I think the biggest problem with AFFC was that it took 5 years to write, and then people got it and started reading, all excited to continue stories from book 3, but oops, there are no chapters on Tyrion, Jon or Dany. Ticked me off when I realized it too.

They also suffer by comparison to book 3 in terms of action and exciting twists, but pretty much all books would suffer by that comparison as book 3 is one of my all time favorite books.

Anyway, books 4 and 5 are still excellent books, and they are MUCH better when read simultaneously using a chapter list. MUCH better. Releasing them the way he did was the biggest mistake GRRM made with this series (except letting HBO pass him up on finishing the books).

The other part is that books 4 and 5 build up to some climactic events, but then several of those are left for book 6. If book 5 had covered the Mereen battle or the Winterfell battle, or both, it would not have felt so incomplete and thus disappointing to many.

I would suggest still reading them, I have read them twice and enjoyed them quite a bit.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Elwj8ZFAznE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Good episode, especially Brienne being a bad-ass! But man, we are WAY outside of book territory on almost all of the character arcs now.

Jon's is pretty close to the books right now, and Cersei's is somewhat close. Everyone else is very different from the books at this point. Not that it's all bad or anything, just different.

I think Dany's is better, her book 5 story is pretty weak until the end with Drogon, but on the show, I was entertained by her poor decision making. She has lessons to learn on how to rule, and the show is making that more interesting than the books did.

Brienne and Pod following Littlefinger and Sansa should be interesting. I'm pretty sure I know the marriage proposal Littlefinger arranged, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be fun watching that play out.

Arya and Jaqen together again. Loved it when Arya told the guy trying to take Needle from her that money is worth nothing to a dead man.

Should be a fascinating season, especially for book readers who will be just as clueless as non-readers on much of what is happening this season.

Bronn and Jaime in Dorne. What could possibly go wrong?

Do you think the books intended the old faceless man to be Jaquen-Hagar?

Jaquen is in the citadel in the books, so I'd say no.

Isn't that just a theory? I didn't see anything conclusive leading me to believe it was him. Maybe I'm due for another reading.

Me either.

Stoneheart doesn't pay off? It would have been a "Red Wedding" level shocker.

The showrunners said they were cutting Stoneheart b/c the storyline does not pay off in any big way in the books thus far. They did say that if later down the line in the novels she played a larger role or had a bigger payoff in regards to the story, they would consider including her. But as of now she isnt in it

This is a book departure that is going to be fun.

You're not kidding. I guess it does detract from where they now obviously want to go with Jaime and Brienne, but to see her hanging Brienne for her failures would've been epic. Oh well.

I do like where Jaime's story line is headed. I have a feeling that Jaime is going to take the place of Arys Oakheart, which means we will see quite a battle over Myrcella between most likely Bronn and Areo Hotah. If so, that doesn't bode well for Bronn. They can afford to take him out now that he's betrayed Tyrion.

Bronn is pretty popular with viewers. Killing him off wouldn't be shocking and just piss people off.

Jamie kills Cersi. I like that for no other reason than the actress wouldn't do the full nudity scene in her walk through town. That was essential to her comeuppance.

Pretty sure she did. There was a whole brouhaha about her being nude in a sacred cathedral in some religious city to film the scene. They were going to pull the entire project permit.

They either greased some palms, or got creative with intersplicing on-scene footage with recreated set footage.

Last I heard was she didn't want to do it. I stand corrected. Not really interested in seeing her boobage. Lots more boobage on the show need to be set free before hers but as I said, it has to happen.

Not to call you out, but I don't think Lena was ever the hold out. Could be wrong, but she gained fame from her brazen nude scenes in 300. She's an 'integral to the story' type to say the least, and that scene doesn't get much more integral, which we presume she knew going in to the entire role.

That would be like Caviezel taking the 'Passion of the Christ' role, then balking at any scenes on a cross.

Compare Arya's last description of Jaqen:

Jaqen passed a hand down his face from forehead to chin, and where it went he changed. His cheeks grew fuller, his eyes closer; his nose hooked, a scar appeared on his right cheek where no scar had been before. And when he shook his head, his long straight hair, half red and half white, dissolved away to reveal a cap of tight black curls.

to the description of the alchemist as seen by Pate:

A young mans face, ordinary, with full cheeks and the shadow of a beard. A scar showed faintly on his right cheek. He had a hooked nose, and a mat of dense black hair that curled tightly around his ears.

Then Pate is killed, yet turns up again.

I suppose it could be a giant red herring, but I doubt it. It's also possible that Jaqen is more than just a faceless man and has the ability to be in more than one place at once, but that seems like a pretty big leap, especially since we haven't seen anything like that yet.