REVIEW: Feast For Crows

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) by George R.R. Martin
Published: October 2006 by Bantam

Genres: Epic/High Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Adult

Pages: 976 pages

Format: Paperback
Rating: 9/10 
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. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Game of Throne's spoilers are almost a given now with our social media. I hate spoilers, so I avoid searching up anything to do with Game of Thrones online. Even browsing Maisie Williams (the lady who plays Arya) on Twitter can result in some major spoilers. Speaking of spoilers, there will be quite a few in the text that follows. Beware! Spoilers are coming!

(Disclaimer: This is a rant/review, without too much structure. It's more of my thoughts all bundled up in the form of a review.)

So, I went straight from Storm of Swords to Feast For Crows and can you imagine my surprise? There were some changes; In font, in layout, in typeface, ugh, oh, change. So basically, George R.R. Martin decided that instead of splitting the story in half, and leaving the story unfinished, he would finish the story of half the characters. It was quite the change. I dealt with it, though. And it was worth it! The book was magnificent. In Feast for Crows we focused more on Kings Landing. We focused on Cersei, Jaime, Brienne, Samwell, Sansa, the ladies of Dorne, and, although there was a frustrating lack of her, Arya. Now, Feast here, is known as the worst book in the series. I don't think it's the greatest, no, but I really loved it.

As always, the plot was complex and intricate, the characters were scheming and many-layered, and the setting was rich and immersive. I picked up traces of pro-Feminism as well which is really awesome in an epic fantasy. I'm making a seperate blog post on that, which I will link as soon as it's up.
I personally loved reading from the POV of Arya and Sansa. I know a lot of people will disagree, but Sansa is one of my favorites. I probably relate to her the most, while many people hate her. In Feast, both sisters undergo lots of changes, one of them being that both sisters change their names! Sansa to Alaynne, Petyr Baelish's natural daughter, and Arya to Cat, a street urchin running around Braavos.
 Littlefinger was icky as always, and the amount of times he kisses his "natural daughter" in the mouth is pretty gross. Icky. But, I'll give the man props. He deals with the sickly and whiny Robin and get's Sansa a pretty sweet gig.
I LOVED BEING IN BRAAVOS FINALLY. I want to explore the Free Cities more. I loved Arya's chapters the best. Her remincising about Winterfell, and her fallen household is one of my favorite passages from all the books.

"Winterfell... I smell snow & smoke & pine needles. I smell the stables. I smell Hodor laughing, & Jon & Robb battling in the yard, & Sansa singing about some stupid lady fair. I smell the crypts where the stone kings sit, I smell hot bread baking, I smell the godswood. I smell my wolf, I smell her fur, almost as if she were still beside me." 

And especially Arya's bit about Needle:

Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes

Jon Snow is my favorite character, and the big brother/little sister thing they had going on was one of my favorite parts. Although that happy family part of the story was short, it was sweet. I obviously wished Jon was in Feast more, but we got Sam giving us some updates, and Sam is an absolute sweetheart, so I guess it's okay. 

I hated and loved reading from Cersei. She is literally crazy. She believes she's so smart, and cunning, and I guess she is, but she truly is crazy. Although I hate her character, I was a little sad to see her fall (not death, but I mean, they caught her at her scheming game, so she's pretty much over). Hearing more about her chilling prophecy, childhood, and early marriage life was really great. I felt like I understood this sad little Queen Regent's life better. Her character is so fascinating to study. From her gruesome nightmares, to her outlandish schemes.

I loved Brienne and her travels with Pod and the rest of them. She's one awesome lady. I definietly felt for her. From the "contest", to her failing Catelyn and Renly, to her own ways of coping with her uncomely stature, I felt for this lady. Her story makes me so sad. The fact that people treat her so terribly. But it also makes me feel empowered. She's so strong and awesome and I love her. 

Jaimie's chapter's were a little more dull, but Jaimie's voice is one of my favorite ones. I mean, he's the Kingslayer, he's supposed to be all tough and strong. But reduced to being a cripple, he's lost a ton of respect. I love Jaimie because he doesn't want to be King! He doesn't want power, or money! He just wants to be able to kill stuff with his sword, and to love the woman he loves (which is Brienne. Not Cersei. BRIENNE!). 

Overall, this was a giant rant/review, but I love this series so much. It keeps me up at night, wondering what's happening in Westeroes. The sheer quality of the storytelling that comes from Martin is amazing.