A Dance with Dragons I : Dreams and Dust

by GEORGE R R MARTIN

Paperback, 2014

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Series

A Song of Ice and Fire (5, part 1 of 2)

Genres

Publication

HARPERCOLLINS (2014), Paperback

Description

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, new threats are emerging from every direction. Tyrion Lannister, having killed his father, and wrongfully accused of killing his nephew, King Joffrey, has escaped from King's Landing with a price on his head. To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone - a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. But Jon has enemies both inside and beyond the Wall. And in the east Daenerys Targaryen struggles to hold a city built on dreams and dust.

User reviews

LibraryThing member reading_fox

Meh. Yet more of the same. Somewhat more interesting than some in the series as our favourite characters get a littl emore air-time, but really the whole book is just filling time waiting for the dragosn to grow. The whole series is set-up for Danerys to invade Westeros, and until she does we're

just marking time. I had high hopes from the title that this would at least mark her landing. But no, she's stuck in a city moping. I don't quite know why Martin hyas changed her character so dramatically, she appear s not to have learnt any of her life's lessons so far - unlike at least some of the other characters. (also she's the recpiant of some of the worst of Martin's writing, we are very much told rather than shown how she is feeling).

Still waiting for something exciting to happen. I've given up hoping it will be about a character I care about, as I don't. But Winter is Coming, apparently although it appears to have been several years in the task. There are also a few discontinuous time jumps as actions happen and then their consequences are reported later - when the actual intervening bit might have been interesting. Martin doesn't seem to care about making things interesting though.

As before each individual chapter is good, but there remains a massive discconect between them, and no sense of overal story at all. Yet again despite all the heresay regarding this series, no significant characters get killed off.

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LibraryThing member devenish

A more difficult book to read than any of the previous ones. The main reason for this statement is that quite a few new characters make an appearance. Also (and this will probably be considered as rank treason) I am beginning to feel that the whole thing has gone on for rather too long! After all

even 'War and Peace' was much shorter than this. I am also led to believe that there are at least two more long books to go (and probable more) Well if you're onto a good money-spinner why not.

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LibraryThing member Elliots89

I still feel there are far too many characters, and with the introduction of more in this first part of 'A Dance with Dragons', it can at times be very confusing. However apart from this minor criticism the book is still a thoroughly enjoyable read, with many of the favourite characters being

devoted heavy chapters in this book.

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LibraryThing member atreic

Again, I read these through back to back in a couldn't-put-them down way, but they have all merged!

LibraryThing member AHS-Wolfy

It’s been a while since I read book 4 but didn’t really have any problems sinking straight back in to this series (the TV show has probably helped with this). Books 4 & 5 run more or less in tandem following different groups of people in each tome. This one deals with what happens to Tyrion,

Jon Snow, Daenerys, Bran, Stannis, Reek and a few other subsidiary characters. Each chapter is headed by character name so you know who’s up next and as some chapters end on cliff-hangers you want to jump ahead at times to see what happens to that person/group rather than returning to somebody else’s tale.

Considering this is a fairly sizeable book (624 pages without the appendix) the overall story arc isn’t greatly advanced. It ends with a lot of people still in the same place they started. As this is not really a complete book the ending isn’t really a conclusion, it just stops and of course some of the characters face imminent peril so I guess I’ll just have to move straight on to Part 2.

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LibraryThing member revslick

This is the fifth and latest of Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series, which I can honestly say is my least favorite.
Likes: it continues the tale with both style and spectacular character development, he's still able to slip surprises into the tale, great ending.
Dislikes: poor editing (especially

parts at the beginning that should have definitely been in the previous book), small chunks that tend to be boring because they introduce new characters or transition moments that feel forced like an infomercial, his need to kill off characters for shock value (at first it kept me on my toes, but now it is frustrating to the point of not wanting to invest in any character), and finally he introduced a reborn character at the end of the last book and then no mention at all in this one (which is the author's right but it still ticked me off).

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LibraryThing member polarbear123

Was dreading this a bit as I did not really enjoy feast for cros and bought this would have a similar effect on me. Pleasantly surprised that I got back into the story with this one and enjoyed most of it. Think that this mainly down to liking the Tyrion sections , always good value. There is

something annoying about the Daenerys parts though, constant lists of names and details that make it a struggle to get throught those chapters. For me, a return to pretty good form.

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LibraryThing member jerhogan

Very interesting. Tyrion is a great character and is really put through the wringer (in common with all the characters), You never know what's going to happen next (except that people will die!). Well worth the long read.

LibraryThing member john257hopper

It's been nearly a year and a half since I read the previous volume in the Game of Thrones series, by far the longest gap between any two of the series. This is the first part of the fifth book, split into two in the UK market due to its length, and like the first part of the third book, A Storm of

Swords, this one felt like it was treading water too much (a comment which, looking back, I also applied in my review of this book's immediate predecessor, A Feast of Crows). It's overwritten and does not justify its 620 pages. The most interesting characters for me were, as ever, Tyrion Lannister, but also now Daenerys Targaryen, practically the only truly decent protagonist in the complex tapestry of the game of thrones. I will, however, leave a much smaller gap before reading the second part of book five, which will then complete the so far published series. Finally, I must record one great saying by a minor character: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one".

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LibraryThing member Bruce_McNair

This book is the first half of the fifth instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire. In my opinion, this book does not reach the heights of the preceding books in the series, but then the author seems to save the big climactic events for the end of each instalment so I look forward to the second half. I

was concerned that as the events in this book paralleled those of the immediately preceding book, A Feast for Crows, that a lot of the mystery would be gone, but I was pleasantly surprised, especially when it came to the fate of Davos Seaworth and Theon Greyjoy. I still thought it deserved 4 stars as the writing is so good.

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