One thing that Martin started doing in Feast that I really love, is using epithets instead of names for chapter titles. With these titles, the reader can get relevant information about the character’s attributes, skills, mental state, and/or goals. Theon, for example, has the most amazing chapter titles in the series in ADWD; Reek, Reek, Reek, The Prince of Winterfell, The Turncloak, A Ghost in Winterfell, Theon. I swear, just thinking about turning the page in ADWD to see the chapter titled “Theon”… gives me chills.
Love that as well. His chapters in Dance remind me of Raskolnikov in Crime And Punishment by Dostoevsky. I think he had one of the best arcs in the show despite the fact that his final sacrifice was kind of pointless. Wouldve been better if he had double teamed the Night King with Arya and died in the process. Or better yet triple teamed him with Arya and Jon.
12 years… anyone else just slowly move from binge watching one ASOIAF RU-vidr to another in a hopeless merry-go-round just for those occasional hits of… idk whatever ASOIAF has me hooked on.
As Alt shift Xand Gladius put it, if you haven't jumped off the ASOIAF wagon by now, there really is no point in doing so. I am the same, I wish I couldn't give a shot and just leave the whole series behind me as great books that will never be finished, but I'm in way too deep for way too long.
"It's hard to believe there was a point in time where A Song of Ice and Fire novels were actively being published" Me too, man. Only been a fan since 2020, me too...
Now re-read feast and dance at the same time. It lines up with each book in terms of things each location was hearing of the other. Plus it’s the way GRRM originally wrote it, so why not?
The most ideal and elegant solution to the Meeraneese Knot is to make Strong Belwas a new POV character to tell the entirety of it's resolution through
@@vin8754 But it hasn't done anything and saying his influence is important is only an excuse to not write the Bran plot as it is. So it could be taken out and then you write a Midnight Sun style story where we see Brans perspective and what it impacted once all the events have actually happened. Although fueling the addiction peddling and keeping the series alive through it might be the most important thing Bran amounts to.
@@Dragonshade64 not done anything? first of all, its clear that the books are not finished yet, so you cant even say that. The three eyed raven is clearly trying to help stop the Others once they attack(which will 100% happen at some point in the next 2 books), and he is almost confirmed to have in some way influenced Euron Greyjoy in the past, who is currently on the verge of stealing Danys dragons. Bran is a vessel that George uses to give us insight into the more mystical elements of the books, to cut him out would be terrible
The lack of an ending is exactly my problem with this book, both dance and feast really suffer from a lack of major events that change the status quo or pay off any of the build up happening in both these books, like other than Jon dying hardly anything major happens and the things the characters do accomplish are mostly just footnotes in their stories or b tier goals, like JonCon’s taking of Griffin’s Roost has a lot of personal significance, but not much for the actual story, ending the book with taking storms end though, firmly establishing them in the stormlands would’ve been really significant and at least the battle of fire or ice should’ve taken place, Jamie’s story should’ve ended with meeting Stoneheart, not just on the way there with Brienne and Dany could’ve arrived in Vase Dothrak
Dance and Feast is the treat George gave himself: one book that is not whole(feast) and a book that has no ending(dance). Instead of choosing only one mistake, he opted to write a shitload of ironborn bullshit and make two mistakes. He's been suffering from his foolishness since.
Asha's the Kings Prize chapter were Stannis is matching to winterfell was honestly really well done and deserved a mention. It really shows you why people love Stannis despite his stern personality his unyielding never give up attitude even when everything seems hopeless dude still matches on it's honestly inspiring plus Stannis was so funny in this chapter everything he said was really LOL my favorite being his "pray harder" line to one of the Florents😂😂😂😂Stannis like Cersie are unintentionally funny people We get one of my favorite speeches in ASOIAF this chapter the saving Ned's little girl speech was honestly gold.... Really well done Martin
The king stood outside his tent, staring into the nightfire. What does he see there? Victory? Doom? The face of his red and hungry god? His eyes were sunk in deep pits, his close- cropped beard no more than a shadow across his hollow cheeks and bony jawbone. Yet there was power in his stare, an iron ferocity that told Asha this man would never, ever turn back from his course.
I actually really enjoy Dany's arc in Meereen despite it moving at a snail's pace. Nothing and nobody are as they appear, and I really enjoy peeling the layers of the onion to riddle it all out. The best part is just when you've come up with a reasonable explanation for something, say the identity of the poisoner, you latch onto 2 or 3 other equally plausible explanations. I love that. PS- totally agree that Ser Grandfather's 'Kingbreaker' chapter is one of the series' very best. It's my 2nd favorite after Arianne's 'Queenmaker' :) .
I don't think Mel was originally intended to be a POV. George has talked about how he gave her a chapter in Dance largely because he felt her motivations were misunderstood
Meereen is, in my opinion, the most interesting piece in the series. It is so good, in fact, that I almost feel as though he should have kept the five year gap and just made a Meereen + “Stirrings” book to fill said gap so that in winds/some other book before it Dany could be retooled (as it currently seems Dany will serve as at most a light tap and at worst a narrative parallel to the westerosi conflict.).
Rereading this book is immensly important. So much setup and maneuvering is happening on page but is obscured by a seeming lull in action and very similar soundinng names that blend together in mereen, even george not so subtly through Archibald calling them all “Harzoo”. So much just slips through the cracks the first time reading or especially listening that I feel affected it’s perception. After rereading Feast and Dance I definitely appreciate them way more and notice new things every single time. Especially after getting into Dreamsongs to read the Thousand Worlds stories. Makes me appreciate Martin’s writing even more seeing how original and bold and experimental and emotionally evocative he is from the start of his career. And in my opinion in Dance it is a Master at work still trying new things and taking his magnum opus as far as it needs in order to perfect it. And if Winds ever comes out, people would surely look back more fondly on Dance.
Exactly. Imagine how much criticism aGoT and aCoK would get if aSoS never came out. With the resolutions in mind, you can reread the first two books and see that a lot of what seemed meandering or extraneous was actually foreshadowing or exposition for something only important 2 books later
I remember reading the series in high school, sophomore year I believe because I had heard that there was a new book coming out. That was 2011/2012 and I remember reading that it took him 6 years to write Dance and thinking "man I'm gonna be out of high school in 6 years!". Here I am now almost 27 and a high school teacher...still no winds lol
Picked these up between 8th grade and freshman year (in retrospect yikes) just in time to get ADWD in first printing hardcover in 2011. Anyway, I gotta start paying for my own health insurance next month…
@@troyb5843 yep... Started it in 7th grade during my brother's football games, definitely wasn't ready for all that. Now I've moved out and I have to buy my own food.
I watched about three seasons of the show before I started reading the series. I actually love both (up to an obvious point) but I was shocked that Victarion. Wasn’t included. What a great character.
Victarion's character is sort of merged into Euron in the show. The show does this with a few book characters, instead of including all 2-3 characters it will combine aspects of all their personalities into one.
A fact people won't usually mention when they complain about waiting is that no one expected Game of Thrones to become the biggest show of all time. George suddenly went from having all the time in the world to write to having almost no days off for 4 years. Then he cowrote a world book and Fire and Blood. He also has signed off and is overseeing potentially 8 spin off shows as well as the 2nd half of Fire and Blood. Dance was my favorite book of the series. Although i have yet to reread them. For me the meh chapters were spaced out enough in between some incredible chapters. Every Greyjoy kills it, Jon and Dany having to rule was a really great parallel. Dany in Mereen definitely had it's slower moments, but i always think back the George's quote of, "What is Aragorn's tax plan?" That is the reality of being a Queen, of being a new ruler in a foreign land. Its Dany's real big test for her dreams and goals. When she gets to Westeros, even if she becomes Queen, she will still be a new ruler in foreign land with conspiracies everywhere
How on Earth did he go to no days off for four years? He wrote what, an episode per season? Which I don't think anyone could force him to do, as no one held him at gunpoint making him write for the world book and F&B.
@@smarttravel3144 Yup, GRRM found himself in another series of knots after all the extra threads he created in Dance on top of everything else from the first 4 books. He clearly got stuck writing Dance years ago and has found other things to distract him.
The expanse obviously wasn’t nearly as popular as game of thrones but those authors were still writing the books while working on the show and they didn’t have a problem finishing. Martin made the story too complicated and now can’t figure out how to bring everyone together
I bought each book when they came out, if you had told me, 27 years later and still no end, I would have laughed. He needs to be honest and tell us if he's going to end the series or not.
I would honesty have no problem with the winds of winter just beginning with Dany flying towards Westeros and Barristan, Jorah and Tyrion on a boat about to arrive at Westeros and we never have to hear of anything about Mereen again.
Jorah turns to Tyrion "man i can't believe rocks fell on the entire country." "yeah kinda sucks" Tyrion agrees..... "so anyway have i mentioned how much i hate my sister?"
The Meereenes Knot is likely to become a writers turn of phase for dealing with an impossible plot stall; like Chekhov's [instert here] became a term for a plot device.
I saw that little note: Victarion indeed is the Stump that was promised. All who deny this are just too smart to understand; like George said, “Victarion is the key to all of this, if we get him working, because he’s dumber than any character we’ve had before.”
*It's clear to me that GRRM has created such a huge world with so many stories, plots, characters and mysteries that now he doesn't know how to finish his work, as it has become extremely complex. Sadly, we will never have the pleasure of reading the end of A Song of Ice and Fire. It's like he fed his child so much and now his child has become a monster. I don't even feel like rereading the books, because it's like starting to watch a canceled series. Why would you follow an endless story?*
ADWD on its own merits is such a fantastic book. As time goes on, I love it more and more and I think should WoW deliver on some key payoffs, the fanbase will only see ADWD in a far kinder light. That’s a pretty big if though….
First time I heard George RR Martin's name was in 1973 at a comic book store in Arlington TX. Sandkings made me a fan in 1979 when it appeared Omni magazine. I picked the first paperback edition of A Game of Thrones off the shelf in 1997 cynically thinking 'GRRM's jumping on Robert Jordan's bandwagon.' When I started reading I discovered it different than Wheel of Time, more medieval than fantasy. I read a few chapters after Bran suffered a long fall and stopped reading. Knowing I wouldn't remember a thing by the time the next book came out I decided to read the series in one long read when when it was done, it was only going to be a trilogy, right? Dutifully I bought each one as soon as I saw it, I have a lovely set of first edition paperbacks, only the fifth has HBO's logo on it. I avoided listening to people talking about the TV show at work. In 2019 I finally caved and read the books watching the show at the same time. Now I'm waiting like everyone else. George told the Australians a few years ago they could lock him in a room and force him to finish the series but the fools let him out of the country!
I can understand that Winds is taking so long but GRRM could at least drop us another sample chapter or two. It's been so long. But anyways, great video.
Man, I get pissed off when thinking about how it has been 12 years. GRRM should just admit he has no intention of finishing the books. Even with writers block, side projects, conventions, whatever, the amount of work one can do in 12 years is staggering. I could have written the bloody book by now.
So Varys is definitely a College of Whispers Bard/Mastermind Rogue multiclass, yeah? Great job on the video! I’m actually doing a combined re-read of Feast and Dance right now, so this video was a really fun watch.
Honestly I’d say Assassin for his Rogue subclass. It’s a TERRIBLE subclass mechanically but they get a ton of stuff baked-in for assuming and creating false identities, which we know he loves to do.
@@QuinnTheGM Man, I forgot about the assassin, that works so much better! I did like the languages and reading other people stuff from mastermind, but there’s no beating the assassin for disguises.
I can’t understand the heat George gets. He is writing such a massive story. This is why we love the story. It’s so big and complex. It’s going to take a lot of work to finish it. George will finish it and it will be amazing.
I can. Words are Wind, and George has made a lot of promises he didn't keep. I agree we shouldn't feel entitled, but he has said so many times that the books were just around the corner, and eventually the TV show surpassed him and ruined revelations that people have been waiting for over 2 decades!!! So i can totally understand people being angry at him.
He gets the heat because, had he been writing even 100 (one hundred) words a day all this time, which would have taken him let's say half an hour--so plenty of free time left--he would have had enough material for a aDwD-sized book by now.
“…for a total of five point of view characters. Six if Quentyn is alive, which he isn’t.” He’s totally alive. I mean, come on! Being burned to a crisp is totally survivable in the days of leeching and poultices!
yeah seemingly total filler, its a waste of time. Could have been 1 chapter or he could have been some rando turning up and we only learn that he died offscreen from BAristan and him giving a few thoughts to that and then in later books it could come up with Dorn that Dany kinda just ditched him and threw him under the bus indirectly.
@@ChildOfTheFlower more like GRRM felt like writting that one week and his editor didnt have to balls to say: George its a nice idea but please keep it efficient
Hey Quinn, why didn't you do a retrospective for GoT, SoS and A Feast for Crows? I never conciously thought about it but Ser Arlan is From Pennytree and Dunk doesn't know where it is, as of yet. but for some reason that's also where Jaime and Brienne reunite. Brienne being descendant from Dunk, I only assume this may be important somehow.
There were too many Tyrion and Dany flavortext chapters in this one. He really needs to learn some restraint. Most of Quentyn’s stuff is worthless too.
I’m gonna say it because someone has to. If George can’t figure out a way out of the maraneese knot it’s bc he’s not trying or bc he’s not as good a writer as we all supposed.
I just read through the boiled leather chronological order of Feast and Dance last year for the first time and it became so much clearer to me with what GRRM was going for, I adore all 5 books.
I don't know if you're joking or not, but Quentyn's alive is the most nonsensical theory Preston's ever come up with. It clashes with everything Quentyn stands for thematically.
I too began reading the books in 2016. I remember at the time thinking about how I had to breeze through them as George probably would've released Winds that year or the following 😅
Great video! Love the content. Honestly, I think the 5th book was largely what inspired me to try writing myself. Like Fantasy Haven, I aspire to be able to write a story where the sort of situation in Winterfell is possible. Dripping with intrigue, espionage, and double entendres amongst the characters and the alliances. It's mindblowing when you really start putting the pieces together, like the Frey Pies moment for example.
That green cover of ADWD is is neat. Shame I've never seen it irl and I only have the "HBO" release. I do own what I believe is the original paperback version of AFFC and ASOS. Oh, and the hardcover versions have some really neat artwork on them. Check it out of you haven't
Damn George now I'm really sad. I wish we at least had Winds so we could theorize, bicker, and reread the whole series again for the next 5 or 6 years (hopefully) until Dream comes out lol. So sad.
Honestly I can see George having a writer's block due to writing around his plan of the 5 year time gap. The story would have been a mess either way I'd having 5 years of nothing happening while everything is a mess or the young cast not being able to grow to their full potential like ned dayne Hopefully he can get the last of winds done so we can see his hard work come into reality
2016? Oh my sweet summer child! Love seeing late comers game the system and make a buck out of it too, rubs the pretentious 90s forebears the wrong way and Im here for it.
Can't believe I first the series back in 2013. I think the fact he's adamant about finishing in two books despite all the plot threads and characters still around to deal with is going to bite him. I think that's why it's taking so long. Like imagine, Daenerys only getting to Westeros by the final book. How is he going to satisfyingly write her impact and relationships in a single book. Also we have the ice zombies to deal with. So where will the time come from to satisfyingly deal with them etc
Good video! I think Dance has both good beginning and middle, but the lack of endind really makes Dance feel unfinished. With proper ending could be even the strongest book in the series. The North in the book is one of best strytelling from GRRM. And Dance has so many details, like three delicious pies served by Wyman Manderly.
I'm willing to say it. Tyrion is boring in this book once he gets kidnapped. nothing he does really advances the plot or informs his character more. literally everything he does could be summed up in 1 chapter once you cut out all the fluff (seriously did we need all the time with nurse?)
My biggest issue with Dance is that I'm here to watch people play, or be played, in the Westerosi Game of Thrones. I don't care who wins or who dies in the Game of Meereen.
ASOIAF is what happens when a "garden writer" plants Kudzu. For all its flaws I'm ultimately mostly happy with the TV show cutting out all the stuff that doesn't directly add to the dragons/zombies plot.
I love your analysis videos, Theories and theory videos about asoiaf are great but Analysis of this stuff and analysis of the themes of each characters story is a much more unique video idea, hope you make more theme and analysis based videos in the future
I would say Alexander's cutting of the Gordian knot was simple, elegant, and brutal. An obvious metaphor for how he attempted to conquer Asia. Not to put it in a negative light, I do admire his accomplishments similar to the conquistadors.
I always read the Gordian knot in a negative light, as if it was highlighting how Alexander was headstrong and egotistical: Of course people have thought about cutting the rope but they didn't because it would violate the spirit of the trial. People understood that it would take patience, diligence, and cunning to untie such a complicated knot, someone with those qualities would make a good leader. Whereas here comes this young, brash, foreigner who doesn't understand the true meaning of the trial and he just cuts it and seizes power as he always does. Alexander has dropped significantly in my favor as I've learned more and more about history.
@@kristiannicholson5893 if he were only headstrong and egotistical his men wouldnt have followed him all across Asia. It does reflect those things as well but I'd argue it also shows his boldness, his bravery, and his confidence in himself and his men. He risked his life fighting men mounted on elephants throwing spears and shooting arrows at him and his men. And after all that he was loyal enough to turn back for his men's asking because he loved them. They were his brothers. He was only in his 20s and died at 32. Who knows what else he couldve accomplished if he hadnt met an early end (probably from poison). Most of the people he conquered prefered his rule over that of the people he routed out. You can't look at these things through a strictly negative lense. They dont call him Alexander the Great because a bunch of racist white men post humously wrote about some guy that tried to conquer Asia. You cant judge men of history by todays standards and get as accurate a picture as you would if you try to look at it through the eyes of the people of the time. For conquerors he's a pretty good guy. Not a tyrant like many are.
I work in publishing and I was told (I forget by whom now so that's what makes this sketchy) that ADWD was edited in multiple parts. Meaning then did edits, copyedits, proofreading and design on one part and then that was locked, before the next part went through all that. I remember it because I thought, "Oh that's why some of the chapters feel so repetitive." It's more like a serialized story (Dickens' David Copperfield is a good example because it was published in newspapers not a novel format, so every few chapters he has to remind you who some characters are). This was done so that they only had a chunk to edit once he announced he was "finished" so it could be published as soon as possible. I'd love to know if anyone else has heard this. I could have been fed bad information. I totally agree some chapters should have been cut but if it was edited this way then it would've been costly to go back.
That’s such an interesting perspective, thank you for sharing! Interesting that it came in batches. If only there were any publishing insight for Winds out there 👀
@Quinn the GM, I understand the love of this world from the fandom, and the new and insightful content you produce, big applause. But how anyone that can let your crossbow sneak attack damage go unnoticed, unmentioned, and probably misunderstood, is beyond me. I see you, I see your background in D&D, I appreciate you.
@@unknown9zz0 Bro have u heard of daenerys, arya, asha greyjoy, olenna tyrell. Not to mention beric and moqorro do not have chapters dedicated to their POV. Otherwise moqorros (so far) more accurate prophecies and internal dialogue would spoil the whole story. Those characters are cooler as enigmas. Melisandre is more central to the plot so she cant be op otherwise stannis would steamroll the competition.
I can't wait to watch this entire video. I'll come back and edit this comment if everything you said is wrong. 😊 Edit: You stated Quentyn's chapters were pointless and for the longest time I agreed with you, because he is dead. However, on a reread of ADWD, Barristan's chapter where he meets with Drinkwater and Yronwood got my attention. One of these two guys may play a key role going forward. My guess is Yronwood because Barristan remarks that he's made of "true steel." Quentyn's entire arc may have just been to get Yronwood (or Drinkwater) to Meereen to do something pivotal for the story. GRRM may have just used Quentyn to give the reader certain insights, sure, but who knows maybe his friends turn the tide somehow.
The thing that I remember is that the sample chapter of Reek, where he is before Stannis, was a originally A Feast for Crows sample chapter. Jon C, okay. Victarion, I don't like, Barristan, eh. Eh plus. Iron Born, no. Dany, Jon, Tyrion. My favorites. I think Melissandre will get there in time to save Jon. So he is not dead, though close as you come. He CAN'T die, else he can't be a pov! None of the resurrected are actually resurrected. I agree that for the Tyrion investment, we had too little pay-off. Will he finish before he goes R Jordan? I hope so. RJ made me wait rwenty-two years, and had to have a ghost writer! Plus, the ending wasn't worth the wait. Okay, but I did not recoup the emotional investment, so I dont invest nearly as much here. Dunk and Egg, yes. Here? No. Brienne/Jaime. Onion Knight. Theon/his sister. Arya. Sam. Tyrion. Jon. Bran. Danny. Those are the necessary points of view.
There is something that always bug me out, why didn't doran sent a messenger to Daenerys the moment he learned the death of viserys rather than his own son? What does it change realistically? As far as I am concern, considering how fast barristan got to astapor, I think a messenger would arrive long before the marriage of daenerys and his son would not be dead most importantly. On a technical stand point grrm could have save a lot of time, really a lot considering what the death of quentyn could result to.
To the argument that GrrM is not our bitch, I present this analogy. A man tells you he has a product to sell you, but it will come in seven parts. He asks you invest in said product by paying for each part. Then, when he's 5 parts in, he disappears. He sells out his 5 parts and is richer than he's ever been. Every professional deadline he's agreed to goes on to be deliberately ignored and the 7 part investment is never made whole. He claims you will receive 2 more parts but time drags on with no evidence that he actually intends on finishing his product. In what scenario does he NOT owe you?
Garvin's right but in this case unfortunately it is not enforceable. Supposedly GOT earned GRRM a hundred and twenty million, even if that's wrong by a hundred mil what does a 76-year-old man do with that kind of money? Not a thing he doesn't want to.
Its crazy because I finally read the books in 2019 and I the time I thought "damn im lucky, I at least dont have to wait long until the next book". Well, the gods like to teach cruel lesions, iv since read everything Martin has ever written and re-read all the ASOIAF books. Maybe will get WOW one day, maybe not. As for Dreams of Springs, you can go ahead and forget about that.
George is still counting his sweet HBO money and living the life as a Hollywood elite like he always wanted. He doesnt care anymore about the books and i really doubt we will ever see the series finished
Great video. I do disagree about Quentyn though. I personally consider that one of my favorite parts of the series. When I was reading his chapters, I loved how he was this kind of insecure guy who had the world upon his shoulders. And when it all falls apart at the end, sure it's a red herring, but it's brilliant how it kites that plot twist across the entire book. One of the best parts of Dance for me, and you know there will be repercussions to his death in the next book (if it comes out).
HOT TAKE: 5 books released, 2 more to come? Bullshit! No question what was originally a trilogy is actually a trilogy of trilogies now. GRRM doesn’t ‘owe’ us anything, but having said that, I do WANT him to buckle down, focus, and knock out these books. Sometimes I fantasize that in these 12 years, he’s actually almost finished the series and he’s just set it up to publish one book a year once he releases the next one. It comforts me. Other times I imagine thes 12 to 40+ years are GRRM putting us through an actual Long Night, so we can feel deep inside what it’s like. That comforts me less.
I have the feeling that it's mainly Jorah Mormont that has him stuck. All the other characters are moving towards a certain climax, but Jorah Mormont just went on a whole new adventure on the wrong side of the siege that suddenly is plagued by an illness. It's like he fell into a new series of books that no longer have anything to do with ASoIaF.
I think the Mel chapter and all of it's reveals is very Martin, but given that she only gets one chapter makes it likely GRRM was planning on revealing the information some other way in the Jon chapters initially. I think Quentyn is actually the planned POV, and that he is probably alive. Not to shill too hard, but Preston's video on this is fairly convincing even if you don't agree with all of his theories. Also, Quentyn is exactly the kind of character GRRM loves to write, a sort of self insert romantic, unattractive, physically limited, bookish man. I feel like a lot of George's stories start with these type of characters- Sam, Tyrion, Bran, and as a sort of inverse of these men, Brienne.
I dont really like dance tbh. The tyrion, jon and dany stories just ballon without evey really engaging me. Bran, Davos, Victarion, jon con and barristan are quiet interesting, but are only present for half the book respectively. The Cersei and jaime chapters feel like they should be put in feast. I really love the theon and arya chapters but they cant carry the whole book. But my biggest problem is that a lot of the individual stories climaxes have been moved to winds (the battles of ice, fire, steel, cerseis trial,...). Reading dance is like having mediocre sex with someone you dont really care about in such a way that it drags on and on and you dont even get to have an orgasm in the end.
I want Shireen Baratheon to become a POV character and not be burned! Stannis Baratheon the one true King is going to die fighting for a better world and Shireen will succeed him as Queen of Westeros!
13:45 !,,yo….reeks chapters would have gone HARD if i didnt already know that twist, damn! i didnt even think of that, he wasnt a pov in feast, was he? 🤔💀
ADWD is my favourite. I loved the character arcs of Tyrion, Jon, Danny and Reek/Theon, and the coalescing of perspectives in the North post-red wedding (Jon, Theon, Davos). The minor perspectives of Barristan and Victarion (my favourite POV character) are among my favourites in the entire series as well. Even Bran's chapters (finally) got me to care about his character again. In my experience, ADWD is the most diverse and colourful in comparison to a book like Feast, which had a far more limited scope. The biggest weakness for me were Quentyn's chapters. I didn't find his perspective interesting nor essential for the story in Mereen (the dragon's could've been freed by any other way). We also had Tyrion and Victarion already traveling to Mereen--did we really need Quentyn? His death scene was at least entertaining because we were finally able to see Rhaegal and Viserion again.
