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No Featherbed for Me by lit_chick08 - M - ASoIaF

Discussion in 'Game of Thrones / ASoIaF' started by Vira, Mar 29, 2012.

  1. Agayek

    Agayek Dimensional Trunk DLP Supporter

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    [noparse]
    This is a spoiler
    [/noparse]

    I've got it in noparse tags, just copy-paste here and it'll spoiler, like so:

    This is a spoiler
     
  2. The Fine Balance

    The Fine Balance Headmaster

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    This seems to be heading towards a nice and bloody climax.
     
  3. Jarik

    Jarik Chief Warlock

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    Just read the new chapter now. Loving the development of Arya's children. The (incestuous) relationship dynamics are interesting. And as good ASoIaF fics go, you can't really work out how this can finish with a happy ending at all.

    That scene with Rhaenys and Arya was much needed too. Last few chapters we haven't seen much of Rhaenys at all.

    Arya seems to have just become a spectator, but I actually find I don't mind that at all. What's happening with her children is interesting enough. Her point of view is the perfect place to follow those events as well.
     
  4. SJCougfan

    SJCougfan Squib

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    ....oops.....
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2013
  5. Jarik

    Jarik Chief Warlock

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    Think you have the wrong thread. :-\
     
  6. SJCougfan

    SJCougfan Squib

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    Wow, I don't even know how that happened. I could have sworn I posted that somewhere else :/
     
  7. Nauro

    Nauro Headmaster

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    I was honestly surprised when I read this. It is charmingly unpredictable, yet incredibly focused - probably the best quality of the story.

    When reading the original, the jump between the characters would destroy the tension and want to read more, put a stop to my pleasure and made me put the book away for a while. Here, I ran through the story in a blurry dash, from late evening to an early morning.

    The interesting measure of the quality I can offer is that I do not regret the sleepless night much.

    If at some point, this story had some weird choices, or spiraled out of control - it all flowed well in a wave of madness and choices between bad and worse.

    I'm not sure if I'm coherent enough for a fair evaluation, yet I give this work 4.75 rounded up to 5/5.

    p.s. SJCougfan, thanks for raising the thread up to bring it to my attention, even though your post was missaimed. I might have missed it for a couple of months otherwise.
     
  8. Feoffic

    Feoffic Alchemist DLP Supporter

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    That's what I like the most about this story. It's constantly moving forward in new and interesting directions, and it never really wallows in itself. It helps a lot that the author is making this story be about something, or at least that's the impression I'm getting. The major themes of family, duty, and maturity are covered in every single chapter in a new way. It's interesting and refreshing, especially in a fandom that seems to love nothing more than churning out the exact same story, every single day. 5/5
     
  9. Nemrut

    Nemrut The Black Mage ~ Prestige ~

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    It is, as mentioned, a really competent story. Very well crafted and the characters that appear have been portrayed very well, while keeping in mind the unreliability of the narrator, Arya, whose perception of certain characters is skewed.

    That said, I am not sure I enjoyed it all that much. I was interested in everything that happened, and it was fascinating to read but I don't think I had all that much fun while doing so and neither did I have this feeling of rooting for someone that I had with the canon book.

    I like Arya, and she is portrayed very competently but I don't think I sympathized with her all that much. She was incredibly selfish so often and she did get away quite well, all things considered, but she was still perpetually unhappy throughout the whole story, not counting for small frames of time that are skipped with a sentence or two.

    We hear about Arya being happy or content or whatever but we experience her being miserable. And seeing only that, I think, makes the difference between enjoying a story and whatever it was what I felt while reading this one.

    No humour, no wit, no joy, really. Writing style is good and competent but at the same time, there really were no beautiful or awesome sentence or expressions that I remember, except maybe a line or two from Arya that did strike a cord, seeing how frank and honest she can be.

    I also concur with the spirit of the point that Kravat was raising. A lot of plot-points have developed with no real reason considering the premise. The fact that Gendry is the firstborn rightful son of Robert shouldn't have changed Viserys' survival or that Daenerys hatched the dragons.

    And yeah, a lot of characters are missing, like Stannis and Tyrion. Both were just mentioned once or twice but otherwise, they never appeared. Think Tyrion is still in Casterly Rock but who knows what happened to Stannis. Dead, I think.

    Other things happened without complication for little reason, like Jon becoming and staying Lord Commander with seemingly little conflict as he united the Wildlings and the Nights Watch, Dany giving up her claims and setting everything aside for Aegon, Danny giving birth to a son, keeping a khal despite Drogo's death and other things like that.

    That said, I still liked it, I liked the problems Arya's children caused and how they developed so unpredictably, how they became so different and how the Targaryen blood shined through in the best and worst possible way and the relationship between the siblings.

    But there was never a silver lining, in a way. Of course, I don't expect a happy ending or anything. No one wins the Game of Thrones, after all.

    So yeah, looking forward to the conclusion of this but I don't really have a character I root for or particularly wish to succeed.

    4/5
     
  10. Nazgoose

    Nazgoose The Honky-tonk ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter DLP Gold Supporter

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    2020
    Updated with the final chapter.
     
  11. Stan

    Stan Order Member

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    The story took a while to get going for me, but once it got going it was very good. My biggest problem with the story is that Arya isn't really Arya. Canon Arya plotted the murders of more than a dozen men at the age of nine. The thought of any version of Arya forgoing vengeance for peace isn't very believable to me.

    Once you accept the fact that the main character isn't really Arya "All men must die" Stark, the story becomes much more enjoyable. I began with a healthy skepticism that the fic would be nothing but Arya fucking her way to the top and turn out to be another idealistic love story, but the story is definitely no "true love" fic, and I thank the gods for that. There is politics and intrigue, even if they come late in the story. I loved the Sansa-Arya relationship (we really needed to see more of their interactions in canon)- the love and jealousy was excellently portrayed. The growth and development of Arya's children was very well depicted and was easily the best part of the story.There is some canon stuff which is hand-waved away in this AU (like Stannis and Dany's dragons) but overall, one of the best ASOIAF fics out there. 4/5.
     
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