A Dance with Dragons 2: After the Feast (A Song of Ice and Fire, book 5B)

By George R. R. Martin

Blurb: 
The fifth volume, part two of A Song of Ice and Fire, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age. Now a major Sky Atlantic TV series from HBO, featuring a stellar cast.

The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance.

In King’s Landing the Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister, awaits trial, abandoned by all those she trusted; while in the eastern city of Yunkai her brother Tyrion has been sold as a slave. From the Wall, having left his wife and the Red Priestess Melisandre under the protection of Jon Snow, Stannis Baratheon marches south to confront the Boltons at Winterfell. But beyond the Wall the wildling armies are massing for an assault…

On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all.

Review: 
It’s hard to review this, as it’s hard to include new opinions towards the book that I haven’t already said in previous reviews. Therefore, this review will be very short.

One thing that I thought was done quite heavily in this book compared to the rest of the series is how the chapter names change on how the character perceives themselves. For example, Blind Girl for Arya and Ghost of Winterfell for Theon. It’s just something quite unique and gives a bit of mystery when starting the chapter when you can’t quite guess who it is yet. 

The rest of my opinions can be seen in the previous reviews found here: A Dance with Dragons part 1 and A Feast for Crows. Overall, I enjoyed the book and think it is worth the same as part 1, 4 stars.

*SPOILERS*

There are some things to note about the content in the book that I didn’t expect.

One storyline that stood out to me was Brienne. Brienne was believed to be dead in A Feast For Crows. However, it suggests (doesn’t quite confirm fully) that Brienne didn’t die. Jaime bumps into a woman with a bit of cheek missing, and I believe that is Brienne. I’m not sure how she managed to live or if it is her or if it took place before she was killed. I think it is more likely the case that it took place before her death as A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons is meant to have split perspectives from around the same time. But again I’m quite confused as Jaime chapters were also in Feast for Crows. If anyone could clear this up for me, it would be much appreciated.

Another interesting thing in the book was that Daenerys got married. This is a different storyline to the TV series. However, as I suspected her husband didn’t last long, Hence why he was left out of the storyline. Her husband had been arrested by Sir Barristan Selmy while she was away. 

There’s not much else to say. Except I look forward to the eventual release of Winds of Winter. I want to see how these extra plot lines to the TV series turn out.

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

written by Lauren