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A Feast For Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) – George R.R. Martin

Title: A Feast For Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) by George R.R. Martin
Publishing Info: November 8, 2005 by Random House Publishing Group
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: October 30, 2013
Related Posts: 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)

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 of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, 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—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

While A FEAST FOR CROWS wasn’t my favorite of the series so far, it was definitely still enjoyable. It’s hard to review because like all of the other books, SO much happens throughout the course of 1000+ pages, but as always, I will do my best!

A FEAST FOR CROWS is an interesting concept as far as plotting A Song of Ice and Fire goes. George R.R. Martin had SO much to tell about his characters and especially during this specific point in the series that A FEAST FOR CROWS that books four and five are basically one book split into two parts. AFFC follows the more minor characters like Arya, Sansa, Brienne, Sam, and we also get some interesting POVs with Jamie, Cersei, and various Greyjoys. Admittedly, without the “powerhouses” like Jon, Dany, Tyrion, and other favorites, it is a bit hard to get into and… I hate to say it, but I struggled until the last few chapters were things got AWESOME — but I get ahead of myself…

So we follow more minor characters in A FEAST FOR CROWS, but the lack of power players is made up with scenery changes. We get to explore places like Dorne, Oldtown, and other places outside of Westeros. I think this book really adds a deeper layer to the series, seeing more places, adding more history, and really weaving everything together. There were definitely less “OMG” moments seeing as the major plot points are typically following the stronger characters, but we eventually work up to some pretty awesome twists and surprises at the end of the book. AFFC is definitely a slower pace, especially after coming down of the highs and sudden drops in A STORM OF SWORDS, but we receive a lot of important information in this book. I can also say that having already started A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, I’m already seeing these story lines looping back into the main plot and why they were important to see standing on their own.

I really struggled with some of the Greyjoy chapters (Greyjoys. They’re the new Davos.) but I think that was partially because I just really didn’t know that much about them aside from meeting Theon and briefly Asha. It’s always hard to start chapters with new characters whose histories I’m not familiar with yet. Those chapters also take place in the Iron Islands which is a territory I’m also not familiar with so it just becomes to be too much of an unknown and I get swamped in all of the details. They do have an interesting history and what seems to be an important part of the series, but those were my one big struggle in A FEAST FOR CROWS.

I actually didn’t know that this was a sort of “Part One” type of book before I started so I was really missing people like Dany, Jon, and Tyrion when I first started. I definitely think it’s important to know that it’s more like a piece of the bigger picture before starting! The last couple chapters were incredibly interesting and we finally have some “OMG” moments that the rest of the book seemed to be lacking. I’m glad it had an epic ending because it really made me more excited to start A DANCE WITH DRAGONS and the final push of our Song of Ice and Fire read along!

Brienne of Tarth // Character Obsessions: Finding Sansa, finding Sansa, finding Sansa, Jamie.
I loved Brienne in previous books, but admittedly her chapters were DULL in this book. She’s so focused on finding Sansa as her last vow to Jamie and still working on her vow to Catelyn Stark and yes, her journeys take her all over this fantasy world but… It’s a LONG journey. We get a little of her history and FINALLY something incredibly interesting in Brienne’s last chapter in the book, but wow. It took a long time to get there!
Samwell Tarly // Character Obsessions: Protecting Gilly and Aemon, trying not to be a craven.
Sam’s chapters were actually pretty interesting. I wanted a bit more from them at times but Sam’s travels were much more exciting than Brienne’s. I really liked the history that he discovers and the end of his chapters also set up for many questions and left me extremely curious!

Kept Me Hooked On: The minor characters. It is a bit difficult reading 1000+ pages without our favorites, but I really enjoyed getting the back stories of some of the more minor characters and especially some of the people who were originally portrayed as antagonists like Cersei Lannister.
Left Me Wanting More: Action. With the first three books featuring a lot more action and adventure, A FEAST FOR CROWS was definitely a slower pace. I needed more OMG moments to carry me through and I did enjoy the book but not nearly as much as I had hoped.

Addiction Rating
Read it!

Well, you’ve made it three books so no read to stop now, right? I think as long as you know that book four is sort of a “part one” for books four and five, it will help prepare you. It doesn’t quite have that faster pace like the rest of the books, but it’s still a very important installment of the series and it’s not like you can stop now anyway! 🙂

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A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) – George R.R. Martin

Title: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin
Publishing Info: November 16, 1998 by Random House Publishing Group
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: June 30, 2013
Related Posts: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1), A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3), A Feast For Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4), A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5)

Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon;who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead...victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.
As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky, a comet the color of blood and flame, six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard's son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King's Landing. Robert's two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.
A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside.
Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.
Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment;a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.

Phew! A CLASH OF KINGS was a little bit heftier than A GAME OF THRONES and I have to admit, I felt it just a bit. Not a lot, because let’s be honest… I did read over 400 pages on the train to and from CT/NY during BEA week so clearly things were going well! I just found a couple more lulls in A CLASH OF KINGS as we delve into a few more political and war-themed aspects. I was mostly interested in all of the character development, the way all of the characters end up tied in to each other, and all of the crazy mysteries to be uncovered.

I loved seeing more of my favorite characters like Jon Snow, Dany, and Arya, specifically. It was really great to see more character development from them and how they’re changing not only from book to book, but really chapter to chapter. I actually really started to find myself sympathizing with Sansa for as much as I disliked her in most of the first novel. Her predicament was not a good one by far and I really enjoyed seeing how much she’s changing and acting more like an adult little by little. Even the villains were incredibly interesting. There are so many villains that are multi-layered and as much as I hate their guts, I do see certain reasons as to why they’re so hardened and vicious. I’m starting to almost like some of the bad guys… I think Alyssa would be proud.

I think A CLASH OF KINGS didn’t have as many “HOLY CRAP” moments as A GAME OF THRONES did and in a way, that both upsets me and makes me feel at ease. There was one specific moment in GoT that really upset me and there was a total fake out moment that really upset me in this book, but nothing TOO traumatizing (although I’ve heard that all goes out the window in book three). I was hoping for just a few more exciting moments because I had mentioned, I did find quite a few more lulls. There were a few chapters that I felt could have been summed up a little neater and didn’t need to go into that much detail, but it all helps build that world!

There was a sense of relief when I finished. You know… 970 pages will do that to you! But really once I finished, I almost immediately wanted to grab book three because I’ve heard so many (vaguely) incredible things about it, thankfully no spoilers! I’m excited to read book three just to see what everyone’s talking about from watching the TV show (and thank you for not spoiling it for me since I’m reading the book before watching the show)!!!

Updates on A Song of Ice and Fire Read Along: The SOIFRA read along is going well! I’m loving how we’re doing this with one book every two months. I’m still able to read other books and then designate time to read these books each week. I don’t always follow the schedule chapter by chapter… More a general sense of not falling TOO far behind. All of my reading on the train really helped me get ahead so I didn’t have to worry about it for a while, but that also hurt me a bit because then I spent so much time away from the book and forgot a few things here and there. Hopefully book three will be unputdownable (Really? Spellcheck didn’t question that. I think that’s a win) and that I’ll love it even more!