Alright, we have a dozen threads for Harry Potter alone, threads for the Lord of the Rings and CS Lewis, how can we not have a thread for one of the greatest series of all time when the next book in the series just came out?

A Feast for Crows (http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/12/features/crows.php), by George R. R. Martin. (http://georgerrmartin.com/)

Sad that none of my old favorites are in there (with the exception of Arya, my absolute favorite, who gets a few chapters and one other who makes a cameo but I won't mention because it is a spoiler), but I'm excited to know that the next book will focus on the ones I care the most about.

That, and by the end of the book I was entirely caught up in the plot, never mind the characters being followed.

A Song of Ice and Fire is one of my favorite fantasy series, ever. And I agree that A Feast for Crows didn't really have any of the characters I care about, except Arya and Jaime.:) Still the plot was great, and I love the last chapter in Dorne...mmmmforshadowingmmm.:D

i love soif. but so far all ive read of affc's is the first chapter, whilst in a book store.
i was alot cheaper to get it online, but unfortunately what i ordered it with is taking longer than previously thought, so i havent gotten it yet.
arya is by far my favourite character, so im glad she gets a mention in this book unlike several of the other main ones.

Arya only has 3 (or was it 4?) chapters in this book, unfortunately. I don't believe we're going to see her in ADWD so we're going to have to wait until book 6 to see her again. There are some really wonderful crackpot theories coming out of this book, including some very interesting speculation on Jamie and Cersei, and on what happens to Brienne in book 6 (she had a really BAD day in this one...). This series has been great so far and it's fun to go back and go through the older books as each new one comes out to catch hints and clues to things that happened, and to try to piece together what's going to happen next book. He makes speculation as much fun as the story itself. :P

A Song of Ice and Fire is one of my favorite fantasy series, ever. And I agree that A Feast for Crows didn't really have any of the characters I care about, except Arya and Jaime.:) Still the plot was great, and I love the last chapter in Dorne...mmmmforshadowingmmm.:D
That one and the last chapter in the Eyrie ^.^

Arya only has 3 (or was it 4?) chapters in this book, unfortunately. I don't believe we're going to see her in ADWD so we're going to have to wait until book 6 to see her again.


I doubt this.

Martin has said explicitly that the next book will cover explicitly what is going on across the narrow sea. It will cover the North (Bran, Davos, Jon, etc) and the east (Daenerys). Arya is presently located in Braavos, which is one of the nine free cities and qualifies as "across the narrow sea."

According to westeros.org (http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/FAQ/FAQ02.html#2.1.4.): "A Dance with Dragons, focusing on events in the North and on the eastern continent, will feature Arya, Bran, Daenerys, Davos, Jon, and Tyrion. No other characters have been said to be it, though one can assume a new prologue character given the previous novels."

Did you just compare these to Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia?

That one and the last chapter in the Eyrie ^.^

Yeah, that one's great too. ^.^


I doubt this.

Martin has said explicitly that the next book will cover explicitly what is going on across the narrow sea. It will cover the North (Bran, Davos, Jon, etc) and the east (Daenerys). Arya is presently located in Braavos, which is one of the nine free cities and qualifies as "across the narrow sea."

According to westeros.org (http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/FAQ/FAQ02.html#2.1.4.): "A Dance with Dragons, focusing on events in the North and on the eastern continent, will feature Arya, Bran, Daenerys, Davos, Jon, and Tyrion. No other characters have been said to be it, though one can assume a new prologue character given the previous novels."

Yes! I needs me my Tyrion (he's one of my favorite characters.:D)

I've never see it!
Anyone know what are the coutries where we can see it!
I read in the internet the story and, yes i like it!

I'd be a bit curious why Arya had chapters in this book if he plans on also having her in the other book, BUT considering that she only had a couple chapters in this one I won't complain at all if she does have a few more in ADWD.

And the last Eyrie chapter was very interesting, I wonder if Littlefinger realizes that his repeated "lessons" for Sansa are actually sinking in. She's starting to learn, and I suspect he's really going to regret that later...

Did you just compare these to Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia?

I didn't in my post above, though I believe it is better than the The Lord of the Rings as a work of the Epic Fantasy (The Lord of the Rings being somewhat put on a pedestal because it brought the genre into contemporary literature, but criticizing it as a literary work I dislike how black-or-white the characters are, along with some other elements, but that's a separate debate).

Narnia is the wrong kind of story. Comparing the two would be like comparing Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series with Roald Dahl's books.


I've never see it!
Anyone know what are the coutries where we can see it!
I read in the internet the story and, yes i like it!


Amazon.com for the US is selling it, and I believe they ship internationally. I don't know what all languages it is translated into though or what countries around the world are selling it.


*MILD SPOILERS*

I'd be a bit curious why Arya had chapters in this book if he plans on also having her in the other book,


My guess is because she was a useful element to resolve the Samwell-Dareon storylines. The only real point of interaction between the across-the-narrow-sea storyline, the southern-storyline, and the north-storyline was their time in Braavos, which was necessary for Maester Aemon to hear about Daenerys, in order to set up getting that his words to Grandmaester Malgwyn.

By resolving the Samwell-Dareon storyline as far as Braavos goes, he doesn't have to resolve it in the next book and can use the Arya cliffhanger between books instead of between chapters. It also keeps there from needing to be a reminder in the book of exactly who Dareon is and why he is there or what he is doing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".;)

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.

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*

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?

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.

Whee, bringing this back from the dead. :D 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 (http://georgerrmartin.com/nextbook.html):


A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will feature all the characters that you (and I) missed in A FEAST FOR CROWS. Jon, Tyrion, Davos, Dany, and Bran will all be present with major storylines, and toward the end of the novel Arya will appear as well, as will Asha Greyjoy. There will also be one new viewpoint character debuting and one old returning, giving me a total of nine POVs, plus the usual prologue.

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.:( :(

Everyone is always so negative :p

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.:( :(

The turnaround time on AFFC was damned quick.

Besides, considering the wait on the last book, if he brings it out before December of 2007, I'll be happy :D

Until then, I suggest people pick up Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel trilogy and Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy.