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

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

A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust (A Song of Ice and Fire Series, book 5A)

By George R. R. Martin

Blurb: 
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, new threats are emerging from every direction.

Tyrion Lannister, having killed his father, and wrongfully accused of killing his nephew, King Joffrey, has escaped from King’s Landing with a price on his head.

To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone – a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. But Jon has enemies both inside and beyond the Wall.

And in the east Daenerys Targaryen struggles to hold a city built on dreams and dust.

Review: 
This is a shorter review as there’s not much to say that I haven’t already said in A Feast For Crows review. This is more about the plot than the quality of the writing, since that has already been discussed in the previous book. Also worth mentioning that I read A Dance with Dragons in two parts, I know some people read it as one big book. But I read them separately so I’m going to review them separately. 

A Dance with Dragons part 1, takes place at the same time as A Feast for Crows but it is the characters that weren’t written about in A Feast for Crows. So you are aware of some things that have already happened and they get built up on and there’s still new information. This book includes characters like Daenerys, Tyrion, Jon, Davos, Reek etc.

A lot of this book takes place in the North and across the sea to Essos. This means we’ve got a lot more exotic named characters which is really hard to remember and understand who’s who. This is especially so in the Daenerys chapters as she has a lot of people around her that have very similar names. 

Another thing to say about names is sometimes characters will go by different names on the chapters either they’re pretending to be someone or they see themselves differently. One character for some reason that kept confusing me was Frog/Quintyn Martel. I just kept forgetting who Frog was, I think it’s because the chapters were so far apart.

I found this book a bit funnier than the last due to Tyrion being in it and he has some good sassy lines. But also at the Wall there is Dolorous Edd, who I found really funny in this book and often talking about turnips. I enjoyed his character in the book a lot more than in the TV series.

I briefly mentioned in the last review that George R. R. Martin has a habit to repeat people’s thoughts in the Jaime chapters. This was done a lot more in A Dance with Dragons. It’s done really well as it shows the characters mental health declining. It just a really cool way to show character development. It’s seen a lot with Tyrion and Reek. Tyrion is constantly thinking of his fathers and Shae’s death. It is to show him as seeing himself as a monster. Whereas Reek is constantly reminding himself of his new identity by repeating a poor rhyme of his name Reek. It’s to show how much he has deteriorated from the torture Ramsey has put him through that he doesn’t want to forget that he is now Reek. For these reasons Tyrion and Reek chapters were the ones I enjoyed the most.

Two very specific chapters I enjoyed was having a Melisandre chapter which gave us a big backstory on her and her current thoughts. The other was the Tyrion and Penny story, I just liked seeing them together as fellow dwarfs.

I would say overall I didn’t enjoy the plot as much as the previous one but it is still worth 4 stars.

*SPOILERS*
One thing I really want to mention that happened in this book that has not happened in the TV show is that one of Rhaegal’s children is still alive. Everyone believes the children to both be dead, killed by the Mountain. However, Aegon is alive and was on a boat with Tyrion. It would be really interesting to see where this goes and whether Jon Snow in the books will be Targarian or not after all.

Quote: 

“The night is dark and full of turnips” 

- Pyp, A Dance with Dragons

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

written by Lauren

Check out my review of Book 5B: A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast

A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust (A Song of Ice and Fire Series, book 5A)

By George R. R. Martin

Blurb: 
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, new threats are emerging from every direction.

Tyrion Lannister, having killed his father, and wrongfully accused of killing his nephew, King Joffrey, has escaped from King’s Landing with a price on his head.

To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone – a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. But Jon has enemies both inside and beyond the Wall.

And in the east Daenerys Targaryen struggles to hold a city built on dreams and dust.

Review: 
This is a shorter review as there’s not much to say that I haven’t already said in A Feast For Crows review. This is more about the plot than the quality of the writing, since that has already been discussed in the previous book. Also worth mentioning that I read A Dance with Dragons in two parts, I know some people read it as one big book. But I read them separately so I’m going to review them separately. 

A Dance with Dragons part 1, takes place at the same time as A Feast for Crows but it is the characters that weren’t written about in A Feast for Crows. So you are aware of some things that have already happened and they get built up on and there’s still new information. This book includes characters like Daenerys, Tyrion, Jon, Davos, Reek etc.

A lot of this book takes place in the North and across the sea to Essos. This means we’ve got a lot more exotic named characters which is really hard to remember and understand who’s who. This is especially so in the Daenerys chapters as she has a lot of people around her that have very similar names. 

Another thing to say about names is sometimes characters will go by different names on the chapters either they’re pretending to be someone or they see themselves differently. One character for some reason that kept confusing me was Frog/Quintyn Martel. I just kept forgetting who Frog was, I think it’s because the chapters were so far apart.

I found this book a bit funnier than the last due to Tyrion being in it and he has some good sassy lines. But also at the Wall there is Dolorous Edd, who I found really funny in this book and often talking about turnips. I enjoyed his character in the book a lot more than in the TV series.

I briefly mentioned in the last review that George R. R. Martin has a habit to repeat people’s thoughts in the Jaime chapters. This was done a lot more in A Dance with Dragons. It’s done really well as it shows the characters mental health declining. It just a really cool way to show character development. It’s seen a lot with Tyrion and Reek. Tyrion is constantly thinking of his fathers and Shae’s death. It is to show him as seeing himself as a monster. Whereas Reek is constantly reminding himself of his new identity by repeating a poor rhyme of his name Reek. It’s to show how much he has deteriorated from the torture Ramsey has put him through that he doesn’t want to forget that he is now Reek. For these reasons Tyrion and Reek chapters were the ones I enjoyed the most.

Two very specific chapters I enjoyed was having a Melisandre chapter which gave us a big backstory on her and her current thoughts. The other was the Tyrion and Penny story, I just liked seeing them together as fellow dwarfs.

I would say overall I didn’t enjoy the plot as much as the previous one but it is still worth 4 stars.

*SPOILERS*
One thing I really want to mention that happened in this book that has not happened in the TV show is that one of Rhaegal’s children is still alive. Everyone believes the children to both be dead, killed by the Mountain. However, Aegon is alive and was on a boat with Tyrion. It would be really interesting to see where this goes and whether Jon Snow in the books will be Targarian or not after all.

Quote: 

“The night is dark and full of turnips” 

- Pyp, A Dance with Dragons

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

written by Lauren

Check out my review of Book 5B: A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire Series, book 4)

By George R. R. Martin

Blurb: 
Crows will fight over a dead man's flesh, and kill each other for his eyes.

Bloodthirsty, treacherous and cunning, the Lannisters are in power on the Iron Throne in the name of the boy-king Tommen. The war in the Seven Kingdoms has burned itself out, but in its bitter aftermath new conflicts spark to life.

The Martells of Dorne and the Starks of Winterfell seek vengeance for their dead. Euron Crow's Eye, as black a pirate as ever raised a sail, returns from the smoking ruins of Valyria to claim the Iron Isles. From the icy north, where Others threaten the Wall, apprentice Maester Samwell Tarly brings a mysterious babe in arms to the Citadel.

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory will go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel and the coldest hearts.

Review: 
I have read the books before Feast for Crows a long time ago, maybe 4 years now. Due to the books being so long and I had so many other books to read I put the series on hold. Since they took so long to read I haven’t reread them and just dived straight into the next book. I also would like to mention how I’ve been rewatching Game of Thrones so it’s become hard to decipher what happened differently between the two so I apologise if this review is poor.

The first thing I want to mention about this series as a whole is how feminist it is. Which you might think I sound crazy for saying but I’ll explain. Yes there is a lot of female hate from the males and they get raped and mistreated but the main character women are so strong and powerful. Women like Brienne, Arya and even Cersei have just a powerful role in the game of thrones. I also see this as I rewatched the series with the likes of how season 7 ended with 2 women on top. It just amazes me to see this perspective from George R R Martin books that I didn’t realise before.

I’d like to point out I am a big fantasy reader and I’m not afraid of big books, like you can see in my reviews of the Tawny Man Trilogy (still got more of the Elderling books to read, I can’t escape big books it seems). What I love about George R R Martin’s fantasy books is the detail he’s put into it. It feels like he’s created a whole new world and its amazing how he has done this, it’s just so creative and so easy to fall into the world. Pretty much every single character no matter how small they are has a name and for the most part they’re all different names. 

For those who haven’t read a game of thrones book, (this is probably not the best review to start with being mid way through the series but just in case) the layout I’d say is fairly unique especially in this book. There is so many different main characters so Martin has wrote them all in a third person angle. So rather than chapters it’s characters each new chapter is a different characters perspective so its really interesting to see the story develop through different eyes. In this book however, he had so much to write that he only put half of the characters perspectives in it and in the next book Dance with Dragons he put the other characters who weren’t in this one but it is all taking place at a consecutive time. Which now makes sense to me on why there's still another two books to come out.

Also another thing worth mentioning about the chapters is that if a character is hiding their identify such as Sansa being Alayne and Arya as Cat then the chapter name will correspond. Also will the text about them, it’s not just the name heard in conversations and some chapters don’t have a character name such as the ironborn storyline, I believe this is because there has been different characters telling those stories like the one in Dorne.

We have various different little plots going on around the big plot. In Dorne, they’re trying to make Myrcella Queen as she was second born and in Dorne gender doesn’t matter (again, another feminist setting). Cersei is trying to deal with taking power away from Margaery. Brienne is trying to find Sansa with the help of Podrick. Sansa is trying to have power in the Eyrie. Jaime is trying to come to terms with his one hand. Arya is learning the way of the many faced God. Samwell is trying to keep maester Aemon alive. The ironborn are fighting over their throne.

I wouldn’t say A Feast for Crows is an easy read, far from it. For starters it’s a very long book and there's so many characters it can get confusing. Although the very heavy conversational chapters are a lot easier to read compared to the dream ones.

After this point, I’ll be going into more detail of scenes so the spoiler warning will be going up. I just want to say that I did enjoy this book even though it took me so long to read. However because they are so big and take up so much time I can only reward it 4 runes out of 5.

*SPOILERS*

Now I did have a few more scene notes but sadly I lost them when I left my previous job, so I can only talk about the ones I do have notes for but thats still plenty.

One scene I really liked was when Arya defended Sam whilst he was in Braavos. Of course he was completely unaware that this was Jon’s sister but that's what I love about this. It’s just another clever example of dramatic irony.

A common thing seen in Jaime’s perspective is how much he loves Cersei but also that love being diminished as he repeats the names over and over again of who she has slept with. It’s interesting to see how he is being shaped by the betrayal. However you can also see the respect he has gained for Brienne now by defending her name when she isn’t with him and just generally thinking of her.

Some more dramatic irony somewhat involving Arya is when Brienne finds Gendry. Gendry probably doesn’t know where Arya is but probably could have helped Brienne if they both knew. When Brienne saw Gendry she thought it was the ghost of Renly Baratheon, still unaware that it is the bastard son of King Robert. The true heir to the throne. 

This book is just filled with dramatic irony and I am such a fan for it. There’s a scene with the Dornish princess Arianne who finds out she was betrothed to a man who had his face melted by gold. The readers all know from this subtle hint that it was meant to be Viserys Targaryen. If he didn’t die that would be a very interesting change of storyline with Dorne teaming up with the Targaryens. 

The scene that broke my heart in this book is when Brienne was killed by the revived corpse of Catelyn Stark. Catelyn did it because she was convinced Brienne had become too friendly with the lannisters. I love Brienne as a character so it was a real shame to have a killed but that usually is the case in A Song of Ice and Fire. Whilst she was dying George put that she called out one word. But didn’t specify what, to leave the audience to interpret this how they like, I believe she called out Jaime. I just really appreciate the subtleties in this book.

Overall, I’m giving the book 4 runes out of 5 because it was an excellent well thought out book it just took me far too long to read so it got to the point where I just wanted it to hurry up but that's more my slow reading fault than the authors.

Quote: 

“It is being common-born that is dangerous, when the great lords play their game of thrones” 

- Petyr Baelish, A Feast For Crows

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

written by Lauren

Check out my review of book 5A: A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire Series, book 4)

By George R. R. Martin

Blurb: 
Crows will fight over a dead man's flesh, and kill each other for his eyes.

Bloodthirsty, treacherous and cunning, the Lannisters are in power on the Iron Throne in the name of the boy-king Tommen. The war in the Seven Kingdoms has burned itself out, but in its bitter aftermath new conflicts spark to life.

The Martells of Dorne and the Starks of Winterfell seek vengeance for their dead. Euron Crow's Eye, as black a pirate as ever raised a sail, returns from the smoking ruins of Valyria to claim the Iron Isles. From the icy north, where Others threaten the Wall, apprentice Maester Samwell Tarly brings a mysterious babe in arms to the Citadel.

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory will go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel and the coldest hearts.

Review: 
I have read the books before Feast for Crows a long time ago, maybe 4 years now. Due to the books being so long and I had so many other books to read I put the series on hold. Since they took so long to read I haven’t reread them and just dived straight into the next book. I also would like to mention how I’ve been rewatching Game of Thrones so it’s become hard to decipher what happened differently between the two so I apologise if this review is poor.

The first thing I want to mention about this series as a whole is how feminist it is. Which you might think I sound crazy for saying but I’ll explain. Yes there is a lot of female hate from the males and they get raped and mistreated but the main character women are so strong and powerful. Women like Brienne, Arya and even Cersei have just a powerful role in the game of thrones. I also see this as I rewatched the series with the likes of how season 7 ended with 2 women on top. It just amazes me to see this perspective from George R R Martin books that I didn’t realise before.

I’d like to point out I am a big fantasy reader and I’m not afraid of big books, like you can see in my reviews of the Tawny Man Trilogy (still got more of the Elderling books to read, I can’t escape big books it seems). What I love about George R R Martin’s fantasy books is the detail he’s put into it. It feels like he’s created a whole new world and its amazing how he has done this, it’s just so creative and so easy to fall into the world. Pretty much every single character no matter how small they are has a name and for the most part they’re all different names. 

For those who haven’t read a game of thrones book, (this is probably not the best review to start with being mid way through the series but just in case) the layout I’d say is fairly unique especially in this book. There is so many different main characters so Martin has wrote them all in a third person angle. So rather than chapters it’s characters each new chapter is a different characters perspective so its really interesting to see the story develop through different eyes. In this book however, he had so much to write that he only put half of the characters perspectives in it and in the next book Dance with Dragons he put the other characters who weren’t in this one but it is all taking place at a consecutive time. Which now makes sense to me on why there's still another two books to come out.

Also another thing worth mentioning about the chapters is that if a character is hiding their identify such as Sansa being Alayne and Arya as Cat then the chapter name will correspond. Also will the text about them, it’s not just the name heard in conversations and some chapters don’t have a character name such as the ironborn storyline, I believe this is because there has been different characters telling those stories like the one in Dorne.

We have various different little plots going on around the big plot. In Dorne, they’re trying to make Myrcella Queen as she was second born and in Dorne gender doesn’t matter (again, another feminist setting). Cersei is trying to deal with taking power away from Margaery. Brienne is trying to find Sansa with the help of Podrick. Sansa is trying to have power in the Eyrie. Jaime is trying to come to terms with his one hand. Arya is learning the way of the many faced God. Samwell is trying to keep maester Aemon alive. The ironborn are fighting over their throne.

I wouldn’t say A Feast for Crows is an easy read, far from it. For starters it’s a very long book and there's so many characters it can get confusing. Although the very heavy conversational chapters are a lot easier to read compared to the dream ones.

After this point, I’ll be going into more detail of scenes so the spoiler warning will be going up. I just want to say that I did enjoy this book even though it took me so long to read. However because they are so big and take up so much time I can only reward it 4 runes out of 5.

*SPOILERS*

Now I did have a few more scene notes but sadly I lost them when I left my previous job, so I can only talk about the ones I do have notes for but thats still plenty.

One scene I really liked was when Arya defended Sam whilst he was in Braavos. Of course he was completely unaware that this was Jon’s sister but that's what I love about this. It’s just another clever example of dramatic irony.

A common thing seen in Jaime’s perspective is how much he loves Cersei but also that love being diminished as he repeats the names over and over again of who she has slept with. It’s interesting to see how he is being shaped by the betrayal. However you can also see the respect he has gained for Brienne now by defending her name when she isn’t with him and just generally thinking of her.

Some more dramatic irony somewhat involving Arya is when Brienne finds Gendry. Gendry probably doesn’t know where Arya is but probably could have helped Brienne if they both knew. When Brienne saw Gendry she thought it was the ghost of Renly Baratheon, still unaware that it is the bastard son of King Robert. The true heir to the throne. 

This book is just filled with dramatic irony and I am such a fan for it. There’s a scene with the Dornish princess Arianne who finds out she was betrothed to a man who had his face melted by gold. The readers all know from this subtle hint that it was meant to be Viserys Targaryen. If he didn’t die that would be a very interesting change of storyline with Dorne teaming up with the Targaryens. 

The scene that broke my heart in this book is when Brienne was killed by the revived corpse of Catelyn Stark. Catelyn did it because she was convinced Brienne had become too friendly with the lannisters. I love Brienne as a character so it was a real shame to have a killed but that usually is the case in A Song of Ice and Fire. Whilst she was dying George put that she called out one word. But didn’t specify what, to leave the audience to interpret this how they like, I believe she called out Jaime. I just really appreciate the subtleties in this book.

Overall, I’m giving the book 4 runes out of 5 because it was an excellent well thought out book it just took me far too long to read so it got to the point where I just wanted it to hurry up but that's more my slow reading fault than the authors.

Quote: 

“It is being common-born that is dangerous, when the great lords play their game of thrones” 

- Petyr Baelish, A Feast For Crows

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

written by Lauren

Check out my review of book 5A: A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust