A Feast for Crows

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, 753 pages

OK, this is four books into Martin's epic* Song of Ice and Fire series (which, as you may recall, kills off characters nearly as often as the pages turn), so I can't really go into the plot too much with out spoiling something. However, I will say that this book takes place when most of the war detailed in Book 3 has died down, and everyone is trying to carve out a piece of the pie for themselves. Martin takes the reader through some interesting places, including the Venice-esque Braavos (which included one of the most interesting storylines, at least to me) and through some interesting plot twists. I can't wait to see where these stories are going.

Unfortunately, it will be a long time before I find where these stories go. An interesting note about this book: it takes place concurrently with Book 5, A Dance With Dragons. There are some who have taken the plunge and read both books at the same time, switching back and forth (for a post about that experience, check out Jason's post from February), but I didn't want to try juggling two thick tomes. I did miss checking in with some of my favorite characters, who, save one, seemed to be almost completely missing from this book, but in a short note at the end, Martin promises to check in with all of them in Book 5. Phew! But for the stories started in this book, we won't find out until the long-awaited Winds of Winter is finally released in... um, nobody really knows when. Sigh...

*I mean this in the true, literal sense, not the teenage girl "OMG, that's so epic!" sense.