Okay finished the book last night. Here are my thoughts (Massive SPOILERS below):
I loved the POVs focusing on the North. Jon, Reek, Asha, Melisandre, Davos, and Bran's perspectives were generally fantastic. I was definitely not ready for Jon's last chapter, and I haven't yet internalized what to think of it yet. It was made pretty obvious however that Jon is Azor Ahai. His "death" is part of his transformation into the man that will lead the fight against the Stranger and its forces. I liked that he was taken out in a Julius Caesar'esque moment of betrayal, however the timing of it was questionable imo. Marsh and his co-conspirators and in for a world of hurt, i.e. torture and dismemberment, very soon. It was a pretty stupid decision on their part. That makes the "death" of Jon a bit too contrived for my taste, but hopefully GRRM will make more sense of why they decided to take Jon out when they did in Winds of Winter. That said I can't wait to see how Ghost/Melisandre/Bran/R'hllor/the Old gods combine to revive Jon and transform him into Azor Ahai in Winds of Winter.
The plot arc between Reek and the Boltons was fascinating, and included some of the best character development in the entire series imo. Theon's transformation into Reek and then back into Theon was amazing to witness. I feel more compassion for him now than i do any character in the book, if anyone deserves redemption in this series it is Theon Greyjoy.
Also as all of us know that have read through the book Wyman Manderly is THE MAN. I was fist pumping when he said "the North remembers." Davos' attempt to bring back Rickon in Winds of Winter is probably my most anticipated single POV for the book. I wasn't happy with GRRM leaving us a cliffhanger with Wyman being injured, but the feast of Frey pie was one of the most glorious moments in the entire series. All hail the Rat Cook and the Godfather otherwise known as Wyman.
I didn't love everything about the Northern chapters though. The most disappointing aspect of the northern arc was the fact that we were literally left out in the cold with what happened between Stannis' forces and the Boltons/Freys. Damn you Martin!!!! You could have at least given us some resolution on this plot progression.
That said as awesome as most of the Northern chapters were the Essos chapters simply weren't as interesting. I really enjoyed the world building of the Free Cities through Tyrion and Quentyn's early POVs, but Dany was an unmitigated disaster imo.
It is clear to me now that Martin has no idea what he wants to do with her. The introduction of Aegon seemed to me to be a waving of the white flag moment. As a character she has regressed back to where she was at the end of Game of Thrones and I no longer care where she ends up or what she does. Martin has given us too little payoff and no resolution with her character arc. As such towards the end of the book I found myself wishing that Martin would clean the slate and kill off Dany, Selmy, and the rest of her supporters. He clearly has no desire to give the readers the satisfaction of seeing Dany land in Westeros, so I think he needs to do the right thing and just end it.
Other than Dany however, which admittedly is the lion's portion, I enjoyed most of the Essos chapters. I've seen some people complaining about Tyrion's chapters, but I think Martin did a good job with them. We finally got to see areas that were mentioned off-hand throughout the series with his POV. The journey down the Rhoyne with Griff was great, as was his capture and time spent with Jorah and Penny. There wasn't much payoff for his travails and journey, but I think that is largely due to Martin's mishandling of Dany. I also had no problem with how Quentyn was handled. It was sad of course, but with the way he was described it made sense. Barriston's POVs were better than I thought they would be, it's just too bad that Dany was such a disappointment. It put a damper on all of the other Essos chapters. Dany sucks now, that's all there is to it.
