A Song of Ice and Fire (5) – A Dance With Dragons: Book 5
£5.70
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 is the fifth volume in the series.
The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance.
In the east, Daenerys, last scion of House Targaryen, her dragons grown to terrifying maturity, rules as queen of a city built on dust and death, beset by enemies.
Now that her whereabouts are known many are seeking Daenerys and her dragons. Among them the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who has escaped King’s Landing with a price on his head, wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of his nephew, King Joffrey. But not before killing his hated father, Lord Tywin.
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 the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, but he has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall, where the wildling armies are massing for an assault.
On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all…
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Additional information
| Publisher | First Ed edition (12 July 2011), HarperVoyager |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 3296 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 1201 pages |
by Bluenote
This volume is much less of a page turner than the other books in the series, and consequently it took me a long time to get through; a chapter here, a couple more the week after then a few more chapters and so on. The book didn’t keep me gripped to the extent that the others had; it had lost momentum. There were two reasons for this. The first was that this book ran in parallel with “A Feast for Crows” and much of it was old news – just looked at from a different perspective, and the second was that the chapters didn’t flow as easily; one of the Tyrion chapters seeming to be particularly long. Also GRRM began to deviate from his formulaic device of simple naming chapters as his POV characters. We started off with the POVs and then out of the blue I stumbled upon “The Merchant’s Man”. Later on I found “The Lost Lore”, “The Windblown”, “The Wayward Bride” and so on. Towards the end of the book these non-POV chapter titles dominated. In any other book that would have been fine, but here it somehow disrupted the flow and the pace of the book. The other problem is the multiplicity of names that some of the characters have. Some of the names are hard enough to remember anyway, without adding to the confusion. As the series progresses, some of the names are becoming impossible to pronounce, let alone remember. As far as names go Jon Connington bucks the trend, but unfortunately, with his advancing greyscale infection, his chances of survival are not good. I would guess most of the five star reviewers managed to overcome these problems and read the book at a good pace without having to struggle with the names. In contrast I needed to consult my GoT Wiki every chapter, not only to sort out who is who but what had happened to them in previous chapters.
A number of reviewers have complained that GRRM is killing off well-developed characters in a very careless, unconcerned manner, and this does seem to be a problem with the series as a whole. At first it came as a shock, but by this book it is becoming inevitable and it makes the effort of developing empathy for some of these major characters worthless. To make matters worse the ones who manage to survive undergo significant personality changes, such as Tyrion and Daenerys. Finally there are other charecters who were beginning to develop and then in this book became much less prominent; I was really hoping for some top drawer sorcery from Melisandre, or perhaps some serious shape shifting from Bran, but it never happened.
Notwithstanding the problems with the pace of the book and the gargantuan task of keeping up with the plot, it remains a tremendous literary work. I can’t think of any other author who could manage to make the idea of eating raw rat almost mouth watering, or to come up with the idea of victims begging to have their fingers cut off because of the intense pain resulting from flaying. Disgusting topics, but so well written, that you feel you are almost there. The descriptions of the dragons are outstanding. GRRM’s dragons are not simpy giant scaley lizards that can fly and breath out inflammable gasses. Instead, the fire seems to run through their veins. They are dark, vicious, unpleasant creatures which redefine our understanding of dragons.
So, despite the loss of momentum, the complexity of the plot, and the careless loss of major characters, this epic tale is probably the best fantasy series ever written, and I can’t bring myself to give it less than five stars.
by D J POOLE
Good book
by Asmodeous
I am relieved to say that the wait has been worth it. GRR Martin has produced a book of epic proportions and plot developments galore – he certainly knows how to tell a story and this book is up there with his best in terms of wonder,excitement and sheer shock and awe factor.However not everyone is going to be happy as we are very far from resolving key plot threads and there is a meandering quality that will not be to everyone’s liking.
DON’T READ UNTIL YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH ALL THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES OR YOU WILL STRUGGLE TO APPRECIATE ALL THE PLOT THREADS – START WITH GAME OF THRONES OR THIS BOOK WILL BE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FOLLOW.
It is great to have the points of view of Jon,Dany and Tyrion who take up the majority of chapters. The initial tone is similar to Feast and the book slowly builds up somewhat similar to Storm of Swords in that the latter part of the book comes together with one exciting development after another – in many ways it complements and enriches Feast for Crows and to read the two books simulateneously is something I might consider second time round.
I can see how some might get frustrated in parts by some chapters focusing on atmosphere and allowing plot development to very slowly move forward – this is a book to savour like a fine wine rather than glug down like a cheap beer so be warned.
The gap in years between one book and another means that GRR Martin’s preferance for recounting name after character name in his storytelling can sometimes annoy or at least be confusing (requiring reference to the internet song of ice and fire wiki site which can be very helpful). Yet the slow build up does have a pay off and as the story moves along so the book becomes more and more gripping and at his best the author is as good as they come. Some chapters had me literally on the edge of the seat and were as exciting as I have ever read.
If one is prepared to immerse themselves in this world then the book really is a great fantasy trip. The narrative and plot threads tend to come together very well and there are genuine surprises and revelations – one particular storyline is haunting and very moving and shows a master of fiction at the top of his craft. There are a couple of cliff hangers unresolved which some might find frustrating. There is a little rushed editing and repetition of language and phrases such as ‘words are wind’ that indicates the enormous pressures on the author to deliver the book to deadline – these points are minor in the grand scale of things but seem a strange editing oversight.
In terms of editing the whole book could be a lot sharper – the difficulty for the editor however is what to cut out as one could have a ‘butterfly effect’ if certain chapters (that on first sight appear to be going no-where get cut). My fear is that if Martin does not change pace and show sharp editing on the next book he will be heading in the tradition of the tv programme LOST (i.e. moments of brilliance petering out with an unsatisfactory conclusion). As the books meander in storyline many fans are wondering whether Martin has bitten off more than he can chew. The jury is out as far as I am concerned until the next book.As for the tv series – I am confident that script writers will wield very sharp knives in future episodes and predict that by the time the series gets to Feast for Crows (if it gets that far) the series will take its own course and be less willing to closely follow Martin’s plot narrative.
Back to the book – Dance of Dragons is not perfect and has its faults but as a worthy development of the Song of Ice and Fire epic it is worthwhile reading and deserves a high rating. Four stars is my most generous score but three stars will no doubt be the overall score and probably the fairest score for this part of the series.
If you want GRR Martin back on form, writing great storylines with great characters , superb plot twists and a depth of narrative that sucks you into another world then this book is for you – but be prepared for a very slow pace and be willing to absorb the world in some chapters when there is seemingly little plot development.
It nicely paves the way for the next book and in some ways smooths the way for the author to tighten up and focus the narrative for the final two installments (perhaps meaning they can be delivered to us a little quicker next time). For me though the wait has been worth it – a great addition to a wonderful series but it has some glaring faults as described above that make it lose a star at least from me.
In future years readers perhaps will be glad GRR Martin took his time to get his masterpiece right. This series will be ranked as amongst the greatest of fantasy literature in many, many years to come if Martin can pull it all off. A Lord of the Rings for the modern age.
To rate the books I would say the books stand as followsand that Dance of Dragons is up there with the best:
1st – Game of Thrones *****
2nd – Storm of Swords *****
3rd – Clash of Kings ****
4th – Dance with Dragons****
5th – Feast for Crows ****
If you like the series then you might like to try reading about the real life Wars of Roses that took place on English soil in medieval times – it is here where the author gets his inital inspiration and if you get a good history book it is as exciting a story as GRR Martin’s series – I would suggest Alison Weir as a very accessible author.