Althea M. (althea) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 774 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
The much-hyped and much-awaited 4th volume in 'A Song of Ice and Fire'...
While I have been loving these books, and was excited to find out 'what happens next' to the characters, I don't think this volume is going to win any awards... one could argue that it's not really even a novel - it doesn't really have any coherent structure - or even actual plot.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it immensely...
but, it continues in the manner of the previous books, devoting each chapter to a different character. This book doesn't contain all of the characters (half were 'saved' for the next volume) but even so, there are so many characters that they seem to rarely repeat. You read an episode in one person's life.. then on to the next person, and then the next... and there's so many that what's happening doesn't progress that much...
Basically, and these aren't really spoilers, 'cause you could have guessed most of it from the last books: Cersei is being crazy and making an egomaniacal mess of trying to rule as regent for Tommen.
Brienne, in accordance with her vow, is tromping around looking for Sansa, with no luck, enduring tribulations.
Sansa is living under an assumed identity in a vaguely creepy situation (with Littlefinger).
Arya has found shelter (?) in a weird religious death cult.
Jaime is pissed off about losing his hand, but overall isn't as nasty as he used to be.
And a bunch of other characters are doing their various things, and not really (for the most part) interacting with one another.
There is hardly any mention at all of what initially seemed like it would be the main drama in this story - the supernatural threats from beyond the Wall.
The writing and characterization is great. Martin is a truly great writer.
But this book is just not as good as the first three in the series, as literature.
Also, the first three books do a good job of balancing the grittiness, misery, perversion, plotting and violence of the drama with moments of love, joy and honor - all that good stuff. This volume has few, if any, moments of brightness to contrast with the sordid reality that the characters are all living in. This is, undoubtedly, intentional, but makes the book less 'fun' than previous installments.
While I have been loving these books, and was excited to find out 'what happens next' to the characters, I don't think this volume is going to win any awards... one could argue that it's not really even a novel - it doesn't really have any coherent structure - or even actual plot.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it immensely...
but, it continues in the manner of the previous books, devoting each chapter to a different character. This book doesn't contain all of the characters (half were 'saved' for the next volume) but even so, there are so many characters that they seem to rarely repeat. You read an episode in one person's life.. then on to the next person, and then the next... and there's so many that what's happening doesn't progress that much...
Basically, and these aren't really spoilers, 'cause you could have guessed most of it from the last books: Cersei is being crazy and making an egomaniacal mess of trying to rule as regent for Tommen.
Brienne, in accordance with her vow, is tromping around looking for Sansa, with no luck, enduring tribulations.
Sansa is living under an assumed identity in a vaguely creepy situation (with Littlefinger).
Arya has found shelter (?) in a weird religious death cult.
Jaime is pissed off about losing his hand, but overall isn't as nasty as he used to be.
And a bunch of other characters are doing their various things, and not really (for the most part) interacting with one another.
There is hardly any mention at all of what initially seemed like it would be the main drama in this story - the supernatural threats from beyond the Wall.
The writing and characterization is great. Martin is a truly great writer.
But this book is just not as good as the first three in the series, as literature.
Also, the first three books do a good job of balancing the grittiness, misery, perversion, plotting and violence of the drama with moments of love, joy and honor - all that good stuff. This volume has few, if any, moments of brightness to contrast with the sordid reality that the characters are all living in. This is, undoubtedly, intentional, but makes the book less 'fun' than previous installments.
Melissa H. (lissak) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
While this wasn't the best book out of the series, Martin's worst is still far superior to any other author's best (in my opinion of course). I read all four books immediately after each other because i was late finding out about this series of books. This particular book wasn't the page turner that the others were but it was still interesting nonetheless. I was disappointed though that some of the previous characters were left out of this book. Making us wait until the next book is torturous. There were some surprises in this book even still though. It's obvious that he's setting us up for an ending of some sort. Though with Martin you can't ever really be sure what that ending might be.
It's still a must read for Martin fans.
It's still a must read for Martin fans.
Helpful Score: 2
Well, not as good as the first three, but still had some excellent scenes.
Barbara L. (memebarbara) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This entire series Is fantastic. Right up there with THE TRILOGY OF THE RING in scope and plot. Better than the HBO adaptation although I love that too. Can't wait for books 6 & 7. After the whole series is out I plan to read one character's chapters throughout the books. Just hope someone makes it to the end! I've hooked lots of friends and family.
Julie W. (cloverluv) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 129 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Well, George did it again! He managed to create a fantasy world that is totally believeable. I have been hooked on "Song of Fire and Ice..." until this book.
Now, I'm not saying this book wasn't good or a pleasure to read, it really was, I was just missing some of my favorite characters who did not appear at all in this book or appeared exceptionally briefly. In the back of the book Martin explains that in the next book that is soon to come "A Dance with Dragons" he explains what is going on with the characters that were missing from this book.
All that aside, I still had some complaints. This volume was chock full of politics and schemes that never really made it to full bloom, so by the time the book after "Dance with Dragons" comes out and we get back to the characters that were featured in THIS book I will have forgotten what the schemes were to start with. That, and Martin introduced so many new characters that my head started to spin after awhile.
Complaints aside, it was a good book that kept me reading and eagarly awaiting the next enstalment. Definitely worth the read!
Now, I'm not saying this book wasn't good or a pleasure to read, it really was, I was just missing some of my favorite characters who did not appear at all in this book or appeared exceptionally briefly. In the back of the book Martin explains that in the next book that is soon to come "A Dance with Dragons" he explains what is going on with the characters that were missing from this book.
All that aside, I still had some complaints. This volume was chock full of politics and schemes that never really made it to full bloom, so by the time the book after "Dance with Dragons" comes out and we get back to the characters that were featured in THIS book I will have forgotten what the schemes were to start with. That, and Martin introduced so many new characters that my head started to spin after awhile.
Complaints aside, it was a good book that kept me reading and eagarly awaiting the next enstalment. Definitely worth the read!
Helpful Score: 1
An odd book. Martin is moving his pieces around for the final rush to whatever conclusion he has in mind. Here we see some of those moves. I found the writing a bit better in this one than the first three, I think, but I found the story didn't move much. There is so much going on that only the major events register, and there weren't many major events here. Still, I'll read the next one, if only to try and figure out where he is taking this story.
SUSAN S. (susieqmillsacoustics) -
Helpful Score: 1
I did not enjoy this 4th installment as much as the first 3, mostly I think because it was not as complete and covered fewer characters. There is an author's note at the end that he tells the stories of some characters in this book and will cover the other characters in the next because the book would have been too long for all of them. This installment has Arya and Sansa, but mostly Cersei, Jamie, Brienne and Samwell. It also covers the Greyjoys and events of the Iron Islands. This one left me wanting to read the next one more as it is less complete.
Another excellent installment in the series. While he is always being compared with Tolkien, Martin is actually a much more down to earth writer, and the heros don't always win, or even stay alive for that matter. I'm on the edge of my seat awaiting the next installment!
Court D. (VCD3) -
Whew .... finished 4 of 5. You who are reading the series know what I mean :-). Great book again, very enjoyable. Just one thing I wish I had known going into it on page 1: Martin, after the last page (page #979 in paperback) says that he decided to complete the story for half the characters in book 4 and the other half in book 5 instead of making book 4 a "to be continued" book. Not knowing that up front I kept wondering, thru 978 pages, "wk=hat about so-and-so?". Lessened the enjoyment some.
Fabulous addition to a magical series. If you expect to read about all of your beloved characters, you will be disappointed and have to wait and read book 5. This work focuses only on the characters around Kings Landing. I didn't miss Jon, the dragons, Bran and the others. I loved seeing how Sansa, Arya, Cersei and Jaime fared. Amazing. Cannot wait to start book 5, which should fill in the many, many missing blanks. Give this one a chance and just be aware that you NEED to know these back stories in order to see the full picture.
Karen P. (drkaren) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 67 more book reviews
Once again, a must read in the series. Can't wait for the next one.
Uhhh, could someone please tell me why a publisher would let a writer give them a book that's supposed to go to print that is clearly not finished??? I don't even care about the poor explanation he gives in the last chapter... if you want to be a writer, deal with it and don't make excuses. I think he just had no clue what to do with certain characters so he puttered about a bunch of boring side stuff so he could "direct" instead of write and "get one more season in" with this book. This series reads like a TV show more and more so I've had to learn to expect characters that had a lot of potential for development just end in a rather poor way. There's more attention to detail given to things that possibly show the author has some inner issues to deal with, or something, who knows, but this book has been the most disappointing in the series. Now I'm off the read the next one and then wait until about 2015 or later for the next one (if his pace at publicizing the last two were any indication). Hopefully by then, the TV series will be done and I can just play catch up so I don't feel compelled to reread the series like I did with Harry Potter lol.
The previous tomes in this series really draw you in & keep you riveted, making this one seem a sprawling, disjointed mess by comparison. Too many new characters introduced you could care less about, and all the while you're wondering about the ones you already know so well from the earlier books. I finished Books 1 and 2 in what amounted to lengthy extended sittings, reading whenever I could steal a moment; this one languished on my nightstand, read only in stages. After an abruptly stupid ending, the author even felt the need to justify himself (that's how you know things are bad) with some nonsense about telling the whole story for half the characters, rather than half the story for all of them. Whatever.
Michelle B. (michker) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 4 more book reviews
This series continues to amaze me and the writer is amazing for keeping all these characters and their storyline straight.
Loved it!
If you are reading the series, It is as riviting as books one and two, Hard to put down.
A Feast Of Crows is not moving quite as fast as previous books in the Song Of Ice And Fire series. A lot of new charaters are being introduced with can get confusing. It still holds your interest when you can get back to the main characters and what is happening to them.
Victoria N. (vickyredhead) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 14 more book reviews
Can't wait for #6
Joan W. (justreadingabook) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 1728 more book reviews
As the story continues so does all of the intrigue and action.
Anne Todd O. (forestguardian) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 88 more book reviews
Great to keep up w/ favorite characters but a bit of a slog (and half of them don't appear much until the NEXT book). Be brave.
Heather D. (daylily77) reviewed A Feast for Crows (Song of Ice and Fire, Bk 4) on + 236 more book reviews
Least favorite so far of this series. Looking forward to more though.
Brand new, unread. George RR Martin is always a best seller.
