EnderPL
Bro, even reading all the other comments I couldn’t stop myself from writing this. I know I’m late, but hear me out. I am dropping this novel from here on. It just doesn’t make sense anymore. I can at least say it was surprising. After Bri, there should be no way this could happen. This entire story has preached how much he loves his mother but he has no safety measures in place for this? Okay, it was a secret deal with someone she thought she could trust. But, you alluded to weird behavior from a known untrustworthy source along with the MC having warg powers and non-death fearingly loyal guards. They failed once already. I can’t understand how his strongest knight let the MC’s most precious person safety be at risk again. Not to mention the green people you introduced or even his close relationship with nature when Bri was murdered. Wouldn’t a powerful and overprotective person have someone watching, secret safety measures or even magic protecting his mom? Okay, you don’t want the story to have no surprises, anyone could die, the game of thrones is not so simple, etc. etc.. But the mother was special. I don’t see how it’s justifiable that an educated, loyal population and battle hardened, city conquering vetarans wouldn’t take into account betrayal from a Bolton. I think it should be Intrigue-101 to expect the unexpected when your turncoat starts killing all the eyes you have on him. Literally anyone other than the mom could be explained away with what you’ve written so far. I saw in the comments you mentioned not wanting to abuse wargs and dreams. I would argue that that that’s exactly what they’re there for. You have them on ALL of the MC’s ships. And I just thought about this but, where are the beasts the MC’s tamed? Not one of them follow his mom? Sorry, back to my point.. Prophetic dreams? Not even one? Even if he didn’t understand the threat he saw in it, I could accept this kidnapping if there was a chance it could have been avoided. Chalk it up to a lacking MC and have him learn a lesson after she kills herself instead of being taken. Allowing her to keep the dignity you’ve built into her character. I know that doesn’t fit with her character or their house words/catchphrases but it would have been better than this. It just feels like you’re using his abilities when you want to and ignoring them when it’s convienent for the plot points you want to have in your story. With the way her guards are casually letting her do whatever she want unimpededly, this just feels forced. That’s your right as a writer but it breaks emersion when done in my opinion. How cool would it be if he tried her kidnapping only to be met by all his ships simultaneously exploding by wildfyre and armed guards pointed at his nose from within the mist and her ice cold gaze overbearingly staring at him with pity for his foolishness? You could spend a few chapters detailing how stupid he was to expect a woman who led her house for years to not see through his schemes. Maybe I’m shouting into the winds here, but I liked your story enough to share this.
But I get is kinda hard to create drama when you have a strong mc with knowledge. I just think it would have make much more sense if Barbrey ended up dying rather than being kidnapped. Not only that, but for real, I really surprised about the lack of military organization showed so far. No amount of order would dismiss the lack of discipline and planning on his navy. How can you not patrol around constantly (even outside of the zone that was supposed to be cleared for "a while") when there's a war at your doorstep, and you are aware of it? That's not all, how can there not be a spy or shadow tracking the second most important person in the family? After taking into account a failed assassination attempt made before with (just like this time) ,supposedly and allegedly, prepared and elite guards? These are the most big mistakes during the last two chapters. And no, no amount of excuses would cope with it. It's clear that you wanted to take this path with your novel. And I respect that but please, maintain the quality you have showned so far during the novel. It's such a shame that you have to force things to this point. If you ever need help with the plot or to gather ideas, you can always ask to us readers for ideas. You don't need to follow them but to have them as a foreknowledge to take into account and get help from.
You know author, I really like your story but now it was a bit forced that part with irons. MC already knew how it works and still made plans with them, of course this could be a game just to catch them later but at what price? Our mom is being very stubborn, how many assassination attempts has she taken? Come on, she goes out with half a dozen soldiers and trusts a dozen more peasants for her safety? honestly this is laughable
If your protagonist is more of a General than a Ruler, then he has to think accordingly. If the protagonist saw that a canonical event will cause more harm and risk than profit, he should use everything he has to modify the event, control the event in the shadows, or even actively prevent it from occurring. This is called common sense
Kinda of a let down the last few chapters. With Ned being a pu**y and Brendam letting Cat walk all over him. So she didnt learn anything from Bree’murder. You always talking about his spy network being the best one or the armies of house dustin the greatest. Its took a single ironborn to burn everything. I understand one mistake(Bree) but now this? They didnt see this great conspiracy coming? Now with all the power and future knowledge this happen. You could have them attack maybe Bear Island or something. I dont know. I understand something like this happing in Essos because with dont have that much info of that continent, so you can play more with the plot over there. But in Westeros, we know absolutely everything. You’re forcing it. I use to look forward to updates but i wouldnt might skipping the next few ones. Anyways Good luck man
Can't agree more to the comments about this whole plot line being forced. Looks like Eric Cartman's "garden of betrayal" - a parody to GoT. Harlan the Reader is not a maniac. Actually not everyone in GoT are. Lady Dustin doesn't have any strong feudal claims to any land - Dustin's lands are her husband's and they got a male heir. Without him they will belong to Dustin's closest relatives men approved by Winterfell after her death, not to any man, who was able to court her. Her father's lands have a lot of sucsessors, so what land Harlan is talking about? Yes, you can claim lands by force in the middle ages, but it is Westeros, not some no man's land, he won't be able to secure a place in the mainland. The only thing he can get by kidnapping is gold, but is he stupid enough to ask for it from the house "who gave him" his newfound power? In that arc he should be called "Harlan the Crazy Suicidal Maniac".