End of Disc One, on 20 May 2011 - 06:17 PM, said:
I'm a big Theon fan but I'm not sure what to make of him having the fourth most chapters. He's not in the best state of course and I'm worried it will make his chapters painful to read.
The only POVs I'm really looking forward to are Jon and Bran. Bran left on an interesting note and Jon seems pretty badass from the preview chapters, and I'm looking forward to him clashing with Stannis.
As much as I love Tyrion, I'm expecting a lot of travel time...I love his political intrigue chapters but I'm not expecting much of that. Never been a Dany fan and I'm expecting a lot of chapters of her ruling Meereen and not getting closer to Westeros.
I don't want to sound like a downer; I'm really looking forward to this book, just not expecting it to be as good as the first three.
I think it's safe to assume that some of those POVs were added for the sake of accelerating and advancing the plot so at to AVOID churning out entire filler novels ala Crossroads of Twilight. If the hints and implications are any indication, Barristan, for example, was introduced as a POV character here to cut through the Meerenese knot, which ostensibly will result in getting Dany out of Slaver's Bay and at least bound for Westeros or thereabouts. Theon I'm iffy on, but since this is the first time since... what, book 2 that the political and social landscape of the North is being revisited (Bran and Jon's storylines are the only ones that've touched on this, and Bran's journey in hiding and Jon's presence on and beyond the Wall doesn't give much insight into what's actually fucking happening in this massive country) so for that reason I'm excited he's getting face time.
The Ironborn POVs I could honestly take or leave, at least as they were presented in FFC. However, now that the whole realpolitik of the Iron Islands arc has mostly been resolved, I'll be more interested to see these characters as, with Victarion at least, his arc is going to be tied to developing some of the more fundamental plots of the whole series (Dany getting to Westeros, dragons n'shit, etc.)
Then there's Melisandre. She as a POV is going to be huge. I don't "like" her and truthfully as a character I don't find her all that compelling, but she obviously possesses a lot of knowledge about some of the lore and magic in the series, particularly the Others. Regardless of how close to the vest Martin holds his cards when he's writing her chapters, we're still likely to get more info on the gods, magic, dragons, and the Others out of her POV chapters in Dance than we've gotten from the other four books combined. Similarly, regardless of how you feel about Barristan as a character, and regardless of how (un)necessary you feel it is to have another set of eyes in Meereen, it's going to be a trip getting inside his head, with all his knowledge of Rhaegar, the Mad King, etc.
I realize this is a pretty damn optimistic view, and that the safer route at this point would be to keep my expectations low. But then again I'm also someone who found virtually every arc/POV/setting visited in FFC (aside from the Dornish) to be the more dull threads in the series (not to say they were downright bad or unenjoyable, just not my preferred cast/settings) and have been waiting for ages to get back to Meereen, the Wall, and the North, so it could just be a matter of preference.
This post has been edited by Ceda Cicero: 20 May 2011 - 07:25 PM