The POV characters
I personally think Theon should have been moved from ADWD to AFFC because then 1) I would get to watch Cersei and Theon suffer in the same book, which would be exquisite, and 2) it would have actually given ADWD a little weight when that novel reveals the random bard in Winterfell is actually Mance Rayder.
But beyond that, let's just run down the list. Jaime is more fun to read than Tyrion, as has been the case since ASOS. I'm sorry, but that's a simple fact. Tyrion is out of power in ASOS and drunk and depressed throughout all of ADWD, before he, um, buys himself an army with money he doesn't have (?) so that he can defect and join the forces of the woman whose family was butchered by his (??) at the end of the book. Meanwhile Jaime actually has (most of) a proper arc.
Brienne may be a bit boring because she marches around in a circle over three chapters, but she's not Bran "I've fallen and I can't get up, look at me, this is my character for two whole books" Stark. Davos Seaworth used to be interesting, but in ADWD he's become separated from his
The political lessons
It is fun to watch Cersei utterly suck at Ruling A Kingdom 101, because we hate her. Or we love to hate her. Either way, I don't know anyone actively rooting for her. It is not fun to realize that Jon Snow is about as politically astute as his uncle Ned or his aunt Daenerys. And it's really annoying - at least from the perspective of a right-wing nutter who didn't mind the gently simmering antiwar vibe of books 2-4 (what with all those characters touring the devastation) - to just start getting direct parallels to Iraq.
The things that happened in AFFC felt like logical conclusions; the things that happened in ADWD happened because after 1000 pages we needed something.
That one pretty much speaks for itself. Draco ex machina. I really don't think I need to say more.
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