Pages 1-100
Pages 101-200
Pages 201-300
Pages 301-400
Pages 401-500
Pages 501-600
Pages 601-700:
1. Sometimes she prayed in the godswood as well, since the Starks kept the old gods.
One of Martin's greatest writing foibles is the fact that he likes to repeat thngs over and over with the exact same wording. Maybe he thinks that in an 800 page book a few precise repetitions will go unnoticed: this is not true. It's noticeable. It's also really really frustrating.
2. When Ned is in prison, nearly an entire page is devoted to an unnecessary flashback. This adds nothing to the book. It adds nothing to Ned. It doesn't spur him to action, because he's basically about to die when it happens. Its only possible purpose is... to remind readers of questions that won't be answered because he dies? To add a modicum of dramatic irony? Bullshit. It's there because no one bothered to cut this thing down to side the way it so badly needs to be.
3. "You want me to serve the woman who murdered my king, butchered my men, and crippled my son?" Ned's voice was thick with disbelief.
"I want you to serve the realm," Varys said.
WHY DOES EVERYONE HOLD NED UP AS AN HONORABLE CHARACTER? He's only honorable to the point that it cripples him. In a different (better written) context, I might call it his tragic flaw; here, it's just the one supposedly good character acting like an idiot and making things far more personal than they need to be because he's being pushed around by the plot and an author who refuses to give his characters any agency.
4. "I'm ninety and I remember very well. I remember what to do with a woman, too. That wife of mine will give me a son before this time next year, I'll wager. Or a daughter, that can't be helped."
I'm
just
so
tired
of
crudity
in
contexts
where
it
has
no
place.
5. The pommel was a hunk of pale stone weighted with lead to balance the long blade. It had been carved into the likeness of a snarling wolf's head, with chips of garnet set into the eyes. The grip was virgin leather, soft and black, as yet unstained by sweat or blood. The blade itself was a good half foot longer than those Jon was used to, tapered to thrust as well as slash, with three fullers deeply incised in the metal. Where Ice was a true two-handed greatsword, this was a hand-and-a-halfer, sometimes named a "bastard sword." Yet the wolf sword actually seemed lighter than the blades he had wielded before. When Jon turned it sideways, he could see the ripples in the dark steel where the metal had been folded back on itself again and again. "This is Valyrian steel, my lord," he said wonderingly. His father had let him handle Ice enough; he knew the look, the feel.
Jon is such a Mary-Sue. He's got the angsty past, the family that adores him despite all his supposed personality flaws, the skills, the comfortable background, the giant unusual animal familiar, the special weapon, and I hear later he develops magic. As a matter of fact, I ran him through the Mary Sue Litmus Test and he scored a 37 which, for those of you not familiar with it, puts him squarely in pure Sue territory.
6. Khal Drogo smiled. "See how fierce she grows!" he said. "It is my son inside her, the stallion who mounts the world, filling her with his fire."
This relationship - argh. The way he refers to her like this on the same page that they call each other 'sun of my life' and 'moon of my life'. The way he attributes her assertiveness to his son. The way he doesn't seem to see her as anything more than a vessel for his children. This relationship just continually horrifies me.
7. Tyrion and Shae. I'm not going to post a quote for this because frankly it squicks me out waaaay too much. Let's just say that Martin could have made his point, if he had one, without such bizarre and really creepy descriptions of them having sex. It's intensely disturbing.
Last 100 pages tomorrow! I'm really, really, really looking forward to being done with this.
