I was actually somewhat bored by this book. I went back and reread the first three so I could remember all the threads going through the stories. But there were so many new, side, plots going on this in this book it seriously reminded me of how the Wheel of Time series started to get derailed around the 4th book. Hopefully he'll bounce back with the next book, but in many ways it didn't seem like the series moved forward much at all in this one.

This comparison keeps getting made, but it is unjustified.

For one, Martin has given enough of an indication that he has already plotted out the books. This book got added simply because there was too much information for flashbacks to work--so instead we needed to cover a few years in the meantime. In general, however, he seems to know what the plot points are that he wants to get to in each book.

There are also some indicators in this book that he is bringing plots together in the next two books.

It is also worth keeping in mind that he has three books, all of them the length of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, in order to finalize everything on schedule.

As to the pacing: The last three books have all been dramatic. This one was almost purely political--it was appropriately named for the aftermath of the wars. The action points are all across the narrow sea or in the north, the actions around King's Landing were all a series of underhanded machinations to try and come out on top.

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"'Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. " -- R. A. Heinlein

I understand what you're saying, and he may have originally intended to have the plot fully planned out. But if I remember correctly didn't he also state that this book was originally to have taken place 5+ years after the events of the last book? And due to "popular demand" he changed his plans on the time frame of that this book took place in.

Too many new characters, too many tangents to the plot, and way too much verbiage in this book. It's only one book, and I will read the next one, to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this book just reminded me of how Robert Jordan got off track.

Yes, A Feast for Crows was originally supposed to be set 5 years after A Storm of Swords, but GRRM decided to change it after he started writing, because too much would have had to happen, that he couldn't have covered all of it with flashbacks. Remember, AFFC was delayed about 5 years because of the change, so I doubt it was because of "popular demand".
I think that the comparison to Wheel of Time is a little unfair. After all, something happened in this book. Not like the last 2 Wheel of Time books. *shudder*

Well, a little bit happened in book 4 of Wheel of Time. And a little bit less in Book 5, etc.

I hope I'm wrong. I really do.


Anyone have an idea when Dance w/ Dragons is supposed to come out?

I'm pretty sure GRRM won't let this series end up like that. I believe A Dance w/ Dragons is supposed to come out sometime next year, but I'm not positive.

One of the things I learned when taking writing fiction (from Joanne Greenberg) was that every time you shift in timeline (e.g., a flashback) you lose power in your writing. These things can still be done, effectively, but they are hard to do well.

By actually covering the events in AFFC (which was originally supposed to be A Dance with Dragons, I believe), he keeps from having to update us on what happened over the span of five years in all of their characters' lives.

Unfortunately, those aren't going to be the most exciting events in the series, which was probably why he originally planned on skipping them.

Yes, according to Martin, the next book will be out late next year (he has a good chunk of it already written).

I also agree with MSI101: something actually happened in this book, and to my eyes it looks like he is bringing plots together or has set things up so that the plots will come together (in occasionally violent confrontations... hellooooooo Iron Fleet), not breaking them apart.

__________________
"'Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. " -- R. A. Heinlein

Whee, bringing this back from the dead. It's not just A Feast for Crows, but has anyone here checked out the new book of art based on A Song of Ice and Fire. Holy crap is it awsome. You should definatly check it out if you haven't already.

It is now official:

__________________
"'Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. " -- R. A. Heinlein

Some bad news though, is that A Dance w/ Dragons might not be released until early or mid 2007. GRRM has said he has about 500-600 pages done, and he wants the manuscript to be around 1200-1300 pages (about the length of A Storm of Swords manuscript). And since it's usually at least a six month delay between when the author turns in the manuscript and when the book is published, he would need to turn in the manuscript by June for it to be published this year. It's possible, but I wouldn't hold my breath.