Join myself, Zeiler and Darryl as we discuss the Isle of Raven's Chapter pack, and realize how hard it can be to come up with a top and bottom five sometimes. Also, fair warning, the second segment before Props and Slops is part one of our Dance with Dragons discussion. Check out the feed here.

So I guess I should read that as if there are a lot of spoilers? I have just read a few chapters but were looking forward to some comments about the chapter pack but am now afraid to listen

There is another chain that is legal for GenCon that allows you to kneel a maester at will, the Lead Link.

Don't worry about the spoilers, we give plenty of warning before we start them. The first 30-40 minutes are all chapter pack discussion.

And good call on the Lead Link, our bad for not catching it. I'll blame it on Will and Darryl since I wasn't on the episode we discussed that pack

Intentionally Anonymous said:

I would think this sentence could be applied to all sorts of things.

fhornmikey said:

+1

fhornmikey said:

I wonder if Kennon and Dobbler would mind me using the above saying whenever I feel blue and when things are not going my way.
It would alleviate all sorts of stress in my life!

About steel link being in bottom 5.

It is actually a key to making any character *Super Maesters* As we call them here.
together with "Inn of the kneeling man" or Copper Link+High Ground, they let you use the maester and its links every single phase (provided you have one of the kneeler links). I shouldnt need to say this is kind of a big deal with Gold/Valyrian steel links.

This way, these tricks are not limited to no-shadows-bob/renly/marya/clansmen.

oshi said:

Or TftRK Joffrey.

Guys I think there was something wrong with the podcast file. I couldn't hear Darryl over the sound of universal healthcare.

Bwahahaha, that was great!

But hey, if our Representatives can't get off their high horses and compromise, I may be moving to a more northerly climate with universal healthcare anyway.

Kennon said:

+1

Kennon said:

Mathias, I and the other free folk from beyond the Wall will accept you, Will! lol

Maester_LUke said:

alexfrombeyondthewall said:

Score! What do I have to do to become King-Beyond-The-Wall then?

Kennon said:

Unite all the fans of different hockey teams?

Kennon said:

Change your name to Mancy.

M! As in "mancy"!

Sorry, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't make the Archer joke.

Intentionally Anonymous said:

+1

(Seriously guys. Seriously. I'm just getting really lazy with this)

Kennon said:

Honestly, Will? there's a movie about the last King Beyond the Wall.

alexfrombeyondthewall said:

I didn't know my biography was on youtube.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! That was awesome!

"We have ways of making you pronounce the letter 'o.'"

I finally finished Dance so I can listen again.... I'm not sure what you guys are talking about regarding Brown Ben Plumm. He says that he is part Summer Islander and he is described as having brown skin.... (He also says he is part Dothraki and they are also described as having brown skin).

I mostly agree with your assessment of Feast and Dance.

(**** NOTE: slightly, vaguely spoilerish stuff below... ****)

However, I really enjoyed reading them both. I read Feast twice and would gladly read it again if I didn't have a lot of other time commitments. I love the way Martin fleshes out the impact of the high lords' "game of thrones" by following Brienne across the countryside as she interacts with common folk. Also, I think Braavos is a well-developed city and I enjoy both Sam and Arya's chapters there. I like following Jaime's development as well as he struggles with his identity after losing his hand. Littlefinger makes Sansa's chapters interesting for me. Cersei's chapters are okay...but King's Landing isn't the same with most of the schemers no longer around. I like learning about the culture's of Dorne and the Iron Islands. Feast was really good at fleshing out these parts of Martin's world that hadn't had much light shone on them before.

The main problem with Feast is that there is no connection between any other POVs other than Cersei/Jaime. Dorne is isolated, so is Braavos, and the Iron Islands. The story doesn't weave together the way the first three books do with POV characters traveling and crossing paths and weaving their threads together into one big web. Dance did a much better job in this regard with interwoven stories both in the north and in Essos, but it still had isolated fragments for Bran, Jaime, Cersei, Arya, and Dorne.

With all of that praise out of the way, I still agree that the pace of the plot is problematically slow. If Martin were twenty years younger, I wouldn't care. His world is very interesting, and he does a great job building its history and its cultures. However, in the first three books, powerful scene followed powerful scene and the plot was moving swiftly forward. While I have enjoyed reading the last two books, even I don't think much has happened in them. The pace is just unsustainably slow. At the rate of the last two books, Martin will need another six books to finish the series. If he could go back to the pace of the first three books, I think he could easily do it in two. I'd complain more but I don't want to get into spoilers here.

By the way, I found the opening quotation vaguely spoilerish.

Ok, I'm clearly way behind on the podcasts, but, where is the love for the wackiness that will ensue with Oldtown Raven? If you use this with an OOH Maester (***** Luwin I'm looking at you!) It's essentially, kneel Raven to gain 3 gold. That doesn't suck.