I can see why people have problems with this volume of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, titled A FEAST FOR CROWS. We spend a great deal of time in the companyI can see why people have problems with this volume of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, titled A FEAST FOR CROWS. We spend a great deal of time in the company of Brienne, Maid of Tarth as she wanders through Westeros looking for Sansa Stark, only to be told she was on the wrong trail. At the end of the book, she comes to a sad, unsurprisingly grisly end, and it all seems so pointless.
The other figure who casts a long shadow over this novel is the beautiful but cruel Cersei. As she is not a sympathetic character, and she gets increasingly paranoid throughout this book, and there is no resolution to her situation, I can see why people would get impatient.
It is true, that I found myself wondering, two-thirds of the way through, when this novel was going to come to some kind of resolution. And it didn’t, which was disappointing. But strangely enough, I did manage to read most every word, which is unusual for me as I am the most impatient person on the planet. So what kept me going?
I think the people who really kept me going throughout this volume were the Stark sisters, which is strange as we don’t hear much from them. But whenever they appeared, the volume came to life. That might explain why I stuck with Brienne through thick and thin, as she was looking for Sansa Stark, and I kept expecting them to meet up.
Otherwise, I have to agree with others who have said this needed a stronger editorial hand. In particular, I found the prologue to this piece as well as the prologue to A DANCE WITH DRAGONS (which I have just read) really unhelpful, and actually a turn-off to the book I’m about to read. In my opinion they give you hooks that are not really hooks, as they don’t seem to have much to do with the main characters. I hope that in his next volume THE WINDS OF WINTER, GRRM will do something about that. Three and a Half stars.
In A STORM OF SWORDS George Martin shows how ruthless a truly great author has to be, for in this volume we come across the infamous Red Wedding.In A STORM OF SWORDS George Martin shows how ruthless a truly great author has to be, for in this volume we come across the infamous Red Wedding. Those of you who have seen the HBO series or read the book, know what I mean. For the rest of you, I will say no more so as not to spoil the experience.
The saga continues, with King Robb battling to save the North, with Jon Snow returning from his stint of spying amongst the Wildings with his heart torn, with KIng Stannis in the grip of an evil sorceress, with Queen Daenerys learning her craft of Queenship as this 14-year-old begins to show the makings of a truly great monarch, and with cruel King Joffrey growing even crueler, so that even his Lannister relatives (apart from his doting mother) become uneasy.
There are many wonderful moments as new characters are introduced. How I loved Lord Tywin Lannister, the cold patriarch of the family. He is so typical of a high-born medieval lord. How I loved meeting Lady Margaery and her family, especially her lively grandmother. These ladies seem so sweet, but they are cunning and ruthless in their ways too. My favorite part of the novel is the way in which Lady Margaery’s grandmother, Lady Olenna, outwits Cersei and saves the day…for her grand-daughter at least.
But you will have to read this volume to see what I mean. Five stars....more
The King is dead and chaos reigns. Sitting on the Iron Throne is the vicious boy-king Joffrey, ruled over by his ambitious, ruthless, amoral andThe King is dead and chaos reigns. Sitting on the Iron Throne is the vicious boy-king Joffrey, ruled over by his ambitious, ruthless, amoral and disquietingly beautiful mother Queen Cersei. But many do not accept the boy-kings rule, and six other rulers rise to claim their place, including the Stark heir Robb.
This volume opens with the flight of Princess Arya Stark, pretending to be the boy ‘Arry, and ends with…but that would spoil the suspense, so I won’t tell you that.
As I mentioned in my last review, there are echoes of the Wars of the Roses in these volumes. Joffrey is as vicious as Edouard of Lancaster, the heir to the Lancaster cause and son of the ruthless and arrogant Queen Marguerite of Anjou. Who his father was, was something that no-one was really sure of (as in Joffrey’s case), but the betting was that it was Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset rather than King Henry VI.
What is so wonderful about this book is the accrual of detail that makes the lives of these characters so real, and by extension the world of that long-vanished past of the 15th-century real as well. Most second novels are extremely disappointing. This is just as wonderful as the first. Five stars....more
I came to A GAME OF THRONES because I read (and write) historical novels set during the Wars of the Roses, so I wanted to see what this writer of epicI came to A GAME OF THRONES because I read (and write) historical novels set during the Wars of the Roses, so I wanted to see what this writer of epic fantasy would do to the material. I was pleasantly surprised to find that George R. R. Martin (I’ll refer to him as GRRM) didn’t slavishly follow the historical events, making this a refreshing read.
Yes, I got that the Starks stand in for the Yorks (I guess Cateleyn is based on Lady Cecylee Neville, Duchess of York), and that the Lannisters stand in for the Lancasters. But everything has been mixed up, so that Robert Baratheon, who most resembles King Edward IV, is married to his greatest enemy Marguerite of Anjou (the Lancastrian Queen). Or perhaps Cersei Lannister is based upon his actual wife Elisabeth Woodville? Which makes Jaime Lannister what? Sir Anthony Woodville?
Anyway, you get the idea. It’s not easy to fit the actual history to this story, which gives GRRM a lot more freedom to develop his characters how he pleases.
For a book with the requisite plot twists and turns, it was a pleasant surprise to read such wonderfully poetic prose. Here is an example of what I mean. We are in Catelyn Stark’s head as she rides with her son and his army to cross the river at Riverrun:
“They crossed at evenfall as a horned moon floated upon the river. The double column wound its way though the gate of the eastern twin like a great steel snake, slithering across the courtyard into the keep and over the bridge, to issue forth once more from the second castle on the west bank. Catelyn rode at the head of the serpent, with her son and her uncle…”
Look at all those strong verbs: “crossed,” “floated,” “wound,” “slithering,” “issue forth,” “rode.” And how poetic the language is, with “evenfall” and “horned moon.” It is just enough to give a whiff of the Middle Ages without overdoing it. This long book, which I believe is about 700 pages (my iPad doesn’t tell me), kept me royally entertained for a week. If you have a boring plane journey ahead of you and this sort of thing grabs your attention, get it for your iPad. Five stars....more
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