I never perceived an increase in brooding in books 4&5. An increase in boring chapters that don't really go anywhere, sure, but not brooding.
Yeah, that was a new idea to me, too. I'll agree that Cersei's out-of-nowhere motivation for hating Tyrion was stupid, and maybe Dany spent a little too much time regretting the way things had gone after all the things she had done (but I kind of love her character for that too). Other than that I really don't see it.
What's weird to me about the way Martin suddenly seemed to be drawing out the story is that it really wasn't necessary for him to do so. It was supposed to be, what, four books at first? He was the one who decided to expand it like this. He has no one to blame for being bored with the story but himself.
Oh, the lack of Tywin saying "Wherever whores go" was a bit disappointing to me too. That background with Tysha is such an important part of Tyrion's character arc I am a bit surprised they left it entirely out, and that is a
killer line. I was kind of hoping they would end the whole episode on Tyrion killing Tywin and fleeing King's Landing, but ending it on Arya setting sail for Braavos makes sense too.
On another note, I downloaded
Roges on my Kindle, obviously mostly for the new George RR Martin "story", and what a disappointment that was. It reads more like a history book than a real story, and it's not even really about the "rogue" (Daemon Targaryen) that would make its inclusion in this collection make sense, it's more about his brother (Viserys, obviously not Dany's brother) and the Targaeryans of the era as a whole, and it expressly leaves a lot of what was supposed to make Daemon interesting out. And worst of all, if I read right it's an excerpt of that big history of Westeros Martin has coming out later this year, so buying it solely for new George RR Martin is entirely unnecessary if you intend to get that book. It was also way too short. Even the introduction Martin wrote for the book is lazy. If it weren't for the new Gaiman and Lansdale stories that are also in it I would declare it a
complete waste of money.