so looks like this is my last book of 2017
919496
Alright, so looks like this is my last book of 2017. This was much longer than the other books, with the first being 120 or so and this being around 600.
I liked getting to know about some of the team's past and also why Nate had scars (I remembered that being mentioned in a previous book.)
Very detailed case this time around, more so than the others. Looking forward to the next book, but a little sad it's the last.
1400859
I have been disappointed in the last two books...it seems it is the "same book next year" and she is depending on her past success carrying the books. I feel like I am reading a conversation between 15 year olds with no character development. I kept reading, but stopped about half way through. If it has not happened by then, it is too late. Last one for me.
2733487
after waiting for months for this to be completed, i was just really disappointed in this last book. it just seemed like something was lacking.
4442640
I loved this book series and was really bumbed when she stopped writing this series.  The saving grace is that she is going to write more books from the perspective of other characters in the book.  Now sitting on pins and needles waiting for the next set of books.
3799085
It was everything I hoped and wanted it to be. I feel like my emotions have been murdered, skinned and left out to air-dry, but isn't that the tell-tale sign of a book worth getting engrossed in?
3244547
I haven't read a book in awhile that I think about days after I finish it. This is that book.
1003950
And another one bites the dust. I don't know what I'm going to do when I hit the last book. Book depression bigtime!! I absolutely love this world Elaine has created.
3765151
It's time for me to get a 2017 version of this calendar I love this!
3352653
Can't wait for her to write a sequel even though I know this is supposed to be the last of trilogy
583712
What's up with this series? It just stopped being written. It has been two years sense the last book was written.
2222166
I haven't finished it! I'm taking my time as I'm going to have to wait another year for her next novel.
3962770
I just receded my book and it is making me think . It is prepping me for upcoming exam
2561932
Oved the first two books but would like to know when the next book is coming out. It said spring of 2017?
3023647
After waiting for a year and a half. I feel like the author did not gave me enough to want to come back. I feel deceived.
3673633
have not read it all at this time what i have it's i think going to be a good read
2618553
I loved the first three books in this series and now feel like I have to finish them all.  But I don't know why I bother since I end up skimming most of the time now anyway.

With the first couple books I often found myself going back over passages that confused me, or looked back through the pages to refresh my memory on what Lord lived where or to whom he owed his allegiance.  Now I just don't care anymore.  This book dealves into the lives of the characters I care about the least.  And the few that I do care about, he only devotes two or three chapters to.  Instead of taking his brilliant story to a higher crescendo (or dare I say a resolution?) he creates new and ever more detailed side-stories using peripheral characters that nobody cares about.  It was tough getting through the first few chapters and to be honest it hasn't gotten much easier after that.

Martin's books are fiction - I don't need to know the nitty gritty history of every Lord and Lordling in his made up world.  I'm not in training to become dungeon master in the land of Westeros.  I want to hear how the story ends...I don't want a history lesson.  New characters crop up in every chapter and I just can't keep them all straight anymore.  It was giving me a heacache trying to remember them all but now that I've stopped caring it doesn't seem to make much of a difference anyway.

To be honest I'm not as invested in the characters as I was back in books one and two.  Most of the characters that Martin did such an excellent job making me love or hate are already dead, save for a handful.

SPOILER ALERT:  Joffrey's death at the end of the last book was underwhelming to say the least - and for it all to have been plotted by Little Finger for no other purpose than to keep everyone on their toes makes no sense.  Joff should have died at the hands of Sansa or Arya or someone better than Little Finger.  Now that Joff is dead who are we supposed to hate now?  Jaime's become a conflicted character much like the hound and so we almost root for him now.  Cersei is a bitch but her son just died and all the plotting she does doesn't feel mean spirited enough for me to truly despise her.  And the people that you wanted to win have died - well many of them.  All the characters I do care about: Bran, Arya, Sansa, Daenerys, John, are barely mentioned.  The Onion Knight wasn't an especially memorable character but he at least had integrity and honor and you wanted him to do well, and yet his death in this book is barely a footnote.

Martin must know what his fans want to see happen, but it's as if he'd rather be unpredictable and dark than give them what they want.  I mean this isn't a drama for God's sakes, it's a fantasy book. Fine - kill off a character here and there to add a touch of loss and pain for flavor, but don't kill them all off, or make them blind...or a zombie.  And if you're going to kill off the characters we love to hate the most, then there has to be some replacements.

I'm willing to accept this book as a "transition" book if things start getting interesting again in A Dance With Dragons but judging from the poor reviews I think I'm going to be disappointed.  A story, no matter how good the beginning, is (for me at least) judged by its ending.  And so far it's not looking too good.
2605220
It actually makes me sad, when I finish re-reading it, that there's no more left to read