A Dance With Dragons: Part 1 Dreams and Dust: The bestselling classic epic fantasy series behind the award-winning HBO and Sky TV show and phenomenon GAME OF THRONES: Book 5 (A…
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HBO’s hit series A GAME OF THRONES is based on George R R Martin’s internationally bestselling series A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age.
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS: DREAMS AND DUST is the FIRST part of the fifth volume in the series.
‘Richly satisfying and utterly engrossing’ Sunday Times
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.
George R.R. Martin’s book ‘Fire and Blood’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 24-10-2022.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (15 Mar. 2012), HarperVoyager |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 704 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 9780007466061 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0007466061 |
| Dimensions | 4.32 x 12.7 x 19.56 cm |
by Duane
A Dance With Dragons: Dream and Dust is one of the final books in the A Song of Fire and Ice series. The books runs in the same time frame as the previous book (A Feast for Crows). As the two books run in the same time frame, some of the characters are excluded. Dreams and Dust primarly follows Tyrion, Daenerys, Bran and Jon Snow.
This is the first the reader meets again of Tyrion since his disappearence before a Feast for Crows. Tyrion now resides outside Westeros, fleeing after killing Tywin Lannister, his father. Across the sea to the east, Daenerys Targaryen holds Meereen with her army of unsullied and freedmen. Here she tries to maintain peace, whilst many are unhappy she abolished the slave trade and closed the fighting pits.
Bran heads ever north of the walll seeking the three eyed crow, together with the Reeds, Hodor and what appears to be a wight. Down at the wall Brans half brother Jon Snow serves as lord commander. Snow plays host to Stannis Baratheon and Meslisandre seeking alliances in the north, as well as a mass of wildings seeking refugee.
The characters stories featured in Dreams and Dust really begin to unfold, in a series of spectacular of events, making the book difficult to put down at times. George R. R. Martin does a fanastic job bringing out some really unexpected events, which may have strong consequences for the end outcome of the series.
Well worth reading and one of the stronger books in the series. The story has a great level of depth and the reader really builds a connection to the world and characters after reading the 6 books.
by Alistair Thomas
I have read all five volumes (in two parts for volumes 3 and 5) since Easter 2012. To me the books are very well written and the character development is nothing short of masterful, with all the human strengths and frailties, virtues and prejudices on display in the plethora of characters woven into this incredibly rich tapestry. I find the different threads addictive so much so that I will skip past chapters in the written order to have several chapters of one character in one go. I’m not sure what such impatience says about me.
I both love and hate the cliff hangers. They are what has driven me to just pick up the next book as soon as the last was finished. But now I join the queue for volume six and the withdrawal symptoms are palpable. I just can’t imagine what original fans must feel like having waited 10 years for the production of the last two volumes. I’ve started reading about the author himself to ascertain what realistic chance I have of getting my fix soon. He seems to be gadding about, meeting fans, doing other projects; anything but resolving the cliff hangers and honouring the loyalty of his fans. This is cheap from me, a fan of a mere 2 months, and the lack of closure is all that prevents this review being 5 stars. Martin promises to do better, but “words are wind”. I’m hopeful the TV people will turn the screw in ways his publishers clearly have not been able to.
The sex and violence are racy and explicit so this is definitely adult literature. In one sense it’s a shame because the story is so gripping I would love my son, an avid and compulsive reader like myself, to read it, but he’s only eleven. That said, a softer version might lose its edge. I must look at the TV series to see how they handle this. Maybe in 7-8 years when he is a man grown, I will be able to offer him a gold plated, 5-star reference to the complete 7-volume series.
May, 2012
by Jim J-R
I’m reading the paperback editions of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and so book five is split into two parts – as with the third book, I’ve decided to read each half separately to spread the load.
The series depicts a fantasy world – focussing on the island of Westeros – where a war has broken out amongst various houses over who should rule, distracting the people from necessary preparations for the coming winter. In this way, it provides an interesting allegory for a world where political point scoring is seen as more urgent than responding to legitimate threats to climate.
It’s hard to be specific about the plot and characters of this particular volume without plot-spoilers. This volume in particular focusses on this characters in the northern half of Westeros and overseas – the previous novel having focussed on what was happening simultaneously in the southern part of the continent. This makes for an interesting situation where we know more than the characters do, and so can read with a knowing grin as we predict where certain plot elements are leading. In a way though it’s frustrating – there was a lot happened in the fourth novel and very little has yet been followed up on.
Probably the best thing about Martin’s writing is the characters – there are such a wide range and each have truly believable traits. He’s a master of switching his readers feelings around, so that characters I was completely unsympathetic with early in the series have become some of my favourites, who elicit a groan of disappointment as their chapters come to an end. In fact I feel with this volume Martin has reached a peak, with there being no character I haven’t wanted to spent more time with.
Martin’s narrative is also brilliantly crafted. The structure of long chapters, each from a single point of view, rotating around the world, gives a really strong viewpoint in each scene. It allows each scene to show one important event, or character moment, and skip the narrative over sometimes quite long periods between scenes without the reader feeling anything has been missed.
Still a really great series that I’m thoroughly enjoying reading. I’m really looking forward to reading the second part of book five, even though I know I’ll then have to wait, possibly years, for anything to be resolved.