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DiscountDelight - A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4)
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List Price: $28.00
Our Price: $10.89
Your Save: $ 17.11 ( 61% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Spectra
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780553801507
ISBN: 0553801503
Label: Spectra
Manufacturer: Spectra
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 784
Publication Date: 2005-11-08
Publisher: Spectra
Release Date: 2005-11-08
Studio: Spectra
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Comment: The whiners and haters have it all wrong. This book was an excellent addition to the series. I loved it and I can't wait for more! The only possible way to view it in even a slightly negative light is to compare it to the previous books, as Martin is still the best there is. Ok, so the book largely covers only half of the characters of previous books, saving the simultaneous actions of the other characters for the next book, and that means it was slightly less epic. And I never really cared for Cersei that much, and she is covered in great depth in this book. Those are the best I can do for complaints. And then again, I never cared much for the House Greyjoy and the Iron Islanders, but this book really added lots of interest for me, so I expect any future Cersei stories to be quite fasciniating. And thanks to the splitting of the book in half, we shouldn't have to wait quite so long for the next in the series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Comment: Unfortunately this was a very disappointing read. I was/am a huge fan of the first three books and could not put them down. With that said, this one does not compare with those other fine novels.
A Feast of Crows was full of minor characters that for the most part you care nothing about and very little real story. In addition this book has the problem of repeating itself frequently to tell us over and over who these minor characters are and about their linage... as if that is enough to make us care about them. As one of the other readers stated this book is desperately in need of an editor. There is only enough interesting story to cover about a hundred or so pages (the first parts of Arya's story). For the most part the rest is a waste of paper (Brandon, Tyrion, Danny don't even make it into this book). I hold out hope that the next one (Dance with Dragons) is back on pace with the first three...
I would skip this one... or if you must, just read the chapters on Arya and maybe the last two chapters with Cersei and Samwell. The rest is not rewarding.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A real low mark in an otherwise marvellous serie.
Comment: I'm sorry to say it but this book was a chore to go through. Only one or two chapters (like where Brienne fights Biter) were exiting.
In the end of the book the author explains that instead of splitting one book into two parts, he decided to make two separate books which in short resulted in putting all the booring characters into this book. Big mistake I'd say.
As in all his books the writing is excellent but here you rarely got that nice urge of wanting to read the next page.
Anyways... The other books in this serie are absolutely marvellous and likely the remaining books will be as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Yet Another Wonderful Addition To The Series!
Comment: While I understand many's concerns as to the stagnant nature of Martin's half complete Feast of Crows, I feel that it is still a worthwhile read and an excellent piece of storytelling. Martin has given us the complete story of half the characters instead of half the story of all the characters, and rightly so it leaves a hole and a yearning for more!, especially after we waited so long in the first place.
However, I still love his writing. I still think he makes writing seem effortless and the intricacies of his plots amaze me. This is indeed a transition piece where some loose ends are tied off, characters are still growing as people, and not much happens but a lot of traveling. More so in this book though, I loved reading each segement equally, as he seemed to even out what happened in each section, so that I wasn't holding myself back from skimming ahead to a character I would rather read.
My main qualm is that it still seems like there was content edited out even though the book was split. Often times something would be announced after the fact, and I would flip back in the book to see where it happened. It hadn't been mentioned, but later in the book a character would mention it to another, and I would find that there had been no description of this event, almost as though the chapter had been cut short and a hasty sidenote had been made at a later date. It just seemed unlike Martin's usual style.
I do love the fact that Martin is developing the characters and using this as a transition piece. My favorite aspect of the Fire and Ice series is that I am actually in such a complex world of characters. Most authors would shy away from adding so many levels to their novels, it just gets too hard to juggle. But what makes it so entertaining for me is the grand scheme of it all. I know that when the series is finished I'm going to look back and go what a wild ride, and I felt like I was growing with each and every character.
My other little peeve is how graphic the novel is- I've heard other's complain but it never really phased me. In this novel, it seemed that the sex and gore seemed to make up for the fact that other parts of the novel were a little bit slower, almost as though he was trying to spice it up a bit. Gore and sex as they are don't bother me and it never had in his past books. In this one however, it appeared almost like fan service. I could be wrong, maybe not. I took away a star more for the holes I had mentioned earlier.
Overall, I still love Martin and I loved this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ice&Fire saga as expected
Comment: G.R.R.Martin has got withour contest the best going series there is in this overpopulated fantasy market.
Caveat for those reading these reviews and having not yet read the Feast of crows: the common sense can tell you that if the first 3 installements are worth 5 stars (what they are), then the 4th is not worth 1 star like some reviewers would like to have you believe.
Now what's the deal then?
Well whether Martin made it up or not, he split the 4th installement in 2 parts.
What we get here is only one half of the same time period.
Follows that the other part is not here.
Obvious even if it can perturbate some, isn't it?
And then everything boils down to the choice what characters he will put in what half.
As in Feast of Crows the focus is on mainland, the characters are on the mainland (eliminates Daenerys plotline).
Then Martin takes profit of the liberated space to introduce some new points of view (Brienne, Greyjoys and Martels). Some may think that they could do without and some may think that it's nice to have them within.
As I belong to the latter category, I liked Feast of Crows very much.
An insight in the struggle for the vacated throne going among the Ironmen was new and refreshing.
Brienne's chapters allowed us to learn what happened to the Hound and meet again Cathlyn (hard to see how to do it otherwise unless through some random third party narration).
Arya's chapters were for me the best-in the previous installements we never got much of her and she's developping in a true Stark.
Also Sansa makes progress and begins to take some control over her destiny.
Sure the Lannisters took a hit with Tywin's demise and Thyrion being allocated to the second half.
Cersei is much less compelling and definitely turning paranoid.
Jaime's point of view makes furter progress regarding the opposition to the Lannisters.
All in all it is still Martin with excellent writing, consistent plotline and, like one reviwer noticed, everything beginning to converge to what will become the central figure for the last part of the series - Daennerys.
Why only 4 stars then?
Well I can't believe that it took Martin 5 years to notice that he has written 2 books instead of 1 and then to decide to publish only one instead of both at the same time.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Few books have captivated the imagination and won the devotion and praise of readers and critics everywhere as has George R. R. Martin’s monumental epic cycle of high fantasy. Now, in A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth book of his landmark series, as a kingdom torn asunder finds itself at last on the brink of peace...only to be launched on an even more terrifying course of destruction.
A Feast for Crows
It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears....With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist--or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.
But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces--some familiar, others only just appearing--are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.
It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests--but only a few are the survivors.
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