** spoiler alert ** 
 Well, they're very good at endings, though I'm not sure the best way to go in terms of connecting with character is go all Game-of-Thrones all the time. It'll be interesting to see if the next volume ends exactly the same way that the first and the second did. 
 It's also tough to keep the reader invested because, well, the cast of ASOIAF is MASSIVE and the books are incredibly long and beyond all that, GRRM is one of the very best at character construction that there is. 
 Soooo without Laura, what's there to connect us to the story? It will be interesting to see. 
 I did like the twists with um, the old woman, I can't remember her name.