The path of faith was a crooked one, Brienne could not help but note.

A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin

When I think about this book, I can’t help but to think about the time it took to finish it. The book was great, but because of the timing of what was going on in my life and the length of the book, it took me a while to get through it. It took me so long that I took a 4 book break in the middle of it. I usually don’t do that, but I needed a break from the seriousness. This blog is about the 4th book of The Song of Ice and Fire series and it was the same style and continued the plotline immaculately. While reading it, a person couldn’t help but notice a few things were missing. But you’ll have to read it to find out what those were.

A pretty usual theme to the series is death. There is war throughout the entire series and therefore characters die often. Many main characters have died, including what to me would be main characters that helped the plot become more diverse. In A Feast for Crows, there were not as many people killed. There was still the war, which was sort of fizzling out with the characters displayed, but the characters that were not present I can feel the build up from the other characters.

I feel like there is something brewing in the background of this story. I could feel it trying to bubble up to the surface. I could feel it coming on, almost like the warning signs before volcano erupts. I just feel like some really big things are going to happen in the next book. I wonder if Martin is going to use any of the major character plots from A Feast for Crows going or if it is only going to be the side we didn’t see in this book. A Dance with Dragons is next and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen.

There were a few new people in this story, it showed what was going on with the Iron Fleet, which before had been a very minute sub-plot and it has become a major part of the series. I believe that the book title could have been a double meaning. The new king of the Iron Fleet is also called “Crow’s Eye” and this book showed how all of the other kings were just preparing the way for these sub-characters to come in and surprise the Iron Throne because they are so focused on the war in front of their faces. Another new person was the Princess Arianne of Dorne. During the book, I couldn’t understand why we were reading about Dorne, then the last chapter happened and it blew me away. I just love it when new sides of the story unfold.

What am I looking forward to? What’s going to happen to Cersei? What’s going to happen with Dorne now that Arianne isn’t going to marry Dany’s brother? What was the last word that Brienne yelled, and did it save her life? Sansa is going to be married to someone else and she will have Winterfell and the Eyrie?

Since we saw one side of the story, the people I missed in this book were: Brann, Jon, Dany. But the next book, I’m going to miss Arya and Sansa. Have you read this series? What are you looking forward to? If you have not read it, do you want to? Comment below and let me know what you think!

"Wars and weddings have kept us well occupied." Tyrion Lannister

A Storm of Swords by: George R. R. Martin

I’m behind on blogging. I have not completed a blog or thought about blogging in so long that something that had become second nature to me (reading and writing) is not so easy. Since I finished this book a couple of nights ago I have pondered what I should write about in this blog. Since this book took me entirely way too long to finish (somewhere around 12 weeks) I can’t remember what happened within the 1200 page novel. I know what has happened in the series up to this point, but what specific things took place in A Storm of Swords? Well that is a great question.

One word comes to mind when I think about this book and my life for the last 12 weeks. Disarray. Disarray is defined as “a disorganized and confused state.” Me first… in the last 12 weeks I have switched jobs or maybe I should say professions, which brought about a new boss, a new building, new office, new staff, new responsibilities, in short, everything changed. Not to mention that this new change moved my husband to a new location. When you read this, please know that I’m not complaining, my life is good, just a little crazy. Change is hard and for anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a huge fan of change. All that to say, my life has been in a state of disarray. Now, to the book. This book is in a constant state of confusion. Now, hear me in this, I am not saying that the book is confusing, but what I’m saying is that the book’s story line is constant craziness. I would finish a chapter and have to put the book down and say to myself “did that just happen?!?!?” How about an example? Tyrion Lannister (the Lannister family in my opinion are the bad guys) and Sansa Stark get married. Well this is a shock for one, Sansa was promised to Tyrion’s nephew, Joffrey Baratheon who just happens to be the King (well one of them right?), well since her father was dead, mother suspected to have killed a self proclaimed king-Renly Baratheon, brother has declared himself King of the north, which is treason in the Lannister’s eyes. The Queen Regent Cersei decided that she was not worthy of her son or to be queen so therefore she decides that her son will marry the widowed Margaery Tyrell and pushes Sansa aside. Before the royal wedding (Just FYI, weddings turn out very bad in this book), Margaery’s family has figured out a plan to marry Sansa off to Margery’s older brother the future Lord of Highgarden. Well in a turn of events, Cersei tricks Sansa into thinking she was being fitted for a gown for the royal wedding and instead she was taken to the Sept and married to Tyrion the dwarf. I hope that you can read the craziness and confusion in just that one example of my “Oh my gosh, did that just happen?” moments.

When I’m playing around on Facebook, I like to look at flair. I will just search for whatever interests me at the moment. Of course on my list is always Twilight and Harry Potter. Not long ago I decided to search for “A Song of Ice and Fire” just to see what came up. I was surprised to find quite a few buttons. The one that sticks out in my mind said “Every time a fan asks GRRM when the next book will be out, another Stark dies.” I was upset when I read it (The Stark family is who the books revolve around. Most of them have had their own chapters in the books and most of the Stark children are my favorite characters). I knew that something was going down. Throughout the last two books (A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords) most of the Starks have had a moment when they believe they are the only Stark left. Luckily, that has not been true.

Surprise and Intrigue are my favorite concepts of Martin’s books. As I’ve come to expect, there were some very shocking moments in this book. Something that I have enjoyed about this series is that no one is too big a character to die. As I continue on with this series, I have a feeling that more main characters are going to die. The author is such an outstanding writer that whenever I least expect something horrible, that is when, BOOM, he turns the story upside down.

My favorite characters are changing a little. I found that I enjoyed Sansa’s story more in this book than I have in the past. Tyrion’s character has always left an impression on me. His wit and intellect make me smile. Jon’s story just gets better and better. The end of this book on the Wall was fantastic. Sorry if you haven’t read it, you are lost, but for my friends that have read the book, I was so excited when he made his decision not to leave the wall to go back to Winterfell, but instead became Lord Commander. Awesome! A new character that I enjoyed very much was Jaime Lannister. Of course with a name like Lannister you know he’s going to be bad, or is he? Jaime’s chapters were enjoyable and you could see small changes in him as the story progressed that were quite exciting.

I’m not sure what to think about R’hllor the god of Fire and Light. I guess because the Starks worship the “Old Gods” and Catelyn Tully Stark worships the new gods I’ve always thought that the Polytheistic beliefs were the right ones (in the book, people, not in real life). So when this one and only god comes into the picture, I’m not sure what to make of that part of the story. Well hopefully it becomes clearer as the series continues which religion is correct and which is false. Here is a quote from Melisandre the Priestess of R’hllor. “The war has been waged since time began, and before it is done, all men must choose where they will stand. On one side is R’hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God o Flame and Shadow. Against him stand the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light.” The reason I share that quote is because of the parallelism between the fight between religion and politics. I love how he throws in the Ice and Fire too.

To sum up another blog on the chronicle A Song of Ice and Fire, disarray is the word of the day. I have one more book in the series and then I’ll take a break from this author until he releases his next book sometime in the fall. I hope that by that time I can read and blog each Harry Potter book and I have a shelf full of books that I’ve been waiting to sink my teeth into.

I know this blog is a little crazy and disorganized, as is life, so I’ll end with this: Keep reading! Let me know what you think. Did you like the blog? Have you read the book or are you thinking about trying it? Comment below!

The More is NOT the Merrier...

A Clash of Kings by: George R. R. Martin

Have you ever wondered what would happen if there was a kingdom with multiple Kings??? Yeah, me either, but apparently there are some people who think about this very subject and write books about it. The second book in the Song of Ice and Fire chronicle is about that very subject. There are six fractions of the Seven Kingdoms that are going to war to battle for the Iron Throne which the product of Incest sits.
This book is full of magic, battles, love, and of course I have some theories of what is to come. With this only being book two, it is hard for the audience not to wonder, what’s to come. Now, just a warning, I can’t talk about this book without ruining the outcome of what happened in the first book of the series A Game of Thrones, so if you are somewhat interested in reading this chronicle, then please don’t read this entire post. Know that I highly recommend it and I have been borrowing the books from the local library so you wouldn’t even have to buy it if you didn’t want to. There is your spoiler alert, read on by your own discretion.

This book was a great sequel to A Game of Thrones and continued the story as if no break had taken place. There were a few added characters that we could see what was going on around them. The first one was Davos “the onion knight.” I enjoyed his character because he was a realist. He knew what was going on around him and had common sense about his next moves. He was a knight under Stannis Baratheon, the eldest brother of Robert Baratheon, therefore he is the rightful king since Robert did not have an heir to the throne. Ser Davos was once a smuggler that spent most of his life on a ship making his living by being a pirate, and that is actually how he earned his Knighthood, by smuggling food into Stannis’ castle when they were going to starve to death. I believe that this is why Davos is a great character because he wasn’t high born and therefore learned a lot of great life lessons by living an adventurous life. To bring this to life for me, I bring this point back to my own life. I’ve always said that everyone should work in a restaurant. I’m not kidding, you see people how they really are when you work for a restaurant, they come in hungry, which usually makes people more irritable and therefore they blow up on you for no good reason, just because an eighteen year old said your wait was going to be 20 minutes and you’ve been waiting for 25 minutes doesn’t give you the right to thrash the poor child until she cries. I learned more life lessons from working at Applebee’s in Hot Springs Arkansas than I have anywhere else in my life. All of my children will work in restaurants so they can learn the same great lessons that I did. All of that to say, that is why Davos has great advice, and great thoughts, is because he has been through life circumstances and is easy to relate to.

Another new character in the book was not new to the pages, but we have not seen through his eyes was, Theon Greyjoy. This was a young man that was Robb Starks, the king of the North’s, steward. He has returned home and declared his father King of the Iron Islands and since he is the only living son, he has declared himself heir. This character went from saving Bran’s life in the first book to doing some horrible things to the Stark family in this book. I cannot relate to Theon’s character in this story, he is horrible and never redeems himself. He is selfish and self serving. Everything about his character upsets me and I didn’t enjoy reading this thoughts.
In this 969 page novel, there was so much to like and dislike. The writing was fantastic and I have no negative thoughts on style, grammar, or cadence. He has a great story line and plot and is true to his style. I know that he knows how this story is going to end, he’s not afraid to do what must be done to come to that ending. The one complaint I have is that it is taking me a while to get through each book, but I also have a lot going on, so it is not bothering me to take my time.

My favorite characters are still Jon, Arya, and Dany. I enjoyed all three story lines and was thankful that Martin hasn’t killed any of these characters off (yet). I think I like Jon and Arya even more now than I did before. I get real excited when his or her chapter is coming up.

I’m sad to say that I will have to end this blog abruptly because I’ve been so busy that I wrote this blog weeks ago and now I’m started the third book in the series and can’t really remember what took place in this book. So, stay tuned for the third book, A Storm of Swords. It’s been really great so far. Leave me a message and let me know what you thought about this blog or this book! Happy Reading!

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Queen Cersei

A Game of Thrones by: George R.R. Martin

I have read quite a few fantasy books. If you asked me what my favorite genre is I would probably say fantasy. A friend of mine termed it quite accurately, she said, “We are escapists, we want to read things that aren’t real to escape from the real world.” So, some of my favorite fantasy books are the Lord of the Rings series. I read them last year and LOVED them. I have not blogged about them, because there is so much information that I wouldn’t even know where to start. I feel the same way about this book, A Game of Thrones. My friend Jimmy Pope from work said if I like Lord of the Rings, that I would love this story, A Song of Ice and Fire. The first in the chronicle is an eight hundred page book. I usually read a book a week, this book took me three weeks to start and finish. It was not a boring book, it was actually quite action packed, it was just super long and the vernacular was pretty intense.

This story revolves around a family of strong honor, character, personalities. The Stark family, the Lords and protectors of Winterfell, are as hard and cold as the area they grew up in, but will it be this family that saves the Seven Kingdoms? Each person seems to have begun an individual journey within this first book. Honestly, this book seemed like a rather long intro for what is to come in the future books. I can’t wait to see certain character’s stories unfold.

I will start with my criticism for the book… Hum, well… um… ok, so I know that no book is perfect, but I think that because the book was so intense and so long I really can’t think of any criticism for the book. Anything that could be a negative, I can turn it into a positive, such as… the amount of details about every subject matter… I loved it. The detail was so good I thought I was in the story. Another thought that I could have is that the author had no sanctity of life. He would and could kill any character off at any time. But if you remember my Breaking Dawn blog, I like for some people to die. It makes the story so much more interesting if you are unable to figure out who is going to live and who is going to die. Main characters dying, makes for a more interesting story.

My absolute favorite part of the book is the chapter “titles.” Each chapter is focused on one character. We, the audience are hearing the story from the narrator and it focuses on a particular character in each chapter. I found that when I would finish one of my favorite character’s chapters, I would look ahead to see when their next chapter was. I don’t usually cheat like that, but I wanted to see if I could keep reading and find out what happened. One thing I found interesting is that if 2 weeks had gone by for one character, the same amount of time has gone by for all of the characters. So, when we would come back to a character that we haven’t heard about in a while, something else would be going on, instead of picking up where we left off.

My favorite characters were: Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen. I have a feeling that some of these will change, one of them for obvious reasons (well to anyone who has read the books) and the last chapter of the book really weirded me out, so I might switch favorite characters because of that alone. We’ll see as the books progress who continues to be my favorites and who changes.

I also enjoyed the language. Each person spoke in old English and stayed in character throughout the book. Even the descriptions were written with the same cadence as the spoken words. A wonderful example is from the Lady Catelyn Stark when she thinks, “Ser Wendel, the younger boy, would have been the fattest man she’d ever known, had she only neglected to meet his father and brother.” If I was writing this, I would have said it totally different. I wonder if the author has to talk like that all of the time, kind of like an actor, you know, to stay in character. I’m sure Mr. Martin never says something like, “I’m sooooo over you, Sansa Stark. HOLLA!”

The last contents of the book that I want to write on is, The Others. The book starts off in the Prologue with an exciting sequence of events. This book started stronger than any other book I have ever read. I couldn’t believe how he started it, it was extremely intense. In the prologue, The Others appear and I had to know what they were and how they come into existence. Well my questions go unanswered in the first book, but hopefully by the end we will know everything there is to know about The Others. (dun dun duuuuuuuun)

I will be starting A Clash of Kings soon and it will probably take me 3 weeks to read it just like this one did. Please let me know what you think about this blog or this book. Do you think it’s something you would enjoy reading? Let me know what you think!

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Queen Cersei