I’m Dancing

I think it goes without saying that I’ve invested every waking moment today in A Dance with Dragons. Plus, in an effort to maximize the number of waking moments I seem to have somehow only gotten a couple hours of sleep. Work tonight is going to be a bear.

I spent the first couple hours wiping away chapters I’d already read. The first three or four chapters of the book are the teaser chapters that have been available on Martin’s website for years. I almost skipped past them, having spent so long reading and re-reading them already, but decided I wanted them fresh in my mind for the things to come.

It’s hard to say, being only 8% of the way through the book, but so far it definitely feels like the story is advancing in a way Feast for Crows didn’t grant us. It stands to reason, I suppose; the chapter list goes something like this: Tyrion, Dany, Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Jon, Dany, Jon, Tyrion. Oh, there’s some Bran in there too, but he hasn’t done anything so far except whine. So there’s complaint numero uno about Feast very thoroughly addressed.

It looks as though Jaime and Cersei get a single chapter each towards the end of the book, which pleases me. I’m currently bookmarked in the middle of a Quentyn Martell chapter, and Victarion Greyjoy pops in down the road, and that pleases me as well. I was worried the few plot threads that did matter in Feast would be left dangling until 2018 or whenever the next book comes out, but at least a few of them seem to get resolved. (Brienne and Sansa aren’t so lucky, I guess. But then, they weren’t really involved in plot threads.)

Mainly, though, it just feels good to be back in Westeros.