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A Song of Ice and Fire (4) - A Feast for Crows (Hardcover)

Unfortunately every series has to have a low point, this book is probably the lowest point of 'A song of fire and ice'. It isn't all bad but it certainly isn't as strong as the previous book (Storm of swords). I'm guessing that if you've made it this far then you are probably an avid fan of the series, given that you'd have to have read the three previous books which is quite a feat.

After the third book you are quite excited for what will follow, you are expecting fast paced action and a lot more secrets to be revealed. Unfortunately, the opposite seems to happen. The characters wander somewhat aimlessly and never seem to achieve any goal, from memory I can only think of one particular on Essos that made any progress in terms of character development. In terms of secrets I somehow expected more about the Wall and the Others to have been revealed in this book, there is some but I was expecting more. Fortunately there is more revealed in the fifth book but I still feel a bit in the dark about the Others north of the wall. Which is interesting given that they feature in the prologue to the first book in the series. Seems like quite a long build up to reveal what they are, and even by the end of the fifth book I wasn't entirely convinced that I understood what they were or what their goals were.

The fourth book has some plot lines that are concurrent with the fifth book. The fifth book starts before the end of the fourth book but it eventually continues past it. The books were written this as both span a vast number of words. Many characters that you know and love from the first three books have been omitted in the fourth book and only appear in the fifth book. It is my opinion that the fourth book follows some of the more boring characters, or the ones I liked least. Again it was a reason why I was anticipating the fifth book, which is a stronger point of the series.