Review of "A Feast for Crows" by George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin has stated in numerous interviews, like a granddad to children, that in writing stories he likens himself to a gardener rather than architect.  Letting stories grow as nature would have it, sticking to detailed plans is not his forte.  A more dynamic process than adhering to a blueprint, the first three novels of A Song if Ice and Fire bore all of the fruit of this mindset.  In A Feast for Crows, fourth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, the foliage proves verdant.  But too heavy?

A Game of Thrones caught up with a kingdom which had not quite put behind it a major change in power; A Clash of Kings set the new powers at one another's throats in massive clashes; and A Storm of Swords picked up the multitude of aftershocks in the aftermath of the battles.  The latest installment, A Feast of Crows, sees the kingdom trying to pick itself up from the ground.  

It should be noted that A Feast for Crows is a tandem novel.  It tells of only half of events in the Song of Ice and Fire world.  It sticks to Westeros, with two characters making forays to the eastern lands.  Specifically, King's Landing, Dorne, the Riverlands, and the Iron Islands are the focus.  Readers hoping for Jon Snow on the The Wall, Dany in the East, Tyrion's fate after A Storm of Swords, etc. will need to wait for A Dance of Dragons.  

A Feast for Crows sees Martin adding and adapting to his garden.  He makes space for more growth (i.e. new character points of view), and expands readers' views to certain locations in a new way.  While Arya, Jaime, Sansa, and other familiar characters receive treatment in alternating chapters as Martin has done throughout the first three novels, he takes a new approach for character points of view located in Dorne and the Iron Islands.  Rather than multiple chapters featuring the same character, Martin instead writes one chapter per character from a location, in turn allowing for multiple points of view to a situation as it evolves.  In the Iron Islands, for example, readers are treated to one chapter from each of the three people vying for Balon's throne in the wake of his death in A Storm of Swords: Asha, Victarion, and Aeron.  

Given A Feast for Crows role as a tandem novel, it opens readers' doors to potential - potential - disappointment.  Where each of the three prior novels found excellent niches on which to end - closing urgent storylines while leaving wider storylines open for the next volume, A Feast for Crows ends in more open fashion.  It is clearly a bridge novel.  The character arcs have less curve.

But for that, A Feast for Crows is no less enjoyable.  The new character points of view, for example Cersei and Brienne, prove engaging, and the evolution of events in Westeros take a new direction, one that is natural given prior events and intriguing for its implications for the state of Barratheon/Lannister rule.  But mostly enjoyment exists in the fact Martin's style of storytelling remains in top shape.  Certainy the novel took more time than preivous novels to come to print, but when read back to back with A Storm of Swords there is no drop in quality. 

In the end, George R.R. Martin serves up another full course Song of Ice and Fire meal with A Feast of Crows.  Exposing hereto unexplored areas of the map, including Dorne and the Iron Islands, as well as the afore-mentioned character viewpoints, the food remains tasty.  For readers hoping Martin would stick to the well-tended group of main characters introduced in A Game of Thrones, A Feast for Crows sees the biggest departure, and therefore may be disappointing.  For readers, however, who are enjoying the world and characters Martin has created, the expansion of his garden, with new flowers and fruits, will be engaging, and if anything adds to the quiet but building sense of climax that everyone knows is coming: Dany's return to Westeros to retake her throne, but how and with or without who?  Also, what will be the state of Westeros upon her return? Will there be anything there to fight?