A Feast for Crows review

Posted on 2005-11-27 in Books

No plot spoilers.

Capsule review: We waited five years for this crap?

Finished reading A Feast for Crows, the fourth book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, earlier this week. After a five-year wait since the previous volume this is a huge dissapointment. Essentially nothing happens, the book mainly has viewpoints from the most boring characters of the earlier books, and introduces a bunch of pointless and mostly boring new viewpoint characters. The only exception to the boredom are the Cersei chapters which I find rather entertaining.

Supposedly the original intent was for a multi-year gap in story time between books three and four. Actually this book picks up where the previous one started, and moves forward maybe a couple of months. And to top it off, the next book is going to be in parallel to this one. If something had actually happened, this might be acceptable, but as far as I can tell, the story has completely ground to a halt here. Not quite a Robert Jordan-style halt where, when I finally stopped reading, a book consisted of three story days of people having internal monologues and sniffing, but the signs are there.

There's of course a fair bit of the ASoIaF trademark cruelty, violence and sex (ooh, hot medieval lesbian bondage action...), but it feels somewhat contrived compared to the earlier books.

Wait for the mass market paperback. If you absolutely can't wait and live in the Helsinki area, I'd be happy to sell you the hardcover... :-)

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Comments

By Reader on 2006-01-31

Ya, this book blows. I anticipated it for so long, and Martin seems to have completely forgot about all the interesting story lines that he began at in the end of the 3rd installment (Arya, Bran, Jon etc.)

Would anyone help me punch the author?

By Jason on 2006-02-10

I think that all of you who continue to put down the feast have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. If you even had the slightest idea of what building a story was, you would see this book to be a marvelous masterpiece. George only makes me as his reader want to know more about the subtle new alliances and about the past of lands such as dorne who have been plotting their revenge for years. If all you want is action action action then you are no true lover of fantasy. The real art and enjoyment of the read is in the PLOT if you can even grasp what that is. George has not disappointed his TRUE FANS and it is clear that he will continue to create his masterpiece which will end gloriously. So when the day comes that all is said and done, everyone will be scratching their heads saying, " Man, I can't believe I could have been so stupid". George knows where he is going and I trust in him completely

By Mychael on 2006-02-27

Well then my friend, you are an idiot.

By Garas on 2006-02-27

Jason, you stay a TRUE FAN and the rest of us will stay with our ability to tell the difference between good PLOT and poorly editted, self-indulgent, gratuitous stream of consciousness dross. "Reader" above has it right: The Feast that Blows.

By It's not good, is it? on 2006-03-01

Apparently I'm not a TRUE FAN either; and nor do I particularly care about the series either - such heresy!

I concur with your review. See: http://au.geocities.com/lev_lafayette/0603feastofcrows.html

BTW Jason, if you really believe that "George knows where he is going and I trust in him completely", why not give him all your money and trust him to look after your welfare ;-)

By Akul on 2007-04-21

To Mychael: Everyone has his opinion. Saying someone that he is an idiot because he disagrees is ignorance of highest level.

On-topic: Disagree with this review and the Geocity one. While AFfC IS the worst part of the series, it is still a great read. The greatest minus is the fact that George decided that the chapters should be in book 5. If nothing else, the spliting gave George time to improve the chapters of the most enjojing characters (Tyrion, Jon, Daenerys) and by that increasing the hope that the Dance will be much better then Feast.

Still, I find AFfC much better book then most of other fantasy that is on shelves. Excepting that really every book in any series will be a masterpiece will end in a huge dissapointment.

By Akul on 2007-04-21

Reapiring a sentence above:

"The greatest minus is the fact that George decided that the BEST chapters should be in book 5."

By Me,Myself, and I on 2007-04-27

I agree with you Jason - It's a story of re-building a kingdom after a war, but it's also the calm before the storm. You can sense that GRRM is setting things up again so everything can spill over.

By Alan on 2007-04-27

It's an o.k. book, but perhaps the least best in the series.

By Scott on 2007-06-06

I agree with negative opinions. This was not a good book. He's unfortunately following in the footsteps of Tolkien and Jordan, both of whom quickly decided that a longer series will make more money than a shorter one. Ergo, you get pages and pages of how a character is dressing for the day, or who's grandfather begat who's grandfather.

I *really* hope this series gets back on track with the next book. I haven't read Jordan's series past book 8, which was two books further than I should have read, but his is a damned shame... a great storyline spoiled by the ego and greed of the author. Let's hope SoIaF does not go down that road, too.

By Greg on 2007-07-24

Foolishness. All of you that want a quick fix of sex and violence without the build up of a story, bearing in mind this is a book not a film should not bother buyng any of the next books - better yet if you feel that this book is drivel let me know what you've had published so i can compare your work to martin's, oh what? you've never had a paragraph published before? i'm so surprised. this book is the much needed structure before developing the climax. i myself would consider it a blessing if you never bother to read any further and listen to your pathetic critical analysis in the future. after reading fantasy for nigh on 20 years i've never read anything better than ASoIF and you observations "wind me up" what a bunch of fools

By Gregory on 2007-07-26

If you read the first three, waited five years to see what happens to Tyrion, Jon, etc, and you're a little dissapointed, that's understandable. HOWEVER; if you can see past your dissappointment and stop brooding on it while reading this, you might have been able to appreciate this excellent book. One of the reasons Martin is as good as he is is because he's not afraid to take the time to build things up. If you couldn't sense the buildup throughout this whole book, you must have had too high of expectations because it took 'five years to come out.' Plus, many imporant things, which are of major importance to the series happen such as; Euron invading, Cersei and Maergary imprissoned, Littlefinger's plan, etc. Plus, Lancel has joined the sparrows, anyone else waiting for him to testify against Cersei in her upcoming trial? I certainly am. When I first read A Game of Thrones it was good at first, then got great, then got even better in the next two volumnes, and that same build up is here that was in the beginning of A Game. If Martin lives long enough to finish his tale, the ending will not dissapoint. Martin and Jordan are two different people, and it was the publisher's idea to split this into two books, not Martin's.

By Andy on 2007-09-01

Im sorry but I fell for, "taking time to build things up", in Wheel of Time and like Scott above wished I had stopped reading that series a couple books before I actually did. The Cersei storyline in Feast for Crows literally put me to sleep a couple of times. It was a bunch of repetitive crap. I knew where it was headed (her downfall) long before it happened and didn't care a whit for any of the supporting characters in that storyline. I started only scanning her chapters about halfway through. The only 2 storylines in this book worth reading were the Brienne and Arya ones. The others were about a bunch of whining girls or girlymen. Speaking of girls, what the heck is with Martin's obsession with menstuation, virginity and slang words for vagina? It's getting to be absurd.

When I read a highly anticipated sequel I expect at least a few passages where I have to put the book down and say "Wow". I didn't get one of these moments from this book. Also, I think of all the new characters focused on or introduced in this book and am dreading the fact that these people's stories now also have to be concluded and or focused on in upcoming books thus taking pages away from characters already established that I enjoy. This book was a big disappointment.

By Janster on 2007-11-12

Just read the book, and boy was it boring.

I have litterally skipped chapters... I mean some of the chapters NOTHING ish happening...

Basically , no plotline, entire chapters that could be summarised in like a couple of words.

Janster

By Foster on 2010-08-03

I'm a little late posting here, but I had to comment on a couple of posts. If you don't read the entire book (Skipping or 'scanning' chapters) then you have little right to criticize, good or bad.

As for my review, I just finished AFfC, and it is the weakest entry so far. That's not to say, however, that it is a bad book. On the contrary, it, like all of Martin's work, is very well written and he continues to develop his richly detailed world. I do believe that he erred in changing his chapter system from the previous books. It is mid 2010, and I predict that he has cornered himself with a.) too many plotlines to satisfy b.) too many characters c.) and he MUST write ADwD to read parallel to AFfC

It is his own work and he has every right to go at his own pace, but at his age and health, Martin needs to realize that this series will be his legacy. He must finish for his own sake, and as a serious courtesy to fans of this epic.

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