A Feast for Crows

October 3, 2005
Long-awaited doesn't begin to describe this fourth installment in bestseller Martin's staggeringly epic Song of Ice and Fire. Speculation has run rampant since the previous entry, A Storm of Swords
, appeared in 2000, and Feast
teases at the important questions but offers few solid answers. As the book begins, Brienne of Tarth is looking for Lady Catelyn's daughters, Queen Cersei is losing her mind and Arya Stark is training with the Faceless Men of Braavos; all three wind up in cliffhangers that would do justice to any soap opera. Meanwhile, other familiar faces—notably Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen—are glaringly absent though promised to return in book five. Martin's Web site explains that Feast
and the forthcoming A Dance of Dragons
were written as one book and split after they grew too big for one volume, and it shows. This is not Act I Scene 4 but Act II Scene 1, laying groundwork more than advancing the plot, and it sorely misses its other half. The slim pickings here are tasty, but in no way satisfying.

December 1, 2002
In the fourth volume of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga, the evil king is finally dead-and trouble is starting to brew.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2005
The crow is the traditional scavenger bird of the medieval battlefield, and this fourth volume of Martin's monumental Song of Ice and Fire is appropriately named. King Robert is dead. His widow, Ceris, occupies the Iron Throne, surrounded but not supported by her relatives. Outlaw leader Robb Stark is also dead, and what he has left behind aren't kindred noblemen and -women but warlords and bandit chiefs, all squabbling over the pieces of the Seven Kingdoms that they anticipate grasping. Martin confesses that he could not find room to continue all the characters of the preceding series entries--" A Game of Thrones" (1996), " A Clash of Kings" (1999), and " A Storm of Swords" (2000)--and that those neglected here will be seen next year in " A Dance with Dragons" . Martin's command of English and of characterization and setting remains equal to the task of the fantasy megasaga, which is good because Martin's Song is starting to rival the page count of Robert Jordan's 12-volume Wheel of Time. Good news for readers of robust appetite. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)