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)

You get used to Dotrice

Roy Dotrice bothered me at first. Some of his accents sound like a cartoon leprechaun. After a while, the content overpowers the accent, and you can enjoy the book. What Dotrice does well is provide uniquely identifiable characteristics to most (all?) characters in the book. This is helpful at times when there is a lot going on. With another narrator, you may lose track of who said what. Roy's work helped me keep track of who was speaking during those moments.

My greatest criticism of Roy's performance now is that I wish he would use his own voice when the character is thinking to themselves. It would be an equivalence to quoted or unquoted text in the books. However, I'm sure the production team has thought of this and decided against it for some reason that I haven't considered.

George R. R. Martin has done a marvelous job with this book. I would rate this below Storm Of Swords, but Feast For Crows contains a lot of significant content. I really like how he develops Brienne. In her search for Sansa, he builds up her backstory and begins the process that George is so well known for: making you like a character far more than you originally did. While this is not as drastic as some of the other character reversals we've seen (e.g. Tyrion and Jaime), it is still quite satisfying.

I already own A Dance With Dragons on Audible, and will probably switch from Google Play Books to Kindle, just for WhisperSync.

In closing, this review is probably of little worth to you. If you are at this point in the series, you are going to pick this audiobook up regardless. And if you haven't begun the series, this would not be a good starting point. I hope that I've at least shed some light on a few characteristics of the narrator.

A lull in the action

If you are expecting a fast paced novel like the previous books, you will be a bit disappointed. This book deals more with a few characters frame of mind rather than "blood and bone" action.

weird chapter seperations

Amazing book and great reading. The only issue is that the 40th and 41st chapter are together and it makes reading in a combined order harder. It honestly needs to be fixed.

Another great book!

Although not quite as good as book 3, this book was still great! There were a few things that happened that didn't quite make sense. I think its just me trying to be logical.

Worst narrator

The narration is so off putting that I am having difficulty wanting to buy the next book through audible

great story with great narration

I have enjoyed all of the Song of Fire and Ice series thus far and this book is no exception.

Roy Dotrice changes over time

I've been listening through the entire series that's available so far (yeah, that's aimed at you, G.R.R. Martin. Sixth book please). I really enjoyed the first three books, but in the fourth book, the narrator Roy Dotrice seems to get confused. The voices change and the accents are often confused, something that didn't happen during the first three books. I still enjoy the story and the reading, but it's a bit annoying after so much consistency earlier on.

R. R. Martin once again delivers beautifully!

I thoroughly enjoyed the story- especially as it continues to be read by Roy Dotrice. He does a really good job with different character voices...

However, since I have been listening to his audio of this series from the beginning, I noticed that in this book many of the characters voices her used before in the other books were now very different. He also in very inconsistent with pronunciation of various characters names, as well as locations, that previously had been unwavering.

here are the notes I took:
*phonetic spellings the best I could figure*
TER-ell : Tyrell
Ah-sigh-ee : Asshai
Breanne : Brienne
Kay-tlin : Catelyn "Cat-lynn" previously
Jilly : Gilly
Arya"s voice has how switched to the same rough voice from wildling woman in captivity at Winterfell
MY-rish : Moorish
Peter : Petyr "Peh-TY-a"
Tar-GAR-ean : "Tar-GAYR-eun"

If you've listened to the other books so far, you will know what I'm talking about. It just there me for a loop because it had been so consistent before.... and then this book is read and even the pronunciations in THIS one go back and forth. I found it very distracting.

... but overall, an amazing story!!!

awesome

loved it. hope there is another in line. cannot wait to see the HBO series in its entirety.

Audio not up to par

I finished the 3rd book and immediately started the 4th. It sounds like a lower quality audio track right away. Arya sounds like Brienne the Beauty now for some reason and it is annoying. sometimes I love Roy and sometimes I don't.