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)

Tough book

The narrator, whom I like, chose to change his voices for characters between book 3 and book 4. Made it confusing for awhile. And then the book is harder to read than the first 3. The story followed people who are not like able.

Pate the pig boy

I love pate the pigboy, mayhaps he is the best character in the book. I hope he is in the next one.

Continuing Saga

George puts you into the story. You either hate or cheer for the characters. The ones you hate you find yourself hoping that they get what's coming to them. Lots of surprises has you go along. It never get dull.

Beautifully written, but much slower story and odd narration changes

A Feast for Crows is beautifully written and filled with the rich detail we have come to expect from the previous novels, but as you probably know, this book contains only half of the characters we have come to love (or love to hate,) with the addition of some new ones. The problem with the story is that we're only getting half of it, so not nearly as much happens. Roy Dotrice yet again does an amazing job narrating, and there were quite a few years (seven?) between novel audiobook recordings and some health problems, so I salute him for returning, but as I listened to the audiobooks back to back, it was very jarring to hear some characters' names pronounced differently than in previous books (Peytr, Brienne, and Gilly come to mind,) as well as using voices that were one character for another - Arya's change was most disconcerting. I don't blame Mr. Dotrice, but rather the individual that didn't check for continuity in his narration.

Got a little slow but still a great story

Any additional comments?

Overall a great story, but this book seemed to get a little bit slow. Some of the characters that were really lively and interesting were either killed off or got a bit boring. Nonetheless I will certainly be continuing the story.

What happened to Petyr's voice?

I was glad there was a Roy Dotrice's version of this book, after reading so bad reviews about the other voice actor. His work is remarkable, but...
He changed Petyr's voice! Even his name! I liked that slithering calm villain's voice from the past 3 books. Now it's just another generic voice.

Dotrice's poor performance

Where does A Feast for Crows rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've just started listening to the 4th book in the Game of Thrones series and I'm very disappointed with the lack of preparation of Roy Dotrice. I've been listening to these books back to back for several weeks now, I really enjoyed the first 3 and how Dotrice brought the characters to life. From listening to this latest edition its clear that the narrator did little or no preparation for the task at hand. I understand that it was several years between narrating the 3rd and 4th book but this was simply lazy. Names, accents and voices have all dramatically changed and I've found it quite hard to listen to so far especially Arya who now sounds like a wildling rather than a Stark. I'm thinking of returning the audiobook and just buying the kindle version to read though I've an hour journey to work each day and listening to this story really helps pass the time.

How could the performance have been better?

Dotrice could have listened to even a small section of his own audiobook to put in a better performance of the characters.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Annoyance was my only reaction so far

Any additional comments?

Dotrice is not the only one to blame here, its clear that everyone involved did not compare his work to the earlier books as they would have realized the huge difference in names, accents and voices.

What happened Roy?

I love this series. I have enjoyed it as much as any series I have ever read, with the exception of Harry Potter. Roy Dotrice is brilliant. His voices bring the book alive and really allow the listener to connect with the characters. However, I'm about 1/3 of the way through this book and I don't understand what has happened to the character voices. Almost every voice sounds markedly different than in previous books. In addition to that, he has completely changed the way he pronounces some names. Catelyn went from Cat-lynn to Cate-lin. Petyr has gone from pa-tire to Peter. It is really quite disconcerting, especially, since I am listening to the series one after the other.

Underestimated part of the ASOIF series.

The Dornish master plan! Central to this particular book. Read it twice or three times if you must.

Performance continuity is lacking

The first few chapters were hard to get through. The voices were all different from the previous books which was very annoying. I still enjoyed the book, but not until I got over my irritation.