Day Six: Favorite Book of the Series (so far)
For a long time, I really considered my favorite book to be A Storm of Swords, and it is still very good. Mind you, all of the books are very good. In every book, there are elements that I dearly love and story lines I can't live without. Storm is a stunning book. Beautiful and horrible things happen in it. People you want to die actually do die, but in ways that screws up everyone else.
Characters that you wanted to live and find happy lives end up in miserable places. Other people come so close to having happy endings, only to have everything fall apart. This plays out over and over again. It's horrible but also kind of wonderful at the same time. At the end of the book, some people have gained power, but you know it's going to cause them problems. Other people are fleeing for their lives. The reunions that have happened are full of misconceptions and clear fragmentation. Nothing is getting better, even if things are finding resolution.
Recently though, I'm finding that my favorite book is A Dance with Dragons. Actually, maybe I didn't even realize that until last night when I started talking about how important failure is as a theme in that book. I realized I truly loved ADWD and had enjoyed the hell out of reading it. Here are some reasons why.
Bran finds the Children of the Forest, and Bloodraven, and magic, and basically everything he's always knew had to be true. Bran is actually one of the few characters in this book who reaches his destination. Unlike everyone else who does a lot of traveling, Bran ends this leg of his quest and begins a new one. Is that just peachy? NOPE! Bran has gotten darker over his travels. He's eaten human flesh (because he had no choice), he's warging into people, and he's not sure what he found is worth it. He's not sure if this isn't a trap. Still! Children of the Forest are here and magic is here and he gets to be part of that.
There are so many new plots developing. Northern lords may be plotting to overthrow the Boltons . . . or they may not be. Other than the Manderlies, we really don't know. Mance is helping the Northern lords to overthrow he Boltons . . . or he may not be. Various conversations, the people with Mance, and even the Pink Letter are all suspect at this point. Some STUFF in going on, but as to what all of it means? That remains to be seen. Still, it is astounding how five books in, the political intrigue is still just as strong as it was in the first book, if not more.
Along with Bloodraven, we have more ties to the Great Bastards happening. Young Griff may or may not be a Blackfyre. Varys may or may not be a Blackfyre. One way or the other, the ties are there because the Golden Company sails back to Westoros and begins to attack. Our next king may be a Targaryen, though how strong his claim is depends on who is telling the truth and who isn't. So yeah, not only more political intrigue, but some that ties back several generations and has very little to do with the current mess.
Cersie is amazing. Jaime is amazing. Asha is amazing. Griff is amazingly in love with a man who has been dead for like 20 years. The Dornish plots look like they will be completely great. Arya goes to assassin school. Jon is treated like the King in the North. The dragons terrorize everyone and Dany ends the book about to have a showdown with an old enemy.
Best of all, this book has a lot of truly perfect 'if only' moments. Many characters reach this place where they realize they have made some huge mistakes. Tyrion has a very important 'if only' moment. Dany does as well. In fact, Dany's last chapter is deeply important in terms of her character development and helps to show her how much she has messed things up. Jon doesn't quite have his 'if only' moment, but we know it is coming.
Dany, Tyrion, Jon, Asha, Cersie, Theon, and Davos are all humbled in this book. They all reach a crisis point where they know they have hit a very low level and have to rebuild from this point. They're being set up to begin the long march to the end of this thing. These are their trials by fire and they need that to help them make it to the end of winter.
A lot of people hate Dance. I went into the book knowing that people hated it and didn't expect a lot from it. If you hated it the first time through, I suggest you read it again. Read the book understanding that very little gets resolved on a physical level, but a lot of resolution happens on a personal level. Read it knowing that people fail over and over again, that we see these characters and their worst, but that many of them know they are at their worst and want to move away from that. Dance is a brilliant book. I'm damned happy to have read it.
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