A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4) by George R.R. Martin Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4)
Book Review: A Disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
I had been waiting for this book for a long time, and was quite excited when it finally appeared. I must say several things about this volume. 1. It needs a good (short) summary of the previous three volumes. It has been so long since I had read the others that I had forgotten most of the details and was very confused about who was what and how each part filled into the plot. 2. this book is too long and detailed. The others are as well but the story in the other ones moves along at a respectable pace. 3. Please improve the map - I want to be able to follow by checking the map, and too many places are not listed. 4. My favourite character (Tyrion) is missing. I gather he is being saved for volume five.This is not a particularly good book. I went through the tedium of reading it because I felt thatI had too. Volume 5 had better be worth it!Book Review: A mixed bag
Summary: 3 Stars
The variable set of reviews here should tell you that GRRM has dished up a mediocre installment of the Song of Ice and Fire. The nuts and bolts of the book are all rock solid, he's a master craftsman when it comes to writing this type of fantasy book, so its still an easy enough read. Trouble is, the story is extremely ragged and tedious in places. He's evidently gotten into a mess with the overall structure of the series, and feels that he can't pick up the story from 'A Storm of Swords' without broadening the whole thing out and bringing in some new voices. He does this, but so much of it is colourless and dramatically flat:Brienne, wandering aimlessly around the place.
Sam, on a ship, sailing to Oldtown.
Everything to do with Dorne.
Even Jaime, one of the strongest characters, doesn't really develop or do much of note.
To be fair, there are still some great narratives. The travails of Cersei in King's Landing is brilliantly done, Arya is exciting as always and I liked Sanya and Littlefinger's parts as well for some reason, even though they are fairly static.
When the author concludes a book with an apology, as GRRM does here, effectively saying 'Sorry that the exciting characters and storylines are all absent, they'll be back soon' you know he must be wrestling with some deep-rooted problems with the text. I really hope that 'A feast for crows' has enabled him to get all of his ducks in a row and that he knocks em all over in the next book and produces an epic. The first three Ice and Fire books are the best high fantasy there is, nothing else is in the same league. He's hit a definite plateau here, but its not so bad that he can't pull things together next time out. Go George!
Book Review: not five other years, please!
Summary: 3 Stars
at least we have been able to read this long waited for book. I don't appreciate the idea to cut the book in half, leaving out, I mean, half the characters; expecially if we have to wait until february to read what happens to the others! Even worse is the fact that the characters in THIS part end in the middle of nowhere (one for all, Arya ends in a really tricky situation) and I can't stand to wait other YEARS - plural!- to know what happens of them.Leaving out these considerations, the book is the usual wonderful reading, even if I found it a bit slower than the others that preceeded it, as if the author was somehow wandering about and waiting for "something" to happen. Of course, I am looking forward to read "A dance with dragons", hoping that maybe everything will be better defined there; but I wouldn't start reading this book if it was my first one from the "Fire and ice" series: just start from the beginning, and try to avoid the enchantment if you can!
Book Review: Worth the wait
Summary: 4 Stars
This was the poorest book in the series. It was however still a really good book. Martin's writing still leaves you on the edge of your seat. It is disappointing that he leaves out the main characters. It would have been better to have in Tyrion, John and Danny rather than make loads of new characters. I am a little bit worried this could become another Wheel of Time and go on foreverBook Review: A square meal rather than a feast
Summary: 3 Stars
It was always going to be difficult for Martin to maintain the standard he's set himself and, despite giving himself an inordinate amount of time to do so, he hasn't quite managed it. There's certainly some good stuff here. Jaime has become an excellent character - well balanced, interesting and witty. The Iron Islands chapters are very entertaining, although credibility is stretched a little by the size of their fleets. Cersei's machinations are entertaining enough if, like her motivation, a little far-fetched.
On the other hand, the queality of the writing has declined. It's perfectly reasonable to remind readers of events from recent boooks, but (probably thorough editing) Martin revisits the same incidents several times in the book. Do we really need, for example, to be reminded on three occasions that Pycelle's majestic beard had been hacked off by Tyrion? Martin's narration is also beginning to show signs of infection by faux-medieval dialogue. After the 50th use of "much and more" or "little and less", I began to wince. You can probably get away with this if you only want to appeal to fantasy fans but Martin has attracted plenty of people like me who need good writing to suspend their disbelief.
More importantly, there are indications that MArtin has lost his direction. Brienne's quest appears quixotic and often dreary and at this stage of the story seems to have added precisely nothing to the plot. One suspects that Martin had a greater role for her somewhere, changed his mind but couldn't bear to throw away such reams of material. We won't know for sure until the Song is sung.
Despite these criticisms, I read the book voraciously and felt (having re-read Storm of Swords immediately befoehand)rather bereft when I's finished. I look forward to Dance of Dragons, but I won't reread A Feast in preparation.