A Dance with Dragons

by George R. R. Martin

Paperback, 2013

Call number

SPEC FICT MAR

Publication

Bantam (2013), Edition: Reprint, 1152 pages

Description

New threats emerge to endanger the future of the Seven Kingdoms, as Daenerys Targaryen, ruling in the East, fights off a multitude of enemies, while Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, faces his foes both in the Watch and beyond the great Wallof ice and stone.

Media reviews

It's terrible. Martin has taken the concept of the pot-boiler to an extreme — it's a novel where nothing happens other than continual seething, roiling turmoil. He whipsaws the reader through a dozen different, complex story lines where characters struggle to survive in a world wrecked by civil
Show More
war — one other problem is that I'd hit a chapter about some minor character from the previous four books, and struggled to remember who the heck this person is, and why I'm supposed to care — and again, nothing is resolved. Well, not quite: major characters are brutally killed, if they're male, and graphically and degradingly humiliated into irrelevance if they're female. I guess that's a resolution, all right — perhaps the last book will be a lovingly detailed description of a graveyard, draped with naked women mourning?
Show Less
3 more
Martin remains boundlessly creative, sketching out intricately realized new civilizations, societies, religions, and factions on one continent while continuing to complicate the established political agendas on another. No part of his world ever feels like an afterthought or an easy fantasy cliché.
Even so, “A Dance With Dragons,” for its bounty of adventure, is more about Mr. Martin marshaling his forces in anticipation of the cycle’s final two books.
Was "A Dance With Dragons" worth the six-year wait? Absolutely.

Library's review

About half way through this one I found myself skimming quickly through most of the chapter/characters. I was losing interest in most of them (even though I will always love Dany and Jon Snow, and Tyrion, of course). By the end, I had a sense of relief and release--no more Song of Ice and Fire for
Show More
awhile... Heretical to the ever-faithful Martin fans, I know, but there you have it.
Show Less

User reviews

LibraryThing member DRFP
And so this is what GRRM has been working on for the last six years? Well, it's not bad but one does wonder what the hold up was. After all, in his post-script to A Feast For Crows Martin was already talking of how much he had written, hence the need to split this section of the story into two
Show More
books. Given that so little really happens over these near 1000 pages you can't imagine it being the fine details of plot that GRRM was fussing over.

Whatever the reason for the delay there's no hiding the fact that A Dance With Dragons is a disappointment. Well written, certainly, but the novel fails to exude any sense of excitement or adventure. Most characters simply tread water in this novel. There are some exceptions - quite early on Bran finally reaches a stage where his story can develop but, alas, he is then seen no more of in the novel. Others - Griff and Victarion - are stand outs because their chapters, and characters as a whole, are ones which demand action, but their chapters are few and far between. Barristan Selmy, during a few brief chapters, provides further insight into Robert's Rebellion and the downfall of the Targaryen dynasty, which is welcome, yet this again occupies too small a portion of the novel.

Instead our plate is overloaded with generous helpings of Tyrion getting no-where fast, Jon Snow fretting about the Others without actually encountering them at all, and Daenerys sitting uncomfortably in Meereen. Theon's chapters aren't too bad but nor are they tremendously exciting either. Oh, there's the Dornish prince too but so little time is devoted to his story that it was very hard to become involved in his struggle and to care.

Perhaps I'm grumpy because I've never especially liked Dany's chapters and she's so prevalent in this book. I realise she's the long game - that the climax of the story will be her getting to Westeros - but all the time she is away from Westeros I find her activities rather tedious. The War of Five Kings and the Wall are in Westeros - they're the exciting bits for me and that's where I want to see what's going on! That's why from the start I've never been too enamoured with Daenerys. Perhaps fans of her will like ADWD a great deal. Yet I found her attitude even more annoying than I remembered. Armies line up outside her city to sack it and return her "children" to slavery and yet for rather feeble and barely touched upon reasons she refuses to utilise her dragons. I groaned as much as her advisers did when I read of her attitude. Plus, I know her plot armour protects her from everything but it seemed a trifle selfish to demand those close to her help out with the flux infected citizens (but of course, none of her close friends or advisers could catch anything because that would reflect badly on Dany!).

There are other more minor gripes I have with ADWD. Brienne's fate from AFFC is revealed here and it's done in the most casual and minor manner that it made me slightly despair. It was one of the cliffhangers from the previous book and yet it seemed to matter for nothing here. On a similar point, the fate of another major character from this novel left me unconvinced. GRRM has pulled the same trick a few too many times for me to believe any point of view character dead unless their guts are spilling out onto the floor or their heads are loose from their body at the time of supposed demise.

There were times when ADWD felt like it might finally move out of second gear but unfortunately the book ended before that occurred. As I said at the start, it's still well written and better than the vast majority of the fantasy genre. It just accomplishes next to nothing and has me concerned about whether or not Martin can finish the saga in just two books. I fear it would be a horrible fudge if he did so. Events need to move swiftly in the next book but I can't see that happening and that has me worried about the future of the series as a whole. It's a despondent note to end on but the likes of Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch (despite his personal problems holding back the Gentlemen Bastards series) have come to the fore in GRRM's absence and with the Malazan saga finished hopefully Erikson will eventually have something new to show too. So even if Martin continues to stutter and falter, and I hope he doesn't, I know the fantasy universe is bigger than just George R.R. Martin.
Show Less
LibraryThing member liso
I read this book for the same reason that I waded through the last 200 pages of Atlas Shrugged. The first three books in the series really grabbed my attention and were beautifully executed. The fourth left me wondering about whether Martin had lost his way. The fifth was a nail in the coffin.

This
Show More
book is a gratuitous caricature of the previous, with each character getting grossly amplified and clumsily executed. Every word out of Tyrion's mouth (once one of my favorite characters) is either incredibly crude or in reference to his dead father. We get it. He likes prostitutes and killed his father. These were both pretty big events in his character's development. There is no need to beat this horse through the 1000+ pages of this book.

I will continue to read this series based on the steam generated by the first three. Hopefully GRRM does his brilliant work in the first three books justice in the sixth. If this book was standalone, I would have put it down long ago.
Show Less
LibraryThing member arethusarose
Like others, I waited a long time for this. Somewhere in an interview George R. R. said the Meereen timeline was what held up his writing; frankly, I don't think it was worth the wait. I found the whole Meereen sections much too long, too full of characters that did not seem important to the basic
Show More
structure, and over-written. The Essos sections just don't interest me; Daenerys' personal growth and understanding of politics and power needed to be developed, but I felt there was too much world-building of a place that does not seem to play a part in the central story, which is Westros.

Since we have been left with some major crisis points at the Wall, in King's Landing, at Winterfell, and with other major characters I hope we don't have to wait many years before the next book.
This was worth reading; some long-standing questions have been answered, maybe, (this is GRRM, after all) and events moved forward. It's just that waiting for years for the book led me to expect more satisfaction that I got.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
First, a sigh of relief: Dance is much better than the sprawling Feast. Given the time elapsed since Feast was published, I also like how the author inserts quick recaps about the major events in the early chapters, so one isn't forced to re-read the earlier books. Overall, while the book is a
Show More
highly enjoyable romp with Martin's ingenious characters, the plot doesn't advance much. I fear the next volume will likewise tread water plot-wise.

What started as a fantasy take on York vs. Lancaster (Stark vs. Lannister), has turned into a world creating exercise that has run out of control. Martin's world approaches a Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk (thus its suitability for epic TV). It is, however, currently at the stage of Gustav Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand with its requirement of three different choirs and an extra large orchestra. Martin just has too many players and locations in his universe. Martin's task for the next volume will be to reinsert the Feast characters back into the narrative and hopefully zoom in on a main storyline (if it still exists). I wish Martin had followed George Lucas and Stan Lee in sketching out the characters and the main story lines but letting others run with it. There are simply too many great stories within his universe to be told in his limited number of books written by a single writer. While Martin has not yet created a Jar-Jar Binks, too many of his characters follow side alleys that are only partially helpful in advancing the main story (who sits on the Iron Throne isn't all that interesting). I hope Martin is healthy enough to actually complete his series. It would be a shame to trade the main story line for the character vignettes.

Martin is at his best in involving his characters in the hard trade-offs of political infighting. While I don't like the inconsistent mix of high and late medieval weaponry and tactics, it is in climatology and biology that the books are weakest. Apart from the long winters, the non-matching of climate zones to their latitude is vexing. Thus, the Wall is covered in perpetual ice while to its north one finds plenty of vegetation. In biology, the direwolves should be more accurately renamed diredogs, as they exhibit more dog-like than wolfish behaviors. Most relevant in A Dance with Dragons, though, is the (mis-)treatment of the titular animals. Martin's dragons are impulsive creatures that display less intelligence and dressability than a goose. Imprinting seems to work, behaviorial training isn't attempted at all. A Dance with Dragons doesn't really occur in this book, at least not to the extent I expected from such a title.

Overall, a great read that triggers a long wait, sweetened by HBO's TV series (hopefully not to be abandoned mid-way). The British first edition printing messed up by not including the main Westeros maps printed on the cover insides of the American edition. Together with a large number of typos, the publisher did not do a good enough job in the limited time window between Martin's handing in of the manuscript and the rush to publication shortly after the finale of the TV series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wjohnston
GRRM criticized the ending of 'Lost' as having a payoff unequal to the build-up. To me, this book is like the second season of 'Lost': meandering with no clear sense of purpose, and entirely too long. I can only hope Martin brings his 'A' game to the final two books.
LibraryThing member jeff.maynes
It is difficult to say something new about the fifth book of a series like this. All of Martin's strengths as a writer endure. He has crafted a rich, complex and interesting world, full of engaging characters and exciting plots. He is able to weave the complex political machinations into a clear
Show More
and easy to follow story, but always hiding just enough beneath the surface to encourage the reader to read carefully to pick out the threads before they become surprises. The books are also brutal reads, full of misogyny, sexual violence and the like, which tend to raise hard questions about the distinction between realism and voyeurism. These are all issues I've discussed before, and if you have made it to Book 5, then you (like me) have probably made enough peace with these issues to continue reading.

The real difference between this volume and some of the prior ones is in terms of its content, and here it is hard to be specific without spoiling the novel. What I can say is that Martin's turn back towards more interesting characters and settings (particularly Dany and Jon, but also Tyrion and events in the North) makes this a far more enjoyable read than A Feast for Crows. It does not quite have the driving pace and excitement of A Storm of Swords, but I rarely found myself bored with overly repetitive plotlines (like Brienne's wanderings in the prior volume).

The one stylistic choice that finally rose to aggravation is Martin's fondness for characters repeating mantras to themselves ad nauseum, such as Jon's "you know nothing Jon Snow" and Tyrion's new one in this book. Tyrion's "where do whores go" mantra becomes so overdone here that it begins to sap the interest of his internal dialogue. As a consequence, it begins to rise from mere stylistic annoyance, to one that interferes with enjoyment of the plot.

Nevertheless, if one is invested in the world and tale that Martin is creating, then A Dance with Dragons is a no-brainer. That it improves upon the prior volume in terms of plot and pacing gives one all the more reason to continue reading this epic.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mrflynn
The long awaited sequel in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series from George RR Martin did not disappoint. All of my favorite characters were back, and their adventures continued. Although I thought that Arya was given short shrift, I liked the continuation of Danny's story, as well as Jon's. The
Show More
ending was a shocker, but it leaves me hanging, and wanting more.
Overall, it was a great book, and I would suggest it to anyone who has read the other Ice and Fire books.
Show Less
LibraryThing member figre
What more is there to be said once you get to the fifth book of a series that is supposed to be seven books long? If there is some seismic change in the approach (and there isn't – that's a good thing), then the only alternatives are that the series continues the same, grows even stronger, or
Show More
begins to slack off.

Unfortunately, the last of these choices seems to be what is happening. That isn't to say that the book is bad. It has all of the things you would expect from this series – intrigue, dragons, good being treated badly, bad being treated badly, both being treated as well as you would hope or hope not to happen, and some shocking twists/deaths/etc. (I'll just say that, about the time I was thinking some people were safe, they were not.)

But Martin is beginning to fall too in love with the details. And while his writing lends itself well to catching up on each character – that is, being able to catch the reader up on where the character was and will now move forward from – it is all becoming a bit tedious.

And, to be honest, I am really learning to care less and less about the composition of their meals.

It reminds me of Stephen King as he reached the end of the Dark Tower series. That is, where's a good, honest, brave editor when you need one. Ultimately, so much detail that I'm not sure we needed four and five to be so long. Cut some of the detail, make it one book, and you lose none of the verisimilitude.

However, it is all there and, while it may be more work, that doesn't make this a bad book. The story continues and the reader's investment in the characters continues to pay.

And it does little to dissuade me from wanting the next book in the series.

And I do, so, want to know what happens next.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cynara
Oh, dude, where to start. I'm going to try to keep this short. Be warned; moderate spoilers ensue.

The first two hundred pages had me thinking that Martin had entirely lost his (mind? no) his sense of how to keep readers going through his morass of misery. Everything was going down the toilet, and
Show More
only Tyrion kept me going. It's saying something about a book when a bit about characters being sold at a slave auction is one of the lighter, less harrowing parts. Then, he dropped some almost 'good' things into the plot, and balance resumed.

Once I was past the initial slab of misery, the book took off like a rocket. I was actually finished reading it by the due date, even after procrastinating before picking it up.

If the first book is about the dissolution of stability, the second about the rise of new factions, the third about consolidating those factions, then flushing some of them down the john, the fourth about mopping up and introducing yet some more factions, then the fifth is about the race for practically all of these factions to find and bridle the dark horse: yes, this is the "who gets to marry Danaerys" book. Most of the difficulty with achieving this objective is finding the damned woman. Journeys are long and eventful around here - perhaps too long and eventful at times, but Martin keeps you going somehow.

As you may have heard, Martin has not lost his thirst for the blood of his main characters. I shared everyone's shock back - well, you know when, if you've read the books - but I wonder if this device isn't losing impact as the series progresses? Martin has spoken of how he was awed by Tolkein's use of the death of a central character - how he was fascinated with its visceral effect. And yes, Martin's books do have that "things just got serious" moment, but he'd better watch it doesn't topple over into self-parody with repetition.

I'm trying not to hold my breath for the next one. At least the second season of the spectacular HBO series is coming in April.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ladycato
I'll keep this review spoiler free, as I know there are many still working their way through this long series.

A Dance with Dragons isn't a bad book, but it's not spectacular book, either. One of the most apt adjectives to describe it would be "slow." It plods along. Part of this is because Martin's
Show More
already detailed world of Westeros has now expanded to include other continents with even more character viewpoints. With the characters spread out across massive amounts of terrain, that means there is a lot of time spent getting from point A to point B.

From the beginning of the series, I've had trouble keeping characters straight. Even with appendixes in the back, that task of who-is-who only worsens. Plus, there are so many new characters, I found myself not really caring about the newcomers. But then, if I could I'd have the series focus on Arya and ignore the rest.

There are several major revelations in this book, and a few big cliffhangers. That's to be expected.

I will read the next book whenever it eventually comes out, but I certainly won't be holding my breath as I wait.
Show Less
LibraryThing member adam.carlson
like many others, i found this book to be in need of an editor. plenty of stuff was happening. but too much i feel. i'm starting to feel like this is going to be another popular series that gets drawn out too long. thus ruining the ending. we need to start seeing some resolution GRRM. when are you
Show More
gonna finally bring out the "Others" and let Jon kick some ass? Oh wait...i'm feeling conflicted here. good book but not like the first 3 books.
Show Less
LibraryThing member maryintexas39
Noooo. I tried to savor it and make it last as long as I could. I'm finished now and am sad because I must wait until book 6, The Winds of Winter. Dragons lived up to my expectations and then some.
LibraryThing member Hectigo
A Dance with Dragons left me with mixed feelings. Sure, it continues the tales of everyone's favorite characters, it's nuanced, complex and epic. It just doesn't click like the first ones. The biggest fault of the book stems partly from the fact that it mostly leaves out the Westeros part: its
Show More
multiple story lines feel completely separate, instead of intertwining in an interesting way. The book lacks focus. It's a thousand pages building towards a climax that never comes, perpetually teasing the reader with great events hanging just around the corner.

I'm glad that I picked up the series only lately instead of having to wait for this book for years - that would've surely left an even sourer taste to my mouth. That being said, A Dance with Dragons does have an edge over its predecessor, if not for how much it advances the plot of the series. Martin is decided on tracing every single waddling step that Tyrion takes in the East - but hey, it's still Tyrion. Things are stirring up at the Wall too, in a way that leaves much in the air in preparation for the next book.

Cutting corners when they desperately need to be cut clearly isn't Martin's strong point, but now that the middle part of the series is done, he might not need to. And Martin hasn't lost what he's good at: the writing still feels real, keeping the reader close and on the edge. Things don't always go the way one would suppose them to go. Let's just hope that the dozen different viewpoints aren't too numerous to form a cohesive whole once more. This book might very well find its place better once it has a successor or two to stand by its side.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ShellyS
It's hard to review individual books in this series, because, really, they all form one story. A long, complex story. A long, complex, multi-layered story that hasn't been finished yet. Individual characters might have had their stories concluded, but the overall story continues. Or will continue,
Show More
if Martin ever gets book six finished, and then book seven.

This one leaves a lot of loose ends. Most of the book, at least the first half if not a bit more, runs concurrently with book four, relating what's been going on with characters not seen in the fourth book. Then time moves forward once more, and we see some though not all of the characters who populated that fourth volume.

Winter is close now, very close. Blizzards make the business of war in the north difficult. New alliances are made, while others are shattered. And there are dragons. Dany's dragons grown bigger, wilder, independent. And that's pretty much all I can say, because now I'm a member of the legion of fans who are reading the books and watching the HBO series who know more than the fans of just the TV show know. And I will not spoil anything for those watching the show only. Suffice it to say there is bloodshed, new characters to root for and against, and WTF moments this series is known for. And if you're not reading the books, just watching the show, you're missing a lot. Though the show, after the first season, has deviated a bit from the books, I have no idea how much that will continue. The show has mostly collapsed or combined characters and scenes from the books, while adding in scenes only referenced in the books. They really do complement each other nicely.
Show Less
LibraryThing member randalrh
At this point I'm somewhat slogging through for the sake of the characters/plotlines I want to see through to the end (assuming any survive). There are, however, a bunch of both.
LibraryThing member neurodrew
A Dance with Dragons
George R.R. Martin
July 19, 2011
The fifth book in the Song of Ice and Fire. We meet Tyrion and follow his adventures across the sea, as he seeks Danaerys and her dragons. Danaerys is trying to rule in Mereen, facing intriques. Jon Snow lets wildings through the wall to help
Show More
defend against the Others, and at the end is knifed by his watch brothers. Cersei is humbled. Jamie is off with Brienne. Of Sansa and Catelyn Stark we have heard nothing; Arya Stark's blindness was temporary, part of her training in the House of Many Gods. The Dornish are fomenting trouble and intrigues, and it is revealed that the son of King Aegon lives, and is brought back to Westeros by the Golden Company. There is no resolution to the plots, and this appears will go on forever.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wb4ever1
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, the 5th book of George R. R. Martin’s GAME OF THRONES series is a big improvement over its immediate predecessor, A FEAST FOR CROWS if for no other reason than some of our favorite characters are back and in front and center of the story. And coming in at over a thousand
Show More
pages, there is plenty of story in DRAGONS, which is not technically a sequel to CROWS as much of its action takes place simultaneously to what is happening in the fourth book, which concerned itself mostly the happenings in King’s Landing and greater Westeros while the 5th installment takes us to the far corners of the realm and across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cites and Slavers Bay. At a point, DRAGONS catches up and moves ahead of FEAST, getting everyone back on the same page.

Though many characters get their own POV chapters, the big three of DRAGONS are Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and everyone’s favorite, Tyrion Lannister. All three have set themselves on perilous paths filled with imminent dangers and lethally unintended consequences. As is Martin’s style, the more one his characters desires a specific goal and the harder they work to obtain it, the further away it slips from them. Jon Snow has now assumed command of the Night’s Watch on the Wall in the north, and must immediately deal with an influx of Wildlings, the Watch’s traditional enemies, on their side of the wall in the face of Mance Rayder’s defeat; it is not easy making allies of old enemies, nor does it help when he is drawn into the power struggles of Stannis Baratheon, one of many claimants to the Iron Throne, who came to aid of the Watch in when Raider’s army was about to overwhelm the Wall. Daenerys too finds herself inmeshed in local concerns in the conquered city of Meereen, where she struggles to maintain peace inside its walls while being besieged by enemies from the outside; not only that, but her three dragons have grown large and hard to control, so much so that they now need to be confined. Then there is the man Daenerys loves and another she marries out of convenience; meanwhile two different would be suitors are making their way to Meereen to propose politically useful marriages of their own. Tyrion is fleeing west with a price on his head, wanted for the murder of his nephew and father, and falling into one tight spot after another. The true high points of the novel is seeing this former Hand of the King brought low, even to the point where he is enslaved and forced to perform in a Mummer’s farce, but at every turn the most infamous dwarf in all literature finds a way to come out on top with his razor sharp tongue still in his mouth. Other characters have multiple POV chapters as well, some of whom have truly fallen on very hard times: Theon Greyjoy has been tortured and flayed repeatedly at the hands of Ramsey Bolton, so much so that he hardly knows his own name anymore; an imprisoned Cerci Lannister is forced to walk naked through the streets of King’s Landing, jeered at by the common folk and pelted with rotten fruit. The long missing Bran Stark shows up as well. The old knight, Barristan Selmy, finds himself caught up in a deadly war when Daenerys enemies lay siege to Meereen when she inexplicably leaves, while a heretofore hidden Targaryen heir makes himself known.

For me, the true climax of the book comes when Jon Snow receives a letter from the vile Ramsey Bolten, simply addressed, “Bastard.” It sets off one hell of a dramatic series of events, leading to a truly shocking scene; it is Martin at his best.

If there is any theme in DRAGONS, it is the dire consequences that come when one turns from their chosen path which comes from ignoring what their heart tells them is the right thing. This is especially true in the cases of Jon Snow and Daenerys, who find themselves in situations where those whom they have trusted now stand with knives at their backs. Only Tyrion, with his relentless tough row to hoe, holds on to his sense of purpose, along with his sense of humor. I took notice of more than one character that looks back with regret at events and sees far too late where things all went wrong, not only for them, but for all the Seven Kingdoms.

At over a thousand pages, A DANCE OF DRAGONS is quite the read, but Martin truly brings his A game this time as he puts these characters we have come to know so well through hell; his mastery of dialog and description has never been better. There is no writer today better at world building, his Seven Kingdoms and beyond is a living and breathing place, one with a long, dark, deep and very cruel history that is constantly revealing itself. It’s a place filled with ruthless schemers who will do anything to get what they want, where those who wish to find love and happiness are often rewarded with grief and spite. If there is a God in this world, then he is one made in the image of Nietzche, whose only gospel would be, “That what does not kill us, makes us stronger.”

Sadly this is the last of Martin’s GAME OF THRONES books published to date; THE WINDS OF WINTER is promised some time before the end of this decade. As with most fantasy series, there is that sense of bloat that usually sets in after the third book, but Martin is such a great writer I don’t mind. And he leaves with more than a few cliffhangers and questions for the next book; I know the HBO series has moved past the books and has plans to wrap up after two more seasons, but written page and the TV screen are two separate and alternate universes and Martin has indicated that he is not bound to follow the script; nor should he, hopefully, us diehard fans will two completely different endings to this wonderful that has kept us up reading for so many nights.

Just write hurry up and write the damn books, George.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rickl
After looking forward to this, the fifth volume in the series, for so long, I was rather disappointed. I found that I had ceased caring about the characters who hadn't appeared for a thousand pages and several years. While complexity is good, and I'm still prepared to be surprised by the next two
Show More
volumes tying things together, I agree with many reviewers that the whole saga seems to have gotten out of control. Even though Jon Snow and Arya appear, this has ceased to be about the Starks, and looking back I realize that earlier in the series it was chiefly Eddard, Rob, and Catelyn that kept me anchored and rooting for someone when things were getting confused, although Jaime Lannister was at one time a credible replacement.

Another recent and wildly popular seven-part fantasy series has taught us that the fifth volume of such series tends to be too long and a bit boring and that that doesn't have to have any bearing on the final two volumes. I do hope that health, age, and the pressure of other commitments allow GRRM to finish off the series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member solomonkane
I love the series but was dissapointed with this one, found it too long and it just went nowhere
LibraryThing member michaelbirks
A wonderfully rich collection of characters and storylines. Unlike Tywin Lannister, however, Martin shits new characters: There are too many, and all of them are scattered to the four corners of the world, which makes trying to follow a single storyline hard work.

The Song of Ice and Fire is like a
Show More
hydra. Cut off one head, and half a dozen more spring up. Eddard Stark's head gave us the five kings, for instance. Tywin Lannister's got us the best part of 1900 pages where things don't really advance all that much.

The Hydra of Greek myth was killed with fire, and that's what needs to be done here. Dragons are supposed to useful in that respect. Let us Hope.
Show Less
LibraryThing member gmehn
I like it. I really do. It has a few of those "Omigod!" moments, and that's a Good Thing.

Same issue I had with the last one, really. Itś good. The great moments are great. It does feel like we're lost in the woods sometimes-- at least Arya's found a bit of a teacher now. Sounds like plot threads
Show More
are going to be tied up, and shortly. Plus, everyone dies. Not that that's particularly a spoiler.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Stir
After the relatively disappointing Book 4, Book 5 was really enjoyable. Everyone's favorite characters are back and the storytelling is as fine as ever. I really got my hopes up during the middle of the book, but should have remembered that there are two books left. Martin certainly leaves us
Show More
twisting in the wind.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BkShelfReviews
Since I only just started this book series last year, I didn’t have to wait a long time in between books. This turned out to be a good thing, because it was six years between the last book in this series and this one, which, if you ask me, is an unusually long time to wait (and I’m not a very
Show More
patient person). Beware, slight spoilers and slightly more ranting to follow.While absence may have made the hearts of some readers grow fonder, it certainly hasn’t for me. A Dance with Dragons suffers from many of the same things as its predecessor, A Feast for Crows. For one, the length. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a lazy reader by any means. A thousand pages is not a daunting thing for me to read, especially if I enjoy the story. But there are just too many words! Martin really needs to learn to get to the point.For example, I could care less about the extensive feast descriptions that pop up, it seems, once per chapter. See, Mr. Martin, I can do it too: “The table was covered end to end with dishes overflowing: lamprey pies slowly congealing in the tepid air, tender roast mutton whose meat looked like to drip off the bone, tail of dog soup, caramelized cranberry steak tartar, blood pudding served with steaming buttered loaves of sour dough bread, Dornish wine glittering in crystal decanters, broiled pig stuffed with dates and walnuts, food, more food, some more of that food we were talking about, did I already mention food? Well here’s some more, let me describe it to you in exhaustive detail if you don’t believe me…” And five years later we get back to the story, but I’ve already forgotten what we were talking about. And now I’m hungry. Awesome. I felt like I was reading a medieval Martha Stewart cookbook. I’m sure some would call this overabundance of description “details,” but I think it is unnecessary and something that hinders the progression of the plot. If you say that they’re having a feast or dinner or whatever, Mr. Martin, I believe you. I promise! Now please use that page space for furthering the plot instead.I don’t have all negative things to say about ADwD. I do love the POV characters. Well, okay. Most of them, the ones that actually add to the story. But those one-off, fringe characters that easily could have been shafted from the final draft? Those characters get on my nerves. Why waste a chapter on The Iron Suitor when I could read more of Arya, or Jaime? The POV characters who got significant face time in this book were, thankfully, very interesting, although Tyrion is starting to wear out his welcome. I’ve always been fond of Bran as a character, so I really looked forward to reading his share of the chapters. I liked that Theon had his chance to shine, and I do love reading about the Wall and the North through Jon’s POV. Here’s my main problem with the series however. No amount of clever wording, surprisingly exciting (but few and far between) chapter installments, or intriguing character development can mask the fact that not a lot has happened over the course of these five books. I feel like I’m watching one of those television shows where each week they have some exciting, self-contained little adventure that adds absolutely nothing to the overarching plot.Argue with me all you want to the contrary, I’m sticking with that assessment. I’ve been so blinded by the idea of this being an epic fantasy book series that I’ve ignored the fact that there has been very little follow-through in that regard. This series has been overhyped. There, I said it. It’s still a tremendous body of work, sure, but if Mr. Martin churns out hundreds of pages per installment and can only move the plot along at a snaillike pace, maybe I’m not getting enough bang for my buck, and that disappoints me. I want this story to be worthwhile.And I want to see how this all ends. I do. But it’s going to be a wearisome struggle to get there. Is it really worth it?
Show Less
LibraryThing member MlleEhreen
When I first started this series, the thing that most amazed me was the sweep of emotions that it evoked in me. From the highest highs to the lowest lows. And the intense focus on the Stark/Lannister conflict meant that whenever one side was happy, the other was unhappy...and with characters on
Show More
both sides to love, at least one of my favorite characters would be doing well, at any given moment.

Well...not anymore. The 'expanding world' of the Song of Ice and Fire series means that now, with so many splintering factions, EVERYONE I love can be miserable at once. Chapter after chapter his that same low note. GRR Martin's ability to keep me on my toes, seesawing between emotional extremes, has devolved into a sort of dysfunctional relationship. Somewhere along the way, I just gave up. I realized that whatever I most anticipated in the series would be denied, that whatever I most dreaded would come to pass, and I stopped having fun.

I feel like a dog that's been kicked too many times. I'm numb to it, desensitized. A kick from GRRM is just the status quo, and my only reaction is resigned acceptance.

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS had maybe three moments that really made me happy or excited. While I can't count how many times I just sighed and thought, "Of course. Of course this terrible thing has happened."

It's still an amazing world. And a fantastically intricate plot. Stuffed with compelling characters. But what does any of that matter, if I've been trained not to care for those characters, or root for them, or hope for them?

Spoilers below the fold.



So, a quick plot by plot reaction roster.

BRAN: so Bran finally meets the Three-Eyed Crow & we find out that in order to develop his greenseer abilities he has to fuse with a tree and live underground for the rest of his life, slowly losing his humanity. Great. Because after he lost his legs, and then his parents, and then his home, I was really hoping for one extra nail in the coffin of potential happiness for that sweet kid.

JON: I really loved his story, actually. I loved the "kill the boy to give birth to the man" line, I loved the way that he solved the problem of the empty, unmanned Wall, I loved the way he struggled with leadership, and feeling alone. I thought he was really coming into his own. And then came that last chapter. Awesome! All that forward momentum is for nothing. Now Jon is either dead or a zombie or...whatever. No good deed will go unpunished.

TYRION: You know what's so awesome about Tyrion? The fact that he never forgets that he's a dwarf, or how people think of him, but always makes his strengths shine through ten times brighter. He is brilliant and funny and capable. He has knowledge and wits and courage. Tyrion is such a great character and you know what I really, really never wanted to see? Tyrion in a circus act. Tyrion dressed up in wooden armor riding a pig. Tyrion doing cartwheels while a bunch of morons laugh and throw coins.

That should not have happened.

DANY: So, after three books where Dany is with her dragons 24/7 and has managed to train them well enough to breathe fire on command in Astapor, all of a sudden Dany has no time for her dragons and hasn't trained them at all. Not only that, instead of rectifying this problem that had never previously existed by rolling up her sleeves and doing some training, Dany decides to lock her dragons in a cage and ignore them. Instead of fun dragon stuff, we get page after page of Dany mooning after stupid Daario, and then we get page after page of Dany moping about marrying Hizdahr...and THEN...and THEN...

Dany finally jumps on Drogo! She flies into the sky! Wooooooooo! It's awesome!

...for three sentences.

THREE SENTENCES.

Then the chapter ends & the next time we see Dany, we've skipped over many awesome dragon rides and Dany has come to the sad conclusion that she'll never figure out how to train Drogo. She's abandoned him and is walking home on foot.

How many thousands of pages of this series have I read? Four thousand? About four thousand. First the eggs, then the baby dragons, and the waiting, waiting, waiting for them to get big enough to ride...and now? Denied, denied, denied.

DAVOS: Okay, whee! He's alive! That's awesome!

BRIENNE: Whee! She's alive! But she's going to kill Jaime? Not awesome.

Note: Both of those fun things add up to like, one chapter and a page. So. Not much time to enjoy the fun.

ARYA: Okay, all of her chapters have been awesome. She has her sight back, and I'm starting to realize that the Faceless Men might be a good way for her to channel her rage into action while preventing her from becoming a vicious, evil person.

THEON: he got what he deserved, and his chapters made me feel both satisfaction and pity. Points on Theon.

CERSEI: So...Cerse's only comeuppance is that she has to walk through the streets naked, and have people tell her that her breasts have started to sag? First of all, compared to what most of the other characters have suffered, boy has she gotten off easy thus far.

But second of all...really? Is that what GRRM has come to?

He started with this amazing cast of female characters that impressed me with their variety. Such a range of personalities and goals, so much strength. But now Catelyn is dead, Sansa has spent the whole series as a pawn, most of Dany's ADWD chapters revolved around arranging her marriage to Hizdahr so she could step back from her responsibilities & let someone else take charge, and Cersei is a pathetic caricature of a human being completely defeated by a few stretchmarks.

I went from feeling like GRRM was really, really good at writing female characters to feeling pretty bummed out by the way he writes them.

Cersei, Lysa, and Selyse suddenly all have the exact same shrill and demanding personality. They're reduced to shrews, irrelevant, irritating, unimportant. That's terrible. And lazy.

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS had some great moments. But my overall impression was that I was being punished. Punished for having loved the series, punished for having loved the characters.

I'll finish the series, but I can't say I'm looking forward to finding out what happens.

Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is a long, long book -- even when not combined with Book 4, when in reality the two of them are just one book -- and there is so much going on that I find myself becoming disconnected from the story. While I appreciate that three of my favorite characters get a lot of screen
Show More
time in this novel (as opposed to none in Book 4), and are left with big question marks over their heads, is that really enough to persuade me to wade through so many pages, so many sub-plots, so many characters to keep track of, many of them going disguised and by multiple names? Any one of the complex sub-plots could have been a novel in itself, and when I used my Kindle X-ray feature to look up character names, I noticed that the book had 400+ named characters. Who can keep up with all that? I had to study the maps on the series wiki for hours just to figure out who was where as they all constantly moved around like pieces on a cyvasse board. Is this even fun anymore? I'm not sure, but I'll probably read Book 6 anyway.
Show Less

Awards

Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2012)
Locus Award (Finalist — Fantasy Novel — 2012)
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novel — 2012)
British Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novel — 2012)

Pages

1152

ISBN

0553582011 / 9780553582017
Page: 1.4284 seconds