A Dance With Dragons

by George R. R. Martin

Reviewed by Ruby

War is still waging and people are still plotting. Even with many of the armies crushed and broken there are still people who fight. The north is still a mess; Stannis has come to the Wall’s aid but he has the Boltons to deal with and the other northern lords who resent a southerner coming up to rule them. Jon, although happy for the help, soon finds that dealing with wildlings might have been easier than dealing with nobles. Dany still sits as Queen in Meereen but it is a dangerous place; the Sons of Harpy’s are trying to force her out by slitting the throats of her freedmen. Sellswords of every shape and colour are arming themselves and either flocking to her banner or to those of her enemies. And then there is Tyrion who spends as much times landing himself into trouble as he does trying to dig himself back out

Picking up after book 3 this book is a companion of book 4. It tells of the stories that the author did not have room for in the last book. So after long years of waiting we can finally know what Jon and Dany and Tyron and the others not located around King’s Landing have been up too. Luckily it isn’t just a retelling of the last book from different point of views. And there are chapters near the end that move past book 4 and we are in new territory.

I have to admit that this book was slow going. It was over 900 pages in hardcover and the excitement of finally having book 5 in my hands died quickly as a good portion of the chapters dragged. There were some interesting ones but many didn’t seem to be going anywhere fast. Tyrion and Bran seemed to just travel about and Dany and Jon were just dealing with the new day to day lives of their positions. In my honest opinion, I find that Martin’s books are all like that (in this series I haven’t read any of his other ones.) They tend to drag as he builds up to where’s he going and then BAM he punches you in the gut. And then maybe a few good kicks while you’re down. Everything about the book is great except I wished it didn’t feel so tedious to get through. I know the reward of the last handful of chapters is always worth it, I just wish it didn’t take too long to get there.

There is one thing that bothered me in this book that wasn’t there in the first four and it has to do with the HBO series that these books spawned. Now I enjoy the show, not as much as I like the books, but that’s not what I’m getting at. Martin has been working with the people who make the show and I feel it is starting to seep into the book. There are things in this book that were mentioned in the series only and not in the previous books and now I’m wondering if he put them into the show because they were going to be in the book or did he put them in the book because they were in the show? Also the words ‘game of thrones’ were mentioned way too many times for my liking. It was almost as if he was beating it into our heads just in case we forgot.

Grade: B

Coral's Review:

Everything continues to spiral out of control into even more complex plots as the Iron Throne remains, for now, in Lannister hands but completely up for grabs at the same time.

I am happy that some of the characters are finally being drawn into the main plot, but there were still too many that I felt moved at a snail’s pace. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a clear picture of what the end game for some of these characters would be, but there are some plots I wouldn’t mourn if they just disappeared altogether.

There were moments in this book I just wanted to hit Dany. She should have landed in Westeros two books ago! Hers is one of the slowest moving plots ever!

The ending of the book just delivered hit after hit and I am already eagerly waiting for the next book. I hope it comes out soon! Actually, I hope the last two books of the series come out soon. I have no idea how this series can end in a way that feels organic and is satisfying all at the same time, but I can’t wait to read it.

 Grade: B