A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4)

Author: George R.R. Martin

Rating: ā­ 3/5

Date Read: 2014/08/16

Pages: 1060


3.5 stars, and Iā€™m rounding down because I find the Ironborn so ridiculously boring that I started groaning every time I read the name Greyjoy. I mean, really, do all of these characters really need their own POV chapters? Iā€™d rather find out about whatever it is theyā€™re doing by means of straight exposition.

(Seriously, if you havenā€™t read the first three, stop now. Spoilers, I canā€™t help it, because if I talk about people you will know theyā€™re not dead as of the beginning of book 4, and thatā€™s something you donā€™t want to know),

Thereā€™s some good stuff in here though: I always enjoy chapters from Sansaā€™s point of view, and the Sansa/Brienne of Tarth plot is pretty interesting. Jon Snow isnā€™t really around, but we do get some cool stuff about Samwell, and Arya has gotten a lot more engaging now that sheā€™s not mumbling about every single person sheā€™s going to kill eventually. Shitā€™s going down in Dorne and it seems pretty cool, but since itā€™s cool itā€™s confined to only a few chapters (seriously, GRRM, why? Who cares about Krakens and kingsmoots when the people in Dorne are plotting to overthrow the King and install Myrcella as queen??). Braavos seems like a cool place, too: it kind of reminds me of San Francisco.

The problem with the book is that itā€™s almost a thousand pages long and not that much happens. Itā€™s somewhat maddening because the stage is clearly being set for something, we just never really get to it. Itā€™s a little bit like watching a making-of featurette for an upcoming movie that you really, really want to see. And itā€™s cool to see all the characters and hear them talk about stuff, but itā€™s not particularly satisfying. I mean, the featurette mostly just reminds you that what you really want to see is the actual movie. In real life, you can skip the making of and just watch the damn thing, but A Feast for Crows isnā€™t exactly skippable. However, Iā€™m still glad I slogged through the book. Now, bring on the dragons.

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