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)

best narration on audible

dotrice is a master of his craft and builds a fascinating world with his voice

so sad it's over

WHYYYYYYYYYYY WHHY WHYY WHYYYYYY WHYY WHYY WHYY WHYYYYYY WHYY WHYY WHYYYY WWWWHYY WHYY WHYYYYYY WHYYYYYYY

voices

the voice actor changes certain characters voices mid-book. it's threw me off a bit. other than that he was good.

Inconsistent character voices

Listening from one book to another, it’s clear Roy Dotrice made no effort to keep each character’s accent consistent from one book to the other. Danny goes from a neutral accent to a West Country accent to welsh. The Lanisiters are a family with a mix of welsh and English accents between siblings - these too vary from book to book.

Horrible narration

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

change the narrator

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tyrion, always ! You know why.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Lousy job all the way. It's been said before, but I have to add my 2 cents - Dotrice has TWO voices, a gruff toothless ancient and a high nasal whining toothless ancient. The high whiny voice is used for women and young people. It's horrible. Mispronunciation of names is constant and variable within a single chapter. Choppy cadences, droning pacing, weird and random use of dialects and accents.

Check out Patrick Tull doing 20 Aubrey/Maturin novels and see what a master narrator/actor can do with hundreds of characters - accents, portrayals of different sexes and ages. It can be done, but not by Dotrice. I heard that Martin likes Dotrice so perhaps we can consider it a sign of Martin's subconscious dislike of his readers -along with never finishing the series !

The only book I can stand to listen to is the one narrated by John Lee who does a fine job.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Shoot the Narrator

Any additional comments?

I love these books, even though Martin needs a decent editor - I don't care, the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned !

Ready for HBO to put on film...

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

I'm a reader with cataracts who could not have gotten through a print version.

What did you like best about this story?

Because I have not read any of the earlier volumes, and have only been exposed to the episodes produced by HBO, this book opened my conciousness to the descriptive powers of George R. R. Martin. The phrasing and narrative details are sometimes exquisite, but at other times, very true to a clearly outlined formula.

What about Roy Dotrice’s performance did you like?

The reader does a good job of making the text come alive with accent, emphasis, and "voices." I would not have finished the long narrative, or would have fallen asleep several times in the process if it had not been embellished by the narrator.

Any additional comments?

A worthwhile listen. I'm probably going to get all of the works in this series, but then, I'm a fan of Stephanie Plum too.

great story, too little voice variety

Any additional comments?

Roy Doltrice is a strong narrator, but the voices are too similar. Danares sounds like a Lannister...Celsie, Jamie and Tierion all sound the same too.

Fantastic!

An amazing performance from Roy Dotrice, well suited to accompany Martins amazing writing. I can not recommend this enough, worth every penny.

Odd Naration, very good story

Once again, Roy Dotrice has blown it with a bunch of character voices and names. The most frightening voice change was Melisandre. She went from a creepy woman to 10 year old Scottish boy. Daenerys was also a shocker in the voice department. I really wish he had the professionality to go back and listen to the voices he had done in the first 3 books. That said, I do hope Winds of Winter is out before Dotrice dies. He is 90, probably hanging by a thread, but I can't picture another voiceover guy doing these books. Outside of the naration complaints, the material itself is significantly better than A Feast for Crows, which I found rather dull. I really enjoyed it, I don't think he will ever top A Storm of Swords, which was amazing, but this was very good and actually helped make a Feast for Crows better as the two books intertwine for a good chunk anyway.

When does the next book come out!!!

As with the rest of the series, A Dance With Dragons delivers. This book had most of my favorite characters that I missed in the prior book. Tyrion, Dany, Arya. All with stories that kept me interested and emotionally vested.

I finished the book and just want him to keep writing so I can (eventually) get this story resolved!