These books definitely follow a pattern of setting up the pieces in the first half and then making them all explode into action in the latter half. But this one also felt like it was moving closer to an outcome rather than further from a beginning. The characters who are still in play are learning and that made this the most engaging for me thus far. I like that these books are told from the perspective of the people who surround royalty instead of the royals themselves; Daenerys is the only exception and she is the outlier within the text as well so that is apt. There is no clear protagonist but the only plot I really don't care about is Bran's. Sam's chapters were sometimes cumbersome, too but they ended strongly. 
 The theme that no one can count on anyone but their own self has always been there but it is driven home in this volume, nearly every chapter had some character or another bemoaning the betrayals and disappointments that surround them and included a variation on the the words "There are none left. I am alone". It'd be too horribly depressing if it weren't wrapped up with dragons and crowns and zombies and magic.