Hobbies include... Anime (obviously) Sports - Philadelphia Eagles, Seton Hall Pirates and the Georgia Bulldogs are my favorites. TV (The Wire is the BEST show in the history of television. Period) Video Production / Editing - Check out my Destiny music video!! http://youtu.be/wfJMuGpNw1g
I just wanted to let you know that I'm planning to retire from MAL activeness fairly soon, Ghostxlix. The reason I'm doing this is I have certain life goals set up for myself and unfortunely being active at MAL is going to take up too much of my time. Even though I still do like anime, my passion for it is not the same as it once was.
I wanted to say that I have enjoyed our past discussions and it was great being friends with you at MAL over the years. Hope you enjoy your times at life as much as I have. Farewell.
Yeah this is Anime-Destiny. I decided to create a new identity and made some profile changes. I enjoyed my time being A-D but eventually I felt its best to move on (C.C. included).
I haven't watch Juuni Kokuki in quite a long time so I made the decision to rewatch it from the beginning when I have the chance. For some reason I have felt that I didn't make the right timing in starting that show (especially since I had been dealing with a fairly busy schedule in the past). No worries though. When I end up finishing the show, you will be the first to know.
Hahaha! I didn't realize you hated her so much. I guess now that you mention it, her chapters did not have much content, except that we saw Podrick, and I think/thought that something is up with him.
As for Brienne's death, if you don't remember it, then it could be I misread it. Basically, she met those people who had Catelyn, and using the reasoning that she refused to go back to Jaime to kill him, they killed her or hung her. But then again, maybe I was just reading too much into it.
I actually finished the fourth book, and I'm already reading the fifth one!
Honestly, I enjoyed it a lot. Even though the plot pacing was a lot slower, the narrative quality, character development quality, and even the plot itself were still as good as ever.
Well, probably the plot was slightly worse than usual, but it was still good.
- Cersei. Loved her being paranoid about Tyrion.
- Jaime. I found it awesome how he rejected Cersei's letter.
- Brienne. I was surprised by her death, and I thought it was the best part of the book, because it was there to make a point.
- Arya. Did she really go blind?!
- Sansa. So far so good. I need more information.
- Samwell. I was surprised at Jon's decision, but the fifth book kind of explained it.
- Euron is awesome.
Yes, the lack of Tyrion, Jon Snow, Davos, Stannis, Melissandre, etc. was unfortunate, but I actually like this idea of having two books covering the same timeline.
So, here is my question to you. What did you not like about the book?
"i dunno if your still on a break from watching the show or not, but i had to mention that we've met Ygritte in the series, and she's better looking then i imagined her..."
Haha. The reverse happened to me and Brienne. Before seeing the series, for some reason I imagined her beautiful despite the author constantly telling us she's ugly. And the more he said it, the less I believed it. But then when I saw her in the TV series, I didn't have that problem anymore, haha.
And yes, I'm still reading the book and not watching the show. Read about 1/3 of it.
"flipped through the book to see if there was another Arya chapter coming up. sure enough there was and i could breath..."
Haha! I can understand that.
"If Martin had killed off Robb, Cat and Arya all in the span of a few pages, i would have stopped reading. seriously"
Oh, come on! I think I would have continued reading.
"he scares me now though, like a dog off its leech. how exactly is he gonna take being let go?"
Since you're asking this question, I have a feeling the fourth book will not get far in terms of plot because it'll tell the tales in the book 1 - book 3 timeline. But yeah, I agree. He will definitely come back to bite her in the ass.
"i rather enjoyed the scene where he killed Lysa. cuz she is crazy and needed to go and really, someone needs to push her son down that hole too, fucking brat."
Me too. Littlefinger pretty much stole the show in every scene he appeared since "rescuing" Sansa.
Her should be killed too, but I think he's going to behave better after his mother's death.
"i was disappointed in Joffery's death truthfully."
Fair enough. I agree that he deserved a much worse fate, but I thought that choking on food while helplessly pointing his finger a Tyrion begging for help, while Tyrion himself stood with a poker face as if he didn't care was still satisfying. Or maybe I was just so glad that he died, I didn't care how he died, haha.
" i have to say though, the series kinda jumped the shark when people start coming back from the dead"
I don't like characters coming back to life either, but I thought returning as a vegetable scarred for life is okay. Not totally unrealistic and unbelievable. And it's not like it happens that often. Plus, it'll give us some closure when she meets Arya and Alayne.
"this is prob a spoiler, but i don't care. did NOT like book 4, i'm just throwing it out there. if that ruins it for u or lowers your expectations, i'm sorry, but it needs to be said."
I knew people considered it the worst book, so I'm kind of aware what I'm getting into. It's unfortunate you didn't like it; I guess I'll try to find something good there and hope that you didn't like it precisely because it didn't progress anywhere from where A Storm Of Swords left off.
"you've almost caught up to me!! oh no! maybe i'll stop being cheap and get book 5 in hardcover. been waiting very patiently for paperback..."
Just so you know. I'm reading from a Kindle, so I'm definitely starting book 5 right after I finish book 4.
"oh...and in case your wondering, no...Lannisters do not shit gold :-)"
Haha, oh yeah! This line was a nice touch. The funny thing is that when I read: "And also it confirms that the rumors were false", I was like (with a serious face): "Wtf, what rumors?! What could this POSSIBLY confirm?! I hope it's told in the next sentence!" But then the next sentence was: "No, he did not shit gold". Hahaha.
So far, I like book 4.
It's awesome and realistic to see Cersei so paranoid, and slightly surprising to see her make relatively clever decisions.
Jon's decision to kill Gilly's baby was surprising, to say the least. I wonder what Sam is going to do about it.
First of all, I'll respond to your Ygritte comment. Yes, you're right. Even though I never really noticed it, she was used as a plot device to develop Jon, but to her credit, it was done in such a way that it felt natural, so I took a liking to her.
Now, onto the rest of the book.
The second half (after the Red Wedding) was brilliant. Before the RW I thought that the third book was awesome, but in my eyes it was approximately equal to the second book in quality (book 2 > book 1 to me), so I didn't see why people thought Storm Of Swords was in another league, compared to Game Of Thrones and Clash Of Kings.
Well, the second half answers it all!
Jorrah Mormont was a spy? Cool twist. I should've seen that coming, but it came as a surprise to me. And the fact that she didn't take him back was great too. I did think that the way he didn't beg for forgiveness was retarded, but based on his behavior Dany made the correct choice.
Littlefinger paid to kidnap Sansa to get her to him and killed Joffrey? Holy shit! Now, first, let me say that I have never been so glad about a character's death as I was about Joffrey's ever. When he died, I was like: "Yes! Yes! Yes! That's what's supposed to happen!", which is weird that I didn't really hate his character that much (until he started to belittle Tyrion).
It was like a rock lifted off of my shoulders, and then a moment later this hatred I felt for Joffrey almost doubled before it passed to Cersei after she assumed Tyrion had poisoned the king! That's just insane. I didn't hate Cersei before that much either!
When I was reading the second book, I had a gut feeling that one of these days Cersei would destroy Tyrion and get him killed. During that trial, that feeling was not leaving me, and I was sure he would die.
The trial was fantastic! I don't even know how to describe it. We all know Tyrion was innocent, but with so much negative stuff people said about him, it was absolutely insane how everything worked against him so smoothly. If I was there, I wouldn't believe him either. Terrific writing!
Then Red Viper came along and suggested trial by battle. With the way he was pressuring the Mountain from the start, I had doubts he would win, but I hoped he would, and he didn't.
This whole situation was an intense thriller. I still need explanations as to why Varys helped him escape.
But this was not what I wanted to say. I wanted to talk about Littlefinger.
Do you remember I once told you that I found him and Varys cheating plot devices?
Well, at the moment I don't even remember who I thought was better, but after this stunt Petyr pulled off, Littlefinger is now easily in my top 5 of favorite characters in the franchise. Responding to the question as to why he killed Joffrey with "Confuse your enemies, keep your motives hidden" was jaw-dropping. This is one of the most hilariously awesome justifications ever!
And the way he killed Lysa... Wow, haha. "This singer killed my lady wife" He is incredibly cunning, and now I understand why I felt he was a cheater. I guess there weren't too many scenes with him, and no explanations for his shrewd schemes were given, which is why I felt skeptical towards him, but now that I know that him being smart is not a fluke and has an explanation, I would love to know more about him.
I'm still putting Varys under question, though. I'll need more proof with regards to how he finds his "little birds" and where.
What else... Oh yeah, Tywin's death. Nice job by Tyrion! House Lannister is going to be "run" by Tyrells now, I guess. Like Littlefinger said, Cersei is just a pawn, so with Tywin's death, she probably won't be able to do much on her own.
Brienne is a great character, I forgot to say. She did change Jaime, and I guess I can find that believable, but it seems like a drastic change.
Jon's meeting with Stannis was insane. The way Sam convinced everybody to vote for Jon Snow was hilarious and daring too. This is going to be interesting!
Arya killing the Tickler and leaving the Hound was great. I was very satisfied that they stayed together up until the end of the book.
And finally, the last scene. I did not see this coming. Catelyn was alive after all! With with the state she's now in, she might as well be dead though.
What an immense novel!
I started A Feast for Crows, and it looks like a lot of chapters are told from the perspective of random people. It's kind of unfortunate, but it explains why people think it's the worst novel out of the five (although still good).
Haha, yeah, now I'm going to be seeing a dead person when too I watch Robb on screen!
As for Catelyn, I understand your feelings, although for some reason I did not get annoyed with her at all. The only stupid and nonsensical thing about her character is her freeing Jaime. It proved to be a nice plot device to keep a story more interesting, but the decision simply does not make sense in my opinion (I don't even consider it believable), as I've told you before.
Yeah, the Hound's chemistry with both Stark girls was out of this world. I didn't really question why, because it just seemed like it was supposed to be this way. Dog/wolf symbolism makes sense.
Oh, Ygritte died. :( That was unbelievably sad.
"You won't die, Ygritte! Hang on!" "You know nothing Jon Snow", said Ygritte, dying.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll be sure to comment on other events I'll find awesome!
Just now I have gotten to the Red Wedding! Unfortunately I spoiled the title of this event for myself beforehand (not the content, though), so I was thinking that at Joffrey's wedding there would be a bloodbath (There still might be!), and it seems that I was almost correct in my judgment.
I mean, wow. Catelyn dead. Robb dead. What the hell?!
I obviously suspected that something terrible would happen (it was even in the flames too), because Walder being so courteous was out of character for him, but I really didn't expect Catelyn and Robb to die just like that without even knowing that Bran, Rickon, and Arya are alive. Amazing creative decision and ballsy move by the author, which makes me respect this franchise even more. Of course, you can make a case that it was illogical for Robb to walk into a trap just like that, but it was already established by Catelyn that she saw Ned in him, which meant Robb was as honest/naive as Eddard, so I think that the decision Robb made was legitimate.
Speaking of Arya, she and the Hound made an awesome team. I'm not sure where Arya is going to end up, now that she got hit by an axe in the back of her head, but I hope she crosses her paths with the Hound once again. The Hound is definitely in my top 5 characters in Song of Fire and Ice now, no question.
Oh yeah, and thinking about Robb's death, I should've seen it coming, when he appointed Jon to be his successor. And wow, Jon being the king! That's hilarious! Since he is a bastard, an oathbreaker, and a turncloak at the same time, it will inevitably cause an misleading judgment of character on behalf of the people, and I can't wait to see how the author will handle that!
Tyrion Lannister: "When would you like me to bed Sansa: before or after I tell her how we murdered her mother and brother?" - that was a great quote. Yeah, I don't see this "relationship" working out anymore, haha.
Actually, I expected Tyrion to die in the third book (or the second book), but now I'm not so sure anymore. He still has a lot to do, although with the rate of how the main characters are dying, I have no idea what will happen.
By the way, in the newest episode (S16E07) South Park inserted a Game of Throne reference. Basically, Mr. Harrison was teaching history to the class, and he was talking about the world of Song of Fire and Ice. It was hilarious, because it was so unexpected and random!
I haven't seen the 4th episode yet, and I think I'll wait, but I'm currently halfway through the book 3.
First of all, here is my biggest complaint. Right at the first moment, when Daenerys was introduced to Unsullied, my first thought was: "What if a person buys them all and then turns them against the original owner and take the money back?". And not surprisingly, this exact thing happened. Well, if I thought of this scenario, why couldn't that dude who sold Unsullied? Very dumb.
But hey, so far, the book is awesome. I love the fact that Sansa was wed to Tyrion! Even when the idea was first spoken by Lord Tywin, I was already excited for this. It's interesting that this wedding made Tyrion want to make Sansa happy. At first I thought: "Wtf, why? He has Shae", but then it was answered.
I agree that Arya revealed her identity too early. I also thought that the build-up to Theon finding out that the girl he was riding with to his father's place was his sister was way too short, and I didn't like it.
But all the technical aspects of the show are incredible as always, and just like you, I like the scene with the sex on the map.
"but all of his actions he see thru fingerless guy (name escapes me)"
Davos.
I can't remember Jon being hit in the books, to be honest.
So far I like that Bran's scenes are cut to a minimum and that stuff that happens with Jon is more exciting in the TV series.
Well, that Littlefinger/Cersei scene probably didn't happen in the book, and here is how you can easily tell why. Neither Cersei, nor Littlefinger had any chapters from their perspectives in the second book, and Sansa wasn't anywhere near them. Same goes for Joffrey. If I remember correctly Tyrion and Cersei were actually talking about how they would NOT want Joffrey to hear anything.
Disjointed? That's unfortunate. Well, we'll see.
The webrip of the second episode has been out for several days. Have you seen it?
Well, overall the episode was very good, but to be honest, there isn't much to tell right now, since the episode mostly served to remind the viewers who everybody is and briefly introduce new characters.
I'm disappointed we weren't shown the infamous Tyrion/Cersei dialogue, but I think it's being saved for later. After reading the books so slowly, the pacing in the TV series seems very fast, and I'm sure they are going to cut some awesome scenes, such as the Hound/Sansa interactions.
On a positive note, Robb's direwolf looks incredibly badass.
I'm also expecting Jon's storyline to be portrayed much better in the series than in the book. The episode didn't quite yet make me pick up the third book again (where Jon's storyline is incredible at the moment) to continue it, but I bet soon enough it'll happen.
All Comments (212) Comments
I wanted to say that I have enjoyed our past discussions and it was great being friends with you at MAL over the years. Hope you enjoy your times at life as much as I have. Farewell.
I haven't watch Juuni Kokuki in quite a long time so I made the decision to rewatch it from the beginning when I have the chance. For some reason I have felt that I didn't make the right timing in starting that show (especially since I had been dealing with a fairly busy schedule in the past). No worries though. When I end up finishing the show, you will be the first to know.