A Dance with Dragons

The book needs no introduction or review. Although George Marting didn't write a book that people wanted him to write, the plot, the character journey are as good as they were in The storm of swords (my favourite book of all time). Given the groundwork, he has done in Feast and Dance it will be very difficult to write a poor Winds of Winter. I am patiently waiting for it to be published.Now, as usual, the packaging was not up to the mark. The corners of the hardcover were bent and there was a slight tear on the spine (which I have fixed by glueing a white paper). I didn't replace it because I wasn't expecting any better and I wasn't prepared for a protracted dance with the seller (who are no less formidable than a dragon). Amazon and many sellers are afflicted by the strange inability to realize that a 1.6 kg book can't be shipped without proper packaging.Finally, even though my experience with the shipping was less than ideal. I would recommend the hardcover edition wholeheartedly to any reader of A song of ice and fire.

Comincio a pensare che probabilmente non vedro' mai la fine di questa serie, poiche' i tempi di attesa tra un volume e l'altro crescono con progressione aritmetica (2, 3, 5, 6 anni...), e probabilmente un giorno o l'altro anche il buon Giorgione rimarra' vittima di un colpo di scena tipo i suoi (stroncato da un infarto per un hamburger di troppo, colpito da un fan scocciato tramutatosi in bomba umana, etc.), ma non fa niente. La storia e' sempre bella, ci sono uno sproposito di personaggi e POV diversi, ogni tanto qualcuno muore, forse muore, no non e' morto era uno scherzone, si' muore ma dopo un po', oppure non si capisce proprio perche' la situazione e' lasciata in sospeso e lo scoprirete nel prossimo volume, arrgghhhh!!!Scherzi a parte, la qualita' della scrittura e' sempre ottima, in particolare alcuni passaggi ricordano la bellezza delle descrizioni del primo volume (forse il migliore), ho fatto un po' fatica a seguire l'inizio poiche' alcuni di questi personaggi non venivano trattati dal terzo volume (nel 2000!), ma dopo un po' la magia ritorna, e ho dovuto trattenermi per non leggerlo troppo in fretta.

To preface this review, I wanted to inform you that this is a review of the unabridged audio-book version of A Dance With Dragons (ADWD). Every word of the book is read to the listener in an unabridged reading with the actor changing his voice slightly for different characters and using a neutral voice for narration. I have listened to all of a A Song Of Ice And Fire (ASOIF) in audio-book format as I simply don't have time to sit down and read such lengthy novels. I highly recommend this type of "reading" for people who have to commute a lot or spend lots of time working with their hands on mindless tasks (for me this entails renovating my 1850 home and landscaping the backyard).Not wanting to write a spoiler review, let me just say "wow, I did not see that coming!" I think you will be shocked toward the end of the book - I was both saddened and very curious to know more. I can't say more than that without spoiling it. A Dance With Dragons is better than night soil!In regards to how long it took for Martin to write this book, I agree with Brent Weeks' opinion post that George's readers probably shouldn't have to wait almost 6 years for the release of a book, but on the other-hand I can understand why it would take so long to write a book like ADWD. It seems to me the average author takes one to two years to write a book. ADWD is fully twice the length of the average novel that comes out - it is truly epic in both scope and words. In addition, George was working on other books in that time-frame as well as dealing with the HBO adaptation of A Game Of Thrones. With these considerations, I see how it could take between three and six years to write the sequel (or in this case parallel) to A Feast For Crows (AFFC). Still, I just wish it didn't have to take that long. Now that the initial push with HBO is done, with all the publicity and now Hollywood behind him, and a horde of new fans bugging him, I think we can expect to see the next book in the Song coming along within two years - but really, who am I to say?All that out of the way, now onto the meat of the review. ADWD is an exquisitely written gritty tale, peppered throughout with colorful terms such as "night soil" pulling its readers a little deeper into George's imagination with every page turned. Simply stated, Martin is just an excellent writer and his huge world is highly organized. The scope is vast with so many plot-lines, sub plot-lines, and side plot-lines keeping the reader entertained and always guessing. His story contains many players - both main and side characters - and you never really know which ones are going to die next. George revisits some of the characters that we didn't see in AFFC just enough to keep us up to date on what is going on in their lives, while he focuses more on other characters and developing their stories more fully. You will find yourself falling in love with characters you hated in previous books, and you will despise some characters even more! George does a great job with getting us to know his characters, understand what is in their minds and hearts, what motivates them and gets them to do the things they do and even why they repent. It is a joy to watch martin break his characters both mentally and physically as he does it so fantastically. George really knows how to tell a tale and ADWD will leave every epic fantasy reader satisfied that they got their money's worth.This tale stretches across two continents and really beings to bring the whole story we've been reading thus far together. And the dragons, wow! These are some ferocious beasts. These creatures are not the little dragonlings that were crawling on Daenerys' shoulder on the HBO version of A Game Of Thrones. These creatures are huge behemoths that can spout large gouts of flame effortlessly and endlessly to consume their prey and foes. These dragons are nasty, nasty creatures - there is not much controlling them as they are truly wild beasts.As with the other stories in the Song, ADWD does move along rather slowly compared to many other authors out there. You are however rewarded with richer detail, but not so much as some authors I've read who make you want to skip five pages just to find out what is going on. George balances description with plot very well - perhaps balanced more on the description side, but not too much that he keeps you from wanting to read further. It is a page turner and you won't want to put it down.The only true downfall I can put on this book is that it is actually only half of a story. A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons are mostly written parallel to one another as the scope of the series has become so vast, Martin simply can't capture a section of a timeline in one book. While I knew this before I even started ADWD, I ended up missing my favorite characters like Samwell, Brienne, and of course Jaime. We do catch snippets of them, but I miss reading them especially after we've been waiting more than 5 years. ADWD and AFFC being the whole of a single book also begs the question, will ASOIAF be eight books long now (previously the series was estimated to be 7)?George seems to be holding true to his philospohy that evil always triumphs over good, chaos over order, falsehood over truth, and darkness over light. But as always he leaves the door open just a crack so that at the end of this series (however long it may be) the good guys could still possibly win out and may indeed triumph. But time is running out. Winter is here. It is a fact that can now be seen even on the Dothraki Sea. Are the dragons going to be the power that defeats the mysterious god of ice we've barely heard mention of? Who is Varys actually working for? Lots of questions arise from reading ADWD and hopefully they will begin to be answered in the next book.Recently ADWD was voted on goodreads.com to be the best fantasy novel of the year by readers like you and I. This is definitely deserved. I voted for Patrick Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fear and even after having finished ADWD I would not change my vote. It was a tough year for Pat going against George. I am sure Wise Man would have won had there not been the media hog (deservedly so) that ADWD has become because of HBO. I'd bet 80% of the votes for ADWD would have gone to Rothfuss had ADWD not been in the running, putting it probably on the top, closely contested with Erin Morgenstern's breakout novel (which is definitely now in my to-read list). But those are the breaks - they WERE released the same year and even if both ADWD and TWMF are excellent stories deserving of the number one spot, "there can be only one"! I am very happy to give A Dance With Dragons 5 out of 5 stars!

"A Dance with Dragons" is the fifth installment in George R.R. Martin's epic "A Song of Ice and Fire, but in reality it is the second half of "A Feast for Crows" (2005) covering the same period of time as that book, but with different characters. Both volumes begin following the events of "A Storm of Swords" (2000), but after "Dragons" catches up to the end of "Crows" in terms of chronological time, the story moves forward again. "Dragons" features the ongoing stories of Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, among many other characters: Jon is now the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but he has many foes both within and without the Wall and Castle Black; Tyrion's situation goes from bad to worse as he tries to make his way to Daenerys with only his wits (and far too ready tongue) to aid him; and Daenerys herself is more or less trapped in the former slave city of Merreen, where her dragons are growing and becoming more ferocious by the day.... This is not a book the you can just pick up without having read all of the previous volumes, and even those of us who have been following GRRM's epic cycle might be forgiven for having forgotten some key events in the 11 years since "Swords" was published. There's a great deal of violence and despair in this volume, as in the previous ones, and sometimes it's a struggle to remember why we love these books, as they become more and more bleak. But of course, it's GRRM's writing and storytelling style that keeps us coming back for more; I just hope, along with his millions of fellow fans, that we won't need to wait another six years before "The Winds of Winter" arrives! Highly recommended, but you really have to start with "A Game of Thrones" (unlike the recent television series, the book's title does include the indefinite article), and carry on from there.

Aufgrund der vielen negativen Bewertungen habe ich fast ein wenig Angst davor gehabt mit dem fünften Band zu beginnen. Doch meine Sorgen waren nicht berechtigt, so wie es all die negativen Stimmen meiner Meinung nach auch nicht sind. Aber eins nach dem anderen.Viele Schreiben, dass in diesem Band nicht viel passiert ist. Ich bin eher der Meinung, dass nicht viel von dem passiert ist, was man erwartet hat. Die Geschichte ist vielleicht nicht ganz so weit vorangeschritten, wie es hätte sein können, aber dafür ist sie um so mehr "in die Breite gewachsen". Es kamen neue Charaktere hinzu, die aber nicht wahllos irgendwo rangeklatscht werden, sondern sich nahtlos in den bisherigen Verlauf einfügen. Ich habe mir überlegt, warum man das Gefühl hat, dass die Geschichte nicht vorangeht, und ich denke, das liegt größtenteils daran, dass die Geschehnisse im fünften Band zu 2/3 oder so parallel zu denen im vierten Band verlaufen. Es war wie ein Puzzle, welches man zur Hälfte zusammengesetzt hat. Man erkennt schon das Motiv und verliert das Interesse daran, weiterzumachen. Dieses Band schafft es nun, all die Löcher im Puzzle zu flicken. Auch hat man endlich was von all den Menschen gelesen, die im vierten Band nicht vorkamen. Warum finde ich dieses Buch, genau wie die Bände davor, so gut?1) GRRM schafft es wie kaum ein anderer den Leser zu überraschen. Es gab einige Stellen, an denen von einem Satz auf den anderen etwas passierte, wonach ich einfach nur baff war. "What the f..." dachte ich mir nur. Aber so ist SoIaF.2) Die Story ist wirklich GROß! So viele Charaktere, die sich an den unterschiedlichsten Stellen der Welt befinden, und doch hängt alles zusammen.3) Es gibt auch hier kein schwarz und weiß. Die Guten sind nicht unfehlbar, die Bösen nicht nur böse. (da gibt es wohl Ausnahmen)Wenn man sich die Bewertungen so ansieht, dann hätten viele es wohl gern, wenn die Helden mit wehenden Fahnen und am besten noch auf Drachen geritten nach Kings Landing kommen,die bösen Lannisters vertreiben, dann noch einen kurzen Abstecher in den Norden zur Mauer machen und dort die Anderen vertreiben. Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute...DANN hätte man aber gleich in Storm of Swords Schluss machen können, mit einem abgewandelten Ende. Wer sowas lesen möchte, der möge zu Herr der Ringe oder Eragon oder zu 95% aller anderen Fantasy-Bücher greifen. Da weiß man nach dem ersten viertel, wie es ausgehen wird... Und damit komme ich zum nächsten Punkt, warum ich diese Bücher so liebe: Ich habe nun fünf Bände gelesen, und es ist überhaupt nicht klar, wie es nun enden wird. Jedes mal, wenn ich mir überlege, wie es weitergehen könnte, passiert irgendwas tiefgreifendes, das mich all meine Theorien über Bord werfen lässt.Am Ende wurden noch einige Stränge lose gelassen, sodass man sich was für die Fortsetzung erhoffen kann. Ich denke auch die Freunde von Action werden da ausgiebig zum Zuge kommen. Ich freue mich schon auf den nächsten Band!