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)

Not even the same story!

I literally want to throttle Roy Dotrice. Up until this book he has done a fantastic job of creating George R. R. Martin’s world for “A Song Of Fire And Ice.” Now with this book he has completely changed up his voices for characters and pronunciation of names to the point where it’s literally jarring on my ears and I am having a hard time even thinking of this as part of the same series! I am so disappointed!

RIP Roy Petrice

Excellent story teller. I am sad he will never get to do the future books of the series. Feast of Crows was a good story, but not as good at the 3 previous books. I think it was mainly just how Cersei's character annoyed me, so I give GRRM props for making her so well.

Name pronunciations 🤔

Not a fan of Roy changing up the names. Book 3 he said Catelyn, Gilly, Brienne differently than book 4. It’s irritating.. maybe stick to one pronunciation throughout all books..

Narrator can't make up his mind

You can tell they saw the show before putting this one out, as half the names have changed pronunciations. He also hasn't quite figured out that you stop doing a character's voice when the quote ends.

Great Book, Solid Voice Actor

Fantastic book. Bizarre stereotypical asian voice for Missandei though, it's super out of place.

not a gem in the series but

i enjoyed it partially, i wish it had other characters in it but i didnt write it lol still a good book

Great story. Pick a pronunciation, narrator!

Different ways of saying the same name in the same chapter?? What the heck? Distracting.

Still great, but with a few performance issues

There were some jarring changes to the voices of certain characters, Jaime for the better in my opinion, Arya and Littlefinger for the worse. Jamie sounds much more like he does in the HBO series, which i liked a bit better. Arya and Littlefingers voices became much more like "commoners" Arya sounds kind of like an old tavern wench and littlefinger just like the male version of that. Little finger should sound like the Subtle, clever, scheming lord that he is, but in this performance he sounds more like a blacksmith from fleabottom. I still love this narrator but this change in performance is jarring.
As far as the story, you won't hear much from Jon, Danny or Tyrion this go around, but it is what it is. If you're a fan of this series you already have to deal with the fact that we may never get to read book 6 or 7, so if you've already made peace with that and you're reading/listening anyway, none of the issues I've brought up in this review should deter you too much.

not a bad performance, in truth

this isn't a bad reading, I love Roy dotrice and his work with the world of ice and fire. this reading however, just happens to him at least favorite of what he's done.

Significant but dull

I feel like I’ve been listening to this book for a year lol there are some really significant events and information but it’s infrequent and low key so you have to pay attention to catch it. I still have a few chapters left and I’m hoping it picks up at the end. Overall I recommend it because it’s necessary to understand where the story has been and where it’s going but dear god it’s a struggle to make it through. The narrator also started pronouncing names differently in this book and it’s a bit annoying.