Ep. 229: - Boiled Leather Part 3 | AFFC Cersei 1 | ADWD Tyrion 1

In the opening chapter of A Feast for Crows, Cersei Lannister wakes from a dream where she sits naked on the Iron Throne until a dwarf appears. She learns her father Tywin has been murdered, and the immediate, visceral impact of that death—and the boiled leather reading order that pairs her chapter with Tyrion’s—is the central argument of this episode of the podcast. The hosts, Sir Matt and Sir Jimmy Falsenets, are making the case that this is the first real vindication of the combined reading order for George R.R. Martin’s fourth and fifth books, and they spend the episode walking through exactly why.

The Immediate Aftermath of Tywin’s Death

The hosts emphasize that reading Cersei I and Tyrion I back-to-back transforms the experience. In a standard publication order, a reader finishes A Storm of Swords with Tyrion killing Tywin and Shae, then must read nearly 800 pages of A Feast for Crows before seeing Tyrion again. By that point, the shock has faded. In the boiled leather order, the transition is seamless. “This is the exact reason you should read boiled leather,” one host says. “This is the cell, this is the reason to do it.”