A Dance with Dragons

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5

By: George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Roy Dotrice

Length: 48 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Dubbed the American Tolkien by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the number-one New York Times best-selling author delivers the fifth book in his spellbinding landmark series - as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again - beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has three times 3,000 enemies, and many have set out to find her. Yet, as they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

To the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone - a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, will face his greatest challenge yet. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

And from all corners, bitter conflicts soon reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.

Enchanted? Check out the rest of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

©2011 George R.R. Martin (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"Filled with vividly rendered set pieces, unexpected turnings, assorted cliffhangers and moments of appalling cruelty, A Dance with Dragons is epic fantasy as it should be written: passionate, compelling, convincingly detailed and thoroughly imagined." (The Washington Post)

"Long live George Martin...a literary dervish, enthralled by complicated characters and vivid language, and bursting with the wild vision of the very best tale tellers." (The New York Times)

"One of the best series in the history of fantasy." (Los Angeles Times)

Wonderful tale by a master storyteller!

There may never be another epic like this in my lifetime! Thank you, George rr Martin, and Godspeed with the next volume!

Absolutely loved it, but....

The narrator was off on some of the character voices (Daenerys...) he had previously perfected. Still a great listen. Now if Martin would just finish Winds of Winter...

Martin has done it again!

This was an excellent followup to his series. Although a little slower at times it is classic Martin describing everything in this world he has created. Huge fan and I don't look forward to waiting years before the next release.

Some voices changed from earlier books. GreatStory

The only issue I had was the inconsistency in voices used by Mr. Dotrice from the ones he used in earlier books. But you get used to it. They're consistent throughout this book, they just don't match the previous ones. AMAZING story, and Mr. Dotrice does a wonderful job.

Fantastic story, horrible narration

The narration detracts from the story. There are times over the series where the narrator uses different accents & voices for the same character. There are times the way he chooses to read a character you can hardly understand him. Not to mention the greatly varied volumes & intonations that pull you out of the story. I love this book & this series but it could have been read better.

great book

I don't agree with some of the reviews regarding the narrator. I thought he was great, and of course the book itself was tough to stop listening to.

Great book…

Fantastic writing, great story, so much suspense and surprise and action, that I couldn't stop listening.
I wish Roy Dotrice would be more consistent with his voices… There was a big change between books 3 and four in how he performed certain voices. You have one job… You might as well listen to a couple of chapters of previous books so that you can remember what certain characters are supposed to sound like, such as Arya stark.

Great book and Great Performance

I read the first 4 books on paper, only switching to audio because I had a few long car trips coming up. It did take me a couple chapters to get used to the narration but as soon as I was settled in it was hard to stop. Roy did great and when I come back to A Song of Ice and Fire I will likely related to all of them. Highly recommended!!

Roy changed his voices!

Go back and listen to yourself on the other books then record this again!

Another Epic GRRM Masterpiece.

The story was awesome, as we all expected. The cliff hanger at the end is what we have even become acustomed to. over all Great Book. HURRY UP WITH BOOK 6 ALREADY. IT'S BEEN YEARS....DON'T LET HBO REWRITE YOUR SAGA.

As far as the performance goes...ehh the quality was not as good with this book. You could tell where pieces of the recordings were spliced together. Was not impressed with the narrator this time around.