As an avid fan of George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, I was eagerly awaiting the latest installment. I hoped that where his fourth book in the epic series “A Feast for Crows” stumbled, “A Dance with Dragons” would shine. I was not disappointed, and neither, I’d wager, will you be.
My main point of contention with the 2005 release “A Feast for Crows” was that it mostly contained the viewpoints of characters that I personally didn’t find enthralling, with the exception of the wonderful young Arya of house Stark. While “A Dance with Dragons” largely takes place in a mirror timeline to its predecessor, the characters it focuses on are vastly more interesting on average, with the ever ingenious Tyrion Lannister being a shining example of this. The enigmatic little person never misses a chance to be clever, and while he may suffer for his witticisms, this reader certainly delighted in them.
“A Dance with Dragons” does have some downfalls in my opinion, such as the current setting of a few of the characters being a little dull. Personally, I couldn’t find the city of Mereen and it’s neighboring population centers less appealing. Tall pyramids and their tokar clad inhabitants simply don’t stir my imagination like the dreary woods and swamplands of the mainland. Similarly, the coastal regions explored in depth for the first time in the series aren’t a particularly exciting setting; however, the novel more than makes up for these (admittedly arguable) shortcomings by including the setting of the wall as well as a much more focused look at the white northlands, places so full of the unknown that they have been begging to be explored for the last 3,880 pages of the series.
Mr. Martin’s narrative framework and cleverly crafted paragraphs remain the strong point of this novel, as they have been for the entirety of the series. Despite having to deal with the tricky problem of exploring characters during the same time period as his last book, Mr. Martin manages to make the writing look natural, and dare I say, easy. The realpolitik style of character based drama is played out as it has been throughout the series, and has created an unmatchable sense of anticipation and intrigue that simply never grows tired. I usually don’t consider novels in a series for my personal “Favorite Novel of the Year” award, but this year I just have to make an exception, because “A Dance with Dragons” is brilliant, and I have never been as sad to finish a book, knowing I have to wait potentially years to find out what happens next. If you aren’t a fan of the series yet, I’d suggest picking up “A Game of Thrones” immediately and start in on it. If you’re already a fan, you shouldn’t need me to say it, but I will: this novel is a must buy.
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