Tag: Jon Snow

George R. R. Martin – A Dance with Dragons | Review

Title: A Dance with Dragons

Author: George R. R. Martin

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 1025

Rating: 8/10

 

George R. R. Martin - A Dance with Dragons

George R. R. Martin – A Dance with Dragons

 

This is the most recent instalment in the epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, covering Martin’s take on the events that roughly correspond with season five of the show, if you’re a fan of that.

As such, we get to see how the War of the Five Kings continues to develop, with Stannis marching south from the Wall and the Bastard of Bolton rising up against him, whilst King Tommen maintains an uneasy peace in King’s Landing. The queens are at war with each other – both Margaery Tyrell and Cersei Lannister – and they’re both being held, pending trial, for a number of accusations.

One of the things that I liked about this book was that it had more of a focus on Jon Snow and the events that were taking place in the north. Daenerys is featured heavily here too, although I’ve started to get bored of her story line. I’m still waiting for it to tie in with everything else – throughout this book, it feels as though you’re reading two different, disconnected stories. Still, I trust Martin’s overall vision – it’s not the first time that something has felt disconnected, only for it all to come together in a later book.

I was left with mixed feelings after finishing this – on the one hand, it felt like an accomplishment, but on the other hand it means that I’ve read every Game of Thrones book that’s on the market. I need to wait for Martin to finish the next one, and he’s notorious for taking a long time to get them finished. It’s been about five years or so since this one was released, and so he’s about due to release another one, but I won’t be holding my breath. The release date has already been pushed back a bunch of times, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets pushed back again.

 

George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin

 

Here, there’s a lot of stuff happening, and it’s interesting to see the different ways in which people work together. For example, Jon Snow forms an uneasy alliance with Stannis Baratheon, despite the fact that the night’s watch isn’t supposed to take sides. Unfortunately, the night’s watch needs all of the help they can get – they’re short on men and short on food, and they’re short on the gold that they need to get more of them. Luckily, Stannis can help.

Stannis himself marches south against the Bastard of Bolton, but he and his men get caught in the snow as winter approaches. In fact, in this book, the winter officially arrives, marking the start of what could be a long and bloody season for the denizens of Westeros. Perhaps that’s why Daenerys is taking her sweet time over on the other side of the world, freeing slaves and trying (and somewhat  failing) to be a queen.

Now, I’m not going to go into what each of the characters are doing here, because that would take forever. What I will say is that it’s all change here, and there’s a lot of character development going on – there’s also a fair amount of death, too. If you have a favourite character then now is a good time to cross your fingers for them, because they might not make it to the end.

 

George R. R. Martin and Peter Dinklage

George R. R. Martin and Peter Dinklage

 

It’s also interesting to note how much this book differs from season five of the television show, the corresponding series in the TV adaptation. Now, it’s not necessarily because of anything in particular, and it’s not really this book’s fault – it’s just that, as the seasons come and go, more and more tiny tweaks are made, little deviations from the book that end up making a huge difference later on. It’s only likely to be a problem if you’re a serious fan of the TV show – for me, it didn’t really matter too much, but then I made the decision to read the books before I watched the series.

By the time that I finished this book, the TV series was ahead of the books, and even though I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers, I haven’t always been successful. I already knew about the fates of a couple of characters, which made it annoying to read about the decisions they were making – I wanted to shout at them, to tell them to change their minds and to do something different, but unfortunately, that’s not how it works.

Overall, then, I’d definitely recommend A Dance with Dragons, but I would also strongly recommend reading the books in order. And it doesn’t really matter whether you watch the TV series before you read the books or not, although I suspect it’s easier for you to read the books first because then you don’t know what’s coming and that’ll keep you turning the pages.

 

George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

 

One other thing to mention about this book is the fact that there are two different versions of it – you can either pick up the combined edition, which is what I did, or you can get a version of it where it’s split into two. The combined edition that I own is the thickest book in the series, but that’s because one of the other books was split into two. That split seemed to make sense in the earlier book, but I’m not sure how successful it would be if you split this book into two – it feels like a whole, and I certainly didn’t want to put it down until it was finished.

I still feel like the first book in the series was the strongest, but perhaps that was because it was all so new to me. Now, I tend to find that each of the books start to drag, especially when you find yourself reading chapters about characters that you’re not particularly interested in. You’ll read them anyway, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, but if you’re anything like me then you’ll occasionally find that you wish you were turning the pages faster. But it’s a small price to pay.

 

George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

 

Click here to buy A Dance with Dragons.


George R. R. Martin – A Feast for Crows | Review

Title: A Feast for Crows

Author: George R. R. Martin

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 852

Rating: 8/10

 

George R. R. Martin - A Feast for Crows

George R. R. Martin – A Feast for Crows

 

A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in George R. R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, the series which was adapted for television as Game of Thrones. I’ve powered through the first four books in a couple of months, and I’m really enjoying them so far, although A Feast for Crows is arguably my least favourite one so far. That said, there’s still a lot of cool stuff to talk about.

I think the main reason that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as any of the other ones is that it doesn’t feature much about Daenerys Stormborn or Jon Snow. I find it pretty difficult to choose a favourite character from the books, but those two are two of my favourites, and they’re barely even mentioned here. Still, I’m of the understanding that they’ll be back in force in the next book, which is winging its way to me as we speak.

In this book, Tommen Baratheon is on the iron throne, but Joffrey’s little brother isn’t really old enough to know much about kinging. That said, he does learn a lot from his new wife, Margaery Tyrell – I don’t like her, but I don’t like Cersei Lannister either, and in this book the two of them start to engage in a polite form of warfare. There’s a twist towards the end of the book, but I’m not going to tell you what that is.

 

George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin

 

You also learn a little more of Samwell Tarly, who’s an underrated character in my opinion. He’s one of my favourites of the men of the Night’s Watch, mainly because he’s a cowardly hero, an antihero of sorts – he wants to be like Jon Snow, and he can’t be. But that doesn’t stop him from being awesome, especially when it comes to him protecting Gilly (Craster’s daughter) and the infant that she’s suckling.

I could go on and on about the people of the books, and the relationships that link them all together, but I’m not going to – I don’t want to spoil it for you when you read it, like I’m sure you’re going to. The thing about the Game of Thrones books is that they really need to be read in chronological order for their maximum effect to be felt, and so I’d encourage you not to make a start on this one until you’ve read the others. That said, once you read the first one, it’s pretty hard for you to put the books down, and you’ll find yourself ploughing through them in no time.

As always, George R. R. Martin’s characterisation is top notch, and so is his world-building – Westeros feels like a real place, but whereas Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books tend to feel like a history textbook, Martin’s books feel much more like a piece of entertainment. That can only be a good thing – it makes it easy to read, even though it’s over eight hundred pages long, and I’m a particular fan of how Martin tees himself up in one book to knock it out of the park in a later one.

 

George R. R. Martin and Peter Dinklage

George R. R. Martin and Peter Dinklage

 

Here, we see a whole bunch of loose ends being tied up, but we’re also given a glimpse of all sorts of possibilities and potential story lines. I’m even half-interested in Sansa Stark, for the first time since I started reading the books – she’s posing as Littlefinger’s bastard daughter, and the two of them make for an interesting combination of characters.

Now, we’re getting to the point where new characters are a necessity, because half of the original characters are dead, dying or missing. Martin introduces us to a few new major characters in this book, but none of them were particularly memorable for me – I’m mainly interested in what’s happening in the north, and so as soon as we go anywhere else, I feel my interest starting to wane. I’m also impatient for Daenerys to meet up with the rest of the characters, and to see what they make of her.

Still, you do get some interesting cross-pollination here, and one of the things that’s always interested me about these books is that the characters cross over and meet each other from time to time, like Littlefinger and Sansa, or like Arya and Samwell Tarly, who meet, briefly, here. One of Martin’s strengths is how strong his characters are, and so when two interesting characters come into contact, you never know what to expect.

Overall, then, I gave A Feast for Crows the lowest score I’ve given to any of George R. R. Martin’s books, but I’ve still given it an 8/10. I can’t get enough of the epic fantasy series, and I’ve already ordered the next book, which is his most recent at the time of publication. I’m not sure what I’m going to do after I finish reading it – I guess I’ll watch the TV series, which I’ve already made  start on.

 

George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

 

Click here to buy A Feast for Crows.