A Feast for Crows

by George R.R. Martin
(753 pgs  A Song of Ice and Fire series #4)

I love this series, and it's become the quintessential series for fantasy readers since it began several years ago. But that being said, A Feast for Crows fails to deliver. Maybe Martin is a victim of his own success with this one and it's just that the three previous books were each so fantastic, that this one pales by comparison. Nevertheless, it wasn't what I've come to expect from him.

It's well written, and I'm sure the events that take place will end up being important to the over-arching story of the series. But as an individual book it's missing several important qualities. It doesn't answer any of the lingering questions from the previous book, some of the most important characters in the series (ahem, Tyrion!?) never show up at all, and the book doesn't contain a complete story. All necessary, in my mind, to every book in a series. Especially one that its readers have been forced to wait years in between books.

But it's a testament to just how good the series is, that my frustrations with the weakest of the books so far only makes me that much more excited to read the next one.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆