dolorous_ett | About "A Feast for Crows" (contains minor spoilers) (Reply)

I said I was going to write a bit about the latest George R R Martin book, and so I'm going to do it. But it's hard! I've come to the conclusion that I'm not very good at reviewing the books or series which I really admire. I lack detachment, and tend either to ramble insufferably or sound like I'm trying too hard to be funny at a fine book's expense. Neither of which is really the effect I'm aiming at. Also, in this particular case, I have to be a bit careful about spoilers - the US version of A Feast for Crows comes out later than the UK version and I don't want to damage anyone's reading pleasure.

Here are the main points of view:

Cersei - has finally got the top job. And is proving in fine style just how good she is at running a country and choosing friends.
Jaime - is rather sobered by past events. We see him both at King's Landing and at large in the Riverlands, where he visits two castles. There are Freys.
Brienne of Tarth - is out looking for Sansa. And finding a whole variety of other people in her travels, some of whom are nice, others really not nice at all. We also get to see some of her backstory - poor girl. I'm well chuffed to see her - this is the POV for which I was hoping and which I therefore assumed I would never see.
Sam - has been sent on an errand by Jon. He gets a chance at two things that should be his heart's desire - and agonises about both of them. He punches someone - who richly deserved it.
Arya - is good to see - was not expecting to, as she's not technically in Westeros at all. She's enjoying life at the moment, but doubts have been expressed about her suitability for her chosen career - some of which I share.
Alayne - who we know is actually Sansa - is making a go of life in the Eyrie as Littlefinger's bastard daughter. Includes Vale politics, and the whiny young Lord of the Eyrie.
Ironborn galore - include Asha and two of her uncles. Much bickering about who is to rule the Iron Islands. Also includes a rather unusual (and ultimately fatal) performance on a musical instrument.
Dorne! - again, multiple points of view - two guards and a princess. Dorne is plainly a pretty amazing place, with a definite character of its own - lots of sands and hot-weather delicacies. We get to see several Sand Snakes and the elusive Prince of Dorne himself.
The Citadel - with which the book begins and ends. Hogwarts, it ain't.

Jon (and other Night's watch favourites like Pyp, Grenn and Dolorous Edd) only appear very briefly right at the beginning. Of Bran, Rickon and Tyrion, not so much as a whisper, despite all manner of prices on their heads. We get the odd hint of the fates of Daenerys, Jon, King Stannis, Davos, the North and other such people - but they are all being kept back for the next book. We do, however, learn what has happened to the Hound.

Just occasionally, people from very different sections of the previous books bump into each other.

Cersei has a new Small Council. Tommen has three black kittens, of which he is very fond. Lancel Lannister has got religion. Ilyn Payne's got a new sparring partner. Kevan Lannister's got the hump. Randyll Tarly has all the grace and chivalry of Bernard Manning. The Red Priests are no longer the only evangelising religion in town.

If, like me, you've been scouting around for spoiler chapters (of which there are almost a dozen in various places) you will find a lot of them in the early part of the book, which makes it a bit of a slow starter. Also, one or two of the more mobile characters seem to be wandering in a rather vague way. But there's action enough there all right - and plenty of Martin's trademark good opportunities shamefully thrown away, with a leaven of acts of shining virtue from unlikely people. And some of the endings are pretty stunning - not all in a sweetly whimsical hugs-and-puppies sort of way.

I read somewhere that this book started out in life as a 100-page bridging section between A Storm of Swords and the action when it picks up again several years later. I can believe this - at moments it's a bit too obvious that we're being told how the land lies now, and what might happen in the future. Compared to the last three books, there's less radical regime change - but there's a lot festering under the surface. As ever, if one or two people can't hold things together, anything might happen. In any case, we're reunited with people we know well from the other books, some of whom we left in rather precarious circumstances, and are every bit as good as expected.

I'll shut up now, before I spoil something important. All I really wanted to say is that it's a great book, and worth the wait.

It'll be nice when someone else on my f-list has read this - I have a rather far-fetched theory about Qyburn's little hobby which I would very much like to run past you, among other things.

While on the subject of George R R Martin, he's signing books tomorrow - it's within travelling distance so I'm going to go and view the great man, and get his signature if ever I can. I'm foolishly excited about this.