A Feast For Crows: A Song Of Ice And Fire: Book Four

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A Feast For Crows: A Song Of Ice And Fire: Book Four (A Song of Ice and Fire #4)

by George R.R. Martin

4.01 · rating details · 43,798 ratings · 3,054 reviews

GAME OF THRONES: A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.

Few books have captivated the imagination and won the devotion and praise of readers and critics everywhere as has George R. R. Martin’s monumental epic cycle of high fantasy that began with A Game of Thrones. Now, in A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth book of his landmark series, as a kingdom torn ...moreGAME OF THRONES: A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.

Few books have captivated the imagination and won the devotion and praise of readers and critics everywhere as has George R. R. Martin’s monumental epic cycle of high fantasy that began with A Game of Thrones. Now, in A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth book of his landmark series, as a kingdom torn asunder finds itself at last on the brink of peace . . . only to be launched on an even more terrifying course of destruction.

A Feast for Crows

It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears. . . . With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.

But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.

It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes . . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.(less)

Paperback, 753 pages

Published October 30th 2007 by Spectra Books (first published October 17th 2005)

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Oct 21, 2010

Joel rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, audiobooks, series, read-while-in-a-foreign-land, sci-fi-fantasy, here-there-be-dragons, vote-getters, asoiaf

A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. A highborn maid of three-and-ten, with a fair face and auburn hair. (A highborn maid of thre...more

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May 09, 2008

Kelly rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-scifi, fiction, owned

Dear George,

How do you do this lovely May morning? I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I really did think that I must in good conscience warn you of this problem I have. You see, I know many people who read these books and absolutely adore them. Legions of fans. I'm sure you know that. Really, the books are quite high quality and quite enjoyable and whatever you need to do to get them to stay at that quality, please do it.

... within reason. It has come to our (the masse...more

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Sep 24, 2011

mark monday rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: operatik-sword

Behold: the Ugly Stepchild of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Behold: the Readers of A Feast for Crows: angry, sullen, vengeful.

silly readers! i'm not sure i've ever read such a collection of resentful reviews for one book. one reviewer just decided to repeat the same phrase over and over and over again (sorry Joel, had to say it). another decided to note that "...kids are inherently boring. Kids aren’t clever..." er, wtf?

sigh. i suppose i can understand the bac...more

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Jul 16, 2011

Becky rated it

Shelves: fantasy, nook, 2011, political, reviewed

This book was fantastic.

These books are so amazingly good. I love them. I can't wait until after I read A Dance with Dragons. Then I can join the hordes of people standing outside GRRM's house, looking at their watches and tapping their feet impatiently while they wait for the 6th book in the series. I haven't experienced that wait yet. I will be one of you soon... Squeee!

Anyway... so, A Feast for Crows. I was talking about the awesomeness. So here are some things, in r...more

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Jul 26, 2011

Matt rated it

· review of another edition

The context here is everything.

A Song of Ice and Fire began with the publication of A Game of Thrones in 1996. Thrones introduced us to the land of Westeros, a continent the size of South America but suspiciously similar to medieval England. We followed a handful of characters representing various factions of the Seven Kingdoms, squabbling for the right to sit upon the Iron Throne. Its grittiness, tactility, fully-realized characters, and high stakes (a major character loses a head)...more

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Aug 20, 2008

Justin rated it

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Recommends it for: people who really, really like the first three books in the series.

Shelves: fantasy

I'm not quite sure what happened, here.

As others have mentioned, Martin slows the pace of the story down considerably in this fourth installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, ostensibly writing this as the first half of a two-book volume, with a 3-5 year production time on each. As such, the book is by necessity filled with unresolved storylines, AWOL main characters, and lengthy travelogues where nothing of importance happens. Of course, this draws the inevitable comparisons to another...moreI'm not quite sure what happened, here.

As others have mentioned, Martin slows the pace of the story down considerably in this fourth installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, ostensibly writing this as the first half of a two-book volume, with a 3-5 year production time on each. As such, the book is by necessity filled with unresolved storylines, AWOL main characters, and lengthy travelogues where nothing of importance happens. Of course, this draws the inevitable comparisons to another famous fantasy series that started strong and became a sluggish, irritating morass (something to do with wheels and time, as I recall).

The pace isn't really the problem, here, though, as the story still stands on its own two legs. The problem is the writing.

Though the first three books were extraordinarily well-written as a whole, one could never classify Martin's prose as elegant. In this book, he takes three steps backward for some reason, and sounds almost amateurish in some chapters. The book is filled with phrases and sentences that are awkward, clichéd, and sometimes downright hackneyed. Martin's prose may typically be spare and to the point, but I never audibly groaned while reading the first three books.

One of the biggest problems with this is Martin's sudden inclusion of colloquialisms that, so far as I can tell, never existed in the books before this one. Coz's, nuncles, and valonqars abound, even though we've never read any character use these turns of phrase before, and be prepared to hear "groats" referenced multiple times in a single chapter. This doesn't only present a continuity problem, for those of us wondering why these dialect oddities are so suddenly commonplace... Martin seems to have run out of patience for phrasing things differently, so the exact same idiom often gets used ad nauseum. I was weary of these invented clichés before I even truly understood what they meant.

By now, fans of the series thus far are used to the disturbing ubiquity of rape in Martin's world, but even that loses what little subtlety it had in this book, with at least two characters being described as "needing a hard raping" (another example of redundancy in Martin's writing... did that expression really need to be used twice in one book?). The consensual sexuality devolves in this book, as well; Martin uses strange fixations and blunt-force descriptions (the comparison of female private parts to a "swamp" was the high point for me, as it were) which make them seem almost bizarre, and therefore a lot more gratuitous than they were in the first three books.

I gave it two stars instead of one because the standout elements of this series are still evident in A Feast For Crows, despite Martin's apparent attempt to sabotage them with clumsy writing. The characters are multidimensional, unpredictable, and well-developed, and the overarching story is fascinating enough to keep me turning pages. However, I am genuinely concerned about the direction of this series, which has heretofore been my favorite fantasy series and often recommended to friends. I don't know what's going on with Martin's writing, but I truly hope the next book returns to the caliber of the first three. I would hate to have to do with this series what I do with Jordan's: recommend that people stop at Book 3 and pretend it's an open-ended trilogy. I'd much rather dismiss this one as "the mediocre volume" and go back to enjoying the series. Here's hoping.
(less)

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Jul 13, 2007

Guy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: mustreads

Simply put, the entire Song of Ice and Fire series is my favorite (topping even my beloved Gaiman). I fell in love with the series and I obsess about it in the way that some people obsess about Tolkein or Harry Potter.

In my mind, it's the best epic fantasy since Tolkein. Like Tolkein, Martin creates a real world with an extensive history filled with its own languages and cultures and songs. Tolkein's world is high fantasy with elves and magic and even the main characters aren't huma...more

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May 14, 2011

Melissa Rudder rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Melissa by: Steve

George R. R. Martin's A Feast for Crows (of the Song of Fire and Ice series) suffers from MBSS, or Middle Book in a Series Syndrome. It lacks the addictive excitement and intrigue necessary for early books and the catastrophes and closures I'm looking forward to from later books. It's just a link in the chain. My initial response to it reminds me of my initial response to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I trust in the vision of the author and am certain the book is ...more

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Mar 31, 2008

Ryan rated it

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I was fully prepared to be disappointed by this book, for several reasons. First of all, the last book, A Storm Of Swords, ended with a very large cliffhanger and I knew that it was a cliffhanger that wasn't going to be fully explained/explored in this volume.

Additionally, I knew that in general the story was not going to feature the characters that I was most interested in (namely Daenerys, Theon, Tyrion, and especially the whole issue of Jon and the Night Watch). That being said, t...moreI was fully prepared to be disappointed by this book, for several reasons. First of all, the last book, A Storm Of Swords, ended with a very large cliffhanger and I knew that it was a cliffhanger that wasn't going to be fully explained/explored in this volume.

Additionally, I knew that in general the story was not going to feature the characters that I was most interested in (namely Daenerys, Theon, Tyrion, and especially the whole issue of Jon and the Night Watch). That being said, the volume was surprisely enjoyable, and helped to better explore the entirety of the Seven Kingdoms. There was tons of action in the first three volumes - I was actually a little set back by the amount of violence that was featured in the series altogether. This volume takes a somewhat quieter approach - characters die, but most of the death takes place off-page. Perhaps this means that A Dance With Dragons is going to feature much higher levels of action.

Plot-wise, only certain amounts of progress are made of advancing the plot. We learn nothing more about the advancement of the Others, and no word is made of Daenerys' flight towards the west. Instead we get political maneuverings in King's Landing, and Sam's travel from The Wall to Oldtown. What we do get is quality material, though - I was on the bus when I got to the part of the story that featured Cersei's downfall, and I almost started cackling with joy to see her get her final comeuppance. Also of interest was the expanding story of the Seven Kingdoms, as we learn more about the cultures of both the Iron Islands and of Dorne. Interesting material, definitely, but material that feels much like it is build-up for the eventual landfall of Dany from the east, rather than material in its own right.[return:][return:]One of the benefits of the multiple-POV perspective that Martin employs is that it allows the reader to learn about characters not only from how they see themselves, but how they are viewed by those around them. Cersei Lannister, the most prominent character in AFFC, is the most obvious example of this - when she was presented mostly as a scheming mastermind, but in her POV chapters, she's seen as someone almost paralyzed by paranoia. Similarly, we see Jaime as either a sterling knight (from Brienne's perspective) or a craven weakling (from Cersei's perspective). When we see Jaime's one POV, though, we see that he thinks he is how Cersei sees him, but he hopes to become what Brienne believes him to be. It's a very effective literary technique, and easily builds suspense and complexity to a story of this size.(less)

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Aug 31, 2008

Kim rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: People with lots of time or patience

Shelves: fantasy

George R. R. Martin is a blowhard.

I mean that with respect, I suppose. I guess any author that got me to read over 2400 pages of his writing garners some respect, right? A smattering, maybe? I don’t know, maybe it’s because I was raised Catholic, or maybe it’s my sense of follow through or maybe just the fact that I’ve invested so much time in this damn series… whatever. I’m here, I’ve finished book #4. Yay.

Okay, so the reason I’m grumpy...more

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Aug 05, 2011

Kate F rated it

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I started reading this series when watching the recent HBO series and I loved the first three books - could hardly put them down in fact - and then I got to this one and the momentum faltered. I'm not sure what has happened -is it a glut of fiction when I normally read mainly non-fiction, is it too much of a good thing all in one go or is it an author that has perhaps lost his way? Perhaps it's a little of all three. Whatever it is, I struggled to get through this book in parts. I feel that s...more

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Feb 29, 2008

Collin rated it

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Recommends it for: Completists

Shelves: fantasysci-fi

I feel like giving this book 3 stars is being harsh to my man, George Martin, but I'm trying to separate the truly great books in this series from the merely good ones.

Bottom line: fans of the series waited too long for this and therefore were in a position of being impossible to please once this finally came out. This coupled with the facts that numerous spoiler chapters had been available online for years and that George cut his original manuscript in 2 to produce this and the sub...moreI feel like giving this book 3 stars is being harsh to my man, George Martin, but I'm trying to separate the truly great books in this series from the merely good ones.

Bottom line: fans of the series waited too long for this and therefore were in a position of being impossible to please once this finally came out. This coupled with the facts that numerous spoiler chapters had been available online for years and that George cut his original manuscript in 2 to produce this and the subsequent (as of now, unpublished) volume serves to diminish the stature of "A Feast For Crows" in the context of the whole series.

Still, as its been said elsewhere, Bad George is still better than Excellent Crap. Since I am a completist I was going to love this book no matter what, and I do, but to the more casual fan this will definitely seem like a weak effort, and I think there's justice to this point of view.

The writing here feels uneven to me -- so much time in the real world has passed that I feel like George's writing style has actually changed here. His characters begin using terms that they never used before in the preceeding books ("nuncle" and "coz", in particular). There's also an egregious amount of "not giving a groat" here. I'd hate to be a groat merchant in Westeros at this point. What the hell IS a groat?

The interesting point of view structure of the previous books has been salted with an overabundance of "prologue" chapters that break with the structural traditions that George has already established. Enough with the Prologues! We're under siege here! Just give us one and hold on to some of that story telling goodness -- we already know you rule.

For fans, I think the Brienne chapters feel like wasted time, though Martin tells us that there were stories that needed to be told in "Feast" lest the whole tale would suffer (and I can only presume he includes the 'Brienne' bits in that proclamation). I will reserve judgment here and wait to see.

Also, the fact that only half the POVs (points of view) are represented in "Feast" leaves many fans cold. For myself, I needed me some more Tyrion and I didn't get it here.

I believe once the remaining books are published, the profile of this book may improve. But this is clearly well-seasoned asparagus next to "A Storm of Swords'" filet mignon. (less)

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Jul 05, 2007

Duncan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fantasy/sci-fi fans

(Review applicable to entire series.)

George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series is still a work in progress after eleven years and four installments; I came to it late, so I read the first four back-to-back, and now I have to play the waiting game. Part of what's frustrating about reading them spread out over many years is that it's going to be virtually impossible to remember what's happened up to now when I finally get to the next one--there are so many damn subpl...more(Review applicable to entire series.)

George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series is still a work in progress after eleven years and four installments; I came to it late, so I read the first four back-to-back, and now I have to play the waiting game. Part of what's frustrating about reading them spread out over many years is that it's going to be virtually impossible to remember what's happened up to now when I finally get to the next one--there are so many damn subplots and the plot moves so fast.

Song of Ice and Fire is fantasy, but it's modeled on actual medieval conflicts (the Wars of the Roses in particular), and the fantasy elements appear only at long intervals; if I understand the term, it's not "high" fantasy. Indeed, it subverts the conventions of the genre in several ways: the plot is many-stranded, encompassing a wide variety of tussles for power, and the story's morality is cast very much in shades of gray. The few characters that could be said to act nobly are promptly killed off; those that remain are, to varying extents, looking out for themselves. There are a few outright malevolent characters (and many of them have died off as well), but almost none of their opposite numbers.

Indeed, the casualty rate is striking--again and again, Martin introduces and develops a character, then kills him with a casualness that keeps the reader on her toes (and reflects the randomness of wartime death, in a way). Certain characters seem destined to survive all or most of the story arc, but not many. Nor is this a rarefied Tolkienesque fantasy world: there's grit aplenty, in the form of sex, profanity, and gore. More than any other fantasy author I can think of, Martin not only adopts the trappings of medieval conflicts (swordplay, castles, etc.), but imports the prosaic and sometimes stomach-turning features of medieval society. The result is extremely vivid, but often unedifying.

The writing is strong, with occasional veers toward the purple; as befits the multilayered plot, Martin adopts the perspective of a different character in each chapter, and the narrative follows that character in over-the-shoulder style; omniscient narration is entirely absent. But the real strength of the series is in the plot, and for that, either take notes or read the whole thing in one pass when it's finally complete.(less)

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Oct 16, 2011

Jan-Maat rated it

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Shelves: usa, fiction, fantasy, 21st-century

Of all of the volumes in ASOIAF to date this is the one that continues to grow on me.

This an autumnal volume in the series. Here entropy always increases. There is a sense that the chivalric ideals and dreams of the society inevitable deteriorate to terrorism, savagery and destitution. Political idealism decays into naive failures and the motivation for plotting and manipulation on a grand scale appears to be to create an abusive relationship with the daughter of a lost love. Then ...more

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Nov 16, 2011

Rad Ryan rated it

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Shelves: e-book-read

3.5 STARS!

I slept with words swirling in my head. I woke up in the morning because words are spinning in my unconscious mind. I don't know what's happening to me. When I close my eyes, suddenly paragraphs are reeling but they doesn't make sense. It's like uttering sentences on and on without anything in it. Gods. Did the series made it to me? Or just this book? Because of the characters telling the tale?

I was uncomfortable at first, A Storm of Swords left the story with fi...more

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Jul 22, 2011

Ben Babcock rated it

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Shelves: 2011-read, fantasy, own

N.B.: As always, this review does not contain spoilers for this book, but there are significant spoilers for previous books in the series.

All right, I am going to swim against the tide here and come out in unabashed admiration for A Feast for Crows. This book has had to bear an incredible burden: not only has it been "the most recent book" in the Song of Ice and Fire series for six years, but it is infamously "half a book" in the sense that it only follows roughly...more

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Jun 18, 2008

Jake rated it

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Shelves: fantasy, fiction, series, favorite-titles

For those who don’t know, A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in George RR Martin’s (GRRM) Song of Fire and Ice series. It is, without question, one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read. It’s engaging, well-written, and original. It is also fantastically brutal. Do not read this series if you can’t handle characters dying, because they do. Sometimes with great frequency (though the death toll in this one is not quite as high).

A Feast for Crows has been a long time coming. Appar...moreFor those who don’t know, A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in George RR Martin’s (GRRM) Song of Fire and Ice series. It is, without question, one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read. It’s engaging, well-written, and original. It is also fantastically brutal. Do not read this series if you can’t handle characters dying, because they do. Sometimes with great frequency (though the death toll in this one is not quite as high).

A Feast for Crows has been a long time coming. Apparently (I just learned this today, and it may not be entirely accurate), Martin had originally intended to set the fourth book five years after the third, to allow some of the characters time to age. This idea proved infeasible, and eventually, he scrapped it and went back to writing the narrative. And write he must have, because this book is really only half the book. The other half, A Dance for Dragons should be out some time next year, or so Martin “devoutly hopes”. I devoutly hope so too, because [info]metasomething and the 3rd member of the Hawaiian Syndicate have both threatened me with physical violence for getting them started on this series when it isn’t finished. I fear metasomething’s threats much more, especially since he’s better armed. Hawaiian #3 would probably just poison me…but it’d be tasty poison.

I digress.

A Feast for Crows focuses on events taking place on the northern continent, mostly around King’s Landing. Martin continues with his alternating point-of-view chapters, where each is dedicated to a different character. Focal characters in this book include Arya Stark/Cat/No One, Cersei and Jamie Lannister, Brienne, Sansa Stark/Alayne, Samwell Tarly, and a few others. Cersei is the big new one, and the focus for a lot of the events taking place near the throne. I enjoyed her chapters a lot, in part because it gives some interesting insight into a character who has previous been portrayed as a psychotic bitch. Now…she may still be a psychotic bitch, but these chapters make her much easier to understand, and harder to hate. The only character I’ve found completely despicable at this point is Joffery, her son…who exhibited not a single redeeming impulse whatsoever.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and a number of very interesting things happen in it. I do feel like I need to re-read the first three, and then read this again. I’m sure that there are clues I’m missing and events I’m not getting because I’ve forgotten some major plot points. Maybe I’ll do a re-read over winter break, or something.

The book is good, but it isn’t perfect. The major problem, for me, is that it does feel like half a book. We get next to nothing about Jon Snow, and absolutely nothing about Daenerys, so the book feels much smaller than previous ones. There’s a sense of something missing, and I finished the book wanting more, not just about the characters, but about everything that’s going on.

I also found that it’s getting harder for Martin to surprise me. Maybe it’s because he’s such a brutal writer, but I found that some moments that seemed like they might be suspenseful…weren’t. Knowing that eh was likely to maim or kill a character served not to make me worried (as it has previously), but to make me accepting, almost resigned to their fates. Maybe I’m just not caring as much about this particular set of characters (though I like the Starks, and I’m starting to warm to Jamie).

Also, Littlefinger seems to me to be the Palpatine of this series. The guy no one takes seriously until it’s way to late. I hope that’s true. I love Palpatine, and like Littlefinger too.

All in all, it’s definitely a series worth reading.(less)

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Dec 19, 2007

Cynthia rated it

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Shelves: 06-and-earlier

As with the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series, I can pick this one up, reread often and most of the time find something new to like or some detail that I didn't notice before fall into place. The series in general is very well-written and the world, the characters, everything has been so developed that it's just fascinating to watch it unfold.

This wasn't my favorite of the books so far and part of the reason I fel this way was that I wanted desperately to find out what was goin...more

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May 03, 2007

Alex rated it

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Truthfully, this one was harder to get through than the first three in the series. I came away with less of a sense of enjoyment, and more just finally being able to put it down. Perhaps it was because the majority of the characters from the first books aren't prominently featured; or, maybe, because it's tiresome to follow the thrashing of the noble families involved.

Martin ends the book with a promise that it's only half the story, and the other half (which concerns the characters...more

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Nov 02, 2011

Charon rated it

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Shelves: 2011

I was about to complain about the lack of Tyrion, but the author has apparently expected this and wrote this nice little apology at the end. Well, I see his point, so I won't complain ... much. However, this book was in large parts cleaning up the mess left by all the deaths from A Storm of Swords and it did make the story kind of slow.

Talking about A Storm of Swords - I totally forgot to write this in my last review (spoiler for A Storm of Swords): (view spoiler)...more

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Oct 24, 2007

Ashleigh Snead rated it

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James' dad reccomended this series and I was instantly hooked....you might think its channeling LOTR in the first 100 pages of book one, but keep reading and you will find it is definitely its own story and world!
I am eagerly waiting for his next one!

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Jul 12, 2008

Kaelie rated it

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Shelves: couldn-t-finish

Cheap mass-market edition with ugly font and crooked letters and irregular margins and this is only half a book and some of my favorite characters are missing and I cannot put this book DOWN . . .

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Jul 09, 2011

Jessi rated it

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Shelves: a-song-of-ice-and-fire, wolves-jessi-s-wolf-shelf

So apparently if you have written a successful series for your 4th installment you can write about a quater of the characters introduce useless and somewhat annoying characters and be unclear about several peoples fate as if it means nothing at all.

Really..I say again REALLY?

I love the way George R R Martin tells a story but I am calling you out a wee bit on this one. Were there no editors involved in this book? In example about 75 pages were based in Dorne Re: the Viper...more

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Jan 27, 2012

Otis Chandler rated it

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Shelves: fantasy, epic

This book is really the 5th and 4th books cut in half. But rather than George cutting it squarely in half he just put half the character storylines in. So we miss out on hearing anything about various characters like Dany, Tyrion, Bran, and Stannis, and only hear a little about Jon Snow and Arya. This is not a bad thing, but it did feel like there was a gaping hole.

I think my favorite thing about this book was Littlefinger's scheming. (view spoiler)...more

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Sep 27, 2011

Mike rated it

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George split what was to be the final book into two parts aka. A Feast for Crows & A Dance with Dragons. Instead of telling half the story of ALL the characters in the first half, he chose to tell the full story of HALF the characters... and will tell the full story of the other characters in the second half. He didn't want to split the book in half with a "To be Continued..." ending. Though I think the mistake was that MOST of the characters that are focused on in part 4 of this serie...more

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Nov 28, 2011

Lisa rated it

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Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

The prologue is a bit of a snooze because of all the new unfamiliar characters. But a couple chapters in you fall back into Martin's world with ease with subtle reminders of "what happened previously", that you barely notice and gladly reconnect with the core characters. I'm still in the beginning of the book but just had to post this hilarious line - it cracked me up and HAD to share :) Dolorous Edd Tollett gave a sigh. "When I was a lad, we only ate mice on special feast days. I...moreThe prologue is a bit of a snooze because of all the new unfamiliar characters. But a couple chapters in you fall back into Martin's world with ease with subtle reminders of "what happened previously", that you barely notice and gladly reconnect with the core characters. I'm still in the beginning of the book but just had to post this hilarious line - it cracked me up and HAD to share :) Dolorous Edd Tollett gave a sigh. "When I was a lad, we only ate mice on special feast days. I was the youngest, so I always got the tail. There's no meat on the tail."

Nov 26 - Just finished and now I can't wait to go on with the next book! It really didn't take long for me to get attached to some of the new characters or more fond of familiar faces. Some surprised me like Jamie - I like him much better minus his sword hand. Brienne - I just love her woman-warrioriness with a BIG heart hidden inside her mail. Arianne is a new character that I like for her spunkiness and look forward to seeing more of (I hope). Sam is growing more into his Slayer title, I think, kinda, a little bit - he's getting braver in a cute way. All I got to say is keep with the series even if you think this book is slow in parts. The pace picks up and it gets harder and harder to set down to read another book for a little break.

George Martin includes an explanation of missing characters in Feast, at the end of the book, under 'Meanwhile, back on the wall...' In a nutshell, Martin says, "...I felt that the readers would be better served by a book that told all the story for half the characters, rather than half the story for all the characters." In the next book, 'A Dance with Dragons', you'll find all your favorite missed characters as the story runs in tandem with Feast. Both Feast and Dance take up the story where book #3 'A Storm of Swords' left off. Feast focused on King's Landing, the Iron Islands and Dorne. Dance covers Castle Black and the Wall, Pentos and Slaver's Bay. The two books run parallel for awhile before Dance continues further in time, including all characters (I think and hope). Then we wait...for 'The Winds of Winter'. I only hope it won't be a long, agonizing wait.(less)

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Jul 12, 2011

Ms. Library rated it

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Shelves: fantasy, owned

Damn it, George: This was my least favorite installment of A Song of Ice and Fire. I can’t imagine being a fan of the series, and waiting this long for this installment. Then, when I finally get it, I realize that several of my favorite characters are not mentioned at all. There are just whispers. Instead, I find a lot of new characters. The chapters are “The Reaver”, “The Drowned Man,” “The Queenmaker,” and I only got one chapter for that specific person in the entire book. So, George al...moreDamn it, George: This was my least favorite installment of A Song of Ice and Fire. I can’t imagine being a fan of the series, and waiting this long for this installment. Then, when I finally get it, I realize that several of my favorite characters are not mentioned at all. There are just whispers. Instead, I find a lot of new characters. The chapters are “The Reaver”, “The Drowned Man,” “The Queenmaker,” and I only got one chapter for that specific person in the entire book. So, George already has a lot of people in the book, which I have been doing well with keeping up with so far, and he reacts by throwing about twenty more characters into the pot. “Here, have this guys.” (Maniacal laughter.) Aren’t you glad you waited? Well, George, I did not wait, but I can tell you that I am not super happy either. This one was the slowest book to me, and I didn’t enjoy it as much. I am just telling you the truth George. Also, way to take out my favorite characters and REPLACE THEM with one of the characters I hate the most in the entire series. At first I thought, “Oh ho! He’s going to make me feel sympathy for her!”

Oh, no. George, you made me hate her even more. She is a horrible, evil person who thinks terrible thoughts, and I had to read chapters and chapters of those thoughts. It was worse than Theon Greyjoy. So, yes, Damn it, George, indeed.

Excitement for the next book: I am excited for the next book. I only have to wait a day, which is exciting, and I am believing that this will be as good as the first three, because it will be following all my favorite characters. Hopefully Arya will still be mentioned. Again, I do recommend this series overall, because it is one of the better fantasy series I have ever read. It is a fully fleshed out world, and I recognize that this part of the story is important to tell. It was just not the most fun part to read. It felt like reading about Sam and Frodo trudging some more towards Mordor. Oh, what are they doing? They are walking some more. That is exciting stuff Tolkien. What is happening here? A terrible person is thinking terrible things again. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Huzzah. She better not be in the next book George, or we will have words, and by that I mean I will write on my little book blog that you will never read. I’m sure that burns you on your huge pile of money.(less)

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Feb 14, 2011

Keith rated it

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"As a child I looked up to my grandfather. I loved visiting him at his house in the country, spending a weekend during summer helping him with the yard and the chickens, and in return he would cook up a grand feast and tell me stories of his adventurous youth. As I nibbled on a piping hot lemoncake he would tell me about his days in the military. He flew fighter jets, even as technology was moving towards drones. The last generation of sky cowboys. He was proud of his exploits, even though ...more

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Aug 27, 2008

Katie P rated it

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So this is just my overall review for the series so far.....Martin is bloody brilliant. This is one of the best fantasy series I've ever read.....he's not one of the guys trying to be the next Tolkien, he's doing his own thing. It's a bloody, ruthless, painful world he throws us into, but the characters are so strong and so dynamic that you will follow them to the bloody end (and there are quite a few bloody ends). He writes marvelous women, (YAY!), all very different but all very interesting...more

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Aug 27, 2010

Aaron rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 5 of 5 stars. I've read a few critical comments stating that "nothing" happens in this book. While I would say that the events are much more personal for a few non-spotlight characters this time around, you can hardly say "nothing" happens. Brienne's quest to find Sansa Stark is exciting while being sympathetically frustrating, considering the audience knows precisely where Sansa is and Brienne continually makes incorrect guesses as to her location. Sam Tarly becomes an i...more

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About George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children f...moreGeorge R.R. Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.

In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.

In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.

Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.

Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West. (less)

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Books by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2)

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)

A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)

A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1-2)

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“I don't want to have a dozen sons," she had told him, appalled. "I want to have adventures" ~Asha Greyjoy” — 18 people liked it

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A Feast For Crows: A Song Of Ice And Fire: Book Four (A Song of Ice and Fire #4)

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