Once a Stranger

*stares*

Perhaps she's differentiating between real kills and kills where they get up again afterwards.

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I think I can understand what she means if she's talking all these characters we at some point of the text think ought to be dead/have to die now and then turned out not to be. There were a bit too much that last book.

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True, that got a bit out of hand lately.

I admit I wouldn't mind a bit of weeding out the cast... it's starting to get difficult to keep track of all the minor characters. But so far it's manageable.

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Starting?

The only way i'm able to keep track is thanks to one year and a half of deep obession reading forum where people had crack theories like "Tyrion is Aerys' son" around.

I wouldn't mind a few deaths either I guess. As long as the death are properly cool. I love good death scenes ♥

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I'm Russian-epic trained. Compared to monsters like War and Peace, the cast is manageable. And has names I can actually tell apart. :-)

Tyrion as Aerys's son... interesting one.

Ah, some good death scenes... but we get Dani on the next turn, so I expect a few of them. People around her die in interesting ways.

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Oh my. That's a good point. I'm not yet up to War and Peace but I plan on reading Tale of Three Kingdoms soon. Probably I'll need to make notes to keep track.

re: Tyrion as Aerys' son : I think it's a "let's make cool characters I love TARGARYEN! and get a dragon! kewl!" syndrome. Sorta overmelodramatic and unneeded to the plot.

Ah yes, these dragons do need to gow up after all. Have you read about the new PoV's reveal ?

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Three Kingdoms is manageable, though it reads like the Silmarillion at times. Only that all names seem to start with Li, not Fin-. Nice story, though!

Overmelodramatic, unneeded... and whatever would Tyrion do with a dragon, anyway. Totally not his style.

I know practically nothing about the new book, only that it will have the characters who didn't get screentime in AFFC. Who are we getting as a PoV?

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Oh dear. I never could finish Silmarillion.

Well... he'd love dragons I think. Being up there and all. But he doesn't even need to be a Targ to be a head out of three.

Besides Davos, Dany, Tyrion, Arya, Bran, and, err, is it Asha?, there's Theon and Quentyn Martell.

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Quentyn Martell.

*mourns* I thought I was so clever (http://lasultrix.livejournal.com/285327.html) in making that my top prediction for the next book and it turns out it's been confirmed by the man himself? Oh well.

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If it makes you feel better, I do think that reveal was after last December ^^ so your guess was right on at that point!

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It might depend a bit on the translation. And it reads like the more interesting bits of the Silmarillion, if that's in any way reassuring. :-)

*nod* Better leave him a Lannister. Dany is Targayen enough for a bunch of them.

Yay for Theon and Asha! I really enjoyed that plotline. (I'd happily exchange all of Bran's chapters for more of those two...). But shouldn't we get Jon too?

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Well it is true I tried in French, and that I was 12 at the time.

Indeed. I don't like Asha much, but I'm glad about Theon. I still vaguely hope there's room in his jerk soul to grow a personnality - I guess I'm an idealist.

lol I love Bran's chapter, but I don't there's be many of them anyway.

Right, Jon! Knew I was forgetting someone.

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I like Asha for the hands-on and direct approach, but I'd hate to meet anyone like her in person. Theon... let's be idealists together and see.

Bran's the only POV where I've ever skipped chapters on the first read. And whose chapters I tend to skip entirely on the re-reads. He just annoys me for some reason.

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You see, she and I both read them at the same time (I read 1, I loaned her 1 while I read 2, etc.) and we had both been warned umpteen times OMG STEEL YOURSELF THERE IS NO PREDICTING HE WILL KILL, KILL, WANTONLY KILL DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET ATTACHED TO ANYONE!

Then a young boy who's already had a POV gets killed. And we go "Wow."
And then he's alive.
And then he's killed again later in the books, and it's very affecting.
And then he's alive.
Maya declared after that that she was bloody well owed a Brandeath.

The only death in the first book is Eddard. Whose card was obviously marked from the start. The Red Wedding was shocking, but Robb never had a POV (though I did like him) and Catelyn has survived, albeit in a weird way. Brienne is OBVIOUSLY not going to get hanged, and just as obviously, she will not get hanged because 'Arya' is the word she screams.

We didn't come to the books fresh and think 'Hmm, I could have done with some more deaths'. But there's a certain Dude, Where's My Gore? after we'd been given soooo many warnings about soooo many lead-character deaths.

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Hello! nice seeing you there ^^

Yeah, I came to the same conclusion as well about the false-death (Brian & Rickon was one thing, but having all these from FFC as well as Arya in ASoS was a bit much. However I couldn't resist make the post for the fun value of it - not trying to attack Maya, I promise!

If tend to warn about rape/force wedding more than I do about death in ASOAF myself. I think it's much more gruesome than the Red Wedding in a way.

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*laughs* Maya's even taller than I am and probably needs little defending!
It's the random rape, torture and murder I find very hard to take in GRRM. The first time I read the books, I was so eager to find out what was happening in the various plot strands that I kinda skimmed the Arya bits. On rereading, I didn't skim, and could barely stop my face twisting into horror about all the things she's forced to see.

The behaviour of the islanders, too... Some people say Asha's cool, but they need to open their eyes. The islanders, all of them, see rape as a way of life.

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That she does.

I've seen people retelling the tale of the innkeeper's daughter raped by Gregor's men as their favourite humorous bit. I like grim humour, but I got googly eyed at that.

I strongly dislike Asha so no arguing there.

There are worse books about gritty realistic portrayal of sexism. Ever read Bakker's Prince of Nothing?

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PEOPLE RETELL 'MY LAYNA'S NO WHORE' AS A JOKE?
I want to kill them.

(nope, haven't heard of it.)

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I KNOW!!!

it was the Lies of Locke Lamora of two years ago, except better (didn't much like Lies, good plot but didn't care for the characters). Three volumes so far, a bit like fantasy!Dune, with a better grasp of characterization and less misogyny. I've got a long review there
It's seriously good, if tough to read.

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quivo.livejournal.com

Read review, spooged in comments. :(

But anyway, seconding the 'tough to read' part. Good's debatable, imho, except if it's meant as a mostly stylistic compliment, as the writer is really skilled.

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sarahtales.livejournal.com

I defend myself stoutly! I must behold the real death of Bran at once. The Red Wedding was not enough to slake my thirst for blood.

Well, actually I echo everything Las said: with his huge cast, I thought he killed a predictable amount of people - obviously they're going to be more disposable than the books with three main characters - and with his rep, I expected bloodbaths everywhere. He's great, I like him, but yes, more deaths would be appreciated.

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Hey, I'm among the people who weren't really upset by anyone's (real) death in the serie so far, so I quite agree. I could bear Bran's, but FFC did go too far (though I'd hate if he killed Davos, or Brienne, or Sandor this early on, so hmmm, a bit trapped) I was trying for a funny post ;)

(btw in case you were wondering where the hell I came from and started commenting on your post : I really love your fanfics!)

We should write a petition asking GRRM for more death. Just for the sake of seeing his face.

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rexluscus.livejournal.com

Ahahaha! Proof that there's always gonna be someone who's never satisfied.

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Fantasy readers are a bloodthirsty kind!

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quivo.livejournal.com

I'm too apathetic to call bluff, actually. I'm more in favor of rousing ASOIAF readers everywhere, storming his goddamn house and making him write more. I mean, how can we determine if he has an appropriate ratio of dead main characters to living ones until we know what (and who) goes down?

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