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)

Such an amazing story

It's s long book, yet worth the time to listen. The narrative is very well done and easy to listen to.

Peak Martin

Each book in the series is better than the last. This is no exception. Highly recommend.

OH MY GOSH!

I watched the show on HBO before listening to the story on Audible. Absolutely loved it! I think I love the books better. Great performance, excellent story! I could listen over and over. Hope book 6 & 7 come out soon.

Best book of the series!

Loved it, considerably better than book 4, wish I would of skipped book 4 entirely, and just read this one...

so fuggin good.

you made it this far you don't need a review. you know this shizz is the bomb.

Great thrilling story

Great story with a superb voice actor. Hoping the next books will xome in the near future.

Not bad. Worth the credit

After reading and listening to all five books back to back this series is amazing. Though Roy did an amazing job on the first three books the last two were okay the performance was not the best but it still enticed me into the story. I finished this book in 12days even though it is the largest. I definitely will be listening to this again in the future.

Great book, annoying narrator

Let me be clear... the narrator IS good. Smooth voice, decent voices for each character, and easy to understand.

However, over the course of the series, he has mispronounced certain words and even changed the pronunciation of certain words multiple times. An issue most will easily look past though... What REALLY gets me is that he also changes certain character's voices and accents from book to book, and towards the end they even change in the SAME BOOK.

Unbelievably annoying because you get used to what a character sounds like, associating a voice with that character. Then out of nowhere - BAM - they are completely different sounding. Really ruins a chapter... all of a sudden, all you can focus on is trying to associate the established character with a new voice and accent....... mind wrenchingly annoying.

IF you are going to do voices for the characters, which this narrator usually does pretty well, DO NOT change the voice/accent of individual characters.

Feast for Crows, the book before this one, had a mostly uninteresting story as it was clearly a set up. This book actually has some interesting plot points that had me engaged throughout pretty much the whole book. Very happy with the story this time around, and it leaves off at a point that makes me want more.

Can't wait for the next one!

I am trying to wait for the new one but I'm losing patience. I have read all of the books in the series at least 4 times. Come on George!!!!

Narrator changes voices

I can't begin to Express my frustration with the narrator. He has a wide range of voices but for the last few books he's been changing the voices of main characters. He also seems to struggle a great deal when voicing female characters. Makes them all sound like old hags.