Very very simple poll for those who’ve read the whole series so far: was the last book good or bad?
I’m just finishing up rereading book 4, and while I obviously want no spoilers at all, I want to know if I should look forward to book 5, or if I should prepare to be disappointed. All you get is two options.
I don’t think either option is particularly appropriate. Which probably answers your question, regardless.
Somewhere in between. I still found it entertaining but frustrating at times. The quality is comparable to book 4, so if you hated it you might not want to bother.
The vast majority of the people rank the books as follows:
Storm of Swords
Game of Thrones
Clash of Kings
.
.
.
Dance with Dragons
.
Feast for Crows
Like the other two replies, I don’t think either answer fits.
I liked the last two books a lot. I think it helps that I’ve more or less adjusted to the fact that the series doesn’t really have a central plot, and if it did Martin probably won’t live to finish it anyways. The books work well as a bunch of tangentially related vignettes, and your probably better off reading them as such.
It was…necessary.
A vote for bad, although I would have liked more had it been written by a lesser author.
I have to agree with you. I finally found a copy at Goodwill ($3.00 is close to my discretionary spending limit for a week) and although the story seems to be going nowhere, the writing is excellent.
But I’m hardly a hundred pages into it yet. My opinion may change.
The last book was okay, I suppose. It was certainly no Storm of Swords.
This.
I suspect I’ll like both ADWD and AFFC better when they release some special-edition megabook that slices those two up and weaves the chapters back together into chronological/originally-intended order. (FWIW, I liked ADWD a lot better than AFFC.)
I think what it came down to for me was that I had the same complaints about Dance as Feast, but at least it had more characters that I cared about.
Another vote for good from me.
I rank the books in the same order as snarky kong but with less of a gap between A Game of Thrones and A Dance with Dragons. But then again, I actually liked A Feast for Crows. I’m also optimistic enough to believe that Martin can finish his series in a timely manner, despite all evidence to the contrary.
I voted “bad” but that doesn’t really fit. I have a problem with his decision to split AFFC and ADWD into two side-by-side books. I think it hurt both irreparably. I have some hope that he’ll pull it back together with the next book. I’ll read all subsequent books regardless, just because I have to know what happens.
It’s bad compared to the first three books, it’s good compared to almost everything else.
That’s a good way to put it, DigitalC
It was so bad that I shall wait for the library to not have a waiting list when and if the next book ever comes out. I’m not giving Martin any more of my money after that massive disappointment.
Very much a treading water kind of book. I’m still intrigued enough as to what happens next to be looking forward to ‘The Winds of Winter’ but found DwD a let down.
I read 'em all on one long book binge after I saw Game of Thrones on TV, so the books aren’t really separate in my mind. I will say that by the time I got through the last one, I was muttering under my breath at the beginning of every chapter: “Cool, but where the f*ck is all this going?” and frequently… “Christ, another character arc, enough already!”.