A Dance with Dragons
A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five
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4.5 • 8.7K Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK FIVE
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, Daenerys Targaryen rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way east—with new allies who may not be the ragtag band they seem. And in the frozen north, Jon Snow confronts creatures from beyond the Wall of ice and stone, and powerful foes from within the Night’s Watch. In a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics lead a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, to the greatest dance of all.
Don’t miss the thrilling sneak peek of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Six, The Winds of Winter
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A few images recur in the enormously complex fifth installment of Martin's massively multicharacter epic: the chess-like game cyvasse, small rivers flowing into larger ones, ships and armies battered by terrible storms. These themes suggest that readers should think strategically, be patient as the story grows, and brace for a beating. Martin's fans, however, are hungry for more action and purpose, their appetites whetted by a six-year wait and the recent HBO adaptation of A Game of Thrones. Dance was originally the second half of 2005's A Feast for Crows, sometimes criticized for shifting from battles and intrigue to slow trudges through war-torn, corpse-littered Westeros. The new volume has a similar feel to Feast and takes place over a similar time frame; Martin keeps it fresh by focusing on popular characters Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and Jon Snow, all notably absent from the previous book. These three are generally thought the most plausible riders of the titular dragons, but plots within plots abound, and two strong new candidates for those scaly saddles emerge as a powerful enemy threatens Daenerys's captured city of Meereen, Tyrion is kidnapped by slavers, and treachery undermines Jon's command of the undead-battling Night's Watch. More characters are revived than killed off and more peace accords signed than wars declared, but the heart-hammering conclusion hints that the next installment will see a return to the fiery battles and icy terror that earned the series its fanatic following. Even ostensibly disillusioned fans will be caught up in the interweaving stories, especially when Martin drops little hints around long-debated questions such as Jon's parentage. Author tour.
Customer Reviews
File is fine
So the idiots that say the file doesn't work are wrong, it opens right up. If you are worried, download the sample first, then buy it. As for the guy that says it doesn't work on a Mac? It not supposed to dude, buy an iPad.
A slow dance with dragons
Okay, I've read enough of this series to expect characters that I like to die, but GRRM is killing his fans by drawing out this saga. I know that the timeline is concurrent with the previous volume, so I expected some re-hashing of the storyline in this book.
I suspect that the "Ooh, let's surprise the reader by killing a main character" gimmick has become Martin's trademark. But I think he's now expected to do it at least once per book. It's a shame, because I think now fans are betting on who lives or dies, a d have forgotten what the series is all about.
Any series where 90+ pages of the book are devoted to telling you who the heck all the characters are is just a page or two away from collapsing under it's own weight.
I'm not even sure if I care who ends up on the Iron Throne, because "Winter is Coming", and it'll probably kill everyone.
Surprises have become formulaic
I read the entire existing series in 4 weeks looking for the captivating story to find some kind of commonality. At this point, the commonality I see is in the writer's style and plan, not in the actual story.
The writer started with an original thought on how to write a surprising story by adding unexpected twists. However, because the epic story has been drawn out to incredible lengths the twists are now expected.
Here are the rules of the story:
1. The most interesting character will be killed off suddenly.
2. Characters come back to life unexpectedly so often that it's almost expected. Gritty, epic fantasy turned ho-hum zhombie fiction.
3. Dig a long time for gold. Every interesting action is found only after volumes of somewhat mundane detail.
4. Characters are extremely slow to adapt, even blind to the amazing powers they have. Several characters can jump into the bodies of beasts and other humans. This was at first very interesting and is now stale and frustrating due to the forced lack of understanding each character goes through. This reader ends up with a "been there, done that" experience.
5. Protagonist hide and seek. After book two, I wanted to see how Robb did. He died. After book three I wanted to see how Jon did, he died. Now I have a severe lack of trust in the writer. I don't have a central character I can use to tie everything together.
Starting in book three and becoming frequent in book four, my attention began to wander and I only picked the book back up to pass time.
Now I ask myself if I should buy the next book. What's the point. I feel like I'm reading Lost. Strange things happen with no explanation after thousands and thousands of pages. Any garantee of answers? No.
I no longer trust this writer to finish the story. Read at your own risk.