Jeff:You've re-read A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4)
by George R.R. Martin, too, haven't you?Evil Monkey:Yes. No way am I scaling the mountain that is A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five
without reminding my brain of prior context.Jeff:What did ya think?Evil Monkey:What did you think?Jeff:On count of three, we both shout out what we thought...One...Two...Three!Jeff/Evil Monkey (simultaneously):CORPSEY CORPSEY STABBY BLEAK STABBY CORPSEY GROSS HORRIFYING CORPSEY CORPSEYJeff:Hmmm. What're the odds of that?Evil Monkey:Let's face it, it was both full of stabbyness and corpses.Jeff:What about the source of those hangings?Evil Monkey:Oh. My Gawd!Jeff:I know, right!Evil Monkey:And that fight by the sea, on the cliff!Jeff:Oh. My God. And what happens to the queen?!Evil Monkey:Oh my god! I know! And those ironborn extra-drowned guys!Jeff:And Stark's stabby daughter!Evil Monkey:You can see she's gonna bring a world of hurt down on somebody soon.Jeff:I know, right?! Wow.Evil Monkey:So...did you like it?Jeff:Did you like it?Evil Monkey:I soooo liked it.Jeff:Me, too. I thought it was great.Evil Monkey:And the first time I read it I thought it was a big stinking pile of monkey feces.Jeff:Me, too. It smelled just like you.Evil Monkey:No, it smelled like you.Jeff:Well, it smelled.Evil Monkey:What changed?Jeff:I dunno about you, but I read those first three books in like two weeks. I lost so much sleep reading those books it was like I was on crack. I couldn't stop reading them, and then I'd stop reading them because I didn't want them to end. But I got to them late, so Feast came out about six months after I finished the first three...and I wanted Tyrion and the dragon queen and all of those characters...and they weren't in there.Evil Monkey:And now you didn't want them?Jeff:Honestly, I had to consult Wikipedia to remember everything that had happened, so encountering Feast unmoored from my expectation of needing Tyrion in there, I thought it was pretty darn awesome. I now disagree with the haters. the writing is first-rate and the anti-quests along with the state of things for the queen and her son...nicely done. And those ironborn are bad-asses.Evil Monkey:They sure are. I'm hoping that daughter-heir kicks all their butts, though.Jeff:Me, too.Evil Monkey:I just about ran out of the room screaming when [redacted] returned. OMG.Jeff:I know! I don't know if people realize how much this series depends on horror, and a working knowledge of horror tropes.Evil Monkey:Yeah, grim grim grim.Jeff:Yup. Grim crack you can't stop scarfing down. This is like caviar for pessimists.Evil Monkey:Aye, it is. Coulda done without the Sam parts, though.Jeff:Always gotta end on a downer, don't you, dipweed?
