39) Albion, by Alan Moore, Leah Moore and John Reppion
Having known Leah and John for a year or so, I thought I should actually read what they have been writing! Albion is a British riff on the resurrection of old superheroes in today’s world, being busted out of the Scottish castle in which they have been imprisoned since their original comics were cancelled the government turned against them. It’s generally good stuff, with some nice touches – how did Margaret Thatcher really survive the Brighton bomb? And one particularly nasty character grumbles, “The world’s gone soft! See where your Teletubbies have led you?!”
It is supported by a good deal of material on the characters, including several complete original stories, as they appeared in Valiant, which I confess I don’t remember ever reading myself (and which ceased publishing before Leah and John were even born). Also this is the second book I’ve written up this morning to have a recommendation from Neil Gaiman, who unlike me is old enough to have read the comics first time round and contributes an introduction.
My biggest problem with A Dance With Dragons was the sudden appearance of Aegon out of nowhere. Did I miss all previous references to him and to Jon Connington’s continuing career in previous volumes? Or is my suspicion correct that there weren’t any, and he is a new element?
You didn’t miss any references, but you may have missed some of the fan chatter, which includes someone asking GRRM “So are Rhaegar’s kids really dead?” and him replying “The princess is definitely dead”. Given that people were asking such questions, GRRM may have felt it sufficient to have a track record of a completely disfigured body being referred to as one child but actually being another (seriously, this is at least the fourth).
I am curious to know which child the Mountain did smash to death thinking he was Aegon, and just how the Lannisters are involved in all that…
(And it’s a bit of a coincidence that Tyrion and Quentyn just happen to end up in the same boat.)
Not a coincidence at all; Varys and Illyrio arrange it. At least, that’s how I recall it. (I don’t have my copy of the book to hand.)Sorry, misread–I don’t recall how Tyrion and Quentyn end up on the same boat. But given the war, there can’t be that many Westerosi heading that way.But do we take it that Varys has been plotting all along (with Littlefinger?) to put Daenerys on the throne? This is fairly explicit in the TV series, but I don’t remember it being so clear in earlier books.
He has–we get it right from the start with his collusion with Illyrio, which Arya overhears. That’s straight from book one.
And poor Jon! Often when Martin leaves us with his viewpoint characters apparently about to die, there is a chance that they may reappear (most obviously Brienne and Catelyn). However, it looks like it’s all over for Jon Snow.
Most fans are pretty sure he’ll live on in Ghost. Warg!Jon is more interesting (to me) than wight!Jon so I hope they’re right. Either way, it feels more like a Martin cliffhanger not-really-death than like an actual death.
Incidentally, I am really waiting to see what Martin does with Ned Stark’s missing bones.
And I am speculating wildly about how it will all end.
It seems clear at this point that the Lannister siblings are all actually Targaryen siblings, so my guess is that Cersei finally dies in some spectacular fashion, Jaime remains a member of the Kingsguard, and Aegon and Tyrion get the other two dragons. That or Aegon dies mid-conquest and Jaime gets a dragon. Or Martin comes up with yet more Targaryens; let’s not forget silver-haired purple-eyed Edric “Ned” Dayne, and if Cersei and Jaime are Targaryen enough to be considered potential dragon-riders then so are their children, so keep an eye on poor Myrcella and Tommen as well.
I think Jaime/Arya is spectacularly unlikely; Jaime/Brienne is the only hint of romance that Jaime’s gotten since he and Cersei parted ways, and I’m still hoping for that to pan out somehow. Even if she’s dead. Also, Jaime’s old enough to be Arya’s father. The surviving Stark children seem destined for isolation: Sansa in the Vale, Arya as an assassin, Bran with a tree growing through him, Jon (if he indeed survives) transformed and inhuman, and Rickon…
…say, where is Rickon, anyway? There’s a question that could really use an answer.