On your last point: There's too many plot strands going on in different locations at the minute, I think he's going to have to cull characters/stop writing from the perspective of a few of them to move the story on. This book wasted time on a few people that just don't seem to add anything to the greater story: Quentyn (dear me) and Griff.
In response to your spoilers:
Mance: I got the impression that Stannis wasn't aware of the magic trick that Melissandre had pulled, and he's just to be used as a tool for her.
Stannis: Melissandre has seemingly misread her fires and backed the wrong horse. Whether he's dead or not remains to be seen as there's a large hole between Theon turning up at Stannis' camp and Jon receiving Ramsay's letter.
Jon: I think it's been mentioned in this thread already but the way the book ended for him felt totally contrived. I don't think he's dead but if they did manage to kill him then Melissandre will revive him.
In response to your spoilers:
Mance: I got the impression that Stannis wasn't aware of the magic trick that Melissandre had pulled, and he's just to be used as a tool for her.
Stannis: Melissandre has seemingly misread her fires and backed the wrong horse. Whether he's dead or not remains to be seen as there's a large hole between Theon turning up at Stannis' camp and Jon receiving Ramsay's letter.
Jon: I think it's been mentioned in this thread already but the way the book ended for him felt totally contrived. I don't think he's dead but if they did manage to kill him then Melissandre will revive him.
