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)

2 credits?

Would you consider the audio edition of A Dance with Dragons to be better than the print version?

Any additional comments?

I see that all the books in this series are 2 credits now. I think it's pretty lame that they raised them all to 2 credits I'm pretty sure I only gave 1 credit before they made the series on HBO. LAME!!!!!!!!!!!

A strong entry in the series

More interesting than a feast for crows because it follows a better set of characters, but with inconsistent narration compared to books 1-3. A common criticism of the series at this point is that none of the main characters are interacting anymore, making this essentially 20 different stories loosely tied together with a promise of eventual reunions but no indication that we're getting any closer to them. Still, the individual stories are at least interesting and the characters still compelling, and there are plenty of twists to keep things interesting.

Performance was irregular

Voices and pronunciations were constantly changing through this book. I found this very distracting and sometimes hard to follow.

What's Next?

When I first started this series, I was so confused. There were too many characters to wrap my head around. So I decided to listen to it in audio book. That helped more than I can explain. I should have went back to reading after I got adjusted to who was who. But I enjoyed the narrator very much. The first three books were amazing. But it kind of started to go downhill for me during book two. Things started to drag out and go floppy. I got confused all over again. People were being added in. People's names were changing. Etc. I think what made it worse is that the narrator was using different voices for people. That didn't help my confusion factor at all. I didn't start hating the series though. I will read the rest of the series if they ever release it. I'm just honestly glad to say I can set this series down for now. I don't think I need to recommend this book being as it's very popular. I'm not sure if it's popular because of the show or the show is popular because of it. Either way, It's not horrible and anybody should at least give it a chance. I'm glad I did.

Game of Thrones

There is nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. This epic tale is a cultural phenomenon. I am waiting anxiously for Winds of Winter.

Great series, bummer it's not complete

If you could sum up A Dance with Dragons in three words, what would they be?

Complex, imaginative, and graphic

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Dance with Dragons?

There are too many to count. George R. R. Martin enjoys shocking his readers, but what he enjoys even more is shocking his readers to the point were they can't put his books down.

Any additional comments?

Long book, long series, it's just too bad he hasn't finished it yet.

One thing

I didn't like that the voices didn't stay consistent from the last book. other wise, great book!

Good, but what happened?

I enjoyed this book, but was disappointed that it never seems to come to a head. After finishing this book, my thought is, there must be another book coming because I don't know what the heck happened!

great voice for male characters, not for females

2 things: slow story telling in this one- very long winded and the reader can't do a female's voice to save his life. beautiful voices for men. The women sounded more like the crow that screams CORN than any actual woman.

Going back to the first point: we love the main characters who are still alive and we don't really care to have 5-10 new main characters added. I understand you want the "punch in the gut" feeling when people are dying but there should be more happening with the main characters still alive.

inconsistent voices for caracters between books

I love the books and chatacters, but rpy Dot rice l, could you please keep the voices consistent between books l. that's my only complaint