A Feast for Crows
2005
- nyt:mass_market_paperback=2011-08-20
- seven kingdoms (imaginary place)
- fiction
- fantasy fiction
- fantasy
- reading level-grade 7
- reading level-grade 9
- reading level-grade 8
- reading level-grade 11
- reading level-grade 10
The story
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. 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. It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes . . . and their lives. For at a feast f
What it’s like
The prose sits in a dense, many-voiced register: long chapters told in rotating close-third perspectives, each one a slow walk through damp stone halls, muddy roads, smoky taverns and cold river crossings, with the sensory weight falling on food, weather, wounds and the rustle of crows over a battlefield. Imagine a rainy-day read with a heavy wool blanket and a cup of something hot, the kind of book that rewards long, unhurried stretches rather than quick sessions. Its vibe is grim, political and quietly foreboding, a sort of muddy melancholy where every court whisper feels like it could curdle into betrayal. The pace is deliberate and sprawling, with many threads advancing in small increments and the emotional arcs tracking people who are scheming, grieving, or slowly losing their footing: a disgraced queen clinging to power, a young woman hiding in plain sight, a soldier wrestling with his conscience. Violence is frequent and often unsparing, with battle aftermath, executions and sexual coercion depicted on the page, though the focus stays on dread and consequence more than spectacle. It is not gentle. It suits adult readers who enjoy intricate court intrigue, morally compromised characters and a long, patient build toward disaster.
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