Customer Reviews

A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Four

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I finished it yesterday and was not disappointed. I was wary out of fear that Martin might be pulling a Jordan on us - you know, writing 1000 pages with no content, but this fear was unreasonable. Things happen in this book, oh yes. No huge battles but a lot of character developments, intrigues and murder AND you learn a lot of the history of Westeros in countless small anecdotes and stories from the characters, which I personally found very satisfying. Which brings me to my only complaint: it was too long. I understand Martin's reason to cut it in half but he should have taken one more character in to make the book bigger. It merely has 680 pages and - though it is great to read it - one is left with the feeling, that was all? I would also recommend reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates --if you haven't read it yet.

The flaw in this book is not so much in the writing, which is fine and as gripping as ever. It does represent a flaw in the series, in that we ignore characters from previous books, including several that I missed very much. Also, the plot only gets advanced in limited ways. Lots happens, but when it comes to the overall story of the series, not much has taken place. It's hard to see how this could be avoided in this format, telling a complicated story from the point of view of an extensive list of characters. Some reviewers complained in particular about Brienne but her adventures are no more pointless than the rest in here. Much depends on the next book - moving the story forward again will make this one worthwhile.

A for "Feast for Crows"

I enjoyed this novel as much as any other novel by GRRM. However, I say this with a caveat: it is not a complete novel. I fully trust GRRM to complete Dance of Dragons and and give us the missing half, but I do want to make my position clear on this book as a standalone. It was good. Here are my thoughts from a few years ago regarding the split.

Re: The Split
I didn't really mind the split between this book and "A Dance with Dragons", and while I found it frustrating to not hear about some characters that will only make me more anxious to read the next book. The plot moves well (for the characters that you do get to see). Really, I should be waiting till both books (this and Dance) are released to rate them, but I have to rate it something and since it's "A Song of Ice and Fire", it gets a 5. Note that I don't blindly rate it a five, but carefully consider before giving it a ranking.

As to readers that called this a "money grab" I'd point out that every book that is ever published is, in some way, "a money grab". It's up to you whether you buy the book or not. It was absolutely necessary to split the books into two copies, and although I'm disappointed the companion tale isn't around yet to fill in the blanks, I'm extremely happy with what he did in this book. The great characters are still there, the plot still moves forward, and the world continues to expand.

Saying that it isn't as good as the first three novels is not much of problem to worry about, considering the first three are some of the best fantasy novels ever written, if not THE best. GRRM may not be an incredibly fast writer, but his work is unbelievably well crafted.

While this addition to the Ice and Fire series did not contain the twists and intrigues of the previous novels, I thought it very enjoyable. While I was waiting for it I reread all of the previous novels, and reminded myself how much I loved the character's that Martin has created for my enjoyment. I think that the title is very suitable; Westeros is a land of corpses, and weak, and I can see Martin moving all of his characters to either prey on the Seven Kingdom's weakened state, or to rebuild their life with what pieces they have. For me this book was all about the characters. I do think that Martin spent too much time on Brienne and Cersei but he still has me wondering what part they will play in the ongoing story. I can't bring myself to say that he spent too much time on Jaime though; he's one of my favourite characters in the series and I enjoyed every minute I spent with him.
It disappoints that Martin had to split this volume in half though. Honestly, I really would have rather he just had one absurdly long book. One of Martin's great aspects, to me, was that he could create an indisputably unified and strong story while juggling so many subplots, and he lost that a bit by cutting out half the characters.
I can't wait for A Dance of Dragons though. I don't know what to read in the mean time!

I was a bit put off by all the negative reviews of the work before I started reading it. With this in mind, I read it with a thought for the reviewer's eye. I can put the doubts to rest now. George R. R. Martin hasn't lost it. This book is as good as the rest of the series. No, the chapters on Brienne weren't boring. No, Cersi isn't going mad, as one reviewer claimed. She's flawed, which is quite different.

The story and the characters were both complex and interesting. The book did have the feel of being a bit short and incomplete, a mere 684 pages and divided in two at the last moment. 684 pages isn't short, you say? Well, it seemed short. The reason is that George R. R. Martin isn't telling a story about a character, which may easily falter and lose it's interest before one gets to six volumes. GRRM is telling a story about an entire world, and it's a great big fascinating world out there. The story is told by examining the lives of some of the people involved at critical times and places.

There was one complaint that the number of cliffhangers was excessive, and I do recall that one of them seemed especially contrived, bringing to mind a picture of tipping a barrel of monkeys over a vine-laden cliff resulting in "a lot of cliffhangers". I wonder if GRRM has visions of a T.V. series?

Characterization outpaces plot in this volume, but the tale was ready for more characterization and less plot. This would only be a flaw if things continued in this vien forever, and plot didn't take up the reins again at some point.

The story makes you think, and it makes you remember. I read a lot of fantasy, but most of it is forgettable. Not this series. The realism that is not present in most fantasy series is appealing. Medieval life, morals, and principles seem more accurately depicted in the world of Westeros. The willingness of the author to allow his characters to die is a startling change from the norm. This is due to the world view adopted in this series. With many fantasy novels you wonder "Will anyone ever die?", with the underlying thought that probably no one ever will, despite an un-ending list of perils to be faced. In this series you wonder "Will anyone live?" with the underlying thought that perhaps no one will.

A Feast For Crows was a darned fine bit of storytelling, and I'm glad the next one is almost written, since it won't be such a long wait. I'm looking forward to it. GRRM's writing pace is slow, but I won't complain about it when it continues to turn out a fine product.

Overall, I give this book 5 stars.

I can't write a very sophisticated review as this genre really isn't my thing, but I made it through the three previous novels with enough enthusiasm to proceed. I think, overall, for an average reader, this is the least satisfying offering so far. I admit to skimming half of it, wanting something to happen, ANYTHING to happen that would justify my interest. So many of my favourite characters are just totally disregarded and I just feel cheated. You can have too many characters; you can have too sweeping a scope; you can try your reader's patience, and this one really did!

When you consider that these novels are about the age-old preoccupation with power, couched in interesting times, places, spaces, customs and characters, you really need to keep your reader's interest. But I just simply stopped caring. I couldn't care less who takes the throne. Nothing could possibly justify such killing and misery, and maybe that's the whole point. It's a pointed commentary on the price of war....The trouble is I did care, I did have my pet characters, I wanted integrity to win out...but it all got so terribly bogged down in blood and destruction and the worst of human nature AND nothingness that I just want to say, to hell with them all.

Ever since seeing the HBO TV series at a friends house, I have been hooked on George RR Martin. Can't wait for the next book

I must admit that at times I found the book a bit slow in moving ahead. I really do miss some of the characters, Tyrion, Arya. I feel that the series is being written like a "afternoon soap opera". That's not a bad thing for what the author is doing. The story jumps from one person to another. Every time moving the various plots a bit. It's a global story as seen by various characters that are being affected. My predictions after the third book are all wrong! I like that I can't predict the story. The intrigue, the plotting, the scheme continues. Every character is having an impact on what is unfolding. I was sad to seem so characters that I liked, ended. I would have liked to see more about other characters that seemed to be left out, yet I enjoyed how some other characters have changed. Additional characters were added. I am not sure I like that. I would have prefered staying with all the characters already available. Not sure about the other comments concerning the length of the book. It was long..in length not boring! I found myself always caught in reading the next chapter. I really like that the chapters are the names of the characters that the story continues with. I am amazed(pleased!) that the author hasn't "filled the book" with unneeded repetitions of stories already written in previous books. So far the series is well worth the money. Anxious to start book 5...will it be the last? Does the story finally have a happy ever after?

This is one of my favourite book series, and so when i got my hands on the fourth book i was expecting it to be just as amazing as the first three books. In this respect i was disappointed. Its not that this book wasn't good- far from it i believe that it is very interesting and well written. However, the third book ended on such a high note- and also a huge cliffhanger for Arya, Tyrion and Dany- that i REALLY wanted to find out what would happen next. Unfortunately, these characters were sort of brushed aside (although Arya was in the book she was not as central as i would have liked her to be). I felt like the storyline drifted a little bit- mostly because all my favourite characters were pushed aside- and so this is my least favourite book so far in the series. That being said, i DID give it a 4 star review because it is STILL awesome.

This book is an ingenious addition to the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. I was ready to stop reading this series after the third book. I found A Storm of Swords very difficult to get through. The constant suffering of characters I had grown to care about over the coarse of the first two books was overwhelming.

A Feast for Crows is almost entirely an exercise in plot and character development. This book focuses mostly on the personal stories of a few characters. There not many major events of the magnitude presented in the first three books. (Some may be wondering which characters are followed in this novel as many reviewers have noted characters are missing. I've included the list at the end of this review.)

Everything in Westeros begins to become much more complicated from a character and political point of view. There appears to be a religious divide developing. The Ironmen are getting more ambitious. The Highgarten/Dorne/Kinglanding alliance is shaky. The political education of Sansa continues and Cersei's torment is revealed. This book does not have alot of action but it is stuffed from cover to cover with compelling drama.

If like me you love the world Martin has created and you enjoy following the characters on their journeys you will love this book.

The characters that are followed in this book are, Cercei and all other characters in Kingslanding, Jamie, Sam and Gilly from the wall. Sansa and others in The Vale are followed as well as all main characters in the Iron Islands. The Dornish prince and his family are intruduced and very interesting information regarding Daenerys is revealed through them. You will spend a fair bit of time with Briene and Arya as well.

Check out my other reviews for more info on A Song of Ice and Fire series.