mass market paperback, 1152 pages
Published March 31, 2015 by Bantam.
Dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author delivers the fifth book in his landmark series—as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance -- beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
Fleeing from Westeros with a prince on his head. Tyrion …
Dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author delivers the fifth book in his landmark series—as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance -- beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
Fleeing from Westeros with a prince on his head. Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. but his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys's claim to Westeros forever.
Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth wall of ice and stone -- a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creature of ice.
From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.
четвертий та п'ятий томи трохи дивні: хронологію поламано заради... казна чого.
Wow this book really isn't doing it for me so I'm abandoning this series, and that feels awesome.
If you're expecting this book to bring closure to the series, you'll be as disappointed as I was. Previously marginal characters are now featured, as the author tries to extend the storyline. Everything is still well-written and entertaining, but it now feels like product rather than art. The series peaked with the third book and would have been better served to end with this one.
Another great piece in Martin's saga. Love the characters, the deeply tangled story that always stays logical and never cheesy or predictable.
Le cinquième tome tant attendu de la saga de George R.R. Martin, et dernier tome publié à ce jour. Après A Feast for Crows qui m'a un peu laissé sur sa faim, celui-ci m'avait beaucoup plu.
Me costó cogerle el ritmo... Después a la mitad me aburrió de sobremanera; pero las últimas 500 páginas me las he bebido
Can't wait for the next one!
Huzzah! I finally finished the latest ASOIAF novel. Now I just get to enjoy the long, agonizing wait until The Winds Of Winter is released.
So I've finally caught up to ASOIAF. I have to wait for Winds of Winter to release. Martin is great at ending a book right where you want more, where you have to know what happens next. The same feeling that gets you saying "One more chapter, one more chapter" as you go from Tyrion to Daenerys to Jon Snow to Bran. It's going to be a long wait to find out what happens next.
Weak in comparison to Storm of Swords, but still an excellent, fast paced fantasy with lots of gore and romance. Can't wait for Winds of Winter!
There are some great moments in this book, but they are pretty far between. The book has very little forward momentum. I will say this though, it feels like the series is set up for an quite a return in the next book.
Although a satirist's wet dream, basically it is a genre story of sadism. Every joke is a jape, every coward a craven. Nobody in this created word has discovered the number 50; it is always half a hundred. To quote a reviewer on Amazon, "nothing good happens to anybody". Interestingly, it would be great as a single book - after several thousand pages one feels dirty.
This was the first ASOIAF book that took me more than a few days to read.
There were some good bits. Just a shame the whole thing wasn't more good bits and less tedium.
This is going to be difficult for me to write, as I looked so forward to this book for so long, and have recommended the series to everyone I know. Twice.
SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING
"A Dance with Dragons" is a disappointing read. Not disappointing within the context of the series, although the writing certainly isn't as strong or as cohesive as the first or second books. Not disappointing within the fantasy genre, as it is still some of the stronger fantasy writing I've read.
It is disappointing because I am already scrambling to find a synopsis just so I can remember who everyone is and why they did what they did. Maybe it would have been more memorable if it hadn't taken me months to finish. I am not a slow reader, but this read was a slog, and so I often was not interested enough to pick …
This is going to be difficult for me to write, as I looked so forward to this book for so long, and have recommended the series to everyone I know. Twice.
SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING
"A Dance with Dragons" is a disappointing read. Not disappointing within the context of the series, although the writing certainly isn't as strong or as cohesive as the first or second books. Not disappointing within the fantasy genre, as it is still some of the stronger fantasy writing I've read.
It is disappointing because I am already scrambling to find a synopsis just so I can remember who everyone is and why they did what they did. Maybe it would have been more memorable if it hadn't taken me months to finish. I am not a slow reader, but this read was a slog, and so I often was not interested enough to pick it up.
The major reason why I found it such a slog is because of the sheer number of PoV characters. The trouble with creating so many different PoVs is that each new one has to justify her or his existence by telling a compelling enough piece of the greater story. So because "A Dance with Dragons" (16 PoV characters, not including prologue or epilogue) runs concurrently to "A Feast for Crows" (12 PoVs) we have 28 PoVs to keep up with for this portion of the story.
In comparison, going backwards in time "A Storm of Swords" had 10 PoVs, "A Clash of Kings" had 9, and "A Game of Thrones" had 8.
I understand the scope of the story has expanded. I do. But when the story is spread thinly over so many people and places, the emotional impact lessens for me. The attack on Jon should have had the shocking impact of the Red Wedding for me, but was so jumbled and rushed that it did not.
And the outcome of that is only one of several major cliffhangers in the book. I find myself not overly concerned with how they will play out. To be honest, I have lost interest with most of the characters I once loved. I am no longer a Daenerys fan at all. I started out feeling disgusted by her backstory and then somewhat heartened by how she made the most of her crappy lot in life. Her motivations and actions in "A Dance with Dragons" are ridiculous at best -- and she's the one with the dragons! Sure, she is inexperienced in the ways of war, but she has approximately 43534957346560 people around her who give her the same advice over and over again and she conveniently disregards them all. And falls in love with the "bad boy" -- who is the dullest lothario I've ever read -- but marries for duty and is shocked, shocked I tell you, when her new husband tries to have her killed.
None of my other favorites had much to do here. Arya's story arc is a long game, which means it is currently tedious. Cersei has become a parody of the power-hungry female trope, which is lame because I expect better writing from Martin by now. Tyrion's chapters were all right, but his continuing fixation on Tysha seems disingenuous to me. I could barely read the Theon/Ramsay chapters because of their gratuitious violence. Asha Greyjoy is sadly underutilized, and there is only the briefest of mentions of Brienne of Tarth.
In short, I was hopeful that this book, as Part Two of "A Feast for Crows", would be much better than Part One. It wasn't.
In questa prima parte del 5° capitolo delle Cronache del fuoco e del Ghiaccio, torniamo indietro nel tempo e lentamente ci rimettiamo in pari con l'altro lato del regno, ovvero Jon Snow, Daenerys e il Folletto. Non accadono troppe cose, ma ci sarà una rivelazione a dir poco clamorosa per gli amanti della saga. In attesa del prossimo...
