Rae of Light

A Dance with Dragons (After The Feast) by George R R Martin This book was as exasperating for me as the Dreams & Dust instalment, primarily because I knew much of the events from the TV series albeit in a truncated and slightly altered version. The name listing akin to the begats of the Bible was equally trying and pulled me away from the story far too many times for my liking. I wouldn’t have minded too much if it had been an isolated incidence, but it seemed to be almost everywhere. There were some lovely moments when characters voiced realisations about situations or their own flaws but in general I was a little under whelmed by this book.  I found myself eager to get to bits I was as yet unaware of. And while there were such moments, they were far too rare. It was pretty obvious that everyone who was anyone was gathering their forces as there are a few almighty battles in the offing. I did not find this section stirring or entertaining. My main thoug...

A Dance with Dragons (Dreams & Dust) by George R R Martin In this 5 th book in the series, I was very pleased to note that John Snow shares my frustrations about Samwell Tarly.  I loved how Martin shows John’s internal struggles with the hard choices forced upon his very young shoulders. I think the thing which the books remind us of very clearly is how young so many of the protagonists are. The TV series can often make them seem a lot older. What makes this aspect of the books particularly poignant for me is that the youth of so many of the characters is a constant reminder of how a world at war forces our children to grow up much too quickly. For me, the most frustrating thing about this book was that there is so much of it I already know from the television series. I kept reading on in the hopes I was going to get to something new. This is because the books do not stick to a specific chronology in the way the series does. The other aspect which annoyed...