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[bryant]

I finished A Feast for Crows last night. It's quite a book; slow through much of the first half and picking up in the end. My favorite character doesn't appear at all, since he's off in the section of the world that will be handled in the next book. Things happen. We see a lot of Dorne; I liked that a lot.

I'll touch on some spoilers in the extended entry, but before that: I also have the Guardians of Order A Game of Thrones RPG in hand. (Put it together with The World's Largest Dungeon and Hero Fifth Edition Revised, which I happen to be able to do at the moment, and you've got a hefty chunk of book.) So, campaign:

Three players; one's a cousin of Ned Stark, one's a cousin of Tywin Lannister, and one's a cousin of Mace Tyrell. Possibly once-removed in any of those cases. Also possibly bastards, but if so, recognized. Either gender works. All of them are between the ages of 13 and 16; they've all been fostered down to Dorne a year or two before the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire.

I'd run for a few sessions focusing on childhood concerns, letting the characters develop, letting them bond. Then I'd start running the events leading up to the War of Five Kings, without any particular expectations as to the reactions of the characters. At the start, they'd be fairly fringe. By the time the fourth book rolls around, there are enough dead people so that their place in the lines of succession might be important.

OK, spoilers follow.

More...

Comments

[triqster.livejournal.com]

I was happy with the Dorne chapters too. I haven't finished it, but I'm liking that as well so far.

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed A Feast for Crows a lot. It didn't completely bowl me over like the first three did, but there were a few shocking moments and some fascinating character development. I can see how it was a hard, hard decision to split the original book Martin had intended into two volumes. Harder still to realize that the issues brought up in this one won't be looked at again for two more books (since the next one is the simultaneous telling of what's going up north. More Tyrion, plz!)