A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

A Feast of Crows opens in the region of the Citadel of Maeges and introduces us to yet several new seemingly insignificant characters that are not mentioned again in the entire novel until the last page when one of them is named in a manner that one assumes the reader is expected by GRRM to be surprised or shocked or amazed that the person is named. Sadly, much of GRRM's books in this series are chock full of such random moments and random characters that he sometimes manages to weave somewhat successfully into his ADHD-fest of his Fire and Ice series. Seeing this character, who the reader has absolutely no emotional connection to, briefly at the beginning and incidentally at the end, leaves the reader ambivalent and wishing for a horse kick to the frontal lobes. A reader wouldn't mind it so much if the rest of the majority of his book wasn't a bore-fest of familial lineages and detailed costume design descriptions, and much repeated phrases, and A Feast of Crows is resplendent in this. Where A Game of Thrones left the reader hopeful, anticipatory, excited and willing to shell out the money and time to read the next, A Feast of Crows makes one wish their reading eyes were eaten out by one of those oft mentioned, yet altogether, ultimately meaningless crows that hop around cawing, corn, corn, corn, corn. Perhaps they should add the letter 'y' and describe GRRM's writing skills.
On a hopeful note, GRRM shows the possibility of talent when he writes dialogue and action scenes. He should stick to what he is good at. The back story is what the author keeps to himself, and does not bore his poor readers with. And that is how he/she spins a lovely tale worth reading repeatedly and recommending to millions of others. Perhaps he should settle down with a slender copy of one of Robert E Howard's Conan the Barbarian series. Or try Kafka's Metamorphosis. He would most certainly be inspired by reading those, just as millions of readers and future writers were before him.

Well it seems that G.R.R. Martin has 'lost the plot' in his "A Song of Ice and Fire" cycle...
In the Acknowledgments at the end of the book Martin declares "This one was a bitch" presumably he means it was difficult to write... well it was an even bigger bitch to read to the end. What a downward trajectory this series has been on. The 1st book "A Game of Thrones" was excellent. A solid 'A' rating. The second book "A Clash of Kings" was very good, say an honest 'B'... but by book three the writer was really starting to lose his focus... introducing way too many sub-plots and getting bogged down with far too many minor characters to keep track of, so "A Storm of Swords" deserves a 'C' at best. Five years later... he gives us 978 pages of fodder. Brutal. The plot isn't progressing anymore... its going in tiny circles... nowhere fast. Get a grip Martin... we read the first book because it was fast paced and exciting... the exact opposite of the incredibly slow and boring "A Feast For Crows" rating: D-

I only finished this book because I still had some interest in the character of Arya Stark... I might have saved myself the time and misery of reading the rest of it... and simply skipped straight to the chapters concerning that last remaining character of interest... even Tyrion (the second best character) is basically missing in action. Brutal. I won't bother with any more Martin material... he's sold out...gone the way of the serial writer... writing pulp in nothing more than a lame money making vehicle a la Jordan's "Wheel of Time"

It's been two years since the land of Westeros was rocked by the deaths of Jon Arryn and Robert Barathon, and the realm has been split into several factions. Battles are being fought everywhere, and for every rebellion put down a new one springs up. Thus a Feast for Crows is aptly named; the crows feast and feast well. Alas, the readers do not. Due to its size, Feast has been split into two novels that take place at the same time, and a lot of key characters are left out of the 4th book. In their place are a lot of minor characters, who in truth don't seem important enough to focus whole chapters on. The editors thought so too and relayed that message to Martin, but the author felt they were important enough to include. Still, I would rather the Greyjoy chapters been axed and the main character PoVs expanded, especially since I was dissapointed in Sansa and Jaime's chapters. But that's just my opinion.
While not as good as the first three books, it's certainly entertaining to read AFfC. So if you haven't already, go and buy it. The crows await.