Loose Thoughts - "A DANCE WITH DRAGONS"

 FINALLY! Thank heavens...

So just recently I bought the latest book from George R.R. Martin's (is it a requirement to have "R.R." in your name if you want to become a very famous fantasy author?) Song of Ice and Fire series - "A Dance with Dragons". I'm not much of a "fantasy" fan, but I'm a huge fan of this series. I waited so long to get this book, because even though an original, English version would do just fine, I was waiting for a translated edition (I have all the other books in Polish and dammit, you don't change horses midstream in the war against the bats!). I'm only something like 300 pages deep into the book, but I figured I might as well do a post based on my first impressions. I'll keep it SPOILER FREE (even though the book came out a couple months ago, I have some friends who might check this post out and didn't read "A Dance with Dragons" yet). So in no particular order, here are some loose thoughts on "A Dance with Dragons".

• I think this was the second best prologue chapter in the series so far (the best one being the "Game of Thrones" one).

• I already like this book more than I did "A Feast for Crows" (my least favorite book in the series). I like this selection of POV characters more than I did the "Feast" one. And it seems a much less depressing entry in the saga, though I'm fully aware that everything might change in typical Martin fashion.

• Really glad to have Tyrion back. He's one of my favorite characters and even though he isn't doing anything spectacular yet (admittedly, he set the bar pretty damn high the last we saw him), it's a joy to read his chapters. I'm one of the people who started reading the books after the HBO show premiered (even though I've heard good things about the series before) so I wonder if I would like Tyrion as much if it wasn't for Peter Dinklage's spectacular, Emmy Award-winning performance. I probably would, but man, Dinklage is great.

• Man, those Boltons are sick bastards. They're kinda getting more and more scary as the series proceeds.

• A nice "flashback" appearance by Ned Stark finally sets some things straight (if the said flashback is to be believed, that is).

• As usual, things aren't easy for Jon Snow. But it's nice to see how the character changes and there were some really kick-ass moments that made me happy for the guy.

• Boy, poor Daenerys has a lot of decisions to make... Yes, that's sorta all I have to say about her chapters so far. I like Daenerys, though!

• Looking forward to the Jaime and Cersei chapters, though I'm not sure if I'll get them in this part (yes, over here the last 3 books were split into 2 parts).

• One of the things I wondered about, while reading this and previous 2 books, is how the tv series will show all the physical changes that a lot of characters go through. I'm really looking forward to seeing that and hope the show survives long enough to get to it. Hell, I can't wait for season two. Thankfully, I have Boardwalk Empire to watch in the meantime. 

• I've never been too crazy about the Bran chapters (or Bran himself, for that matter, but at least he's no Sansa), but they're pretty cool in this book.