Masterly crafted characters, poignant dialogues and political equilibria ruled by subtle manipulation. Does that ring a bell? That was Game of Thrones — or rather, that's A Song of Ice and Fire. Seems to me that the TV show writers sacrificed all that made GoT a paradigm-shifting show to the Lord of Light, because, really, in Westeros one does not blow things and people up (and survive — politically and literally) because "it feels good". In a work of fiction which is so often also about journeys, people do not teleport from Braavos to the Twins, or from Meereen to Dorne and back. In this new version of GoT, the North seems to remember only when it is convenient; two of the most enticing characters of nowadays pop culture, Tyrion and Littlefinger, seem to have undergone lobotomy — one trying to make small talk with Grey Worm and Missandei like a crazy person at a bus stop, the other hitting on Sansa as though he hadn't sold her to a sadistic rapist. OK, I get it: we are in a hurry to wrap things up. I am as annoyed as anyone else at GRR Martin's incapability of converging to an end, but his inability to do so is due to his unwillingness to compromise the consistency of his characters and (yes, too many) story lines for a quick and dirty end. And this is something I have the uttermost respect for.
Review of The Winds of Winter
