This is the topic for discussing A Feast for Crows. As the title suggests, this will contain spoilers and indepth details. Enter at your own risk. All other spoiler-discussions of A Feast for Crows will be closed & redirected here.
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Well I liked it...
Any opinions on whether ( ) actually hung? Was the one word a name or can someone think of a snappy one-word way to talk yourself out of that position?
I can't think of anything, but I can't believe that he'd really to that. If he has, then as I've said elsewhere the whole storyline in Feast was pointless. It has to go somewhere after this. The effort she put into shouting that one word must mean something.
Okay, so that storyline wouldn't have been entirely pointless - it did tell us what happened to Sandor Clegane. On that subject, did anyone else spot the little trick Martin pulled, and work out what had really happened? Took me a little while (the night after I finished the book), then suddenly hit me.
Spoilers! Although if you're this far I'm guessing you knew that already.
What trick?
I can't see how Brienne didn't hang. I figured her one word was "Jaime". Can't really see how anything else would help, although with Martin you never know. That was the only storyline I really found interesting. I felt the Dorne stuff could have been done through characters discussing events there (as they managed to do in the first 3 books).
Any ideas on who the woman in Jaime's "dream" at the end was?
Or the man in the prologue/Sam's last chapter? Just a Faceless Man? Or someone else?
I also liked seeing Cersei ruin herself through bad decisions.
Overall though, I was a little let down by this book.
I think whatever word Brienne called out probably made Lady Stoneheart decide to cut her down. Not even Martin is so sadistic to make the reader sit through a whole book of her roaming the country side, battling the Bloody Mummers, only to be hung at the end. We'd probably find a clue as to what the word was in one of the previous books.Originally Posted by Eventine
I thought the figure in Jaime's dream was supposed to represent Lady Stoneheart.Any ideas on who the woman in Jaime's "dream" at the end was?
Or the man in the prologue/Sam's last chapter? Just a Faceless Man? Or someone else?
No idea who the alchemist was, but I was waiting the entire book to find out.
I live in the US, but couldn't wait for the American version and spent 12 pounds (plus 22 pounds for 1-2 day air) for aFfC from Amazon.UK. After reading it in about 4 days on a trip to D.C., I find my feelings mixed.
First off, I must say that I approached this book knowing that most of my favorite characters were not going to be in it, thus I probably wasn't going to enjoy it as much I would have otherwise. Reading it with this in mind, I still found it quite boring at times - even tedious, with all the back history of people and places that I haven't heard of previously, which might or might not have anything to do with the plot. I agree with Eventine that much of the Dorne plotline could have been done second-hand with characters that had previous POV's.
I also have to repeat Eventine's question, "What trick?".
Also, I think the woman in Jaime's dream might have been his mother, but I might have to go back and read it again. Not sure...
All in all, I liked it, but nowhere near how much I liked the other 3. I tried for it not to be a letdown, but...
Negatives out of the way:
I think a little disappointment is natural after a book is so highly anticipated and the wait is so long. Fans, like me, will be frustrated, but in many ways that’s what fans love about Martin. The main problem is this felt like a transitional book to me, more like A Clash of Kings as opposed to A Storm of Swords. While we follow some interesting character development, nothing really happens to affect the fate of Westeros in this book. I agree with Hobbit that this feels like ‘book three-and-a-half’. Nothing is resolved, which seems to work against Martin’s statements that he want books in this series to stand well on their own.
But onto the positives, because this is another fabulous book from Martin:
He is still the best prose-stylist of anyone working in epic fantasy today (that I’ve some across at least) with his elaborately constructed sentences and his dark ironic jabs. No one else can use words like 'jape' or 'buxom' without coming off like a self-parody. It’s sprawling and epic, but also full of immersive and textured detail. Even the supporting characters are beautifully fleshed out. I wish I hadn’t read it so quickly, because you really need time to absorb the world and the story. However, I couldn’t stop myself turning the pages to find out what happens next, as Martin maintains the ability to craft a plot with more spikes and twists than the Iron Throne.
It was also a very bold move to focus on King’s Landing, Dorne and the Iron Islands, leaving three of the most popular character out of the book pretty much altogether. But, again as Hobbit says, what's here feels right. Of course, this means that now the series will be seven books long, but with quality like Martin, I’m not going to complain.
Like Eventine, I found Brienne’s storyline the most interesting. She has been one of my favourite characters since the last book, and I enjoyed this book’s focus on her. I was horrified and impressed by what Martin does to her. But the fact that she gets to take her revenge against four or five of the Bloody Mummers is immensely satisfying.
I was delighted to find that Sansa is no longer the insipid bore she once was. She used to be my least favourite POV character, but I quite enjoyed getting into her headspace in this book, even if she is still an automaton with no free-will nor influence on the story.
So did I at first, but then carefully re-read it and she was blonde. Catelyn had auburn hair (as did Sansa) right? Also, when Brienne meets her doesn't she describe her hair as having gone white?
Just in case I'm wrong, what did Martin do?
Kill Brienne. Maybe.
This thread has me contemplating an immediate reread. I missed the Sandor and Gregor hints among several other things.
I will start reading ADWD in a few weeks. I have lots to say about this thread but i dont want to risk ADWD spoilers.
So all I'll say is I'm stoked that Sandor is alive. I was glad when the Mountain died, I was rooting for it for a long time. But this thread has made it clear he is alive and I am very excited about Gregornaut/Mountainstein. The MOTHERF**KING MOUNTAINSTEIN THAT RIDES!
Hi All
Newbie to site but wanted to say love the comments, surprised how much I had missed in AFFC so must re-read.
Main thoughts on AFFC was that it left more questions in the series rather then answering those left from ASOS, but with the decision to chop the book are we all convinced the next chapter will not be so long in the waiting?
Back to reading for moi. Bye
I usually fly through these books and sometimes shudder at the excesses but I read this one slowly and found it sensational in its exploitations. I miss the wolves. I'm not a fan of all the new characters and story-lines. Brienne is the most realistically developed this time. I expected more from Sansa- she was getting in her stride towards the end of the third book. I think Martin has got very carried away with all the torture and rape etc. Maybe the influence of the so called "war on terror" has affected his work- our dark planet.
I thought Brienne yelled out "Jaime" but to what avail unless time has overlapped? If she is dead and becomes another zombie I won't be pleased. But it is not about me- I couldn't develop anything like Martin has- most can't. Maybe the next book will make this long wait worthwhile. I loved the "Ice Dragon" story in "Dragons of Light" hence Snowdragon.
I'm about 200 pages in and I'm enjoying it but I'm starting to wonder just how much actually happens in Feast.
The writing is good and the characters are all brought to life well but I don't see a lot happening so far. I was mainly thinking about this because Martin originally planned to have the next book after "Storm of Swords" take place a few years later. And then he changed his mind...
My question is, do you think Martin decided to have Feast take place immediately following Storm because he just had so much he wanted to tell the readers or because he wanted the series to last longer?
It just feels a bit like things ended in the last book and events could have been started a couple years later. But maybe he does introduce events later in Feast or in the next book that are critically important? Anyway, just curious what people think.
The book will pick up the pace halfway, dso don't worry about nothing happening. And I am glad that Feast is set right after Storm, because its interesting to see the instant effects of the happenings of Storm in Feast.
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