I have only read the first GOT book, but I watched the show and at least the perspective changing there MOSTLY contributed to the audience understanding how the fight for the throne unfolded throughout the whole country. Being such a long series and having complex political families, even if it’s tiresome, most of it makes sense. However, this is why I don’t read a lot of fantasy, because it IS a lot to keep track of.

I have encountered the bystander perspective before and done right, it can reveal so much. It’s sort of like breaking the fourth wall, reminding the audience that there’s so many other lives being lived besides the ones you’re reading about.

I like the rule of odds quite a bit. 1,3, or 5 seems like a decent amount of POV. The only book I can think of off the top of my head that had 2 perspectives (unless you count the very beginning before MC Lotto was born) was Fates and Furies, which I hated tbh.