Reviews

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

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lisarisen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

jordb1213's review against another edition

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3.0

Ok, so I want to say I liked this, because I enjoyed reading it, but it also took me over a year to get through so that says a lot.
I don't have anything particularly new to add to why ASOIF is great. The writing is good, worldbuilding is amazing, etc. My big gripe is that the universe has just gotten too big. Like yes i know, it's the thing with ASOIF, but it's so hard to keep track of plot threads. The POV chapters jump all over the place, so by the time a certain plot line comes around again, you've forgotten what came before. Additionally, many of the POVs are labelled with more descriptive terms (ie "The Blind Girl" vs "Tyrion"), which again confusing. Finally, because the universe has gotten so expansive, there wound up only being a few plot threads I cared about, so I felt like I was slogging through the other sections.

Obviously, if you've made it to A Dance With Dragons, you're going to read it. You've invested 4,000 pages worth of reading time into this series already. And if you read it in a reasonable amount of time and don't have memory problems like me, you'd probably avoid most of the issues I had. Anyways, may we soon have Winds of Winter!!

jah7507's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

thepaintedbookishgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

dmcbride91's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

willgalltall's review against another edition

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4.0

I read this over the 2 paperback volumes release by Harper Voyager whilst on holiday.

A Dance with Dragons did not go the way I expected. I read A Feast for Crows a few months ago which I think helped a lot in terms of enjoyment. Especially as this book runs in parallel to the previous up to about 60% through, so I was able to pick up on most references to events that had happened in Kings Landing.

I was really looking forward to reading this as we were returning to my favourite characters, Daenerys and Tyrion. Both story lines did not go the way I expected, especially Tyrion's, but I do think this was for the better rather than it being predictable. But as we know, George R R Martin is rarely gives us a story that is predictable in ASOIAF.

However, I felt that there was a lot of padding in this one which is why it didn't get 5 stars from me. Granted, these are not short books as with the rest of the series, but I do feel there were some parts that could have been trimmed here and there. Having said that, I didn't let that affect my enjoyment too much as I told myself that some of this 'padding' will serve a purpose at some point. But I still think it may have been better if it was cut down a bit.

Although there was a lot of padding, we do see Martin's usual strengths as we have throughout the whole series and that is his character development. With ASOIAF being told from the point of view from a certain character, it is essential that each character feels different, rather than a single narrator with a different skin. But Martin absolutely nails this! Each character is so unique and 3 dimensional, that you could easily turn to any page in the book, look at 3 or 4 words and be able to tell which character's POV it is. You definitely connect with them and get to really experience what is happening.

Another area that I really enjoyed with this books is the history of the world he has created. I find it a bit difficult to follow at times, but it feels real and it's something that helps give the reader a better experience. I am looking forward to Martin's prequel Fire and Blood that is due to be released later this year.

I also liked the introduction of some other characters such as Griff, Young Griff, Frog and what they brought to the table!

I do feel sorry for those who have waited since 2012 to read Winds of Winter, especially with how this books ends, another bunch of cliff hangers! I really hope 2019 brings us the next book as we are no where near finished with this Game of Thrones!