A Feast for Crows

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4

By: George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Roy Dotrice

Length: 33 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

GAME OF THRONES: A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.

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 that began with A Game of Thrones. 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.

©2007 George R.R. Martin (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"Of those who work in the grand epic-fantasy tradition, Martin is by far the best.... [He] is a tense, surging, insomnia-inflicting plotter and a deft and inexhaustible sketcher of personalities.... This is as good a time as any to proclaim him the American Tolkien." ( Time)

"The only fantast series I'd put on a level with J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings…. It's a fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don't read fantasy…. If you're new to the series, you must begin with Book 1, A Game of Thrones. Once you're hooked…. you'll be like the rest of us fans, gnawing your knuckles until book 5” (Marta Salij, Detroit Free Press)

“THE MOST impressive modern fantasy, both in terms of conception and execution, is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.… A masterpiece that will be mentioned with the great works of fantasy.” ( Contra Costa Times)

No consistency in the characters

I am listening to the books without the break of years in between and it is irritating as hell that the voices for a lot of the characters have changed. Especially the female voices are completely different (and worse than before). Why use the same narrator and not check the previous recordings? I blame the narrator and the producers equally.

This book is puzzle pieces jumbled together. The first chapter alone left me 'huh?' until the very end and the story introduces such a lot of new characters (and viewpoints) that it left my head realing. It's not bad, just incomplete without the next part. What I missed most? Tyrion! (well, no more spoilers) What I liked most? Sam got a larger part and the storyline around Sensa.

Same good story, but the voice was lacking.

The voice actor has change many of the mannerisms, pronunciations, and voices used in previous "song of ice and fire" audio books. While it didn't completely ruin the experience it certainly is jarring to hear Little finger go from being suave and slower of speech to sounding like everyone else.

Feast of Crows

Enjoyed and a great narrator. Hard to quit listening. Well done. Enjoying all the series.

Great, except voice actor confusion

Often times the voice actors would switch who they were voicing. It made things confusing/bothersome at times. I think it would have been better if each voice actor continued voicing the same characters throughout.

A step down from previous narrations.

Would you listen to A Feast for Crows again? Why?

Fantastic characters, massive arching story lines, and book 4 gets into the meat of some characters that I love. However, I was really throne (hehe) for a loop by the change in narration for some of the main characters and different pronunciation of words (to a lesser degree). I really liked the narration up until book 4, and I hope Roy corrects it in the next book, whenever that is.

PLEASE get another narrator!

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Roy Dotrice?

Pretty much anybody. How about getting some consistency and accuracy in name pronunciations? Brienne is not probounced "bry-een" or "brian".

We desperately need another recording available with a different narrator. This is painful. If I didn't love the series so much, I wouldn't be listening to this travesty of a reading.

awesomeness

just amazing can't describe it any other way good listen good read couldn't stop listening

Excelent

Many will say that part if the story has stalled I just been amazed about the amount of details George R. R. Martin is able to create to entertain you. I keep loving the series and wanting to have more.

Spittle filled voice impersonation made me gag ...

I have read these books and thought it would be entertaining to listen to them. Found listening to wet, sloppy voice impersonations difficult in previous books, but I actually gagged at certain points in this one, had to fast forward, and missed out on important details.

Series Starts To Meander

What did you like best about A Feast for Crows? What did you like least?

A Feast For Crows and a Dance For Dragons were originally one massive thome that Martin decided to split up among characters. Most of the 2 books' action is concurrent, with A Feast For Crows focusing on Westeros while A Dance Of Dragons mainly focuses on the events to the North and in the Eastern Continent. The most disappointing part of both is how little actually takes place in their combined 1800 pages (70 hours). It feels as thought George R.R. Martin has become interested in providing color and nuance to the world he's created than actually forwarding the plot. Color and nuance are great, but these 2 segments took 13 years to write and MAJOR developments promised by earlier volumes seem no closer to occurring than they did after A Storm of Swords. A Feast For Crows suffers much more for this than A Dance of Dragons, but reading both I found myself as fascinated by how easily it would have been to collapse them into 1 book than the actual events that transpire.