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geowhaley's review against another edition
4.0
The first of Martin’s novels NOT to win the Locus award and I can see why. To much was just not there. I understand the uniqueness of trying to split the story geographically, but it definitely left a lot to be desired. I can’t imagine reading this and having to wait nearly 6 years to read the ‘other half’ of the novel. Checking in as the second shortest novel of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (only the first novel, A Game of Thrones is shorter) this novel still qualifies for the Tea and Books Reading Challenge and I am counting it for the Mount TBR Challenge as well.
The more of these novels I read, the more I realize Martin is incredibly intelligent and his writing is phenomenal. The series is summed up by one line in this novel (as in the last novel), “Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes.” This not only supports my earlier discussions about his ability to write about magic but not include it in the world, but highlights that these novels take place at one of those moments in a history which are write history and re-write history.
Click here to continue reading on my blog The Oddness of Moving Things.
The more of these novels I read, the more I realize Martin is incredibly intelligent and his writing is phenomenal. The series is summed up by one line in this novel (as in the last novel), “Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes.” This not only supports my earlier discussions about his ability to write about magic but not include it in the world, but highlights that these novels take place at one of those moments in a history which are write history and re-write history.
Click here to continue reading on my blog The Oddness of Moving Things.
lollyreadspei's review against another edition
5.0
These books are huge undertakings- set aside a good month to read it. I normally blow through books but these are thousand pagers with tiny writing. The stories and characters are so developed you find yourself skipping ahead to find out what happens to your favorites. Each chapter is written from a different characters point of view which keeps it interesting and the read stays engaged. Now a show on HBO- check it out! They definitely do the books justice! If you're already watching the show I recommend skimming the first two books- they're almost the same as the show and then move on to the third before Season 3 comes out!!
belw's review against another edition
5.0
I love reading this series. The OMG moments usually coincide with the you can't do that moments!! I'm continually amazed at what Martin puts his characters through. the development of the series leaves me hanging for more.
surikun's review against another edition
4.0
A true masterpiece of words as expected from George R.R. Martin. I really like his writing and way with words that I fall in love with this world over and over again even though it's full of tragedy.
This book was great, but still not great enough. I don't like how the same period of time is separated in two books, this one and [b:A Dance with Dragons|10664113|A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327885335s/10664113.jpg|2936175]. I don't know what happened with Tyrion and I hate that I have to wait to buy next book to find out! And I hate that I won't know the continuation of Arya's story until Martin realises that [b:The Winds of Winter|12111823|The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1465341854s/12111823.jpg|6570035] needs to be published!
Also, it felt like this book was a calming before the storm. It didn't have any action. And those brief battles it did have weren't described at all! I wish there was more action. There was only Cersei being evil as usual, Jaime moping around, Brienne looking for Sansa, Sansa living other life, Sam travelling, and everyone looking for Tyrion. It was endless circle of that. Though I loved that last Cersei's chapter, though I would love to see her face when she realises that Jaime won't help her. Oh my heart sang in that parts!
I love that we got an insight on Dorne. People of Dorne are really mysterious to me and I loved to read parts where the plot happened there. I will never understand how men can be so stupid and fall in love with women that uses them only for their own scheming games. Oh poor Arys. I really liked him... :(
I want to know what happened with Brienne! Did she die or did she live? What was the word that she screamed at the end of her chapter? I need answers!!!!!! She is one of my favorite characters and I'd hate to have to mourn over her too.
I guess this book left a lot of unfinished business between the author and the readers. I can only imagine what the next one will do. I just wish he would hurry up and release [b:The Winds of Winter|12111823|The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1465341854s/12111823.jpg|6570035] already!!!!!!! (No pressure, I don't want another Stark killed)
This book was great, but still not great enough. I don't like how the same period of time is separated in two books, this one and [b:A Dance with Dragons|10664113|A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327885335s/10664113.jpg|2936175]. I don't know what happened with Tyrion and I hate that I have to wait to buy next book to find out! And I hate that I won't know the continuation of Arya's story until Martin realises that [b:The Winds of Winter|12111823|The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1465341854s/12111823.jpg|6570035] needs to be published!
Also, it felt like this book was a calming before the storm. It didn't have any action. And those brief battles it did have weren't described at all! I wish there was more action. There was only Cersei being evil as usual, Jaime moping around, Brienne looking for Sansa, Sansa living other life, Sam travelling, and everyone looking for Tyrion. It was endless circle of that. Though I loved that last Cersei's chapter, though I would love to see her face when she realises that Jaime won't help her. Oh my heart sang in that parts!
I love that we got an insight on Dorne. People of Dorne are really mysterious to me and I loved to read parts where the plot happened there. I will never understand how men can be so stupid and fall in love with women that uses them only for their own scheming games. Oh poor Arys. I really liked him... :(
I want to know what happened with Brienne! Did she die or did she live? What was the word that she screamed at the end of her chapter? I need answers!!!!!! She is one of my favorite characters and I'd hate to have to mourn over her too.
I guess this book left a lot of unfinished business between the author and the readers. I can only imagine what the next one will do. I just wish he would hurry up and release [b:The Winds of Winter|12111823|The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1465341854s/12111823.jpg|6570035] already!!!!!!! (No pressure, I don't want another Stark killed)
rrrebekahmay's review against another edition
3.0
This one was probably my least favourite so far, but still really good. After all of the action of A Storm of Swords this one didn't quite live up to my expectations. Martin says at the end that he felt it was better to tell the full story for half of the characters than to half the story of all of the characters but in some way I wish he had done the latter.
A Feast for Crows follows mainly Brienne, Cersei and Jaime, but also Arya and Sansa, with little bits of Arianne Martell and other people in Dorne, and Victarion and other members of the Greyjoy family on the Iron Islands. I really enjoyed seeing Jaime's development and how he's changed and grown into a much better person, even if he still has his flaws. Cersei is surprisingly immature, for all she's managed to get away with throughout the series. Arya is still a little girl, which I keep forgetting but she's been through so much and she's a survivor. Sansa is one of my favourite characters and I loved reading her chapters, I'm only sad there wasn't more of them (three is not enough, I'll be mad if I have to wait until Winds of Winter for the next one). It's so weird to see her starting to lose herself in Alayne because of Petyr Bealish, interesting and sad at the same time. I really liked Arianne and Victarion, the Greyjoys were actually surprisingly enjoyable to read about.
And then there was Brienne. Seven Hells. I didn't hate all of three of her chapters, and there are eight of them, and even then only one of those three I actually enjoyed, I liked Meribald's story about the soldiers.
At points this was a real slog to get through. Martin says in his acknowledgements, 'This one was a bitch.' and it was. I usually devour these books, I've read longer ASOIAF installments in half the time. In the end, I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. It was ok. I'm glad I read it when I could move straight onto A Dance with Dragons though, if not I'm not sure it would have been worth the effort. I almost started skipping certain chapters, in all honesty. But whatever, I did it, and I'm glad to finally be moving on with the series.
A Feast for Crows follows mainly Brienne, Cersei and Jaime, but also Arya and Sansa, with little bits of Arianne Martell and other people in Dorne, and Victarion and other members of the Greyjoy family on the Iron Islands. I really enjoyed seeing Jaime's development and how he's changed and grown into a much better person, even if he still has his flaws. Cersei is surprisingly immature, for all she's managed to get away with throughout the series. Arya is still a little girl, which I keep forgetting but she's been through so much and she's a survivor. Sansa is one of my favourite characters and I loved reading her chapters, I'm only sad there wasn't more of them (three is not enough, I'll be mad if I have to wait until Winds of Winter for the next one). It's so weird to see her starting to lose herself in Alayne because of Petyr Bealish, interesting and sad at the same time. I really liked Arianne and Victarion, the Greyjoys were actually surprisingly enjoyable to read about.
And then there was Brienne. Seven Hells. I didn't hate all of three of her chapters, and there are eight of them, and even then only one of those three I actually enjoyed, I liked Meribald's story about the soldiers.
At points this was a real slog to get through. Martin says in his acknowledgements, 'This one was a bitch.' and it was. I usually devour these books, I've read longer ASOIAF installments in half the time. In the end, I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. It was ok. I'm glad I read it when I could move straight onto A Dance with Dragons though, if not I'm not sure it would have been worth the effort. I almost started skipping certain chapters, in all honesty. But whatever, I did it, and I'm glad to finally be moving on with the series.
batvan143's review against another edition
3.0
So. Much. Set. Up. I love the writing, but story wise this book was pretty slow. Hoping the next book’s character focus is more exciting.
pattyedits's review against another edition
4.0
It's really just part four but with slightly different character studies. The author confesses, at the end, to having written a much larger book than he had anticipated (as I believe the case is with the entire Song of Ice and Fire series), and that his readers would have to wait for the next (dare we say final?) book. Luckily for me, I am reading it long after the fifth book was published so I did not have to wait a year for it. Next up: viewing the HBO series. (I have only seen the first three episodes.)
kalkka's review against another edition
4.0
Really, RR? Pulling the whole Disney evil queen act with Cersei? Really?
daydreamer35's review against another edition
3.0
This book actually kind of disappointed me. It seemed to me that this book's sole purpose was to build up to the next book. It had it's interesting moments but it never really moved fast enough to me. The chapters, especially Brienne's, moved at a snail like pace. Jaime's and Cersei's chapters were good, I also enjoyed Arya's, but overall, everything that happened was kind of meh...
There weren't even a lot of "Oh my gosh that did NOT just happen!" moments which really disappointed me. The ending was interesting but it didn't throw me for a huge loop (maybe a little one, but compared to the endings of the other books... snore). I can count maybe 2 moments (maybe 2.5) that I came close to the "wow did that really just happen" type of feeling... but like I said, that's sad compared to the other books.
As far as characters go, most of my favorites weren't even in this book (Tyrion and Daenerys for example) but I made do with Cersei, Arya and Jaime's chapters (I liked Cersei's and Jaime's chapters mostly. Frankly their drama was what kept me going through the book.) One very annoying this was what I called the "nameless chapters". These are chapters in the book that wasn't titled by someone's name so you spent the first part of the chapter figuring out who it is (mostly it's some random person who isn't a main character and, to me, I didn't really care about...) The chapters did provide some useful information though, but it was annoying to have to try and figure out who's talking.
The book therefore gets 3/5 stars from me, which makes me sad since I do like the series. The lack of excitement and any exiting happenings compared to the other books plus the annoyance from the "nameless chapters" brings it way down, though the 2 (or 2.5) exciting "omg" moments that did happen, along with some Cersei/Jaime drama (plus a nice set up involving Sansa which I hope to hear more about in probably the 6th book), keep the score from going any lower. I really hope the next book is as good as I hear people saying it is and hope it's enough to redeem this one.
There weren't even a lot of "Oh my gosh that did NOT just happen!" moments which really disappointed me. The ending was interesting but it didn't throw me for a huge loop (maybe a little one, but compared to the endings of the other books... snore). I can count maybe 2 moments (maybe 2.5) that I came close to the "wow did that really just happen" type of feeling... but like I said, that's sad compared to the other books.
As far as characters go, most of my favorites weren't even in this book (Tyrion and Daenerys for example) but I made do with Cersei, Arya and Jaime's chapters (I liked Cersei's and Jaime's chapters mostly. Frankly their drama was what kept me going through the book.) One very annoying this was what I called the "nameless chapters". These are chapters in the book that wasn't titled by someone's name so you spent the first part of the chapter figuring out who it is (mostly it's some random person who isn't a main character and, to me, I didn't really care about...) The chapters did provide some useful information though, but it was annoying to have to try and figure out who's talking.
The book therefore gets 3/5 stars from me, which makes me sad since I do like the series. The lack of excitement and any exiting happenings compared to the other books plus the annoyance from the "nameless chapters" brings it way down, though the 2 (or 2.5) exciting "omg" moments that did happen, along with some Cersei/Jaime drama (plus a nice set up involving Sansa which I hope to hear more about in probably the 6th book), keep the score from going any lower. I really hope the next book is as good as I hear people saying it is and hope it's enough to redeem this one.
carterameagher's review against another edition
5.0
- 5 stars
- kindle
I am flying through these finally. This one was definitely my favorite of the series so far. Although I needed more Dany chapters, I loved how Arianne was so important to this book. There were many gasps when reveals occurred.
- kindle
I am flying through these finally. This one was definitely my favorite of the series so far. Although I needed more Dany chapters, I loved how Arianne was so important to this book. There were many gasps when reveals occurred.