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A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4)

by George R.R. Martin

4.08 · Rating Details · 434,420 Ratings · 18,023 Reviews

With A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making.

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters ...more

Mass Market Paperback, 1061 pages

Published 2011 by Bantam Books (first published October 17th 2005)

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Community Reviews

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Oct 21, 2010 j rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, 2010, sci-fi-fantasy, series, read-while-in-a-foreign-land, vote-getters, here-there-be-dragons, 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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Sep 24, 2011 mark monday rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantastickal

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 backlash. Martin took a long-assed time to ...more

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Apr 26, 2016 Matt rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

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) gave it a c ...more

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Aug 20, 2008 Justin rated it it was ok

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 famous fant 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 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.
...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Madeline rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

Hey everyone, George RR Martin here. I thought I'd take some time off from planning my intricate and complex storylines (spoiler alert: everyone has sex with everyone and then kills each other) to introduce A Feast for Crows, the long-awaited fourth installment in my epic fantasy series! You guys are in for a treat, this one is awesome.

So the last book was quite a ride, huh? There was that craziness that was the Weddings of Death, Tyrion killed his father, , Jon Snow finally got cool and is now Hey everyone, George RR Martin here. I thought I'd take some time off from planning my intricate and complex storylines (spoiler alert: everyone has sex with everyone and then kills each other) to introduce A Feast for Crows, the long-awaited fourth installment in my epic fantasy series! You guys are in for a treat, this one is awesome.

So the last book was quite a ride, huh? There was that craziness that was the Weddings of Death, Tyrion killed his father, , Jon Snow finally got cool and is now Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Arya continued to be a tiny BAMF, Bran looked like he was finally moving towards a real plot, and Daenerys decided to temporarily shelve her whole unleash-the-dogs-of-war plan and be a queen for a while. Also I made Christmas come early for Madeline when I killed off Catelyn Stark, only to bring all her hopes and dreams crashing down when it turned out that Catelyn is a zombie now and will never die. Hee hee hee.

Anyway, with all that cool stuff, you probably thought that this book was going to be made of awesome, what with all the fallout from the stuff I described above. And it will be, but unfortunately my attention to detail and complex storylines finally came back to bite me in the ass, and it turns out I couldn't devote an entire book to all the plots I started in the last book. So I divided them into two volumes, and saved all the cool people for Book Five. Want to read about Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Tyrion? Too fucking bad.

Don't worry though, this means we get to meet lots of fun new characters, like Theon's crazy uncles and a lot of random people from Dorne. They each get just one chapter, of course, because they only exist so I can have a perspective to show all these events from (my changing single-character viewpoint structure has also begun to bite me in the ass, unfortunately) and you'll probably never see them again, but that's what makes it fun!

It's not all bad, at least - Arya's still here, even though she's not doing much murdering or really much of anything. This is where Arya learns how to be more awesome, so she can wreck everyone's shit later - or maybe not, because in the last chapter we see her in, she's just gone blind. Is it temporary, or permanent? You'll just have to buy the next book and find out (maybe)!

And hey, I gave you guys some Cersei chapters, finally. And yes, she's just as much of a psycho bitch as you always suspected. You're welcome. Also Jaime chapters - bet you didn't think he would turn out to be one of the only decent characters in the series, huh? (of course, if he's becoming one of the good guys, that means I'll probably murder him soon) And there are more Samwell Tarly chapters! Everyone loves reading about Sam, right? Guys? Guys? Where are you going?

Don't worry, the next book will be all about Tyrion and Daenerys and Bran (look, it's going to pay off soon, I swear. Really guys, he's going to be interesting eventually.) and all the other cool characters that I totally ignored in this book and that you really wanted to read about. As for all the character-based cliffhangers I established in this book, will they be resolved in the next volume? Probably not! I am George RR Martin, and I demand your money and your tears!

PS: Quit bitching at me to write faster. You'll get your books when I say you get them, and not a day sooner. Don't push me, or the next volume published will be titled A Siege of Tears and it'll be nothing but Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Samwell Tarly sitting around and thinking about how inadequate they are. Do not test me on this, nerds. ...more

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May 09, 2008 Kelly rated it really liked it

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 masses') attention that perha ...more

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Mar 22, 2015 Raeleen Lemay rated it really liked it

Shelves: own

This book definitely wasn't quite as eventful as the previous books in the traditional sense. There weren't any huge battle sequences or weddings filled with bloodshed, but rather a lot of plotting.

This book contained two of my favorite characters, Arya and Sansa, but there weren't enough chapters about them to satisfy me. This one mainly followed Cersei and Jaime, along with quite a few side characters who we didn't see much of in the first three books.

I'm really interested to see what happens ...more

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Apr 23, 2014 StoryTellerShannon rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, fantasy-scifi, the-sweeping-epic, books-reviewed, reviews-that-need-pics-added

Whew, this is a tough book to review simply because it doesn't follow on the expectations of the readers after A STORM OF SWORDS.

Now some people are already saying that the book is horrible and a great letdown and others go to the other extreme and hold faithfully that it's just as good as the previous books.

I don't feel either take is fair or accurate.

To be fair, yes, the book doesn't move like the previous books, especially a STORM OF SWORDS. There are simply not the same level of WHAM BAM ...more

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May 28, 2016 Candace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dangerous-hero-themed-books-read, shocking-twists, listened-to-audio-version, paranormal

Although this epic fantasy has me captivated, I have to say that 'A Feast for Crows' didn't hold as much appeal for me as the earlier books. That being said, it is still an extremely well-written story. I have no doubt that the new characters, places and events will serve to further the plot.

While hearing Cersei's viewpoint was somewhat enlightening, it got tiresome. Cersei is as cold and cruel as Joffrey was. Being "stuck" in her mind was torture. She was constantly scheming and manipulating. H Although this epic fantasy has me captivated, I have to say that 'A Feast for Crows' didn't hold as much appeal for me as the earlier books. That being said, it is still an extremely well-written story. I have no doubt that the new characters, places and events will serve to further the plot.

While hearing Cersei's viewpoint was somewhat enlightening, it got tiresome. Cersei is as cold and cruel as Joffrey was. Being "stuck" in her mind was torture. She was constantly scheming and manipulating. Honestly, does this woman never stop? Just hearing it was exhausting.

Arya and Sansa continue to do what they have to in order to survive. It is interesting to see how they evolve as their circumstances change. I would've liked to hear more about the Stark girls, but maybe next time.

This book also introduced some new characters...and brought back some old ones. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the back from the dead Catelyn Stark. She's definitely changed in more ways than one. Sometimes, things are better left alone. I'm struggling to accept this particular twist.

Mostly, I was disappointed to find many of my favorite characters noticeably absent in this book. Daenerys is my favorite. I longed to hear about what was going on with her and her dragons. How is their journey going? Unfortunately, I didn't get that information.

Similarly, Tyrion Lannister was nowhere to be found. As a character, he really grew on me. His disappearing act left me feeling a bit bereft. Like Daenerys, information on Tyrion was noticeably absent. I'm dying here!

Like the last one, this one ends with a bit of an upheaval. Cersei finds herself in a bind and calls upon her knight in shining armor to save her. I'm hoping that she finally gets what she has coming, but I'll have to wait and see.

Overall, I'm still very much addicted to this series. The writing is spectacular, as is the narration. I'm on to the next book. Based upon the title, I'm expecting to hear more from Daenerys and the dragons. This may have been my least favorite of the books so far, but it still blows most other books away. ...more

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Aug 31, 2008 Kim rated it it was ok

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 is that it took me 480 pages to get into this. Which left ...more

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Nov 30, 2013 Netts rated it did not like it

Are you kidding me? This volume should have been called A Test of Patience. Where do I even start? First, there is a conspicuous dearth of crows (as in Nightwatch or anything at or beyond the Wall). There is also little feasting but by now I've grown beyond tired of Martin's medieval menu descriptions so that's a relief. Curious about Jon Snow and The Others? Bran and that three-eyed crow? Tyrion's escape? The dragons!? Well, forget it. They don't make a single appearance. Instead we get to trud ...more

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Jul 18, 2016 Rohisa rated it it was ok

Shelves: soo-bad-wanna-cry, thinly-veiled-misogynistic, losing-interest, jeez-the-meandering, yawn-worthy-snooze-fest, no-gandhi-here, everything-is-rotten, feral-ferocious-females, no-mr-darcy-here, fanstyoozing-magic-licious

Abandoning at 80% and here's the reason why...

Because NOTHING HAPPENS

*****SPOILER ALERT*****: Nothing happens. And then nothing else happens, and then some more nothing, and WAIT HERE'S A TWIST: it's nothing.

I can't even give you a spoiler alert, because there's nothing to spoil. NOTHING HAPPENS. Character go on quests...that they never complete, get close to completing, and are in no way ever even close to the right path. Characters train and prepare for trials that never happen. Plots are hatc ...more

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Jul 13, 2016 Bookworm Sean rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, george-r-r-martin, 4-star-reads

There’s only one problem with this book, and that’s the point of view characters. As a reader I’ve grown somewhat used to things like this:

description

So, when I'm just given things like this instead it’s bound to disappoint:

description

There are massive pacing issues with the most recent (ha! that’s a joke) two books of the series, and I mean massive. There’s a whole lot of nothing in this one. Cersei’s chapters are excruciating to read. That’s not surprising considering she is probably the least likable of character ...more

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Feb 29, 2008 Collin rated it liked it

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 subsequent (as o 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 subsequent (as of now, published) 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. ...more

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Mar 31, 2015 Laz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: epic/high fantasy lovers

Shelves: books-i-own, fantasy, high-fantasy, all-time-favorites, epic-fantasy

“History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again.”

I think this may be my favorite novel in the series. Not because it was the best but because I felt so connected to the story, more than I have ever felt before while reading this series. And while I can admit that the plot was poorer in comparison with its predecessors and there weren't all of the characters we've grown accustomed to reading about, I still feel like Mr.
“History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again.”

I think this may be my favorite novel in the series. Not because it was the best but because I felt so connected to the story, more than I have ever felt before while reading this series. And while I can admit that the plot was poorer in comparison with its predecessors and there weren't all of the characters we've grown accustomed to reading about, I still feel like Mr. Martin is one of a kind and his writing is one of the best I've ever had the luck of reading and I could never ever give this book anything less than 5 stars for the simple reason that with this book, the series has finally found a place in my heart.

This book, as many of you may already know, is mainly focused upon King's Landing and some might say the South but I'm not so sure about that. In this book we read for the first time from Cersei's perspective and I have to admit that getting inside her head and seeing firsthand how her brain works, well, it was truly amazing. We see every single bit of malice the lovely Queen Regent has and how far she's willing to go to ensure that Tommen remains safe and sound from whoever tries to do him harm.

The story, despite the absence of some of the characters, such as Tyrion, Daenerys & Jon, was still just as riveting and I think that was principally because of the fact that the plot twists and revelations were scattered throughout the book so it actually kept me on the edge and had me intrigued the entire time.

In addition to Cersei, there's also quite lots of Jaime and I clearly saw him changing throughout the entire novel, from the tiny bits of details regarding how his brain works to the fact that he finally distances himself from Cersei and sees her for what she really is. He's sent to do Cersei's bidding and his last chapter in the novel, left my brain whirring.

Apart from Cersei & Jaime's perspectives, there are bits and pieces of the Iron Islands, told from the point of view of Asha, Victarion & such. Balon Greyjoy is dead and someone has to succeed him.

In the South, Oberyn's daughters, the Sand Snakes, want to avenge their father, so Doran is forced to prison them before they do something that will jeopardize everything. There's also a little bit of plotting from Arianne's side, who's Doran's daughter and his rightful heir. I never thought I'd like Arianne that much. She's quite bold and she has the guts to do what her father refuses to.

This book was big enough and I understand why Mr. Martin divided the story into two parts. It would just be too huge if he had tried to write about all of the characters in one book and I understand he has a lot to write and a lot to give to us through his stories so honestly I'm not disappointed, if anything, I'm happy that he did that. The more the books, the merrier I'll be.

The fact, that a person can build such an amazing world, with the tiniest of details, it's truly amazing and inspirational. I don't get how he does it and honestly I get why his books take so long to come out, I mean they're huge, they're full of made-up history. I mean I wouldn't even be able to remember the names if I were him. I admire his talent and I hope there are more amazing books to come. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book, I'm anxious and ready for Jon, Dany & Tyrion's stories in the next book. ...more

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Mar 31, 2008 Ryan rated it it was amazing

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, the volume wa 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, 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. ...more

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Jun 26, 2015 Jason Koivu rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I know "winter is coming," but this book honestly felt more like a Spring clean.

A story of such lengths as the epic A Song of Ice and Fire has to have down time and much of A Feast for Crows is down time. George R.R. Martin ties up loose ends, sets up new story lines and essentially does administrative style organization in an attempt to keep his mammoth machine rolling. He does it admirably, and yet it can't help but lack the pep, surprise and all around thrill of his previous three books.

In h I know "winter is coming," but this book honestly felt more like a Spring clean.

A story of such lengths as the epic A Song of Ice and Fire has to have down time and much of A Feast for Crows is down time. George R.R. Martin ties up loose ends, sets up new story lines and essentially does administrative style organization in an attempt to keep his mammoth machine rolling. He does it admirably, and yet it can't help but lack the pep, surprise and all around thrill of his previous three books.

In his defense, this book is only half a book. The one after it should have been its second half. The first half of books usually include a lot of house keeping. This definitely feels like a first half. It's a little dull.*

HOWEVER, if you're already a Game of Thrones fan, I don't see how you could not enjoy this book. It's got most of your favorite characters. Cersei is still the same old lovable bat-crazy bitch. Arya and Brienne have never wandered more aimlessly. Jaime is still phantom masturbating. Granted, Jon Snow has little to do or say (then again, it's best to keep your mouth shut when you know nothing) and Daenerys seems to have sprouted dragon wings and flown off. Even so, new characters are introduced who should add a whole other layer of intrigue to the festivities.

The aforementioned house keeping does drag on in the form of long council meetings and generally boring exposition. There are a lot of scenes written just to keep the story moving forward. The action and excitement come in short spurts, and the one big reveal had unfortunately already been revealed to me. Even so, I marched through this book with a will, happily following along even through the slow parts.

As regards my rating, those 3 stars are a very strong three stars. For my overall enjoyment level, it should be four. However, I gave the previous three books in the series four stars each and since I didn't like this one quite as much as them, I had to show it somehow. And yet, I did enjoy this more than many other three star books I've read.

* In an aside that I found humorous, at the end of A Feast for Crows Martin explains how this was meant to be the first half of a much larger book, but that the book became soooo unwieldy it had to be broken up into two books. And now here's the part I found funny...Martin said he hoped for the next book after this one to be published in about a year. Hahahahah! It turned out to be more like six years before A Dance with Dragons would appear. A year indeed. I guffaw in your general direction, sir! ...more

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May 11, 2015 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2013, kitten-squisher

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The throne of the Iron Isles is contested. Queen Cercei conspires to keep King Tommen's young queen from influencing him. Jaime Lannister adjusts to having only one hand. Sam Tarly and Gilly head south. Brienne quests for the missing Stark daughters. Littlefinger holds the Vale. A lot of stuff happens in Dorne. Arya Stark continues being one of the more interesting characters in fantasy...

After a years-long void, the Song of Ice and Fire returns. Well, they can't all be home runs. Sometimes you ...more

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Sep 16, 2016 Melanie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, dark, read-in-2016, fantasy, buddy-reads, audible, dragons

1.) A Game of Thrones
2.) A Clash of Kings
3.) A Storm of Swords

#readASOIAF Read-Along - Hosted by Riley from Riley Marie, Elizabeth from Liz Loves Literature, and Kayla from BOOKadoodles.

“In the game of thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them.”

A Feast for Crows is my least favorite in this series, but this prologue and ending chapter give me life, I swear. GRRM is such a genius and if you have twenty mi ...more

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Dec 16, 2015 Becky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, politicalish, reviewed, fantasy, ebook_nook, 2011

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 random order, that I foun ...more

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Feb 15, 2016 Evan Leach rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2000-2009, hugo-nominees, american-literature, novels, doorstoppers, epic

A Feast for Crows, book four of the stellar Song of Ice and Fire saga, is widely maligned as the runt of the series to date:

Img: Runt Horse

This is partly because of the strange circumstances surrounding the book’s publication. Martin cranked out books two and three in just under two years, from February, 1999 to November, 2000. But then trouble arose. Book four grew bigger and bigger. Years passed. As the book approached 2,000 pages, Martin realized the book had to split in two. But how to do so? Instead of ju ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2014

By now you all know I’m reading the box set and not giving a real review until I’m done with the hole batch and yada, yada, yada. That being restated, in place of a review (which would be all: “Why do people not like this one? I mean, yeah, book 3 was nearly impossible to beat, but this one was damn solid writing. Not to mention, how many authors can start a freaking remodel of a series and make it work like this? Also, who would have ever thought I would love a Lannister? And rantrantrantrantr ...more

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Jan 07, 2016 Mohammed Arabey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

طيب ,خلصت الجزء الثالث 10 مايو 2015
وقبله الأولو الثاني

وفي ليلة 10 مايو 2014 كنت قررت أبدأ في الرابع
الجو كان به رياح وغائما بعض الأيام منذ أعياد الربيع أثناء قراءتي للأجزاء الماضية حتي شعرت وكأنها لعنة "أغنية الجليد والنار" والشتاء الطويل ,تلك الظاهرة بهذا العالم الغريب
أما أن تصيب الأسكندرية فجر 11 مايو 2015 عاصفة رعدية وبرق في سماءها لأول مرة في هذا الوقت تقريبا منذ عشر سنوات..وهذا بمجرد كتابتي تعليق اني قررت البدء في الجزء الرابع غدا بعد أن كنت مقررا قراءته لاحقا في الخريف ان شاء الله

حسنا..الش ...more

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Apr 21, 2016 Amy (shoutame) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult

I'm loving this series so much, I'm truly going to be sad when it ends!

This is the fourth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I wouldn't say I loved this one as much as the second half of A Storm of Swords but it was an enjoyable read. We follow six of the main storylines in this one; Cersei and Jaime Lannister, Arya and Sansa Stark, Brienne of Tarth and finally, Samwell Tarly. Alongside these characters are a couple of chapters following the pursuits of the Iron Isl ...more

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Jun 25, 2016 Selene rated it really liked it

I've decided to read the fourth book A Feast for Crows and the fifth book A Dance with Dragons chronologically rather than in publication order.

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Nov 19, 2015 Cait (Paper Fury) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy, 4-star, adult, read-2015, audio-books

AGH I'M SO TORN WHAT TO RATE THIS. Honestly it's probably 3.5. There was so much boredom and annoyance and grinding of teeth and I felt, as a whole, the book didn't feel complete. Apparently this and A Dance with Dragons were all ONE book? But it got split into two? (Thank the bookish gods.) But I still firmly believe that every and any book should feel like a completely book in itself. A Feast of Crows felt like a filler.

Also it ditched ALL my favourite narrators!! THEY'RE NOT DEAD just...not ...more

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May 20, 2016 Roya rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: didn-t-finish, dull, not-for-me, buddy-read

(Bitching rant below. Avoid if you hate that sort of thing I guess. Do what you want though. I'm not your mom.)

When I began this book last month, I was surprised to see that none of the chapters focused on my favourite characters. Most of the POV characters were secondary characters or I hadn't heard of them before. It still seemed exciting, so I tried to look forward to the change. The previous book was the best in the series for me. Why couldn't this one be better?

I'll start off by saying that ...more

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Jul 26, 2015 Karen rated it it was amazing

5 STARS

I'm not going to write a long review on this one. Just know that I am deeply involved in the story. Fabulously creative writing. Happy about a few turn of events, deeply troubled by others, and utterly shocked by a few as well. Needless to say I must finish the series. I do love the fact that the books differ from the HBO series. Can't even imaging what's coming...
Well, other than winter. On to book 5!

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May 14, 2011 Melissa Rudder rated it really liked it

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 es ...more

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Aug 09, 2016 Kai rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, to-buy

“Words are like arrows. Once loosed, you cannot call them back.”

This took me - compared to it's predecessors - "only" a month to read. As always, there were chapters that I enjoyed more than others. Sometimes so intruiging I did not want to stop reading, other times I wondered why in seven hells someone would bother wasting their time writing such pointless words.

Here's the list of POV's from most to least liked:

Cersei
Sansa
Arya
Jamie
Samwell
Arianne Martell
Aeron Greyjoy
Asha Greyjoy
Areo Hotah
Arys Oa ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 22. THE QUEENMAKER *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	10	12	14 hours, 20 min ago
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 21. BRIENNE IV *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	11	12	Sep 16, 2016 10:27AM
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 20. THE DROWNED MAN *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	9	12	Sep 09, 2016 12:46PM
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 46. SAMWELL V *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	10	10	Sep 08, 2016 10:07AM
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 12. THE KRAKEN'S DAUGHTER *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	13	14	Sep 08, 2016 10:01AM
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 45. JAIME VII *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	9	10	Sep 08, 2016 09:57AM
Read A Song Of Ic...: * A Feast For Crows ~ 44. CERSEI X *Discuss only this chapter and anything prior	9	10	Sep 08, 2016 09:17AM

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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 for pennies, 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 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.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/george... ...more

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Other Books in the Series

A Song of Ice and Fire (7 books)

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 Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold (A Song of Ice and Fire #3, Part 2 of 2)

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“My old grandmother always used to say, Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.” — 724 likes

“Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.” — 444 likes

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