I just finished this yesterday and it was absolutely amazing. I think my favorite character introduction was Mance Rayder, your expecting a great warrior to lead the wildlings, instead it's a small bard of man who truly loves his people. I agree on Jaime, in Clash of Kings I remember Catelyn described Jamie as kind of a psychopath, and thinks he is just an empty vessel of vanity, but his is the fist chapter and is immediately contradictory of that. How every chapter of his he mentions Areys and says how it always comes back to that. My favorite chapter was him talking to the kings guard and his line of, "I wanted to be the sword of the morning, instead I became The Smiling Knight".
So I suppose this is fantasy as it ought to be written? Loved this gush review, you made me appreciate this book even more than I already did. I actually almost want to re-read it already to let things sink in more because it was such a wild rollercoaster of a reading experience 🤩
disagree about Jon's chapters, it was fine to hear his inner thoughts about him breaking his oath in his own perspective and thinking of Ned Stark fathering a bastard, of Ned Stark cheating on Catelyn
what´s remarkable about this book is the amount of payoffs from all the subtle foreshadowing presented in the first book, i mean there´s a lot of foreshadowing in Clash but they were presented in a more obvious or didactic way (visions and dreams, prophecies and ridles), while the trial by combat, the moon door, and the Tysha revelation were foreshadowed throught events that seemed random, and the incredible thing is that amount of foreshadowing that hasn´t being pay for yet and we have no idea that exists because it wasn´t presented throught prophecies, visions or dreams.
100% I really appreciated reading them one month at a time this time to soak in the world but also be ready to pick up on as many of the foreshadowed elements as possible
