New Blog: Discovering Cosmere

I have decided to start reading (and Blogging about) Brandon Sanderson books. See Discovering Cosmere.

Summary of the First Five Books

And that is that. GRRM had better finish Winds of Winter soon because now I don't know what to do with myself.

Where are we, then?

• Arya Stark is still across the sea in Braavos learning to be an assassin. Eventually she'll come back and kill everyone and avenge the Starks and take the Iron Throne. Stands to reason.
• Sansa Stark is hanging out at the Eyrie with Petyr Littlefinger Baelish who is plotting... something. Is he on the same side as Varys, Ilyrio and Jon Connington? I'm not sure.
• Jon Snow was commander of the Watch and was going to reform it and stop Others from invading. But now he's possibly dead. (I suppose the kingdom being in disarray would suit forces north of the wall, too. Is Varys working with the Children? Are they working not to restore Aegon to the throne but to return south themselves?)
• Bran Stark is hanging out with Children of the Forest learning to supernaturally spy on everyone. And possibly also influence events.
• Catelyn Stark is a zombie and hanging out near the riverlands.
• Tywin Lannister was killed by Tyrion.
• Tyrion Lannister is across the sea trying to get to Dany by way of getting Brown Ben Plumm to overthrow the Yunkai'i.
• Jaime Lannister was last seen capturing castles in the riverlands, but is now heading off to see Catelyn with Brienne.
• Cersei Lannister is about to face trial.
• Kevan Lannister was killed by Varys and weird pale children.
• Robert Baratheon the usurper of the Targaryens is dead.
• Renly Baratheon was killed by his brother Stannis Baratheon's sorceress friend Melisandre.
• Stannis Baratheon was last seen trying to capture Winterfell with a very cold and starving army but there is one unreliable report that he's dead.
• Doran Martell wants vengeance on the Lannisters and is about to meet at least one Targaryen to help restore to the throne.
• Quentyn Martell died trying to steal a dragon.
• Danaerys Targaryen is across the sea riding a dragon and running into Dothraki. Maybe if she can get her act together she can come and claim the Iron Throne of Westeros and in doing so find out it's not hers to claim any more since Aegon is still alive.
• Barristan Selmy has, rightly or wrongly, restarted a war against the Yunkai'i.
• Aegon Targaryen is off trying to capture Storm's End and ultimately the whole kingdom and the iron throne.
• Theon Greyjoy was last seen in the snow somewhere near Stannis, having bumped into his sister Asha who was going to be burned by Stannis to appease the red god. 
• Euron Greyjoy is sailing across the sea to rescue Dany from various attackers and steal her back to Westeros. He has a dragon taming horn that might be handy.

At a guess, a succession of people will win the throne and get overthrown by the next disaster. Connington and Aegon will overthrow the Lannisters in time for scary monsters from the north and general wintry mass starvation. Dany will come along at the end with dragons to help out. Aegon will die leaving her in charge. Somehow Littlefinger will end up with Winterfell. Arya will turn up and kill him and all the other people on her list. The kingdom will be at peace until Arya usurps Dany by warging the dragons. Or something.

Yep, I have absolutely no idea where this is going next, but it's been quite a ride.

AdwD Epilogue 1100

Ser Kevan Lannister is no longer the hand of the King Tommen, he's given that job to Mace Tyrell for some reason. The Tyrells seem to be rather successfully taking over the kingdom from the Lannisters, notwithstanding the small matter of Margaery's pending trial by the faith for treason by way of fornication.

Ser Ronnet Connington, Jon's nephew, is having to pledge his loyalty to Tommen but neither Mace nor Kevan trust him. Jaime gave him a bunch of GREGOR's men (probably some still on Arya's list), but Ronnet gets confined to his quarters for now. Reports are that Jon Connington is going to try to take Storm's End. And that Prince Aegon Targaryen is back. Kevan thinks this is possible because the dead boy he saw all those years ago was so badly injured as to not be recognisable. Tywin Lannister claimed it was Aegon but Kevan is not sure.

The power balance with the High Septon is a real problem since Cersei gave them arms. That's partly why Margaery needs to face a trial.

The crown is broke. They're begging Myrish bankers to pay of their Braavosi loans. They can't raise more taxes because they're over the Laffer curve. Kevan is worried he's going to have to bail them out with Lannister gold.

Cersei's trial is in 5 days. Kevan means to give her those few days with Tommen. Ser Robert Strong will be her champion at trial and Kevan thinks he knows what Strong is (i.e. a resurrected zombie GREGOR). If Cersei survives Kevan is going to send her back to Casterly Rock where she can do no further harm to Tommen. Her queen days are over now everyone has seen she's just a middle-aged woman like any other, and Kevan reflects how Cersei brought that on herself, since it was the High Septon who, now suddenly more powerful, needed to be appeased.

There is concern that Doran Martell will join up with Jon Connington. The plan is to ask him to attack Connington instead. Good luck with that!

Kevan is worried that Randyll Tarly, now on the council, is shrewd and therefore dangerous, should he take the Tyrell's side. Pycelle is worried about Tyrells too. Lady Nym of Dorne is on her way (sent by Doran Martell to infiltrate and spy, if I remember correctly). Kevan wants to unify everyone.

We get treated to yet another what-if moment: what if Rhaegar had married Cersei instead of the sickly Elia? He might not have done whatever it was with Lyanna Stark, she would not have died (I'm still not sure how she died) and the rebellion might not have happened.

Kevan goes to dinner with Cersei and Tommen. Tommen only cares about his kittens. Our friend the black tomcat with a torn ear pays a visit. Is it *just* a cat? It keeps showing up. Is someone warging it? Varys, perhaps? That would explain how he knows so much!

The Kettleblacks are in the dungeon now. Cersei admits she was wrong to raise them up.

Kevan receives a message to go to Pycelle's tower for a raven. It's cold outside so Kevan sends the messenger boy to go and warm up by a fire and gives him some money too. What a decent bloke Kevan is.

Uh oh.

Kevan is a decent bloke. He can't be long for Westeros, then, I think as I read that line.

Sure enough, he almost immediately gets shot in the chest by Varys (haven't seen him in a while). Apparently Kevan is doing too good of a job unifying everyone. Varys needs the kingdom in disarray so that it will be easier for Jon Connington and Dorne to re-take the kingdom and put Aegon Targaryen back on the throne.

And you know what, it might even be for the best. The Lannisters and the Tyrells are just ordinary feudal lords. Tommen is a spoilt brat. Aegon has been raised to understand how to serve the people and be a Good King.

Having delivered his speech, the villain/hero Varys summons his weird pale children to finish Kevan off. For now I'll assume they're just ordinary pale children and not Children of the Forest or somesuch. Because that would be too weird.

ADwD 71: Danaerys 1083

So we find out what happened to Dany! She's at Drogon's house. On a hill in the Dothraki sea. She doesn't know how to train her dragon, though. Maybe she needs that horn that Victarion has. I think she should persevere, though. Drogon seems to be able to find food enough for the both of them, and he cooks it too.

But no, bloody Meereen again. Off she goes on a walk home, since Drogon doesn't want to go there (he's the smart one). Except she gets sunstroke and eats the wrong berries and ends up with stomach trouble and delerious. She starts hearing voices giving her surprisingly good advice like: forget Meereen and go to Westeros.

In the end she's rescued by Drogon just as a Dothraki outrider finds her. Drogon catches a horse and they have supper. Then Khal Jhaqo (Dany's ex-husband's ex-bloodrider) and 50 Dothraki turn up. 50 Dothraki and a dragon. Which is better? Only one way to find out.

ADwD 70: The Queen's Hand 1065

Ser Barristan Selmy is sort of in charge now that Dany's husband is locked up, pending either Dany's return and/or proof that he wasn't the one who poisoned her.

Quentyn Martell is definitely dead, pending magical resurrection. He's definitely not immune to dragon breath, anyhow. The dragons have taken up residence in a couple of pyramids, much to the char-grin of their previous occupants. The Sons of the Harpy are back at it. Stong Belwas is back from his locust poisoning, but not so strong for now.

Selmy wants to make a truce with the Yunkish and return all the hostages and send Galazza Galare to talk to them. In the meantime he prepares for war against them. He's going to send Quentyn's Dornish friends back to the Windblown free company to get the Tattered Prince to help out (including the promise to give him Pentos in return). How it is Barristan Selmy's or even Meereen's to give is still unclear to me.

But Galazza Galare returns the the Yunkish are not doing anything until those dragons are dead. Well, actually they are doing something: they're hurling corpses, presumably corpses of people who died of dysentery, over the city walls. Nice. War it is then. With added disease and dragons for good measure. Meereen is really not a pleasant place to be right now. No wonder Dany is out of there.

ADwD 69: Jon 1048

Jon intends to lead the land party to Hardhome to rescue more wildlings. Queen Selyse and Melisandre think this is a bad idea, but Jon has had it with Melisandre and her predictions that don't come true (or are at least slightly wrong, or delayed). Bowen Marsh also thinks it's a bad idea, because who cares about wildlings?

There's a meeting about which wildlings should command which castles. Bowen Marsh thinks they are bad and should be hung. This is not going well.

Jon has a chat with Tormund Giantsbane. He gets on much better with him and finds him far more agreeable. Then a letter from Ramsay Bolton arrives. According to it, Stannis is dead, Mance Rayder is captured, Theon and Jeyne Pool (who Jon thinks is Arya) have escaped, and Ramsay wants them back or else he'll kill Jon.

Jon calls a new meeting in which he announces that Tormund Giantsbane will rescue the wildlings in Hardhome and Jon will go and face Ramsay. Alone, if needs be, since the Watch are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of kings and he doesn't want to make anyone break an oath. But he's skirting awfully close to oathbreaking himself. The wildlings don't care, but the other Watchmen do. In fact Jon seems to be getting on too well with the wildlings and not well enough with the Watch.

So it shouldn't really be a surprise that mutiny is in the air. Though it does come so very suddenly. I suppose it is always the way: everything is fine, until it isn't. Jon gets stabbed 4 times. Will he survive? Ghost can't help him because Ghost is locked up to stop him from attacking Borroq the warg's boar.

If someone doesn't rescue Jon, whether he survives or not, his Watch-reforming days are over. I guess he just tried to do too much, too quickly. And was too concerned with helping Arya, who was not even Arya.

ADwD 68: The Dragontamer 1034

Quentyn Martell is determined to steal the dragons and take them back to Dorne. His heart is not really in it, and he's relying on the fact that he absolutely must be the hero of his own story and fate. This does not bode well.

So they disguise themselves as Brazen Beasts, a free company that conveniently wears masks, and armed with yesterday's password set off for they pyramid. Somehow they get inside, presumably because the outer guards just want to go home, but the dragon guards aren't having it and need to be killed. By this point Quentyn is way out of his depth.

The dragons are amused by sheep treats for a while, but one Brazen Beast gets his head bitten off. Then it is Quentyn's turn. He is somewhat miffed to discover that he is on fire. End of chapter. So either Quentyn is toast, or thanks to his Targaryen blood he will find out he is immune to dragon flames. The screaming might mean the former, or he might just be screaming from fear. Can't quite be sure with GRRM.