A Feast for Crows

POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS / DISCUSSION OF PLOT POINTS OR CHARACTERS

'A Feast For Crows' is the fourth instalment in George R. R. Martin's classic grimdark fantasy series 'A Song Of Ice And Fire'. As far as fantasy novels go there is an awful lot to like in this book but it is not without its problems and I can see why, having finished the novel why many people would dislike this book.

So, for anyone familiar with the earlier books or the television series it won't be a surprise to learn that in 'A Feast For Crows' we have a rich and complex world, an almost dazzling array of characters and multiple plots going off in different places. It's a gritty, cruel world where characters often do despicable things and yet Martin helps us at least understand their motivations, if not empathise with the characters. The setting of Westeros and it's surrounding lands is diverse, yet grounded in a bleakness and desperation which makes you yearn for the moments of light when they appear. It's a place where you need to pay attention because something a minor character says or does has a significant impact later (and by later, I mean, 'possibly in a later book').

I'm coming at this series somewhat late, and having seen the television adaptation so some of the things that would have frustrated readers at the time of publication were somewhat lessened for me, but it seems like the context of the book is quite important to note here. I felt, 'A Clash Of Kings' was a bit of a bridging book between 'A Game Of Thrones' and 'A Storm Of Swords' which was necessary for the culmination of events that brought matters to a head in the War of the Five Kings. There was quite a long wait between 'A Storm Of Swords' and 'A Feast For Crows' and at some point, Martin decided to split his fourth volume into two books with 'A Feast For Crows' concentrating on events in the 'South' and the next volume concentrating in the 'North'. What became 'A Dance With Dragons' of course didn't surface for another five years and I think most fans have resigned themselves to accepting that the sixth and seventh volumes are unlikely to see the light of day.

What this means in practice is that many of the characters we had come to know and love (hate?) in the first three books are totally absent in this one. There is precedent for this of course, as I recall Robb Stark was virtually absent from 'A Clash Of Kings' but it is as though at least half the book is missing and major events and characters which were left hanging at the end of 'A Storm Of Swords' are barely acknowledged in this book. Jon Snow, just as he is growing into himself says hello at the start of the book and doesn't come back leaving the whole King Stannis, Wildings and returning Northmen absent from the book. I didn't miss the wandering of Bran beyond the Wall and neither did I miss the terminally boring wandering around the desert of Daenerys Targaryen (or her exhausting entitled nature). What I did miss are the viewpoints of the delightfully Machiavellian Varys and of course, one of the best characters in any fantasy series - Tyrion Lannister. They are sorely missed in this book. Indeed, whilst there are some attempts at political machinations (especially by Littlefinger) they feel like teases or starters for a main course that doesn't quite arrive. I felt it missed the 'a-ha' moments where you noticed something wonderful coming together and instead, I was often thinking, 'well I suppose that was meant to be clever'.

What is also a little challenging is the introduction of the Iron Islands and Dorne as major perspectives in the book. Of course, Dorne in the previous three books has largely been off stage with the reader knowing of their significance in the overarching story whereas the people of the Iron Islands wreaked havoc over the North in the earlier books. I really enjoyed the sections in Dorne. The setting felt unique and the people felt quite distinctive with their own culture. I quite liked all the characters, particularly the Sand Snakes (who only make a brief appearance) and Arianne Martell whose attempt to influence events on Westeros is quite interesting. I knew there was to be a bit of a reveal from her father Doran at some point but I kind of got the impression that his secret was so secretive it has absolutely no impact on the events of this, or any other book in the series. I hope I am wrong!

As for the sections set on the Iron Islands - well, let's say this. Martin could have saved himself at least a hundred pages by cutting out all the largely boring and superfluous history of the Iron Islands and instead of Balon Greyjoy falling off a bridge and causing a pedestrian succession scenario that goes on for ever he could have decided to put some ships near Oldtown. Honestly, tons of pages are used to essentially put some boats somewhere which makes someone else want to move some boats to somewhere else. Again, I hope I am wrong but this is an example of 'showing all your work' when we could have had a much snappier novel instead. I guess this is a strength but also a criticism of this series. Everyone has a convoluted back story and generations of genealogy to get through for every character! It's fair to say I bounced off the sections about the Iron Islands, even though I liked Princess Asha as a character. The Iron Islands setting feels pretty one dimensional and quite unrealistic as a society that survives by raiding and slavery. It's full of tired machismo of drinking, raping, fighting and stealing and that's one thing - but it's boring too.

Of course, the characterisation in these books is strong and in books of this length we do see significant character development. The most significant of these are the Lannister twins who feature in most of the book. The development of Jamie Lannister is wonderful. The seeds are sown in earlier novels, but this is a person who did the most despicable things in earlier books who becomes almost honourable. It's really interesting to see the Oathbreaker turn into someone trying to do the right thing. It feels wrong to think of him in these terms but he feels like one of the good guys.

Talking of good guys, I really like Brienne of Tarth. She's pretty much the only decent and honourable character in the book (along with maybe Sam) and she always tries to do the decent thing. In a world where everyone is knee deep in shit and pushing everyone down Brienne is always trying to keep hers out of the filth. Her story arc largely consists of wandering around a war weary landscape fighting off scumbags.

The novel really belongs to Cersei Lannister though as we see her respond to the grief of losing her son and protecting her other son as she fulfils her desire to rule Westeros in the shadow of the deaths of her husband and father. I am not sure how I feel about her arc. In one respect we see her descent into absolute madness as she tries to succeed in her own right. She's petty, cruel, vindictive and malicious and has a total disdain for the humanity and lives of anyone outside of her children. At the same time, as she tries to rule and destroy her enemies I think she is presented as quite foolish and whether we take the line that 'she has to act like this in a man's world' or not, she actually proves to be quite incapable of ruling. She gets rid of her advisors and replaces them with men who are completely useless and ineffective (an interesting note on surrounding one with 'yes men'). It turns the Small Council from a body of political trading and plotting to something quite ineffectual.

All in all though, it's a good book and worth a read - it just isn't perhaps as good as it could be.