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)

excellent!

Dotrice's performance has grown on me. great job performing a different take on characters.

what more can you ask for?

GRRM's epic story read by Roy Dotrice. what an amazing combination. this book sets the stage for the our characters at the end of the War of the Five Kings.

Too much rewinding to keep characters straight

If you could sum up A Feast for Crows in three words, what would they be?

I'm only on the 4th chapter, but as I am listening I'm having to rewind quite a bit to keep track of who's talking. All the characters sound almost alike to me, and all the women sound like old men. If he doesn't specifically say who's talking, like back and forth conversations, I have a really hard time telling that he has even switched characters. I'm not far enough into the story to truly comment on that, but so far I'm really enjoying it, though it took a while for me to get into it because of the new characters and setting of this book.

Did Roy Dotrice do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

No. I felt they all sounded the same, and it was very hard for me to keep them straight. I'd have rather heard different narrators (women for the women, men for the men) to help me. As it is, the women sound like old men.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

I will continue listening as this is what I listen to on my walk, but I will also be reading the Kindle book at night to keep things straight. Essentially, I will have listened to and/or read this book more than once by the time I'm done.

Amazing

Probably the most intriguing book in the series yet. I read in the comments that some people were disappointed on Roy Dotrice's work in this one but I believe it's just as good as ever!

Fans much too hard on this book

What does Roy Dotrice bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration is excellent. In my opinion Roy does just as well as he did in the first three.

Any additional comments?

I was very sceptical before reading this book due to the harsh reviews I read on this book. And while I agree it is not as good as the first three it is still an excellent addition to the series. The problem with this book in my opinion is (1) that it is not complete in and of itself. It is really half a book as Dance with Dragons covers the same timeline with other characters. (2) it covers integral plot details needed for the overall arc but with the less interesting characters. The story is good and needed for the over-all arc but no Tyrion or Deanerys and too little Arya and has a lot of Cersie and Briene. While this is my least favorite of the series so far I still loved it and think it is an excellent addition to the series.

The saga continues

They changed the pronunciation of some names and it threw me off. Otherwise, still the same great saga. Narrator is awesome.

I love the story, not so much the narration

What made the experience of listening to A Feast for Crows the most enjoyable?

All of these books are long and when you have two toddlers, it's next to impossible to sit down to read these tomes. I love the story though, so I decided to try listening. I did really enjoy the experience.

What did you like best about this story?

George R. R. Martin is an excellent writer. He does a great job of putting you into each character's own world. He has created brilliant characters.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Roy Dotrice did a pretty good job with the third book (I don't know if he narrated the previous books, I read them as opposed to listening) but he was lacking in this fourth edition. There was one character in particular that I couldn't listen to; I had to read his chapters. He also mispronounces many names, and pronounces names differently than he did in book 3. It's almost like he forgot?

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

All Men Must Die

Any additional comments?

Overall a good listen, but I would recommend having the book nearby if you have difficulty understanding what the narrator says, as I did.

Loved it!!

Great listen. Great read. Can't wait to get through Book 5. George is leaving us hanging without Book 6 though.

Inconsistent pronunciation

Roy Dotrice has narrated the whole series. He tries to have different voices for different characters, but sometimes they sound similar, since there are so many characters in this series. However, there is a character named Gilly, which was pronounced like a fish's gill in all of the previous books. Now Roy is saying Jilly instead of Gilly, and it makes me grind my teeth every time I hear it.

As far as the book goes, major characters are either completely omitted, or mentioned in only a few chapters. You learn more about background plots or minor or new characters, but it feels like a lot to slog though.

What happened to the old voices?

Roy changed a few voices for the worse, namely Arya and Littlefinger, though Jaime sounded less gruff and therefore marginally improved. Dunno why some pronunciations were changed, perhaps to be more in keeping with the show? (this was produced in 2011)