A Feast for Crows

Title: A Feast for Crows

Author: George R.R Martin

Genre: Fantasy

Series: A Song of Ice and Fire #4

Pages: 978

Synopsis:

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.

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

Out of the ASOIAF series books that I have read so far, this was the hardest for me to review. So let’s talk about the good here first. I did find it very readable. I don’t know if it’s just me but I feel like the dialogue has improved in A Feast for Crows. I also really like the character development in characters such as Brienne (more on her later), Jaime Lannister, and Cersei Lannister. Through the POV Chapters of Cersei Lannister, we understood her character so much better and we also understand her motivations such as she wants to be a better leader than her father, that a woman ruler can be effective and lastly she wants to protect her children. I think her chapters were the best in the book especially with the political intrigue and the conflict with the Sparrows (the Religious Zealots in the book).

One of my favourite things about this whole series is the world of Westeros and the worldbuilding. This book is probably the best so far when it comes to worldbuilding. As we explore a lot more of Westeros: We get to explore the City of Braavos, The Iron Islands, the Region of Dorne, and a little bit of the Citadel. We get to learn more about the culture in these places, how they are governed (The Iron Islands for example sometimes elect their leaders through the Kingsmoot), more about its people and we even learn more about the Religions of Westeros (the Faith of the Seven, the Many-Faced God and the Drowned God).

I also just want to say that the Kingsmoot chapter was one of my favourite parts of the entire book and I thought it was a good way of introducing the growing threat of Euron Greyjoy.

And now… for the bad. The first major problem I have is some of the POV Characters. Some of the POV Characters I didn’t like or just couldn’t care less about: Areo Hotah and Aeron Greyjoy. When I read those chapters… I just didn’t really care about them and their problems.

The next major criticism is some of the storylines. Some of the storylines I thought were pretty weak. While I do appreciate the world-building and Brienne’s character development in her storyline. And I do enjoy her POV chapters for the most part. I just kind of felt that her storyline was just a big wild goose chase trying to find Sansa and she doesn’t get anywhere close to finding Sansa at the end of the book! There were times when I wanted to shout: “Just go to the Vale already!”

I also found the Dorne storyline pretty bad. Princess Arianne’s plans are pretty bad when you stopped to think about it. I get that Arianne wants revenge but her plan to create Civil War through the crowning of Myrcella is just stupid. She doesn’t have the full support of Dorne and she has zero allies anywhere else in Westeros. I only like the reveal of Prince Doran’s plan to ally with Daenerys.

This is more of a minor criticism but I kind of do miss seeing some of my favourite characters such as Tyrion, Stannis Baratheon, and Daenerys. Their absence in this book was definitely felt.

So again, reviewing this is difficult. I really do appreciate the character development and the worldbuilding that went into this. I think when it comes to world-building this was my favourite in this series. And again very readable with some of the best dialogue in the series so far. But some of the POV Characters and the storylines were pretty weak. This was not my favourite book in this series but I still do see the value in this book and I continue to be impressed by the work George R.R Martin put into his fantasy world and his characters.

Rating: