A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) in Multiculturalism in YA,Fantasy, Sci FI,Paranormal and fun books ;p

Aug 25, 2009 Catherine added it

Shelves: fantasy, now-a-major-motion-picture, high-fantasy

Cons: First of all, terrible things happen to all the characters you love. This seems to be George R. R. Martin's specialty. The good characters can't catch a break in this series. Second, many of the most compelling characters---e.g., Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Bran Stark---were missing from this book and won't show up again until the forthcoming A Dance with Dragons, and Jon Snow only shows up briefly. Third, Martin throws in a whole bunch of new characters that don't add much very ...more

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Apr 18, 2014 Ramsey Isler rated it liked it

The first three books in this celebrated series are masterful. Sadly, this book started a decline in plot and direction. The writing is still there, but the story starts to collapse under the weight of so many ancillary characters and subplots. It's particularly problematic because many of these subplots feature characters that I didn't really care much about. This book and its successor needed a lot of trimming. Previous books in the series felt like "all killer, no filler", but this one was mo ...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Sasha rated it liked it

One of the things that both singles Mr. Martin’s books out and makes them difficult to read at the same time is his vast number of POV characters. I understand that in this series, each character has some part to play, but there are some POV characters that are never named or revisited, and so their presence seems quite pointless. Juggling so many actors on the same stage must be quite an exhausting affair, so I can understand why it took him so long to write the next book in the series, A Dance One of the things that both singles Mr. Martin’s books out and makes them difficult to read at the same time is his vast number of POV characters. I understand that in this series, each character has some part to play, but there are some POV characters that are never named or revisited, and so their presence seems quite pointless. Juggling so many actors on the same stage must be quite an exhausting affair, so I can understand why it took him so long to write the next book in the series, A Dance With Dragons. Overall, I think that it’s a bit disadvantageous to write from so many points of view, because once I decided which characters I liked and disliked reading, I skimmed their sections or skipped them entirely, which is not something you want your readers doing. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has done this with Mr. Martin’s books.

Another thing that is bothering me about this series is the pace. There are over a thousand pages of reading and not all that much has happened. When considering that this is in fact the fourth book in the series, you’d think that something significant that will affect the entire of Westeros would have happened already. There’s a lot of subtle politics (and some not-so-subtle), banter, and plotting, but as for follow-through, I feel like the characters are failing in that respect. What is the point, I ask? A lot of stuff is going on—wars, economic decline, waxing and waning political tensions—but there does not seem to be an overarching endgame and that troubles me. Where is Mr. Martin going with these books? And why is he taking so long to get there?

I won’t go into specifics with this book because I don’t want to spoil the first three in the series. However, I will say that a few new point of view characters really add an interesting dimension (Cersei and Brienne, for one). However, I did miss the voices of some of the past POVs, like Tyrion. I hope that in the next book they will be revisited. Overall, of course, Mr. Martin is a fantastic writer. He seems to know what he’s doing, even if I don’t. His descriptions are rich and flavorful, and the plot twists are quite excellent. He’s very good at characterization, and has certainly developed some characters that I had never considered before into some of my favorites. I just hope that he manages to pick up the pace in his following books. ...more

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Mar 06, 2014 Constance Burris rated it did not like it

Man, this was such a waste of time. Nothing really happened. The first three were so good. I don't even understand how it could all go so wrong. ...more

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Feb 02, 2014 Martyn Halm rated it liked it · review of another edition

Too bad most of the intrigue of Feast for Crows plays in King's Landing and that the story of interesting characters like Daenerys, Tyrion, Jon will be treated in the next book, whose timeline will be the same as FfC, but geographically different.

Still, the intrigue is pretty good and the character arcs are interesting. ...more

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Jul 09, 2014 Eucaris rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

This book is a little different from the others since it's developed in the point of view of characters that didn't have chapters for themselves previously, I'd say it's a little slow at the beginning but as the pages passes by, you just can't help but make it till the end even if it's midninght ...more

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Feb 07, 2008 Michael Underwood rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: influences

Despite the fact that it's huge, it's kind of half a book, since it's only about half the POV characters. It develops and delivers, but it leaves me wanting more in a somewhat more unfinished way than the others do. Give me a Dance with Dragons RIGHT NOW! ...more

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