I'm still reeling from the events that happened in the third book of The Song of Ice and Fire series.
Book four just keeps getting better. In this part of the story, the author chose to focus on a select group of characters instead of several who concluded book three with such a bang (Tyrion, Stannis, etc.) and broke them out into the next book, A Dance with Dragons. I've heard that fans weren't happy with that, and I can understand why. If I had to wait eleven years between when I last read about Jon Snow, Tyrion and Daenarys, I would be ticked, too. This is the reason why I prefer waiting for a series to end before I even think of picking it up. I have no patience.
I'm lying. I'm still impatient, but I wrote the preceding paragraph because it makes me feel better. I wasn't part of the group tearing my hair apart waiting to hear what happened next because I just didn't really understand this whole fantasy genre and how incredible it was. But I would have been! Oh, how I would have been part of the fan base for this series, waiting in long lines on release dates but, alas, I just didn't run in the same reading circles as I do today. Thank goodness for all of you bubbling with excitement when the HBO series premiered, which made me pick up the first book. I still can't believe what happened to Ned Stark. I was pretty close to throwing my book across the room. I think I did.
A Feast for Crows continues after all seven kings find some sort of temporary "cease fire" (to use our modern terms) by mostly focusing on the strong Brienne of Tarth, Sansa Stark (now known as Littlefinger's bastard daughter, Alayne), Sam Tarly, Jamie Lannister, and his completely delusional sister, Cersei,the Queen Regent. Every scheme implemented, either behind closed doors or on the field of battle, resulted in some sort of leftovers for the "crows" to pick apart, to flay into their own hopeful sense of power, which inevitably provided yet one more game to put in place.
I cannot wait to see where all the schemes end up and I loved every step along the way. And once again, I am completely dumbfounded by George R.R. Martin's incredible talent, to carry this story out for almost two decades in publishing. Granted, some sections might have been a little tedious, but those are few and far between, and I was again madly in love with this sweeping medieval fantasy tale, and the meddling and evil residents of the land. While the events in book 3 were much more shocking than the concluding moments of this book, I'm still rushing to the bookstore to get A Dance with Dragons.
So now I can pick up the most recent book, finish it, and then stamp my foot in anger along with everyone else until the final book is released in a bajillion years.
Publisher: Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House
Release Date: 2005
Pages: 976
Review of Book 1: A Game of Thrones
Review of Book 2: A Clash of Kings
Review of Book 3: A Storm of Swords
About the Author
George R.R. Martin is the author of eleven novels, seven novellas, two novellettes, one children's book,and a score of other writing and editing accomplishments. He was also the writer for seven episodes of the Twilight Zone and fifteen episodes of Beauty and the Beast, including three episodes of the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones. There's so much about this author, I don't have enough space to write it all, so I'll just ask that you:
Click here to visit the author on his website.
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