Reviews

This book was an interesting one. I would say it is similar to the fourth one in the sense that there are so many pages and so many plotlines, but not as much happens as you would think. There are probably too many plotlines, to the point where some questions have remained unanswered for hundreds of pages and may never be answered. For example, rickon has been gone for thousands of pages, and then as soon as Davos goes after him, his chapters end too. It just leaves a feeling like "why do we have 10 narrators without full stories when we could have 5 narrators with more satisfying conclusions?" The things I liked - theon's return was good, all his chapters were pretty dark but I liked them. Jaime is great and I wish he had more chapters. I hate to say it, but the book really runs between, Tyrion, Jon, and Daenerys, and they were all disappointing in this book. Most underwhelming is Tyrion. Sure, he still has good moments, and his wit is always there, but he is just not as interesting in roles where there are no politics. Political games are the best part of these books imo, and Tyrion feels empty without them. Just a shell of his former self from books 2 and 3. Jon is alright, he is a cool guy as Lord commander but there is too much talk about wildlings. George RR Martin sets up this battle between the night watch and the others... And then the others never show up. So it's just Jon dealing with "I don't trust the wildlings" and "we don't have food for everyone" and stannis' wife being mad at him. It's just Jon dealing with everyone's petty squables and it gets old quick. And idk what happened to him at the end. Like is he even still alive?? I'm confused. Daenerys is better, but it is once again a lot of minor/not that interesting issues for a lot of the book. Then she married for peace, maybe gets betrayed? And then finally flies off on a dragon... Just for the book to end. It was cool how the focus turned onto her story from many perspectives at the end, but still, she just isn't my favorite person to read about. Once again, political intrigue is my favorite part, and she can lack that. Also, what was up with Quentyn Martell? Shows up, releases some dragons, and dies. It just felt weird, like he never should have really been a narrator.

Looking back at the series as a whole, the 2nd and 3rd novels are certainly the best, they had the right pacing and mixture of plot, characters, and world building. And I did grow to really like a lot of the characters. An enjoyable read, but definitely not a series I would recommend to just anyone.

disneyboy7's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

tamoker's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

philyer's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

More...