townesvanfaulkner

Writing Style-5.6
Originality-7.4
Plot-8.3
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-4.2
Overall-7.2

If you read my post the day before this came out, then you know the background. This is the fourth book in a now planned to be seven book series called A Song of Ice and Fire. It is epic fantasy. But it’s different.

Most fantasy kind of sucks, I know. The genre has very dedicated fans that have reasonably low standards in my opinion. See Robert Jordan.

I’ll say it again, because you should take my word for it… this is different. This is brilliant storytelling. A lot of the same devices are there: kings and queens, knights, dragons, magic, etc. But the scope of the storytelling is so grand even when compared to other “epic” fantasy series that have multiple 1000+ page books.

Martin apparently does a ton of research on medieval England and wanted to model the island of Westeros on an England with seven major kingdoms in it. He at first intended it to be mainly court intrigue, diplomacy, spying, sabotage, war, etc. between the kings and important playmakers among these seven kingdoms for power over the whole, or within each kingdom, or all the way down to lordship over a certain castle or province. But slowly magic, the supernatural, and dragons began to creep into the story, so he went with it.

The manner in which he tells the story makes it feel real. It’s not the typical linear journey where an unlikely hero finds a magical object or has to go find a magical object and then there’s a long journey through distant lands populated by diverse, strange creatures like dwarves and elves and orcs and so forth. These books are told from the viewpoints of dozens of major characters both bad and good. In fact, the line between good and evil is not nearly as distinct as in the typical fantasy story. Someone that you abhor in the first book may become your favorite character whom you are rooting for by the third book and vice versa. But don’t get too connected to any of the characters because Martin is not afraid to kill off anyone, and I mean anyone. The characters are extremely dynamic with their modus operandi, raison d’etres, and motivations changing as the story progresses and powers shift and loved ones die and situations change.

This all goes into making the story feel as though you are reading a history of a real world in an alternate universe. It doesn’t feel contrived like many stories that one human being comes up with. As you read Lord of the Rings, you KNOW that what’s his name… Viggo Mortenson isn’t going to die in battle before he becomes the king, you KNOW that Frodo and Sam are going to succeed. So there’s really nothing at stake. It’s a wonderful story, but it’s still just a story. In A Song of Ice and Fire you aren’t sure that the good guys are going to prevail, in fact, you aren’t even certain who the good guys are. And that seems to be more like real life. Is America a beacon of freedom or are we war-mongering capitalist pigs? Who are the good guys and who are the bad in the whole Israel v. Palestine thing? Why did World War One happen, again? Was Napoleon a hero or a villain, did he change from one to the other at any point? How about Che Guevara? How about LBJ? Real life isn’t really Frodo and Sam vs. Sauron.

And that’s exactly what I think makes A Song of Ice and Fire so brilliant and rises it up above the muck that is the fantasy genre.

I don’t want to get into talking about the plot in A Feast for Crows specifically, because to even begin to would give away some things that occur in the first three books.

From what the author says, A Feast for Crows is actually only half of the book that he intended making the series go to seven books instead of the originally planned six. When he surpassed 1400 pages, he knew he had to cut it somehow. Instead of cutting it in half chronologically, he cut certain characters' chapters out. So A Feast for Crows revolves around a certain set of characters and the next book which is mostly already finished, titled A Dance of Dragons, is a second set of characters along the same period of time.

One caveat here: the epic sweep of the narration is at the same time the series’ greatest strength but is in serious jeopardy of becoming it’s greatest weakness as the series progresses. There are SO many major characters, there are SO many kingdoms, castles, lordships, etc that people are vying for, and there are SO many parallel plot lines that it becomes hard to follow. Especially, when there are years in between the publication of one book to the next. I read a chapter that is from the perspective of one character and tells their story and then by the time I cycle through most of the other characters and their chapters and get back around to the same character, I’ve almost forgotten where I left off with them and what’s happening in their life. Of course, I think that this will someday make for great re-reading fodder. I think that this series would actually be better enjoyed if you started it once all of the books were published and did not have gaps in between to forget what's going on. (Make a note somewhere that in around 2014 you should remember to pick up a copy of A Game of Thrones at the bookstore.)

I think that Martin has slowly widened his scope and cast of characters and that is a very good thing, but if he takes it any further, he is in danger of completely confounding the reader. I would like to see that trend climax with the Feast of Crows/Dance of Dragons book(s) and for him to start narrowing the focus again as we build towards a finale.

In conclusion, if you are like me and you like the concepts that come with fantasy or sci-fi, but you find that most of it is mindless crap, then you should definitely check out George R. R. Martin. If you are a diehard fantasy fan then you should LOVE this stuff. If you’ve ever had an inkling of desire for kings and queens and knights and dragons and wizards and ghosts and so forth but were afraid to try this stuff or were turned off by the stereotypical fantasy fanboy or that section of the bookstore then this might be the time you want to jump on in, the water is fine. If this just isn’t your cup of tea then that’s cool too, I can make my peace with that.