A Feast for Crows is the fourth book as-yet-unfinished A Song of Ice and Fire series, famously adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones. Writing on Facebook, Martin announced that a new illustrated edition is on the way to mark the 20th anniversary of the book's release. Featuring 24 full-color illustrations from Jeffrey R. McDonald, the book will be out on November 4.
A Feast for Crows is the most curious book in Martin's series released so far. It feels like Part 1 of a two-part book that concludes with A Dance With Dragons, which came out in 2011. Originally, the plan was indeed for them to be one book, but Martin wrote too much for that to be workable. So A Feast for Crows covers the journeys of several characters — including Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, and Cersei Lannister — while A Dance With Dragons checks in on characters like Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister, showing us what they were doing at the same time.
A Feast for Crows takes place not long after King Joffrey has died at in King's Landing, King Robb has died at the Red Wedding, and Tywin Lannister was shot on the toilet by his son. It's a messy time in Westeros as everyone struggles to catch a breath while preparing for the next plunge. Here's Martin's description:
"After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it’s not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. At a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors."
A Feast for Crows is a good book, but it has less action and forward mementum than the others. We do get a lot of great contemplative passages, though, like the terrific "Broken Men" speech which was left out of Game of Thrones.
A Feast for Crows is when Martin started to slow down his writing pace, which has led to the current 14-years-and-counting wait for the next book in his series, The Winds of Winter. I'm sure the new edition of Feast will be worth reading, especially for those coming to the series for the first time. I'm sure longer-term fans are more interested in hearing about a first edition of Winds.
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