The fourth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin. The bad guys are gathering their armies and Westeros is in chaos. What more can you ask for? Keep reading to find out what awaits you in this novel.
As usual, do not read if you don’t want to read any spoilers. I will try to keep them to a minimum but there will be some, nonetheless.
A Feast for Crows Summary
A lot has happened in A Storm of Swords, the third novel in the series. More characters have died out and yet the enemies seem to have increased. And this novel is not as straight forward as the other novels. The fight of the five kings is coming to an end as some of them have died and have been replaced by new players.
One of the biggest storylines in this novel is Jon Snow becoming the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. He has separated himself as someone that is noble among greedy and power-hungry people and that may be his downfall. He is too pure in a land where the most cunning people get ahead in life.
Besides Jon, the other Stark children are all facing their own problems. Sansa is hiding out in the Vale under Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish’s protection. Jamie and Brian of Tarth are searching for Sansa in order to protect her. Arya has arrived in Braavos and ends up wanting to join the Faceless Men, a group of assassins that can change faces at will.
Tommen Baratheon has become the new king of King’s Landing. He is only eight years old so his mother Cersei Lannister is acting as regency. In King’s Landing, a new emerging powerhouse emerges. The Faith Militant come to power after Cersei restores power to the Faith Militant and lets them bear arms. But they are ambitious and make a grab for power.
Commentary
It may be around here when you realize that there is just too much going on. That is partly because Martin kills his characters off often. And he replaces them with other characters that will also play a big role. There are just too many people and cities in play and Martin wants to account for all of them.
Still, I must say it was good novel. My favorite character didn’t make it to this book so I was a bit disappointed. But that is what makes the Game of Thrones book interesting. Martin doesn’t care about most of the characters and will kill them off without a second thought. Which is why his wife said to him that she will divorce him if he killed off Arya Stark.
Conclusion
This book fits into the series but it feels like a detour. Some of the events are important but this whole book felt like a slow drive. It was received poorly and I do think it is one of the weaker books in the novel. But even a weak Game of Thrones book is better than most books out there.
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