Why A Dance With Dragons seems horribly unfulfilled

Let's take a look at how all the POV characters in all the books end up, and see if something's a bit... amiss... with the most recent entry.

Spoilers all, obviously.


Characters are sorted into groups according to how safe they are at the end of each book.

A GAME OF THRONES - 9 POV characters

Dead - 2/9 = 22%
Will (prologue) - zombie food
Ned - dead

Cliffhangers - 1/9 = 11%
Arya - Yoren pulls a blade on her

Not really safe, but not in imminent danger either - 2/9 = 22%
Jon - about to go a-ranging
Sansa - hostage in King's Landing

"Safe" - 3/9 = 44%
Bran - up in Winterfell feeling sorry for himself
Catelyn - with The King In The North, marching south to war
Dany - baby dragons
Tyrion - going to be Hand of the King

A CLASH OF KINGS - 10 POV characters
Dead - 1/10 = 10%
Cressen (prologue) - poisoned Citadel guy

Cliffhangers - 1/10 = 10%
Davos - his ship blows up

Not really safe, but not in imminent danger either - 3/10 = 30%
Theon - about to become a "guest" of Ramsay Snow/Bolton
Jon - about to meet the King-Beyond-The-Wall
Sansa - still a hostage in King's Landing

"Safe" - 5/10 = 50%
Tyrion - wounded, dishonored, but alive
Dany - finally heading west
Arya - wandering around the riverlands
Bran - off to find the three-eyed crow
Catelyn - hanging out at Riverrun

A STORM OF SWORDS - 12 POV characters
Dead - 3/12 = 25%
Chett (prologue) - zombie food
Merrett (epilogue) - killed by a different zombie
Catelyn - a different zombie

Fate uncertain - 1/12 = 8%
Davos - disappears after telling Stannis to go north

Not really safe, but not in imminent danger either - 1/12 = 8%
Tyrion - wanders off somewhere after shooting daddy

"Safe" - 7/12 = 58%
Dany - dithering about in Meereen for some reason
Sansa - "safe" in the Vale
Arya - off to Braavos to learn how to murder poeple
Jon - Lord Commander of the Night's Watch
Jaime - Lord Commander of the Kingsguard
Sam - still fat, still alive
Bran - still looking for the three-eyed crow

A FEAST FOR CROWS - 13 POV characters
Dead - 2/13 = 15%
Pate (prologue) - poisoned Citadel guy
Arys Oakheart - suicide charge

Fate uncertain - 1/13 = 8%
Asha - no idea what happened to her after Euron was crowned

Cliffhangers - 1/13 = 8%
Brienne - about to be hanged by a zombie

In certain but not-imminent danger - 1/13 = 8%
Cersei - arrested

Not really safe, but not in imminent danger either - 1/13 = 8%
Sam - chilling with not-Jaqen-H'ghar-honest

"Safe" - 7/13 = 54%
Sansa - "safe" in the Vale
Arya - blind but "safe"
Jaime - safe
Areo - safe
Arianne - safe
Victarion - off to find Daenerys
Aeron - safe

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS - 18 POV characters
Dead - 3/18 = 17%
Varamyr (prologue) - zombie food
Kevan (epilogue) - killed by a spider
Quentyn - extra crispy

Fate uncertain - 3/18 = 17%
Reek - in Stannis's camp, perhaps slain by Ramsay
Asha - ditto
Jon - Ides of March

Cliffhangers - 1/18 = 6%
Dany - lost in the desert, with an enemy Khal riding down on her

In imminent danger - 5/18 = 28%
Barristan - has to hold off a siege
Tyrion - has to convince Ben Plumm to switch sides before a siege
Victarion - about to get to a city under siege
Melisandre - at Castle Black, which is about to erupt in civil war
Connington - dying of greyscale, but about to attack Storm's End

In certain but slightly-less-imminent danger - 2/18 = 11%
Cersei - will die if not-Gregor-Clegane-honest doesn't win a fight
Jaime - being led into a trap

Not really safe, but not in imminent danger either - 1/18 = 6%
Davos - off to cannibal-land

"Safe" - 3/18 = 17%
Bran - turning into a tree (?)
Arya - assassin in training (for what purpose?)
Areo - safe

And the final count... of the 18 POV characters in A Dance With Dragons, three are positively dead, three more might be dead, one is in a full-on cliffhanger, five are going to be in a battle at the beginning of TWOW, two have put their lives in other characters' hands, one is sailing off to a land of cannibals... and three are "safe."

But beyond the cliffhangers, you generally had a sense of what all the characters would be doing next in the previous books, and that doesn't seem to be the case here.  

And yes, I could weight these by the number of chapters each character gets, but that would only further unbalance Dance because the only three characters with ten or more chapters are all well removed from the "safe" column.