I'm just glad you enjoyed it

As for the Starks: Sansa has a pretty significant fanbase for some reason even though she has achieved literally nothing except getting tossed around by various people and occasionally throwing a tantrum. But hey, her POV lets us see Littlefinger, so I'm happy. Arya is great, but I agree with you that her story has become a bit of a sidestory. She might head back to Westeros to complete her list at some point.

I don't like Daenerys either. She sends away one of only two people who actually cares about her, and ignores the other in favour of the Harpy and a bunch of other corrupt courtiers. She forces herself upon Meereen when they all clearly despise her and want her to go away. She just generally acts like a spoilt and immature child, and I wouldn't want to see her anywhere near the Iron Throne.

I feel like Stannis would do some good with the throne. Aegon could be great or crazy (two sides of the same coin). Euron would be positively awful.

Completed the five books in 22 days. Excellent series (with the exception of A Feast for Crows, which read like some fan-fiction side story. I have no idea what George R.R. Martin was thinking when he was writing that book. Thankfully he was back on form with A Dance with Dragons.) and it looks like things are going to get into high gear with The Winds of Winter. Looking forward to it.

Some thoughts...

• I've read over 5,000 pages about the different factions playing their game of thrones. George, I love ya, but it's time to start moving towards the threat of the Others. When the first chapter of your entire series warns of the threat of these creatures, one would think they're quite important to the main story. So far they've only been seen twice (the Prologue in A Game of Thrones and Sam the Slayer's encounter in A Storm of Swords). But with the book being titled "The Winds of Winter", I have hope that they'll finally be a prominant part of the story.
• I'm a Stannis guy. Yeah, part of it has to do with that one Mafia game, but I honestly enjoy his character and his interactions with others. But I mostly like him because he's the ugly ducking of the series. No one likes him, including George (You give Aeron Greyjoy a POV chapter... but not Stannis? *clenches jaw*). The story is becoming more and more about Tyrion, Jon (who's about as dead as I am), and Daenerys. Stannis has always been on the fringes of the story's development, and that mysteriousness is endearing. Yeah, we all know he's going to bite the dust sooner or later... but until then, Stannis is my guy.
• He's a great author no doubt, but his style of writing makes it very difficult to be emotionally invested in these characters. I think he botched Eddard's death by making Arya the POV character during that sequence (it should have been his chapter imo). The Red Wedding was a great change of pace (and remains my favorite sequence in the series thus far), but other than that... people rise up, people fall, people die (unless you have a Red Priest with you), the world goes on. I got emotional only once... and that was when Lady was killed by Eddard way back in AGoT. George has the ability to shock the reader, that much is for certain, but I'd like to see some emotionality.
• The Stark sisters have become quite dull as of late. Hopefully their respective story arcs will return to main storyline soon. As of now, they're side stories at best.
• I just don't like Daenerys as a character. I don't know what it is about her... but she's the last person I want on the Iron Throne. Maybe it's my "root-for-the-underdog" perspective (since she's written as the obvious front-runner for the series thus far. Jon's not far behind and Tyrion is working himself up there. Everyone else is either cannon fodder or a Na'vi.*). Also, I just don't like the Targaryens. Despite being ruled by a mad-man, most everyone in the novels (including George himself) has been romanticising them as of late. I'd much rather see a Wolf or a Stag on the throne. But we know that's not gonna happen. At this point the throne is a good as hers.
• I still can't get over how average A Feast for Crows was.
• *Anyone else saw the resemblance? A group of people (Children of the Forest/Green-Seers) that connect with trees and transfer their consciousness when they die? Thought that was pretty funny.

Anyways. Looking forward to The Winds of Winter. Also, a shout out to Kantor for always bugging me to start the series. ^_~

Completed the five books in 22 days.

I don't like Daenerys either. She sends away one of only two people who actually cares about her, and ignores the other in favour of the Harpy and a bunch of other corrupt courtiers. She forces herself upon Meereen when they all clearly despise her and want her to go away. She just generally acts like a spoilt and immature child, and I wouldn't want to see her anywhere near the Iron Throne.

So... let's discuss how things could start up in The Winds of Winter:

• Stannis: Ramsey Bolton's letter is mostly a farce. While it's obvious that he does have Mance Rayder (how else could he know who he is?), there's no way he's battled/killed Stannis' army yet. Too many important happenings have taken place for that to happen.
  
  • One, the letter states that he still doesn't have Jeyne, who was last seen with Stannis' host.
  • Two, you have two POV characters (Theon and Asha), who George wouldn't have killed off.
  • Three, the arrival of the banker with Asha's men is Stannis' ace in the hole. They came from Deepwood Motte, where the raven was sent from the wall warning them that the Karstarks were on the Bolton's side. By now Stannis knows of their trechery and has either already killed them or has taken them captive.
  • Four, from what I've read, this stuff has already been revealed by George himself... so... yeah.
• Jon Snow: I think Jon is dead. But have no fear... Melisandre is here! A few knife stabs? Ha. Unlike Catelyn Stark (what was Dondarrion thinking?), he'll be revived as good as new. This accomplishes an important task: Jon Snow is no longer tied to the Night's Watch (he died and was released from it's service). I do think he's the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna... therefore is part of the "three-headed dragon" that is talked about so much.
• Brienne/Jaime: Brienne is taking Jaime to Lady Stoneheart, but I'm curious to know why. Catelyn is almost assuredly going to have him hanged, and Brienne betraying Jaime for the noose is quite out of character. I'm curious to see how this is going to go down.
• Sansa: More plotting by Littlefinger... at this point, the best possible outcome is for her to avenger her father by killing him (whether it's knowingly or unknowingly...). I'm tired of Littlefinger, and his story-arc, no matter how grand his schemes are, seems unconsequential compared to everything else that is happening now.
• Arya: Going to be trained to become a faceless man. The most interesting thing about her story arc is her battle of her identity. I know we're all rooting for her to recognize herself as a Stark/Warg and not a Bravossi assassin. Other than that, she seems inconsequential to the plot. I hope that changes soon. Essos is boring, come back to Westeros!
• Davos: I really like him as a character, but I'm not sure what to expect on his journey to find Rickon. Still, it'll be nice to see Osha again. Hopefully Shaggydog will be nice...
• Cersei: Continues to lose it. What else is new?
• Samwell: I'm not sure what he's supposed to do down there in oldtown. "Hey Sam, the Others could be at the wall any night now, but go down and train to be a maester for a few years!". There are a couple of interesting subplots down there.
  
  • The Citadel seems to not be a fan of the return of magic. We've heard multiple characters start to speak on the conspiracy of the Citadel's influence across Westeros and their distaste for magic.
  • Jaquen H'gar. He was the alchemist that killed Pate and he is either him now or had someone else take his place. What's so important in the Citadel that we should care? I guess we'll find out soon enough.
• Daenerys: Well, she can have periods again! Yay! What does this mean? I really... I really don't care about her. I'm sure she'll have a lot of chapters in WoW though. Hooray!
• Dorishmen: How many Dornishmen does it take for me to be interested in what they bring to this series? *shrugs*
• Victarion: Obviously the horn has some power, and obviously the mute woman who Euron gave him will kill him when he tries to take Daenerys as his own (as Vicarion said, Euron's gifts are poisoned.)
• Other Ironmen: Somehow George made both Asha and Theon interesting! A miracle! :P I have no idea what they're going to do, but I'm actually interested to find out.
• Bran: Creeping on people through trees. *shrugs*
• Tyrion: Almost forgot about him! Well... he's going to use his cunning to stay alive and make you root for him. Same ol' same ol'.
• Everyone else: Meh!

Cheater!

I pretty much agree on everything regarding Stannis and his army, especially since it was made equally clear that the Boltons' army was not exactly cohesive or prepared itself. I have heard the interesting theory though that the letter came from Melisandre, as an attempt to goad Jon from leaving the Wall and doing his duty. I'm not completely sold, but then again Melisandre is the only other person who knows about Mance (in fact, I can see Mance keeping his mouth shut even after being captured).

As for what Dondarrion was thinking, it was probably something along the lines of "I've had more than enough already, thank you" combined with "I never asked these assholes to bring me back...and back...and back...").

I'm not sure how up to date you are on the original plan, but part of why I think the Sam/Sansa/Arya storylines don't seem to be going anywhere is that Martin originally planned to skip ahead five years after Storm of Swords, with the details of those five years getting filled in via flashbacks etc. Abandoning that plan has thrown a real wrench in the works, I think, which is how I explain Feast being such a meandering novel.

So... let's discuss how things could start up in The Winds of Winter:

• Stannis: Ramsey Bolton's letter is mostly a farce. While it's obvious that he does have Mance Rayder (how else could he know who he is?), there's no way he's battled/killed Stannis' army yet. Too many important happenings have taken place for that to happen.
  
  • One, the letter states that he still doesn't have Jeyne, who was last seen with Stannis' host.
  • Two, you have two POV characters (Theon and Asha), who George wouldn't have killed off.
  • Three, the arrival of the banker with Asha's men is Stannis' ace in the hole. They came from Deepwood Motte, where the raven was sent from the wall warning them that the Karstarks were on the Bolton's side. By now Stannis knows of their trechery and has either already killed them or has taken them captive.
  • Four, from what I've read, this stuff has already been revealed by George himself... so... yeah.
• Jon Snow: I think Jon is dead. But have no fear... Melisandre is here! A few knife stabs? Ha. Unlike Catelyn Stark (what was Dondarrion thinking?), he'll be revived as good as new. This accomplishes an important task: Jon Snow is no longer tied to the Night's Watch (he died and was released from it's service). I do think he's the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna... therefore is part of the "three-headed dragon" that is talked about so much.
• Brienne/Jaime: Brienne is taking Jaime to Lady Stoneheart, but I'm curious to know why. Catelyn is almost assuredly going to have him hanged, and Brienne betraying Jaime for the noose is quite out of character. I'm curious to see how this is going to go down.
• Sansa: More plotting by Littlefinger... at this point, the best possible outcome is for her to avenger her father by killing him (whether it's knowingly or unknowingly...). I'm tired of Littlefinger, and his story-arc, no matter how grand his schemes are, seems unconsequential compared to everything else that is happening now.
• Arya: Going to be trained to become a faceless man. The most interesting thing about her story arc is her battle of her identity. I know we're all rooting for her to recognize herself as a Stark/Warg and not a Bravossi assassin. Other than that, she seems inconsequential to the plot. I hope that changes soon. Essos is boring, come back to Westeros!
• Davos: I really like him as a character, but I'm not sure what to expect on his journey to find Rickon. Still, it'll be nice to see Osha again. Hopefully Shaggydog will be nice...
• Cersei: Continues to lose it. What else is new?
• Samwell: I'm not sure what he's supposed to do down there in oldtown. "Hey Sam, the Others could be at the wall any night now, but go down and train to be a maester for a few years!". There are a couple of interesting subplots down there.
  
  • The Citadel seems to not be a fan of the return of magic. We've heard multiple characters start to speak on the conspiracy of the Citadel's influence across Westeros and their distaste for magic.
  • Jaquen H'gar. He was the alchemist that killed Pate and he is either him now or had someone else take his place. What's so important in the Citadel that we should care? I guess we'll find out soon enough.
• Daenerys: Well, she can have periods again! Yay! What does this mean? I really... I really don't care about her. I'm sure she'll have a lot of chapters in WoW though. Hooray!
• Dorishmen: How many Dornishmen does it take for me to be interested in what they bring to this series? *shrugs*
• Victarion: Obviously the horn has some power, and obviously the mute woman who Euron gave him will kill him when he tries to take Daenerys as his own (as Vicarion said, Euron's gifts are poisoned.)
• Other Ironmen: Somehow George made both Asha and Theon interesting! A miracle! :P I have no idea what they're going to do, but I'm actually interested to find out.
• Bran: Creeping on people through trees. *shrugs*
• Tyrion: Almost forgot about him! Well... he's going to use his cunning to stay alive and make you root for him. Same ol' same ol'.
• Everyone else: Meh!

I don't think Jaime will be hanged by Lady Stoneheart. She will see how he has changed, and he will be allowed to live. He'll probably join the Brotherhood without Banners. Maybe Thoros will heal his hand.

Wait, you're thinking Catelyn Stark is going to show reason, mercy, and understanding?  Weren't you teasing someone for their naivete earlier in this thread?

Wait, you're thinking Catelyn Stark is going to show reason, mercy, and understanding?  Weren't you teasing someone for their naivete earlier in this thread?