Review - A Dance with Dragons (No Spoilers)

It's been six long years since George R.R. Martin's last entry in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Since that time, he has been the subject of much speculation, both positive and negative. The HBO adaptation of A Game of Thrones certainly helped to thrust the author into the limelight and most certainly helped to broaden his already large readership. It's probably no coincidence that his publisher chose to release the novel soon after the conclusion of the first season of the show. However, through all of this success there have been whispers of uncertainty; people began to suspect that Martin was losing steam, growing tired of writing the series. Doubt was forming - doubt that Martin would be able to wrap up his truly tangled web of intricate storylines.

A Dance with Dragons will not alleviate any of that doubt.

What the fifth novel in the series will do, however, is to continue Martin's tradition of rich prose and stylized writing. Martin weaves a truly breath-taking and vivid world, complete with social, political, economic, and religious undertones that has carried over from his first four books. Westeros and its world are a truly captivating canvas, and Martin paints details to life with the artistry of a master. Fan-favorite characters have returned after an extended wait: we see Tyrion, Danaerys, Jon Snow, and Bran all pick up their stories where we last them, almost 10 years ago. It's good to see these characters back in the novel, especially after A Feast for Crows introduced a slew of new ones that were difficult to relate to.

In terms of pacing, however, A Dance with Dragons seems to fumble in comparison to its predecessors. A lot of time is spent traveling by many different characters, all of them trying to reach places that they inevitably fail to reach. As I read chapter after chapter, I began to wonder - as I did in A Feast for Crows - if perhaps all of these chapters were really necessary. It seemed at times that page after page would pass by without either progression of the plot, or any significant character revelations. Instead, characters would march towards Mereen, or sail towards Mereen. And yet barely anybody actually reaches Mereen. In between all the marching, characters spend a lot of time composing inner monologues commenting on how they're reminded of other places, and new places, or old tales that seem like they ultimately have no bearing on the actual story; while some of these are interesting, they do seem to fluff out a book that seems too long to begin with.

Dance - similar to Feast - is also overly burdened with too many POV characters. For those of you familiar with Martin's series, POV is Point of View. Basically, each chapter is written from one out of as many as 16 perspectives. It's a necessary evil, I suppose, that Martin has been continuously adding perspectives; it's necessary because major POV characters are killed off in almost every novel. However, in A Dance with Dragons, it has become increasingly difficult to care about these new characters' perspectives, and I wonder - again - if they are truly necessary. 

Most stories do encounter a lull at some point, where progression and pacing seem to taper off for a bit. Perhaps A Dance with Dragons is just that - a necessary tedium that sets up the final two novels in the series. Ironically, Dance left me both wanting more and wishing Martin's editors had done a more generous job with their edits. The novel is not as strong as the first three novels, but for any fans of Martin's previous works, it is still a must-read.

Recommended For:
- George R.R. Martin Fans
- Readers invested into the Song of Ice and Fire series
- Historical Fantasy Fans
- Fans of San Guo (Romance of the Three Kingdoms - you know who you are)

Not Recommended For:
- Readers who have given up on the series - Dance will not change your mind.
- Impatient readers - you will most likely not be able to speed read through this novel
- People who think George R.R. Martin is going to die before he can finish the series.

First Impressions - A Dance With Dragons

While several sources have already released reviews for the fifth book of A Song of Ice and Fire, I'm still slowly chugging away at the monster. This is a busy week for me, so I probably won't get a chance to even finish the book this week, much less review it, but I am slowly tackling it. I can offer a brief first impression of what I've read so far, however. Beware: there are some very light spoilers in terms of the novel's structure below, but I won't reveal any plot points yet.

As most fans of the series probably know already, A Dance with Dragons is kind of an interesting book. Rather than being a direct sequel to the fourth novel A Feast with Crows, the timeline actually runs concurrent to the events in Feast, at least for a major portion of Dance. The decision to set up these two books this way came about when George R R Martin was working on a Feast with Crows and discovered it was rapidly becoming much too large and unwieldy than he intended. He did not wish to simply cut his product in half, however, feeling that would have been a tacky and pandering resolution to his problem.

Thus, he reached a decision to split the book by location - A Feast with Crows would contain mainly the stories of the characters located in the South. The characters in the North and across the sea would have to wait with A Dance with Dragons.This decision was a controversial one, and has resulted in Feast being the lowest rated of all of the books on amazon.com - undoubtedly due to the fact that Feast with Crows contained mostly the perspectives of new, unfamiliar characters, or characters that simply did not resonate as well as previous ones did.

Well, all the characters that we missed from Feast are back in full force, and they're just where we left them (almost 10 years ago now). Martin's style remains strong; while the novel is not Harry Potter in that you can not read everything at breakneck speed, if you take the time to sit down and absorb the details and appreciate just how much care Martin has put into his words, you'll get that much more out of the experience.

One thing to note: it looks like that the timelines eventually do catch up in the middle of A Dance with Dragons, not at the end. There are certain characters' chapters that appear towards the end of the novel, who also appeared in Feast. I will say that this particular point irks me a little. Why bother separating the books the way he did, if Feast characters are going to appear in Dance? A bit arbitrary, methinks.

I am enjoying the novel so far. Expect a full review towards the end of next week.

Spotlight: Coming Soon to a Media Outlet Near You - July 2011

We're already halfway through 2011 folks ( can you believe it? ) but there doesn't seem to be any shortage of cool new media to entertain yourselves with - at least not in July. We list a few reasons to be look forward to enjoying life this month, after the jump.

On a side note, did you like the blog's background image for June? If so, I've included a 1920 x 1080 wallpaper below - just click on the image and you should get a full-resolution version. I really liked this background because it suggested a lot of action, but still had enough open space so that it wasn't distracting. Find more wallpapers like this one at www.dizorb.com.

Some People Still Read - Dragon Age: Asunder

Yes, some people still read. Me included (though not as much as I probably should). Sometimes sitting back with a good novel can be more thrilling than watching a movie or playing a game; there's the advantage of being able to see into a character's mind instead of merely watching him do things on screen.

Dragon Age: Asunder is the third book in a series of novels set in Thedas (which btw, stands for The Dragon Age Setting). Yes, Bioware's David Gaider has been tapped to write a third entry in a series of Dragon Age novels. The previous two stories centered on the character of Maric, son of a Ferelden Queen who rebelled against an occupying Orlesian force. In the first title, DA: The Stolen Throne, Maric undergoes trials and tribulations to reclaim his home from the invaders. In DA: The Calling, Maric is given a taste of the Darkspawn threat, and is called upon by the famed Grey Wardens to help track down one of their own, a Grey Warden that has seemingly betrayed his duty.


If you didn't play Dragon Age and have no idea what I'm talking about, then these books are probably not for you. If you did play Dragon Age and are itching to find out just a little bit more about the stunning lore that Bioware has put together for their fantasy franchise, I definitely would recommend that you buy or borrow these books from your local library. The first two novels were set before the events of Dragon Age: Origins and provide an interesting perspective and backstory on some of the events that occur in the game. David Gaider (Lead Writer for Bioware on all the Dragon Age games) weaves an interesting and compelling plot in both stories and while they might not be as intricately woven or designed as "A Game of Thrones," they do a great job of quenching any thirst for fantasy literature you might have.


The plot of Dragon Age:Asunder will detail the separation of the Templar Order from the Chantry, and references events that occur in Dragon Age 2. According to Mr. Gaider, it's best if you play the game first, if you plan to play it at all, as there may be spoilers in the novel. According to a press release issued by Bioware, the story will center on an Orlesian Mage named Rhys, who is accused of various murders within the so-called "heart of Templar Power" within Orlais. If you played Dragon Age 2, you know that the mages and templars of the world do not exactly get along. I won't say much more for fear of spoiling anything, but if you want to know more, I've embedded a video interview with David Gaider (courtesy of Bioware Pulse), where he discusses this upcoming novel. He also shares a bit of advice for aspiring writers and game developers - but don't listen to that; I have enough competition as it is.

;)

You can purchase The Stolen Throne and The Calling via Amazon (Kindle editions available).

Watch live streaming video from biowaretv at livestream.com