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)

What's going on with the narrator??

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Well, the book is as well plotted as ever, or rather, the characters are as perfectly drawn as in the previous books.

What did you like best about this story?

Complex motivations drive the characters. There's no good vs. bad, simply opposing agendas and goals. Just like it is in real life.

How could the performance have been better?

How could it be worse? I truly liked Roy Dotrice's narration in the first 3 books. But here, suddenly the voices not only change, but all women have ridiculously crone-like voices. They all sound like the ugly old witch, even the young ones. I can hardly hear a distinction between thought and speech. Different characters talking with each other are hard to tell apart.
Plus,

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

Eternal politics in a medieval realm

Thanks for bringing Roy back!

I do not care that many of the voices have changed slightly... or often completely.

After listening to the first couple hours of John Lee (a fantastic narrator for other works), I'm simply glad that someone listened and brought back our narrator for this installment.

Thank you.

how did they screw this up??

all they had to do was listen to a few hours of the last book to remember how things were pronounced . lazy production what da heck!

Perhaps Not Martin's Finest, But Still Great

Before I get into the story, let me first address the narration of this book by Roy Dotrice. If you only listen to this book, then I expect that you’ll feel that Mr. Dotrice does a wonderful job. Unfortunately, if you listen to the books subsequently, you may not agree.

The main problem is that Dotrice changed the voices of several characters. He also changed the pronunciation of several characters’ names. At first, it was jarring, but after a few hours, I had forgotten all about it.

Now onto the writing. As usual, George R.R. Martin proves that he is excellent at writing morally grey characters and intricately twisted plots. He’s very good at bringing characters to life and making you care about them, whether you love them or hate them.

However, the main reason that I can’t give his book 5 stars is because, despite it’s length, Martin ignored several characters that are critical to the series’ overarching plot, including Daenerys, Stannis, Jon Snow, Bran, and Tyrion.

That to me is a big deal, because as a result the plot didn’t really move forward all that much. Yes, some minor events occurred and a number of sub plots were introduced, but the main plot was not addressed at all.

Still, this was a very good novel in its own right. There wasn’t a lot of action to speak of, but there was still a lot of excellent drama and character development. Plus, the characters that it did focus on are some of my favorites.

If you liked the first three books, you’ll definitely still like this one, but I’m hoping for a little more in the fifth. I think we all know roughly how the series has to end; I just hope Martin doesn’t drag it out too much.

Great Listen

Would be perfect if Roy Dotrice could just remember how he pronounced some names in previous books or maybe learn how they are properly pronounced.

Roy Dotrice is still fine you nancies.

While the mispronounced names and different voices are a bit of a jolt at first you quickly get used to them as they rarely come up often, and the rest of his naration is otherwise spot on and terrific as always.

The only real non-nitpicky problems I had with this book was its story, in that it was baisically 50% filler. Important filler no doubt, but tiersome to slog through all the same.

So to thise who might be disuaded by all the reviews saying this is Dotrices death knell, don't be. He is still as great to listen to as ever. Hopefully when/if he does book 6 one day he gets the names right, but even if he doesn't it will still be worth the listen.

This 4th book had a LOT of new characters

I have to admit that I didn't feel there was as much action in this 4th book of the series; however, the reader is introduced to all kinds of new characters with elaborate back stories. At times I started to lose track of who was related or tied to which House - Lannisters, Starks, Targaryans, Freys, Tyrells, Blackwaters - so many names with so many cousins and aunts and uncles. And a brand new prince of Dorin that I had never heard of.

However, now that I am reading A Dance with Dragons, the 5th book, it does help to know a bit about the players. Such a sprawling story and I must say the HBO series is much easier to follow now that I know a bit more about the characters and their motives. I am anxious to see how this all plays out. There are so many characters that you can go for most of the book without knowing what happened to your favorite. Never a boring moment and the 5th book is my favorite so far.

It's as if Roy has amnesia

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

Love the book. And Roy Dotrice's Shakespearean style has always worked wonderfully for this series.

What didn’t you like about Roy Dotrice’s performance?

But I'm driven to distraction, madness and confusion by Roy's unexplained changes to almost every main character name and voice. The other reviewers and I are not exagerating, there are far more names and voices that have been changed in this book than are consistent with the last. Obviously this won't happen, but I really wish Roy would volunteer to come back in and re-record this book, after listening to his performance of the first three.

I loved this book!

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

One of the best, love the whole series.

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

If you watch Game of Thrones the books are still really good, they fill in information and make the show better. You will still be sunrised, they change enough that in a lot of ways they differ.

another George RR Martin masterpiece

wonderful storyline amazing narrator action that takes hold of you with every page and the most amazing story that is intertwined in such a way that you never expect the things to happen that do this is without a doubt the best writer I have ever read