Reflection on A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

               In A Feast for Crows (AFFC), Martin sort of begins a new story. There is lots of resolution in the third book, A Storm of Swords (ASOS), and AFFC has lots of beginnings. There are 8 big stories told in it. There is Cersei, who rules King’s Landing terribly and finds herself imprisoned in the end. There is Jaime’s time in King’s Landing before being sent off to pacify the Riverlands. Sansa and Arya develop more as independent people who are forced to rely only on themselves in the Vale and Braavos respectively. The Iron Islanders elect King Euron and attack the Westerlands and the Reach. Samwell Tarly travels to Oldtown. The Dornish plot against each other and against outsiders. Finally, Brienne of Tarth continues to search for Sansa but only finds Lady Stoneheart. At the end of the book, though we’ve seen nothing of Daenerys, we know that the Victarion Greyjoy, Quentyn Martell, and Marwyn the Mage are all heading to Slaver’s Bay to try to bring Daenerys back to Westeros to serve their own ends. I kept this post short because I am very excited to start the next book. I mostly just wrote interesting little things I noticed.

Cersei Blowing It in King’s Landing

               As soon as Tywin dies everything really goes wrong for House Lannister. Cersei is a dangerous combination of being very stupid, drunk all the time, and thinking that she is very smart. The one smart thing she wanted to do was make her uncle, Kevan Lannister, the Hand, but he tried for a power play to demand that he be regent too and Cersei would not allow that. He has good advice to offer about taking Tyrell man and making them theirs, but Cersei does not follow it. Cersei ironically becomes more and more like her late husband Robert, having sex with many different people and getting very drunk all the time. She is casually drinking whole flagons of wine.

The Oldtown Plot

               Oldtown only comes up in the first and last chapters of the book but it is very interesting. We learn that this mysterious Marwyn who has been to Asshai and even met Mirri Maz Durr has managed to light a glass candle (dragonglass). One of his books is also mentioned to Asha by Rodrik of Harlaw. We meet a few young men training to be masters of whom the most interesting are Pate and Alleras the Sphinx. Pate dies in the end of the prologue, killed by a faceless man, and then we meet him again in Sam’s final chapter. The faceless man managed to get a master key to the citadel from him. What is this guy doing and who is he trying to kill, if anyone? Is he the same man who met Arya earlier? If so, why was he in the black cells in the Red Keep? Of course, the Pate that Sam meets must be the faceless man, so now he has infiltrated the Citadel. Very interesting stuff indeed.

Things I Noticed

• The Prophet: There’s a story about a captain of the Iron Islands who wins a boat in a bet thanks to a literal pissing contest and he named it Golden Storm which made me laugh.
• Tywin probably hates Tyrion’s whores so much because of his father’s mistress. After his father died, Tywin made her walk through the streets of Lannisport naked. Tywin must be reminded of his father by Tyrion. That walk is also foreshadowing something that will happen to Cersei…
• Samwell I: In this chapter we learn more about the Others. We learn that the Children of the Forest used to give a hundred obsidian daggers to the Night’s Watch every year and that the Others ride dead animals into battle. In one account of the Long Night the last hero slayed Others with a blade of Valyrian steel.
• Brienne II: One of Duncan the Tall’s shields is resting in Evenfall Hall in Tarth, as we learn from one of Brienne’s memories.
• Bloodraven went with Aemon Targaryen to the Wall.
• Samwell II: Sam notices that the Red Wanderer/The Thief is still in the sky, which I think is the same red comet as before.
• Cersei III: Cersei thinks to herself that Balon Swann has a secret task besides going to Sunspear to deliver the Mountain’s head to Prince Doran. What is it?
• Littlefinger brings back Robert Baratheon’s tapestries to the Vale. Why does he do that? It is mentioned a few times.
• Brienne Finds Arya’s boat that she had gone to Braavos in, much like she finds a small boat that Arya and Gendry take in the Riverlands in ASOS.
• Sam and Arya literally meet each other in Braavos.
• I thought it was funny when Jaime was thinking about a really religious lord that he was talking to he calls him “Baelor Butthole” in his head. Lol.
• Lancel Lannister claims that fucking the King’s wife is not treason unless you come inside.
• Euron, like Bran, had dreams that he could fly as a boy.
• While everyone is looking for the Prince that was Promised, they could also be looking for a Princess, as Aemon noticed. He, like I, thinks that Daenerys is Azor Ahai and the one to defeat the White Walkers.
• Nasty Moment: When Sam and Gilly finally do it, he suckles on her breasts and drinks her milk. That’s a real strange detail Martin included. I think that this man is obsessed with boobs. He is always talking about them.
• Sansa has been kissed by only three men in her life: The Hound, Littlefinger, and Robin Arryn. Very unlucky girl.