Triskan

Hehehe, looking forward to your meeting with book! ... :D

Regarding the Mutiny at Craster's Keep, there is a detail I'm glad the show skipped... and that is definitly not a shared opinion. In the books, before dying Mormont has time to tell Sam his wishes for Jorah to take the black. I have no idea if that will ever be relevant, but it always seemed to me that it was unrealistic for Sam to go listen to these last words in the middle of the chaos, and I think it's a good thing the show went more direct and brutal. I remember one of my first reaction, both in book and show, after that event was : "Oh, so no more Dolorous Edd for I dont know how many chapters / episodes !" ^^

Well, your next chapter (Sam if I'm correct) is really great ! Looking forward to you reading it ! :) True Mace is a little bit more of a credible character in the books, but actually, I dont mind show!Mace bringing his goofy attitude around ! ^^

Aaaah, how I'd love to know more about Sothoryos and the southern part of the known world and what lies beyond the Sunset Sea...

Yeah, agree, let the poor skeleton have some rest ! As for the climate change, to be honest, it's not one of those subjects I give a lot of second thought too. In the sense that I accept it as a magical event that will never truly be explained. I know there are a lot of theories out there, either regarding the axe of rotation of the planet, the distance from the sun, or whatelse... but in the end, I dont think it will matter. I dont even really think there will be a real technical magical explanation either. I just accept that winter and the walkers come along. But I'd love to be proven wrong and find that, actually there is a grand plan we are totally not aware of yet !

I dont have the book on hand so I follow her progress thanks to the list of chapters from the Wiki : http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Chapters Last we heard, she has read Bran 2, so, there's a Davos ahead of her normally ! :)

Dont worry, I was just referring to what I tagged as spoilers ! :) You're progressing quite fast... some really good chapters coming ahead !

Shimpy under no circumstances read that spoiler ! :) Anyway, I'm always astonished at your take on the story ! You really get into the details and your analysis are always insightful ! You notice, point out and remark stuff that I sometimes never considered until my second reading of the books or until I was on the forums for some of them ! ^^

Oooh, I was so waiting for you to get to that one ! Now I can go back and read your take on it ! ^^ Technically, it was a Walker, or an Other... the "master" etheral species... wights are their zombonies ! ;) Glad to see someone else think so ! I too found the moment more powerful in the books. There's no one else but him to protect. It's him and himself only and his wish to die was truly agonizing ! I agree the "protect your loved one" is a strong image as well, but there was something more terrorizing and breath-taking to see Sam alone there ! Charles Dance would have nailed the role indeed, but James Cosmo was exactly what I pictured Mormont to be, so it's one of those perfect Nina Gold casting for me ! Like almost all of her choices and discoveries ! John Bradley, man, John Bradley... I blame him ! I always loved him as Sam !

Glad you appreciated the book-Free Folk, shimpy ! They are really a colorful, both intimidating and hilarous bunch ! I've read the first books in French and they were translated as "lynxes" in it, so that's what they are for me ! ^^

Mel saying it was a great moment for me ! Laughed so hard... as much as I was freaked out ! ^^ Glad they kept it in the show.

Just passing to ask if you've gone beyond Catelyn II so far ? :)

Just to add my two cents on the "did you saw Robb dying coming ? did you guess Jeyne was a setup ?" I'll just say... Some suspicions were raised in my mind at some points, but I quickly discarded them aside. I was reading these books fast as hell (read all 5 in a row, during a summer, book 5 coming out more or less when I finished book 4) and I was more invested in other stories than Robb and Cat's. I was, I confess, paying much more attention to Jon's time with the wildlings and was fascinated by their culture, and, at that point, Jaime and Arya's chapters were (besides Jon's obviously) the ones I was more interested in. ... And Dany... actually, now that I recall it, I'm quite fond of her chapters at this point in the books, but after all, it's easy to like them, it's her zenith. Although on re-reads, I finally get to fully appreciate the chapters of struggling too. But, yeah, the North campain story was definitly the one I had the least interest in, so when the Red Wedding arrived, it was a complete shock... though, I remember my reaction was very quickly to laugh the hell out at GRRM's master art of trolling. Then, I kept on reading, moving on from that story easily since it was the one I was least invested in. Anyway, looking forward to a lot of things for you to read in this book shimpy ! (and dont forget to spare some time for your thoughts on Jon's story, dont forget his fans ! I know, like I was for Robb, you're not really invested in him, but still, looking forward to see you react to him and mostly what happens around him !)

Exactly my thoughts ! It sounds very Free Folk - like to do such a thing, imo !

Looking forward to your reaction to the prologue and the first chapters ! :)

Of course we're all eager to read your views on Blackwater and on the final Theon chapters (that are indeed intense !) but I'm also really looking forward to read if you've enjoyed the latest Jon chapters of the book (that desperate flight through the wild, that icy atmosphere, the Free Folk closing on them, the eagle spying from the sky above, the dream...). There is definitly some of my favourite moments of the story !

Shimpy's getting closer to the end of book 2 ! Blackwater is coming, among many other details I'm so looking forward to read her take on ! (Must confess, the whole Rhaegar / Lyanna conversation bored me on the long run, everything on the subject has been said and re-said, and even if it's somehow new to her, it's definitly not what I'm most interested in reading about here, but hopefully, some other story elements will soon come to bring the discussion to new horizons ! =D ) Looking forward to know where you are in the book Shimpy !

Just a thought in passing (before I catch up with the latest posts) : shimpy, the Jon chapters ahead of you in this book are among my favourites of the books. I'm not necessarly speaking about Jon himself but more about the atmosphere and rythm. I hope you'll enjoy them (fully knowing this is not your favourite storyline at all !). ;) And from that point on, I'd advise you not to skim those chapters too fast, there are many interesting points the show never fully explored. :)

Same for me, Davos chapters became way more entertaining on second read, but Jon's chapters are among my favourite in this book (especially the later one, but we'll talk about that when Shimpy reaches them, cause I'll have a lot to say on them ! But that being said, I really enjoy the first half of the expedition up to them reaching the Fist, but I'm repeating myself from a previous post !) By the way Shimpy, any thoughts on Theon's chapters ? Any ? ^^

Funny. For many people the heart of book 2 is the Tyrion chapters, but for me, it's both Jon and Theon... I'm a massive fan of the expedition north of the Wall, and the icy, desolated atmosphere of these chapters (and Dolorous Edd !!!). But, yeah, I can understand not everyone enjoys these chapters.

Delta : you're right ! I'm gonna rephrase that ! ;)

Well, you've reached one of the two points I was most eager for you to read in book 2 : the earlier than in the show introduction of the Reeds... damn, how frustrating it was to read you guys mistrust them when their arrival and oath in the books is so genuine and sincere ! The other point I was looking forward for you to reach... well, you've somehow reached it, but I'm not sure exactly where you are in the Winterfell / Theon PoV exactly, so I wont delve too much into it until I know exactly at what point you are ! (Edited because the initial post gave too much away).

Well, at least Edd "had the Wall", besides droping the scythe ! But he's still alive in the show, so I hope he'll get more lines next season ! I've always felt like he should be the last character standing on page, so glad he's still around on screen ! (Yeah, I found back my password).

Shimpy, I'm wondering, which characters do you think will become PoV characters as the story goes on ? :)

Sophie's a very articulate woman, and a very smart one, I never get the feeling, even when she was 12/13 (the heart of the "I hate Sansa" seasons) that she took issues with the mean comments she received. She was surprised and somehow disturbed as she stated, but I never felt like she was crushed down, and I feel like she's known all along that the public reaction to her character would evolve a lot in the years to come. As for Jon, well, he's one of my favourite characters, but mostly for events that happen around him. Quite the opposite from some readers here, I've always been fascinated by the mythology, stakes and atmosphere of the Wall and Beyond arcs, so Jon being our main window over them made me like him a lot... and then I grew to like him as a character of his own. Sure, sometimes, he's too much "obvious hero" for my tastes (I've already said it, but my favourite character is Theon, so not the same caliber at all), but he's a damn well-thought character still, in my opinion.