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)

Minor irritation

Great book, great performance, though I found myself irritated at times because the reader changed the voices of some characters as well as the way he pronounced the names from the way he read them in the first three books.

Another great read.

A book that focus on the Sidelines and the struggle between the relationship of a man ready for an honest and up front life and his love a woman so deep into chaos of games that she's lost herself. I can't wait to start book 5

Love this series!

I seriously can't get enough of this series. Every finished book leaves me excited and concerned about the next one, and what will I do with my life when there are no more books?

Good book, poor reading

Notable change in audio quality. Narrator Roy Dotrice changed the way words were spoken from earlier books, for the worse.

loved it

I'm required to write 20 words just so I can submit some stars so here are 20 words I hope you have enjoyed them

Why did the Voices change!

Hard to get through after the first three with the voice changes. Made it hard for me to stay in the story and follow.

A feast for crows

This book so far has indulged more in the details of each house and their particular plans for dominance. It became a little tiresome to keep track of each of the players and their allies, motives, plots and plans, fears and setbacks. But it seems necessary to build the plot in a way that covers the whole world that Martin has set up for us in this series. And it still had plenty of intrigue and action to keep me interested. One more story issue is (spoiler alert) when characters are brought back from the dead. This Duex ex machina has always seemed cheap to me, even when it fits the overall world the story is set in. Yes, there is magic and dragons and wild fire, but bringing back the dead is a plot device I've never liked. The only big issue I have with the narration is that the character "Little Finger" has a completely different accent than when the audiobook series started. With so many characters to keep track of, this glitch is perfectly acceptable in my mind. Overall I love this series, and will listen to each new installment. For the length of the audiobooks they are a steal for the Audible credit price, and usually last me at least a month, usually two. Looking forward to starting the next book in the series!

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.