A song of Ice and fire discussion (spoilers incl A Dance with Dragons)

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Hi everyone, I'm back from vacation and I finished ADWD about a week ago while vacationing in Germany. On the whole, I enjoyed the book as usual, but I am slightly disappointed with the lack of story progression - I had expected a little more in that regard. It does, however, end with a bout of action followed by some fairly intense cliffhangers.

MAJOR SPOILERS

I had expected the attack of the Others to begin in this book, but instead the whole Wall storyline involved treating with the wildlings. I did like it, however - it's a powerful ray of hope in a quite dark series. Theon returning was a nice surprise. What he did is still inexcusable, but I do feel rather sorry for him. Bran's storyline was a bit disappointing - only three chapters, which did conform that some Children of the Forest are indeed still alive, but it doesn't really explain anything about the Children or the Others. Bran's glimpse of Ned did however add more fuel to the R+L=J theory. However, I have no clue what GRRM is up to concerning Dany. Our Targaryen invasion is finally here, but it's being led by Aegon now...