“Originally, the fourth installment of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire saga was to have been a much longer book but, according to the author, it became "too big to publish in a single volume." Consequently, he decided to break the story up into two parallel novels, separated geographically rather than chronologically. The first novel focused solely on events in and around King's Landing while the second focused on events "along the Wall and across the sea." What this meant was that many of the familiar characters whose adventures we had been eagerly following since the start of the series were disappointingly absent from A Feast for Crows, leaving us with just half a story and many unresolved plotlines. As a result, the novel came across as a somewhat disjointed tale with only a handful of major plot developments to whet the reader's appetite. That said, fewer characters meant that we were able to spend more time with each one and learn more about their backstories. Brienne of Tarth and Samwell Tarly, in particular, were given much larger roles which saw them evolve into major series characters. Hopefully, these fan favourites will continue to be featured in the forthcoming volumes of the series.”
Alan S wrote this review Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
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