I understand that Martin couldn't get the 5-year-gap to work, but I really wish he had. If I had to describe AFFC/ADWD in two words, it'd be "forced filler"

It's only so disappointing because the first three books are so tightly plotted. I'm still in awe of those, that manage to pack in half a dozen personal stories in between a large number of political and military conflicts that somehow all relate to one another by the end of the novel. I remember reading Storm and when Stannis shows up at the Wall, thinking "Aha! So that was his purpose in this book!" But it didn't feel cheap or a deus ex machina, because Stannis' personality, motivations, and political situation had all been well set-up, and set-up through the eyes of Davos, who has a compelling personal story as well. It was incredibly efficient plotting, but still a structure that allowed for a lot of character development, world-building, and literary themes. And, despite the novels' massive size, they moved fast. (Remember when Catelyn left Winterfell in one chapter, and in her next chapter, she was in King's Landing? Can you imagine that sort of quick movement in the series at the present?)

But (as Martin has admitted) this is the point in the series where all the characters are farthest apart, geographically and plot-wise. There's not a whole lot of overlap. And so I think Dance fails in its structure. Maybe it was inevitable. But the first three books all had a beginning, middle, and end for each character. There were still cliffhangers (Jaime and Davos in Clash, Arya in Game), but the cliffhangers still felt like a natural ending point. The cliffhangers in Dance don't have that feel.

A lot of people have compared this series to a medieval soap opera. I want to think it's better than that, and I think the first three books are. But Feast and Dance (both of which I enjoyed in their own way) are much more soapish, with characters running in circles, a series of melodramatic cliffhangers, and the sense that any sort of plot resolution has been delayed.

The lack of climax of the Meereenese knot, in my opinion, was probably the biggest disappointment in this book.

It's clear one of the main problems that George had to deal with is that he placed Dany half a world away from many of the characters he wanted her to meet. Thus, the Meereenese knot consisted of somehow getting all these blokes to her without the journey seeming contrived. And yes, this knot is definitely a bitch and a half because of both Dany's location, the logistical and chronological difficulties of GETTING to her location, as well as the large number of people that need to get there all at the right time and the right place and right order.

But this was a problem that he could have avoided by simply having Dany not settle in to "rule" in Meereen in the first place. But that's the kicker - he had to, didn't he? Because we can't have Dany showing up to Westeros too early, we needed those dragons to grow into the nuclear weapons they need to be, and he also needed time to pass for Arya, Bran, and Sansa's storylines to mature. Hence the problem in this aspect of the story with removing the 5 year gap.

In my opinion, it becomes rather painfully obvious that the characters Martin was trying to serve by filling that gap (Brienne, Cersei, Jaime, Dorne, the Iron Islands, etc) simply weren't worthy of it and the price he paid by slowing Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Bran, and Arya down was too high.

I hope things will improve - perhaps when Dany, Tyrion, Barristan and Victarion all start to interact, the plot will grow tighter. I suppose that Jon, Bran, Theon, Asha, and Davos might have an intersection as well. That will help the next books feel more cohesive, and possibly make it easier to craft a novel that feels more like a complete book and less like a serial installment.