1) I still don't like Brienne, even though I feel I ought to. Jaime, on the other hand, has become one of my favourite characters.

2) He is indeed. He could well be the valonquar, though it's not easy to strangle somebody with one hand.

Finished the five books in about... six months. (I've been busy!)

I'll post my (long) impressions later.

1. I think Jon Snow is dead. Permanently. He was particularly awesome in this book. I think someone else is going to take the mantle in The Night's Watch.

2. I can not wait to see Stoneheart and The Brotherhood without Banners, I need to have my Frey slaughter fix. Also, I think Brienne is part of the Undead now. I am curious about Jaime's fate.

3. The events in King's Landing are more and more interesting. The fight between Tyrells and Lannisters quickly becomes more engaging. I also enjoyed Cersei's arc a lot and I am looking forward to see how her character evolves.

4. Currently, I am a Stannis supporter. Yeah, his Queen is a bitch but he is the rightful heir and his motivations are engaging. He is also the more Stark-Friendly perosn out there, so that is always positive.

5. I hope this is not the last we hear of Edmure and Brynden Tully.

6. While I am eager to see The Others, I hope we don't lose focus on King's Landing.

7. I hope Sansa and Petyr stick for a while. I genuinely think his loved for Catelyn is expressed towards her.

8. Dany was a mixed bag. She is interesting, but I hope she leaves The Free Cities and finally explores Westeros. I do want to see a conclusion to the conflict, though. Also, can she have kids again?

9. I couldn't care less about Aegon.

10. Tyrion needs to go back to the courts where he belongs.

11. I think they are preparing Arya for something spectacular.

12. Cut the random characters, please.

13. Theon was pretty great in ADwD too. His character had great development and I hope to see more of him.

14. Davos' Journey has potential.

Anyway. I can't wait for the next book.

PS: Martin, don't listen to Smeags!

I believe Aerys (the mad king) had an affair with Joanna and is in fact the true father of Jamie and Cersei, ironically leaving Tyrion as Tywins only true child. Evidence for this is that targaryen's were incestuous (as are Jamie and Cersei) and throughout A feast for crows you can clearly see Cersei becoming more and more crazy...she's definitely Aery's son in that regard. So yeah I think this is pretty plausible. Another theory I've had us that Arya will kill either Jamie or Tyrion(most likely Jamie as GRRM loves Tyrion too much to kill him off I think) and steal their face(once her faceless training is complete ofc) and subsequently be the Valonqar that kills Cersei. Also Cersei is on her list of people she says she'll kill so...

Oh yeah and I find it hard to believe that Aegon is the prince that was promised from Daenerys' vision of Rheagar speaking in the house of the undying. Main reason for this being that Rheagar said "his is the song of ice and fire"..considering he only appeared in ADWD and has therefore missed over half the series that is supposedly named after him this can't be true surely... But then the dude said to Daenerys' that what she sees could be bull so yeah.. Also not sure about the Blackfyre theory but the new World of Ice and Fire book basically features the Blackfyre Sigil on the front cover

Eh, i think jamie and cersei were incestuous more because they are both they are in love with themselves and see the other as a different gender reflection of themselves rather than somekind of heridatary quirk.  

As to your other comment, im pretty sure that the prince or whatever that daenerys ends up with will be jon snow.  He represents ice, she represents fire, check.  He is probably rheagars son, incestuous check.  He is at the center of the overarching conflict in the north with the others, check.  

Basically, when daenerys finally makes it to westeros, jon snow will be one of the last men standing, they will unite and remove any lingering opposition, and then move on to the problems in the north when winter has finally come.  

I hope Wyman Manderly isn't killed in the battle between Stannis and Roose at Winterfell..hope he'll kill Roose or something. I wanna see his mission to Davos through to it's completion.

Also, I think Jon and Daenerys will have a brief encounter and he'll impregnate her and then he'll die fighting the others