which is that this book is disappointing. Aegon might have potential as a new player, but so far isn't too interesting, and merely complicates things further. The other plot threads simply don't move enough, and just because people like Jon, Tyrion and Daenerys doesn't mean their chapters should be dragged out without much to show for it.

I do think that this book makes a few points, and makes them well; Daenerys' and Jon's plotlines (I'm including Barristan's chapters in Daenerys' plotline, obviously) are both excellent illustrations of how heavy the burden of power can be, and how sometimes all of your options suck. Condensing those plotlines might not have made that as clear, might have made it look as if it's easy to just take the right decisions all the time. I'm not sure if Tyrion's chapters served any worthy purpose, though, other than perhaps making clear to the readers that beneath the sense of humour and the bravoure there's a severely traumatized dwarf.

No doubt it's possible to end the series in two more books, but it doesn't really look as if doing so would make the latter half of the series remotely as good as the first half.