A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series but it is different from the previous books because it doesn't contain the entire cast of characters. While Martin was writing this fourth installment, the book became so long and unwieldy that he decided to divide it into two novels, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. So the stories of some of the characters are told in A Feast for Crows while the remaining characters are seen in A Dance with Dragons.
At the beginning of A Feast for Crows, the War of the Five Kings has come to an end. Now that peace has come to the land, it's time to start repairing the damage that was previously done. Technically, Cersei's eight-year-old son is the king but since he's so young, she rules in his stead. However, Cersei doesn't really know what she's doing and tends to advance people who she knows are loyal to her without considering whether they're capable of doing the job assigned to them. Plus, she seems to invite ill-will with her snarky comments to people who are actually her allies. To add to her troubles she also develops a dependence on alcohol.
Cersei's brother Jaime, however, redeemed himself in book three and continues behaving in a more honorable way throughout book four. When Cersei sends for him to defend her honor in a duel, he refuses. Meanwhile, Brienne, who was loyal to Catelyn Stark, is wrongfully hanged and Arya joins a group of assassins called the House of Black and White. However, Arya's former identity keeps reasserting itself and eventually forces her to kill someone. In punishment, she is made to drink a glass of warm milk and wakes up blind the next morning.
A Feast for Crows does not feature Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen or Jon Snow who were regulars in previous books but their stories are told in the next book, A Dance with Dragons. The events of the two books take place during the same time period but in different places.
George R.R. Martin (or
GRRM as he is affectionately referred to by many of his fans) was born in 1948 in Bayonne, NJ. He always knew he wanted to be a writer and would make up stories even when he was a child, selling them for pennies to help out his family which lived in the projects. He wrote a few novels to begin with, which were successful, but his fourth novel flopped and he turned from fiction writing to screenwriting for television. He was involved in the Twilight Zone remake in the 1980's and produced Beauty and the Beast, after which he returned to writing fiction and brought us A Song of Ice and Fire, the first two books of which series have been made into the HBO show A Game of Thrones. A Feast for Crows was the first of this series which opened at the top of the NYT bestseller list.
This audiobook is narrated by British actor Roy Dotrice, Tony Award Winner for Best Performance in a Play. Dotrice narrates all the "Song of Fire and Ice" books in the collection.
It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears …
With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.
But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.
It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes … and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.
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