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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
medium-paced
The structure of this book is just weird. Why couldn't Jaime's chapter have been in Feast? Why did two characters' chapters stop in the middle of the book? Why did we get a lot of tension and build-up at Winterfell but no conclusion about what happened there? The odd pacing and placement of chapters was perplexing and could have been solved easily. For instance, when Tyrion wonders at the end of a chapter "hey, what happened to Griff?" cut to Griff's storyline in the next chapter - don't follow up with a character who has no connection to them. This book is the urban sprawl of fantasy novels: you love it once you get to your destination but the trip there is excruciating.
This isn't to say that the book is useless, a waste of time, a disappointment, or a failure as other reviews have claimed. In fact, the story is its strongest when it tackles the BIG themes about human existence altogether at once. Characters are juggling multiple conflicts like the art of statecraft, the control over food supplies, the fine line between freedom and slavery, the stubborn inflexibility of political/economic/religious systems, the desire to be loved and respected, family vs. duty, and the letter vs. the spirit of the law. The scale of the story is so ambitious and that it tops literary fiction's ability to explore these concepts in intertwining ways--which is an impressive accomplishment. And Gods be good it's still a hell of a fun ride. I enjoyed ignoring my real-life problems for a few days to escape into war-torn Westeros. But still, the book "won my head" when it also should have also "won my heart."
This isn't to say that the book is useless, a waste of time, a disappointment, or a failure as other reviews have claimed. In fact, the story is its strongest when it tackles the BIG themes about human existence altogether at once. Characters are juggling multiple conflicts like the art of statecraft, the control over food supplies, the fine line between freedom and slavery, the stubborn inflexibility of political/economic/religious systems, the desire to be loved and respected, family vs. duty, and the letter vs. the spirit of the law. The scale of the story is so ambitious and that it tops literary fiction's ability to explore these concepts in intertwining ways--which is an impressive accomplishment. And Gods be good it's still a hell of a fun ride. I enjoyed ignoring my real-life problems for a few days to escape into war-torn Westeros. But still, the book "won my head" when it also should have also "won my heart."
I like A Dance with dragons better than I did A feast for crows. I loved Jon's point of view,looking forward to the next book to see what happens to him. By now, it seems to me that Danaerys is probably going to end up on the Iron throne, what I'm curious to see is what happens to Stannis. Another thing that seems to boggle me is the huge number of people who end up dying in every book as the story progresses, if people die at this rate there won't be many left at the end of the war :P
why did I ever think that this one would finally wrap up the story, and not twist my emotions all over again with sparse pages remaining? Its true that this one is much slower going than any of the other books so far, but that won't stop me from obsessively seeking out further material on this incredible series.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
The differences between it and the TV series continues to increase; rarely if ever does the simplified plot lines of the latter improve on the former. GRRM has achieved an excellent pace, modern and scholarly without being anachronistic. Now like so many others to wait for the next volume.
This was a really, really long book and I found it slow-going in the beginning but I think that was mostly due to the way the author chose to divide the story between books 4 and 5. Rather than cutting the story in half, he divided the characters in half which means that when you begin reading book 5, you find yourself back in the time period in which book 4 began as Martin circles back to tell you what was happening to the other half of the characters while the events of book 4 were taking place. Therefore, certain characters were not where I left them and it took some slight mental adjustments on my part to comprehend the time shift.
For that reason, I'm tempted to give the book fewer stars but ultimately I feel the story told was a fantastic one. It certainly moved the entire Song of Ice & Fire series forward and with plenty of the plot twists I've come to expect (if it's possible to expect a plot twist). For a series that stands at about 5,000 pages and, I don't know, 500 characters (it certainly seems like at least that many), I feel very little, if any, of the story is wasted or without reason. There are certainly characters I like better than others but I'm never bored, even when the chapter is a character I'm not especially interested it. The story is woven together so well that even those chapters are interesting.
Having devoured the first 5 books in 7 weeks, I now find myself in that unenviable position where the story is not ended but there are no more books to read and I sympathize with everyone who's been reading, and waiting, since the first book was released. I now anxiously await the next volume with you.
For that reason, I'm tempted to give the book fewer stars but ultimately I feel the story told was a fantastic one. It certainly moved the entire Song of Ice & Fire series forward and with plenty of the plot twists I've come to expect (if it's possible to expect a plot twist). For a series that stands at about 5,000 pages and, I don't know, 500 characters (it certainly seems like at least that many), I feel very little, if any, of the story is wasted or without reason. There are certainly characters I like better than others but I'm never bored, even when the chapter is a character I'm not especially interested it. The story is woven together so well that even those chapters are interesting.
Having devoured the first 5 books in 7 weeks, I now find myself in that unenviable position where the story is not ended but there are no more books to read and I sympathize with everyone who's been reading, and waiting, since the first book was released. I now anxiously await the next volume with you.
I need to reread it with Book 4 as was intended because on it's own it felt a bit disjointed and not as good as the rest of the series. Still one of the best collective series overall however.
Damn was this hard to get through, but worth it. Really wish George would finish the series already
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes