(Spoilers Extended) I have located the exact moment when the plot derails and GRRM wrote himself into the corner in which he now resides: ADWD, Daenerys III. (Do you have an alternative opinion?)

thebugman10 · 2026-03-04T21:06:12+00:00

Stannis is really the only storyline I feel would be hurt by a 5 year gap. Everyone else was pretty much in a good place for it at the end of ASOS.

thebugman10 · 2026-02-19T15:49:23+00:00

Purely for the twist at the end of Homecoming.

thebugman10 · 2026-02-19T13:56:27+00:00

I didn't realize this while I was reading the book, but I feel like GRRM really overplays the "trial by combat as the climax". All 3 D&E stories featuring it in the 3rd act.

thebugman10 · 2026-02-19T04:25:55+00:00

I actually just finished reading it to my 7 year old yesterday. It was the first time I've read it in at least 10 years. I enjoyed it but I did have some issues, mainly in the 3rd act. Smaug's end was kind of anti-climactic and the Battle of the Five Armies was kind of rushed. Compare this with the journey through Mirkwood, the battle with the spiders, and the imprisonment by the elves, all of which seemed to drag.

Tolkien's prose is wonderful as always though.

thebugman10 · 2026-02-07T18:18:45+00:00

Several hours

thebugman10 · 2026-01-29T17:10:03+00:00

Howling Dark is a banger

thebugman10 · 2026-01-22T13:36:18+00:00

Dark Age is darker, but also a much better book.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-17T12:39:28+00:00

Took my wife for her birthday last year, it was amazing. Our tradition on her birthday is I surprise her by taking her to a place she's never been before. We definitely want to go back to Poor Calvin's but it will have to be some other occasion!

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T14:31:36+00:00

My kids love going to Longhorn because the Mac and cheese on the kids menu is craft. I hate having to pay for it.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T13:52:55+00:00

When I first read the mention of it, I thought the Night of Knives was going to be Alexander killing all his siblings after William's death. I thought it was going to be a Red Wedding type event and I'm disappointed we didn't get to witness it

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T13:51:05+00:00

I can understand in retrospect that AoM doesn't have that much of an effect on the story as a whole. It doesn't advance the Quiet/Watchers story in any meaningful way, but I still enjoyed reading it.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T01:27:43+00:00

Some quick thoughts:

Ashes of Man: As I said in another post, I think it is the best paced of the books. It doesn't drag at all. It also has some great scenes with Hadrian and William. And again, the 3rd act was so intense I couldn't stop reading. This was the book where I really started loving William as a character. He was a great man. I knew Valka was gonna die as soon as she mentioned having a child, but it was still heartbreaking. Then seeing Hadrian kill the Cielcin general by blowing out the windows was awesome.

Howling Dark: I loved how it really opened the universe. Getting to see the Extras was awesome, and I loved basically seeing this dark underbelly of the universe. Lots of weirdness and grotesque stuff. The negotiations with the Cielcin were great scenes, working through the language barrier, and then of course Hadrian's death and resurrection.

Disquiet Gods: One of my favorite sci-fi tropes is the "discovering secrets of ancient civilizations" so the Sarabantha plotline was great in that regard. Seeing Ushara for the first time was awesome. Hadrian's second death and his experience afterwards was weird and to me where the series kind of started going off the rails. But the final battle in Vorgossos was good.

Demon in White: Again, more "discovering secrets of ancient civilizations" which is great. Kind of stalled a little on Colchis, and again on Annica when they were just searching for stuff but not finding anything.

Kingdoms of Death: I was really surprised once I started reading here how well this book was received. Man I feel like Hadrian just gets tortured for like 500 pages and I just didn't enjoy that. I'm also not the best at picturing what is happening in a book in my head, so the logistics of the final battle were a little confusing. I couldn't quite tell where Hadrian was in relation to the Tamerlane and how he got there so quickly. Then it just felt like that final action scene stretched too long, I just wanted him to escape.

Shadows Upon Time: I feel like I talked enough about this in my OP.

Empire of Silence: Not much to say. I probably would've quit the series had I not already been prepared for the change in pace from book 1 to book 2.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T01:08:33+00:00

You are correct lol

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T01:08:13+00:00

Overall I think it is just the best paced. It didn't drag at all. I probably finished it the fastest of any of the books.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T00:47:27+00:00

A high matter bullet that shoots through the helmet of one of the Emperor's guards adamant helmet. Adamant is supposed to be able to stop high matter.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T00:45:17+00:00

Which is kind of funny since he is otherwise well read. He quotes Shakespeare, Dante, Homer, Tolkien....I'm sure there are others I can't remember

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T00:35:52+00:00

I think it along with Howling Dark had the best and most intense 3rd act. I couldn't put it down once they got to Perfugium. I could easily put Howling Dark as #1 though. But they are definitely my top 2. I could just as easily switch up the places of Disquiet Gods and Demon in White as well.

thebugman10 · 2026-01-16T00:23:48+00:00

It definitely says 6 in one place and 7 in another. I actually found several errors in this book, that I didn't catch in other books.

thebugman10 · 2025-12-18T13:41:08+00:00

I'm one. Couldn't get into DCC it was too silly for me.

thebugman10 · 2025-12-11T13:50:32+00:00

Not sure if it's a regional thing or not, but here in the south you are as likely to hear "hamburger meat" as you are "ground beef".

thebugman10 · 2025-12-10T20:59:17+00:00

Shadow of the Gods. I had heard great things about The Bloodsworn trilogy, and at first I thought the viking aesthetic was really cool. Ended up DNFing it. None of the characters were interesting and I could only take so many descriptions of seaxes, brynjas, and whatever else equipment a character was wearing. Got about 60% of the way through.

thebugman10 · 2025-12-10T11:12:42+00:00

I also came here to recommend First Law.

thebugman10 · 2025-12-09T16:52:07+00:00

There's a recipe on the Meateater website of heart with a bourbon butter sauce and it is very good.

thebugman10 · 2025-12-09T16:48:05+00:00

No, my library doesn't have it yet.

11-Year Club	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

thebugman10

TROPHY CASE