A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice & Fire) - George R.R. Martin

Advantages: Twisting multiple plotlines over a massive world of engaging characters.
Disadvantages: Not one you can pick up without reading at least the third novel.

..."A Feast for Crows" is the fourth book in George R.R Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" series. The word 'epic' is too often applied to the fantasy genre as a whole yet this series has every fan of the genre screaming the word from the rooftops. This is a series that you find yourself recommending to everyone, even those who loathe the genre. Indeed, the last series I can remember all readers recommending so heartily is "Lord of the Rings" by the great J.R.R Tolkien which for me is the highest praise indeed. However, do not assume that this is purely a fantasy masterwork. The "Song of Fire and Ice" series is all about the politics of royalty. The series as a whole is more about family relationships and the fratricide, incest and vengeance to be found within them. That is not to say that it is not all weaved around a staggeringly complex... Read review

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Advantages: Engrossing, amazing, ingenious.
Disadvantages: Leaves you craving for more. A big series.

...Well the series so far is not complete; as many will know we wait hungrily for the 4th book “A Feast for Crows”. Many would wonder what makes Martins book so great to warrant a whole household to fight over the only copies in the house (well in my house anyway!). It is written in the most compelling detail, with characters you would love as your own friends and family and characters that are hateful, deceitful and absolutely vile that they either deserve your admiration for having that kind of ambition or your unimaginable loathing. With fantastical backdrop of Westeros, we are given the many powerful Houses (and few that aren’t) who are the players of the Game of Thrones where to lose is to lose everything. The ever gathering threat from the north of the Ice Wall and the army massing from the Lands of the Summer Sea, the land... Read review

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Advantages: Great fantasy for adults, lively characters.
Disadvantages: The wait till the authors finishes writing the next one.

...A Storm of Sword's is George R.R. Martin 3rd instalment in his critically acclaimed saga 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. I am anxiously waiting for the next volume to get published (the author's official site says it's November 2005) so I wanted to get more people interested in Martin's work. I chose to review the 3rd volume because it's the one I read most recently. In short, the book is just great. Really great. But it's definitely not short. In fact it's huge. However at no point in the book did I feel that it was excessively dragged out. I read it in a single breath (one of those month-long breaths, you know) and enjoyed it all the way. In Storm of Swords, nations continue to war each other and a number of kings, queens and other protagonists are killed and as a result the contenders for the Iron Throne get reduced in an alarmingly... Read review

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