Brienne's lack of a helmet and her willingness to protect the innocent. Though she feels insecure sometimes, she doesn't take it out on others like Sandor did.
gotta love Septon Maribald and dog
Your reviews of this series are what convinced me to start reading it. 20% through Clash of Kings and loving it.
YAY WELCOME TO THE LATE CLUB
@@BookbornMay I ask when you plan on starting the final book? Next month?
P.S: I think you'll like A Dance with Dragons even more, especially the very mysterious themes of the north.
@@Bookborn I started around the same time you did. I was reading A Clash of Kings when TH-cam recommended your AGOT video.
I read these books a decade ago and still spend a good amount of time in the fandom, but you experiencing these moments for the first time brings me so much joy!
I completely agree ♥️☺️
Every ASOIAF review of yours just fills my heart with joy!
The fact that you're experiencing the books for the first time and having this wondrous sense of discovery of this world and these characters❤❤
It makes me so happy!
Feast is such a great book, Aurane Waters is my favorite minor character in the series. Show up, look like Cersei's teenage crush, get her to finance a ton of ships, and then go off to be a pirate at the first sign of trouble
"I cannot believe they drown people and CPR them back to life" kills me xD
I never thought about it like that xD
Meanwhile in the show, Theon gets a sprinkling on his head.
If I remember right, they did actually have Euron drowned, but by then they totally ruined Kingsmoot so idc.
@@DongusMcBongus what you didnt like that they removed the whole reason Euron was selected over everyone else? Who needs gold and magic horns that burn a mans lungs out, he can say he has a big 🐓 and that is enough! 😂
haha isn't that what they are doing though 😭 that was such a wild way to start this book
@@Bookborn It's hardcore baptism.
How else would you think of it? They hold them under the water until they drown, then do chest compressions to bring them back. It's literally as she described it. Not even any allegory or anything, just literally drowning and cpr
The best description of Cersei's character is reading her first viewpoint chapter and going "oh no, Cersei's dumb! Oh no!"
the moment I knew I loved brienne was when she defended the orphans at the inn against the brave companions. She knew she was outnumbered and would most likely die but fought them anyway because it was the right thing to do
she's always trying to do the right thing and it's such a great look into the themes of the novel, and I love connecting that to the themes of Dunk and Egg too
21:00 yea yea yea. HOW can the TITLE of the chapter being just a single first name, the name of the POV, and have it be that emotional. it’s crazy. it so well done that a single name makes my heart so heavy. argh. poor sansa
A 43 minute Feast for Crows review is beautiful
I don’t really view Cersei as being “dumb”, more like she sees herself as the center of the universe and thinks so highly of herself that she’s never allowed to be wrong. She’s willfully blind and obsessed with her own greatness just like Tywin. And like her father, if she actually stopped and LOOKED, she would see stuff that’s right in front of her
That attitude reminded me a lot of Coriolanus Snow (Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). Man was so far up his own butt he couldn’t think about anything except how it relates to him and constantly misinterpreted other people’s actions and motives because of it.
I guess for me, that attitude shows and proves her ignorance, and thus reads "dumb" to me. The more intelligent you are, the more you understand that you must see things from different viewpoints, or the more you see how much you don't know (that great Shakespeare quote "the fool thinks himself wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool")
Don't think Cersei is like tywin at all, she thinks she's like tywin but she's certainly not like him at all. I think Tywin didn't want to believe Jaime and cersei were a thing rather than being completely ignorant. Cersei on the other hand is arrogant on another level, thinking she is way smarter than she actually is. Thinking she is never wrong is exactly why she's dumb. That's not to say she isn't smart at all, but her arrogance is definitely her downfall.
@@reggiega7989 Well we don’t have Tywin as a POV so we can never be sure, but my comment was mainly referring to how they both wish to be better than their fathers and make their family (and themselves) great but they willfully turn a blind eye to the problems that brought down all they wanted to achieve. Cersei makes terrible political decisions because she’s so busy thinking so highly of herself and Tywin alienates his children and turns them against each other with his cruelty despite wanting them to essentially inherit the world, causing major conflicts. They’re very different characters, but I think they’re going down similar paths
@nevaehaho61 see i agree that tywin wanted to be better than his father and make his house great again. Cersei on the other hand is influenced by complete selfish desire. Her idea of making her family great revolves around her being powerful and everyone else being second. The only problem tywin has is he understands the needs of other political factions but he doesn't view his children the same way, he just expects them to do his bidding because he's their father. Cersei is just full of arrogance over everyone and is beyond paranoid that everyone is out to take her "throne". Cersei treats her children very different to the way tywin treats his, I understand what you're trying to suggest I just disagree with the comparison
BASED.
Like I said, I didn’t like it that much on the first read through. But on reread, IT’S AMAZING. It’s not my favorite but holy heck why did I not like it as much the first time?
I also think, and forgive the crass analogy that people don’t like Feast and Dance because it sets up so much for Winds to be the next SoS that we all have literary blue balls.
Seriously, George is spinning like 100 different plates and he sets them up masterfully in book 4 and five. And we’re all just waiting for that sweet plot release.
Yeah, I mean, I can't really speak yet since I haven't read Dance, but a lot of people's complaints that I saw of AFFC and ADWD is that they have become to unwieldy. But, tbh, I just don't see that yet. These feel like the books that are setting up the emotional stakes for the end of the story. It seems completely possible to tie it all up in two books still.
@@Bookborn I think George uses the metaphor of untangling a knot. I think you’ll get that vibe on the end of book 5.
But, a small silver lining of it taking so long to get Winds is that even though the plot is incredibly dense, you have a lot of time to dissect it lol
11:15 I think an important part of this is that it doesn't feel like she is getting actual comeuppance for all the genuinely terrible choices she's made. Ultimately, it's the 'crime' of fornication (i.e. being a sexually liberated woman) that brings her down. Which nicely echoes the early points in the book that whilst she is a terrible leader/person, she does also face very real sexism.
I don't think you picked up on this but Cersei gave the faith that power with the intention of harming Margarey. It's 100% solely a result of her actions.
I love “Dunk and Egg” and Brienne is also one of my favorite characters in ASOIAF. But when She got her shield painted I was like “-Ok, that’s cool” then I read “A Knight of the seven kingdoms” and I was like: “ -Holly S**T! The shield ”
Oohh so you did notice it the other way around! I'm not sure if I would've tbh
Following your journey with this series has been amazing. It's bittersweet that there's only one review left. After Dance, it'd be cool to have a video of you reacting and giving your perspective on all the crazy theories the community has come up with over the past decade
Yeah! I really hope someone can curate some of the best theories for her.
I'm surprised you didn't touch on the "Broken men" speech by septon Meribald in Briennes' chapter! It's one of the most beautiful monologues in the series in my opinion! Your reviews are so insightful, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on it :) :)
The minute I uploaded this I realized I never talked about it 😭 ONe of the best speeches in the entire book/series and I didn't touch on it??? It made me tear up
I agree with your take on The Broken Men speech, as have many other commenters here. I had to stop reading the text when I finished the monologue and just went into daze thinking about what it meant. It is an excellent piece of writing and makes the entire series worthwhile.
@@Bookborn Maybe after finishing Dance, and taking a break, you could do a video about passages/moments/character etc. that really stuck with you from the series, possibly including that speech?
@@leonember9234 My top five monologues of the series, along with the Eustace Osgrey one from Dunk & Egg, Jaime's confession, the Greyjoy election speeches(which kinda builds on each other), and the one at the end of Winds if you know you know.
Septon Meribald’s Broken Men speech was the best chapter I’ve read in the whole series. Every once in a while I will randomly pick the book off my shelf just to read that part
This was my favorite book mostly because of the Cersei chapters. I loved how different her mind worked and how the trauma from her childhood has shaped her into the paranoid, unstable and hedonistic person she becomes.
I also found myself feeling really bad for this "villain" I had hated in the earlier books. I wish she'd never visited Maggy's tent, I think her mind would have been in a much better place.
yeah, you know, I didn't really focus on Maggy's part of her worldview. I think Cersei was probably always a selfish person, so I don't necessarily think it would've completely changed her, but I DO wonder if she wasn't so motivated by avoiding her fate, how she would change. It's really interesting to think about
@@BookbornI don’t think she would have been too different since she murdered her friend for having a crush on Jaime in the same scene where she received the prophecy. I think the prophecy actually has helped her unwittingly in how others perceive her. Inside her head I was actually surprised how she thinks of her children, in that she doesn’t really have any affection or love for them. She is fiercely protective of them, but she also views them as her tethers to life, as the prophecy said they would predecease her. If they live, she lives. People outside of her head lack the context of her protectiveness and so she gets a reputation as someone who may be a lot of things, but it can’t be denied she loves her children. It softens so many other people’s perception of her. But she has no empathy and only sees others in how useful they are. If her children weren’t mentioned in the prophecy I could see her being apathetic or even resentful of them. How much less trust would others have had for her if it was clear that she felt love for no one? Could that have hindered her ability to pull off what few plots she managed, if she didn’t have that reputation as a loving mother? She is not emotionally intelligent enough to be able to fake it; she can’t read how others perceive her well enough. But the prophecy motivates her behavior in a way that actually endears her to others because they don’t know that she is essentially guarding her Horcruxes, not doting on her children.
Feast has so many fantastic lines of writing. I didn't appreciate it at first but on a re-read I was enthralled and it's my second favorite behind Storm of Swords in the series now.
"How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king?" ~ Jaime Lannister
"There have always been men who found it easier to speak vows than to keep them." ~ Ser Arys Oakheart
"Sometimes there is no happy choice, Sam, only one less grievous than the others." ~ Maester Aemon
"Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray." ~ Euron Greyjoy
So I had heard from some friends that Feast was their least favorite of all the books. So I remember reading it and loving it. Septon Meribald's speech might be my most favorite moment in fiction. It's that good.
I'm so mad I forgot to talk about it. How do you forget to mention the broken man speech???
I agree with you. Among all those thousands of wonderful words, the broken men speech hit me the hardest and made me stop reading and reflect on life in general. What an excellent writer!
th-cam.com/video/ggQN8afIGDY/w-d-xo.html
reading that last Jaime chapter was just wild
Hey will you make a Winds of Winter samplechapter video too? They are some of the best GRRM has written
I just found out about these chapter three comments ago and so YES ABSOLUTELY
@rn Can't wait for you to get to them sometime in the future! One of them may be one of the most consequential chapters in the series, and makes AFFC even more meaningful for me.
@@BookbornThe Forsaken HYPE
Pray
Excellent observation about Dunk and Brienne, amazingly George has basically confirmed that Brienne is Dunks descendant, she got the idea from a shield in her fathers armoury which must have been Dunks shield
OMG I feel so vindicated. My favourite is still the third novel, but this is a literary superb effort. The feels! When Brienne buries poor Nimble Dick, or when Arya buries Needle under the steps, oh I was such a mess of tears!!!
Also, regardless ASOIAF was never about gloryfing war, it is clear to me that Martin went deeper in some chapters, specially with Brienne going through the Riverlands. The feeling of overwhelming hopelessness and wreck had in my opinion been influenced by what was happening then during the Irak war and how Martin saw the future.
I'm gonna be honest, I never thought I cared that much about a sword until I thought Arya was going to throw it away. I was SO RELIEVED she didn't
I think something "funny" with Cersei and sexism is that despite her speech, she is really incredibly sexist in her mental description of other woman around her. Someone made a compilation, and reading it, like jeez, basicly every other woman around her is either someone bellow her that do well not to forget her place, frigid/old/ugly and should get punished for it, or a wh*re. It's kind of crazy.
Feast is definitely the most under appreciated in the fandom. I'll admit, I wasn't a big fan the first time I read it. But I was also unaware of the fact that is was split and kept waiting for Tyrion chapters lol.
This one had so many great quotes and scenes.
The Broken man speech might be my favorite speech in the entire series.
Brienne stepping out to fight even though she knew she had no chance "She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand." So so good.
And Arya giving up her sword.
"Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile." Probably the most heart breaking scene to me in the series.
Oh and Maester Aemon "Egg... I dreamed that I was old."
This book was heavy. But Cersei's comedy balanced it out haha
Jaime doesn’t just switch his swordhand, he also switches his allegiances.
I do love Feast. Brienne’s quest may be my favorite storyline in the series, and I quote at least two or three lines from it fairly often. The “Broken Men” speech by the traveling septon, and the decision to use the “magic sword” are such incredible moments. Sam’s story does feel very half finished, but it feels like a really good first half. Like, he’s gonna get to Oldtown and be ready to be the man he needs to be there.
And Jaime. God, what even is there to say about Jaime, except that I think Martin’s prose is firing on all cylinders during Jaime’s chapters here.
Ahhh I feel really sad I didn't remember to talk about the broken man speech. It was TOP top notch
Feast wasn’t my favorite of the series but I still loved it. I really think that Jeoff’s death broke Cersei causing her to be incredibly more paranoid than she already was. It’s really interesting watching Jaime and Cersei’s paths are opposite despite being twins.
Winds of Winter? She has it? GET HER
George just called me up and was like "oh you like AFFC? Here's winds don't tell anyone" ♥
@@Bookborn No. No no no. That's how you get the whole world shook so hard like an apocalypse earthquake 😤
@@Bookbornhaha don't tease anyone, we've been waiting more than a decade for Winds
Sorry, for the late comment. I just started watching your videos. I really like them. You say you like Brienne. Did you know that before GRRM removed the 5 year time jump in the story, Brienne ends up going to Essos to look for Arya? To survive, she joins a sellsword company and in 5 years she ends up becoming Pretty Meris in Dance with Dragons. GRRM liked this character so much, he made her a separate character in book 5. Anyway, food for thought.
I’m a big defender of AFFC and ADWD. I think they’re both brilliant. ADWD’s highs are higher and lows are lower than Feast, but they’re two unfairly maligned books by the wider fanbase imo
A Feast for Crows is controversial because there are so many new POVs, while many of the fan favorite characters don't appear. I found it hard to get invested on my first read, but going through it a second time, I found I loved the Ironborn and Brienne storylines.
The Ironborn are some of my favorite chapters in the series. Everyone from Victarian, the Damphair, and Asha is one of my favorite characters.
I'd enjoy bringing maybe some aDwD POVs to aFfC but yeah, 11 years without some main characters must've been really rough to deal with.
I love that you get that this series isn’t as dark as everyone thinks. I wish people would recognize that just because bad things happen doesn’t mean it’s not hopeful
I am so happy for your reaction, @bookborn! I agree: Feast For Crows has excellent character development, not to mention very intriguing new plot lines. too.
One thing that I believe most people don't understand is that they see Feast For Crows as the worst book of the series because they are actually in deep "reader mourning" after the devastating events of A Storm of Swords. I mean, many of our favourite characters just died, and the ones alive are going through major grieving processes themselves.
In my mind, that down feeling was meant to be elicited by this book, which in my opinion is another great testament of George's brilliance as a writer!
the reason why people say affc is the worst is because most fantasy readers are only interested in plot and worldbuilding. nerds have no appreciation for themes or character development. "nothing happens" yeah dude that's the point
Feast had a crap ton of Worldbuilding for the common folk though. I think it’s just the ‘central characters’ bias coming in.
I’m so anxious to your review of Dance !
What a ride it will be
I love these reviews of yours. You are absolutely correct about Cat, Sansa, Theon (and later Reek), Stannis and so much more. Even the fact that you like Feast the most is just... correct.
With that being said: As the world's greatest Cersei fan (yes, I know she is a horrible person, I am not delusional about that, still, I am rooting for her), I am going to have to defend her from you though.
She is most definitely not dumb. Time and time again, she has proven that she is capable of quickly coming up with a solution when hard pressed, the most notable examples being her handling King Robert as well as Eddard Stark. Had the plan of sending Ned to the wall been successfully implemented, as intended, her regime could have appeased the Northerners and prevented lots of the terrible conflict to follow. It was Joffrey who destroyed that option.
In many instances, she has the right notions, as even Tyrion has to admit (for example when moving Tommen out of KL before Stannis attack on the City). Speaking of which, with Cersei and Tyrion, one is really not better than the other when it comes to cooperating with each other.
Yes, Cersei is resentful of him, even unfairly so, but the moment Tyrion arrives, he does everything in his power to deteriorate that relationship further. The Tommen incident in particular is actually quite baffling to me. In general, if Cersei digs her own grave because of her stupidity, really, Tyrion is not that far behind in that regard. One could even make the case that he was even more effective in doing so, given his trajectory in books 3 and 5.
You mentioned that she does not realize Loras is gay, but this is blatantly untrue as her inner thoughts allude to that several times in the text. You also mentioned how she does not realize that Jamie is no longer hers, yet she clearly thinks about how he has changed, how he became a stranger to her and how she cannot trust him all the time. Her pleading for him to help her is more an act of despair. Also, might we add that a sizeable chunk of her imprisonment, namely the incest charge is something they BOTH had a part in. I also do not agree with the statement that Cersei somehow groomed Jamie. Their thing, as gross as it is, is mutual.
Her distrust of Tyrion is completely warranted. Her distrust of the Tyrells is likewise. And we even get to see where her main flaw, her paranoia, stems from, which is the childhood trauma of the prophecy. In fact, that trauma is as much at the center of her being as Tysha for Tyrion or Aerys (no, my stage name is not derived from ASOIAF) for Jamie. Where the brothers try to gain love/honor/redemption based on terrible events from their past (as in "This lies behind me, let us look forward and improve things"), Cersei is plagued with essentially a vision of her doom *in her future*, something she desperately tries to evade but is uncertain in how to achieve. Naturally, there comes a point, precisely when the prohecy begins to manifest, where she begins lashing out and losing focus.
Lastly, I am not saying she is the most brilliant player in the game, but her so called stupidty is a big misconception in my mind. And she achieved her achievements despite being a woman. She was never instructed in anything but being a courtly lady and passive queen. She did not have an education when it comes to politics. Tywin never intended her role to be anything but an ornament as well as binding the Crown to House Lannister via marriage. I shall love her wreaking havoc after reaching her final form across hopefully both TWOW and ADOS.
Cersi taking on Robert’s vices is a fucking brilliant bit of character work. I came convinced GRRM went to the future, saw Andrew Tate and then went back to 1992 and wrote Petyr Baelish. On tone, I think it depends what you mean by dark. I think the thesis of ASOIAF is that struggle in the face of the realities of the world is worth it, in that sense it is actually deeply hopeful. Dance has probably settled as most fans least favorite, but it has at least one good sucker punch in store
So glad you love it as much as I do! The Brienne chapters are a breath of fresh air for me. Its so nice being in the head of a wonderful person. In ASOIAF, they're few and far between.
I just discovered your channel, and really liked your AFFC video and the honesty of your video on the business of being a TH-camr.
Thank you so much, this is OVERLY kind!
GRRM could write about paint drying and it would be a contender for best book of the year.
ok so true
I can't believe you didn't talk about Maester Aemon dying & Sam and Arya meeting each other without knowing it!!!
Feast is my favorite. The Kingsmoot chapter in particular, I've reread it several times
I love seeing the excitement on your face when you're talking about these books. Reminds me of how I felt when I first read them.
So thank you, thank you, thank you. You are such a bright point for me whenever you post a video and watching you experience these for the first time is so fun. Keep it up.
I'm pretty sure you're gonna love Dance as much as Feast. It's gonna hit you with stuff you won't believe even after just reading it, in terms of plot, characters, great new settings, themes... Can't wait for your last review!
Also, it would be amazing if you could dedicate a little video about Lady Stoneheart, since you forgot to talk about her in more depth. Knowing Catelyn was your favourite character, I believe it would be super interesting to hear your thoughts on such a twist for her.
A fellow Feast for Crows enjoyer! I loved all the chapters in this book.
I love Feast! And it definitely gets better on a reread. I agree with your sentiment about how Sansa and Arya are both having to abandon their Stark identities at this time. Their stories often mirror each other throughout the series. And identity is definitely one of the overarching themes in the series. However, I do have some hope for both sisters. For Arya in particular the fact that she cannot dispose of Needle is a good sign. I absolutely adore the following quote from her chapter where she is throwing all her possessions into the canal, with the exception of Needle. “Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile. He used to mess my hair and call me “little sister,” she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.” That gets me every time!
Its really awesome to have some fresh blood in the ASOIAF community, I can' wait to hear your thoughts once you've finished Dance!
Why is it Jaquen?
It's noone, the entire point is that it can be anyone from that order of assassins, so why him?
Literally subscribed because I found myself checking this channel everyday for your review on Dance with Dragons. I also never saw the show and coincidentally started reading the books around the same time and found your channel after searching for recent reviews on this series 😁
I’m about 300 pages into dance!!
Hi Bookborn! First time seeing your content - great breakdown! Must have been the ASOIAF tag that got you on my feed!
If you'd like to get one of those in-depth analyses, I can't recommend Preston Jacobs' channel enough. He's arguably one of the best theorizers of the series, and you're right about George's thematic and linguistic complexity - it can be challenging to tease out the various plots, sub-plots, and greater perspective, and Preston is one of the few people who has read George's entire bibliography in order to fully understand what the author is trying to say and likely to do in the future.
I'd love to see your reactions to some of those videos - particularly the Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth sections!
Fascinating that I came across your channel last night and first thing today you review the book I’m currently doing another read through on. It’s nice hearing a fresh perspective.
I've always thought that his choice of language, 3:00 , was meant to reflect the vocabulary of the point of view character the chapter(s) perspective is written. I don't think people censor the language of their own thoughts, so for these perspectives to be credible there are going to have to be some graphic descriptions of what the character is experiencing.
I do get your point completely. I just always thought the choice of language, the weirdness of it, was meant to reflect the world through that character's eyes.
I'm sure it is (like that's a valid point), but if I ever have to hear myrish swamp again I may cease to exist 😭
While all ASOIAF books are great this one is my least favorite. It is not bad but after ASOS I was so excited to read what would happen next. Only to see all these chapters about completly new characters who had little to do with previous events. So the first time I read the book every time I saw a character I didnt know yet I got frustrated and would try to "get it over with" as quickly as possible. Only upon reread I actually realised how great some of the new characters actually are. Especially the Greyjoy brothers.
Watching your first impressions videos has been a delight, even though I'm a bit late. I'm on my third read of the series and I wish I remembered more of how I felt about everything back 11 years ago on my first read. Martin is the author that led me to start a reading journal, but I only started when I was reading his other works, and I don't have any reviews for asoiaf. AFFC is also my favorite and I remember loving it the first time too. I still can't figure out why I love the Greyjoys.
Personal opinion of course: Feast For Crows is GRRM at his most GRRMiest. I won’t say it’s my favorite (that’s still Storm of Swords, I’m boring). It’s all about focusing on this well known peacenik’s thoughts on the outcome of war, the pros and cons of religion and oaths, the fickle nature of power, and circles within circles of plots and counter plots and can all get lost in on itself. As such I kinda think it’s one of the deepest and most interesting to reread with an eye toward what is being done both in front of us and being hinted at between the lines.
And of course, it has the Broken Man speech. I love the Broken Man speech.
Yes, the Broken Men speech is one of the best things about ASoIaF.
Been waiting for this video, was not disappointed! I don't know if it's your style to revisit books/series after you've reviewed them, although I guess your Sansa/female characters video suggests that it is; I hope you aren't hesitant to do more videos on ASOIAF covering things you didn't have time for, thought were interesting etc. We're all here for it, and I should think your youtube data for these videos show we don't mind long videos either!
Glad to see you in the comments confirming that the Broken Men speech moved you, it's a peak of this great book for sure.
I think Jaime definitely has a better political acumen than Cersei. He just doesn't get to use it much because he's always under Cersei's boot.
I read Cersei as a brilliant condemnation of the roots of patriarchal hegemony. I don’t think Cersei is turning intro Robert without any of his good qualities I think she’s always been an amalgam of Robert & Tywin and if she was a man she would be powerful as those two men are.
Even IRL people act like Tywin is so smart and Robert was so brave when in reality they were irrational violent men who only gained power because they were able to excercise violence as men.
Basically I think George’s criticism of patriarchy gets at the very roots of its evil, that being the way that it centres capacity for violence as the fundamental virtue that grants power.
Brienne is my favourite character too! There is NOT enough brienne content online for me
When you were talking about Cersei I was so hoping you would bring up how she criticises Robert in her POV, but then throughout Feast she takes on his negative traits (she drinks excessively, mistreats those around her, makes poor decisions, hurts Taena in bed). AND YOU DID! I never really see this brought up in discussion of nuances of Feast in particular. Really well dome video! Great great great!
Cersei has to be my favourite POV in Feast (hopefully better in Winds (and Dream if she survives that long) and we can see her have to almost face reality and consequence. She is so well written and layered.
Brienne and Jaime's characters and character development are basically my favourite parts of the whole series, so yes I agree this book rules
And I love the expanded viewpoint we get on Cersei. She thinks - correctly! - that the world undervalues and underestimates her because she's a woman. But then she mistakenly thinks that means she's secretly a genius and all her ideas are awesome
AFFC is a banger and idk why people dont like it. Its sooo good.
The first time I read Feast, I also wasn't happy becaue after Storm I wanted more Tyrion and Danny quick. However, in the years since, it's the one I tend to go back to, and if I'm going to play Dotrice's audiobook, it's always Feast.
We knew the books were split. It wasn’t a secret. I still think it will be finished. I think George has an outline so if he does die a good writer or multiple writers will be able to finish the book.
Based for acknowledging the books aren't going to be finished. I know GRRM gets upset when people say/suggest this, but we're just facing the facts. The man wrote himself into a very, VERY messy corner that he can't dig himself out of and has spent waaaaayyyyyyyy too much time on side projects. Would be like Tolkien spending years and years working on the Silmarillion and other first/second age adjacent texts instead of finishing The Return of the King.
Sad thing is, no one is going to care about the extended lore/history of Westeros and the Targaryens if the main story is never finished.
Great video, but the pronunciation of “Ceeersei” was very weird 😂
Unfortunately if you stick around my channel that is not the only cursed mispronunciation you’ll witness
Feast gets better with each re-read. Jaime’s arc is probably the best in the series, Cersei’s chapters are an absolute joy…I even enjoy most of Brienne’s chapters, especially when they join up with the Septon and Dog.
Edit: I forgot about Dumb as a Stump Victarion, the man who’s literally too stupid to die
I know this review is already 40 minutes long but I wish it was 2 hours, I love feast and brienne and Jaime in this book were so perfectly written I could talk about them for days
First time I read feast I remember being so bored. Second time I did the combined reading which feels completely different, and mostly I was stressed jumping between books.
Third time omg it was soooo good, I think I actually like it more than dance
you have to realize the Valonqar prophecy has been driving Cersei slowly insane and increasingly paranoid for much of her life. When Joff dies it kicks into overdrive.