A Feast For Crows Book Four of A Song of Ice and Fire By George R.R. Martin

A Feast For Crows
Book Four of A Song of Ice and Fire
By George R.R. Martin
Copyright 2007

A Feast of Crows does not pick up immediately where A Storm of Swords left off – at least not for about half the characters. A select few characters see their story advance while the stories of others will have to wait for the next volume in the series.

Most of the action centers on King’s Landing and Cersei. Her youngest son, Tommen is now king. He is but a ten year old boy who has a sixteen year old girl betrothed to him. Margaery Tyrell, who was wedded to Joffrey for just a few moments before he died at his own wedding, is still supposedly a virgin and ready to be bedded by Tommen when he reaches the proper age. Until that time, she holds the title of “The Little Queen.”

Queen Cersei rules in King’s Landing. Her brother, Tyrion the dwarf who she believes murdered her son, Joffrey, has escaped the dungeons and murdered their father, the all powerful Tywin Lannister. With no king on the throne, Cersei means to continue her rule. She tries to substantiate her power by having her uncle Kevan Lannister serve as her Hand. Kevan refuses and tells Cersei that he knows the secret that she and her twin brother Jaime share regarding the real parentage of the Baratheon children. Unable to find a suitable hand, she begins to fill her small council with sycophants and cronies who will not challenge her.

Cersei sees her greatest challenge in Margaery who occasionally exerts her will as the rightful queen of Westeros. This makes Cersei paranoid for two reasons. First, the Tyrells are a powerful family and with a Tyrell sitting beside the king in King’s Landing, the already powerful family would grow more powerful. Without a strong matriarch at the head of the Lannisters, their influence will weaken.

Cersei also remembers a prophecy revealed to her long ago by an old fortune teller who tells her that she will be queen, but unseated by one more young and pretty than she. She decides to scheme to discredit the young queen.

She finds a kingdom on the verge of bankruptcy. She immediately stops paying the kingdom’s debts, declaring that all resources must be channeled into the war. The kingdom’s largest debtor is the Faith of the Seven – a religious order who once held military offices within the kingdom before they were stripped of that power. Cersei makes a deal to allow the debts to go unpaid. In exchange, the Faith is allowed to restore its military presence. She hopes to use the Faith and its Maesters to prove that Margaery is not a virgin and has, in fact, committed adultery. She sends Margaery’s brother, the powerful Ser Loras Tyrell on a dangerous mission to take Stannis Baratheon’s stronghold at Dragonhold Keep. Ser Loras and his men take the castle, but Loras is gravely wounded in the battle, giving Cersei one less Tyrell with whom to match wits.

Cersei had hoped to be able to rely on the counsel of her twin brother, Jaime who has returned from the Riverlands with his sword hand gone. Little does she know that Jaime has already betrayed her by allowing Tyrion to escape and sending his mercenary friend, Breanna of Tarth, to find and protect Sansa Stark who escaped King’s Landing during the abortive wedding of King Joffrey.

The brother and sister are estranged when Jaime rises to the head of the Kingsguard. She decides to send him back to the Riverlands to restore order there. Jaime is only too happy to go. With his sword hand gone, he is not taken seriously as a knight. With the only love of his life distrusting him, he has no reason to stay. He looks upon Cersei’s schemes for power as mad and is eager to get out of town.

Both of the Stark girls are on the lamb under assumed names. Sansa is with Petyr Baelish in the Eyrie. Peter is the lord and master of that castle after he weds, then murders the queen there. Sansa poses as Petyr’s bastard daughter and is betrothed to the little, sickly prince Robert who is a petulant, weak child that Petyr is sure will die soon. When that happens, Alayne – as Sansa is now known – will be betrothed to another that will allow her to reclaim the rule of her homelands in the north.

Arya has gone to sea and its up on the island Braavos with a cult of assassins. She poses as a huckster of seafood in the market while learning all she can for her new masters. She is told to shed her old identity of the Lady Arya Stark and develop a new identity. She must divest of all of her worldly possessions, but holds onto her sword, Ice, as a memento of her former life. Cat tries hard to develop this new identity, but has dreams of hunting wolves which keep her in touch with her former identity and former life. When she is unable to let go of Arya, she is fed warmed milk laced with a drug that leaves her blind.

Brienne is searching the Riverlands for Sansa Stark whom she tells people is her sister. She finds Tyrion’s former squire, Poderick, on the lam and he joins her. She also finds one of Renly Baratheon’s knights with whom she served in her former life. They move across the countryside and witness the devastation the war has brought to the kingdom. One night, they check into an inn and are set upon by the Brotherhood Without Banners – a group of renegade former Stark loyalists. Brienne is beaten badly and the group is captured. They are taken before the Lady Stoneheart which is actually the undead Catelyn Stark. Lady Stoneheart sentences them to hang. Each of them are placed on a rope hanging from a tree. Just as Brienne falls, she yells a mysterious word – a word we don’t know about.

A Feast of Crows doesn’t give us any new news from The Wall, but Samwell Tarly makes the journey from The Wall to Oldtown to begin his training as a maester. With him is the girl, Gilly who has a babe with her. When they leave The Wall, Sam believes it is her daughter fathered by Mance Rayder. As they travel, Gilly is inconsolable with grief and Sam figures out that Jon Snow has switched the babes, sending the little prince away from The Wall and the threat of sacrifice at the hands of the red priestess, Melisandre. Maester Aemon is also along for the ride.

As they travel, Maester Aemon becomes ill and is near death. The party is forced to extend their layover in Braavos in hopes he will recover. He does not. Before he dies, he hears the rumors of dragons in the east. He tells Sam that Daenerys is the fulfillment of prophecy and should be crowned queen of Westeros.

Sam eventually makes his way to Oldtown and meets with a maester to pass along Aemon’s final thoughts and to begin his training. He is introduced to another novice named Pate. We know from the opening chapter of the book that Pate is dead, having been double crossed by an as of yet unknown character who covets a key to a special book depository.

The Iron Islands are in chaos without a true leader. A king’s moot is called and the late Balon Greyjoy’s son Euron is crowned – much to the dismay of his brother, Victarion and his sister Asha. They plot and scheme against each other as the two brothers both vie to reach out to Daenerys to wed her and bring her on as an ally. Euron has a secret weapon – a horn that can summon and control the dragons.

In the southlands of Dorne, a scheme is hatched to crown Cersei’s daughter, Myrcella queen of Westeros. Myrcella is currently the ward of Prince Doran Martell. But the scheme is discovered and Doran is forced to punish his daughter, but reveals he has a plan of his own to gain control of the throne.

The book climaxes with Cersei seemingly having all her pieces in place to frame the little queen Margaery put on trial with the newly empowered Faith for adultery. Margaery is arrested and imprisoned in a tower held by the Faith. When Cersei goes to the tower to see to the trial, she finds out that Margaery has done a little scheming of her own. Cersei is arrested for adultery. She sends a desperate message to her brother to come save her. When the message arrives, Jaime crumples it and tosses it into the fire, leaving Cersei to her fate.

Of the first four books in the Song of Ice and Fire series, this was by far the worst and the most tedious to read. Arya has enjoyed the most development and most interesting story so far of any of the characters. With her parked in Braavos, the tale lost something.

Sansa is stationery as well. Sansa’s trials and tribulations at the hands of the Lannisters in King’s Landing kept the reader rooting for her. Her flight from King’s Landing was exciting. Her conspiracy with Petyr Baelish was clever. But in A Feast For Crows, she’s little more than a babysitter for Prince Robert. That makes for dull reading.

I had high hopes for the scheme hatched in Dorne to crown Myrcella. That would have thrown even more chaos into the already crumbling world of the Lannister family. But Martin introduces it, leaves it alone for a few hundred pages, then has it unceremoniously unravel. One can only hope that the otherwise dull storyline unfolding in Dorne will become interesting again.

Cersei’s machinations were the high point of the book. And while the reading of the schemes of the people of Dorne and the Iron Islands was dull, Cersei’s web was complex and interesting. The climax was wonderful and no doubt many readers are eager to see Cersei get hers. The other cliffhangers such as Arya going blind and Brienne left dangling from a noose while uttering some significant single word were clever. While it is a stretch to say that these exciting cliffhangers made wading through A Feast of Crows worth the time, they did make up for a lot of boring storylines.

The problem with the book is it is only half the story. That’s a bizarre statement to make about a book that comes in at approximately 800 pages. But many of the characters we have been following such as Daenerys, Jon Snow, and others do not appear at all. I particularly miss Tyrion. I’m eager to learn his fate.

This is because as Martin was writing A Feast For Crows, it became apparent that the manuscript was too long to be just one book. Another bizarre statement about a man who thinks 1,000 pages makes a book. Rather than tell half a tale about all the characters, Martin opted to tell the whole tale about half the characters.

Martin reveals all of this in a postscript to the book. He tells his readers the rest of the story is coming in about a year. A Feast for Crows was published in 2005. The next installment – promised for the next year – was not published until 2011. I’m not holding my breath waiting for him to finish book six in what will be a series of seven.

A Game of Thrones: Book One of a Song of Ice and Fire

A Game of Thrones: Book One of a Song of Ice and Fire
By George R.R. Martin
Copyright 1996

In 1996, George R.R. Martin embarked on what has become a epic tale of royal intrigue, brutality, sex, and magic. A Game of Thrones was the first book of what will eventually be seven lengthy tomes telling the story of the various families and partisans battling for the throne of Westeros.

The story opens not in a castle, but deep in the woods. A party searching for “Others” is set upon and slain by evil, magical creatures. These men were dispatched from The Wall which we learn guards the northern reaches of The North region of Westeros.

We are then introduced to Eddard “Ned” Stark who is Lord of Winterfell, the largest hold in the northern region. He is overseeing the execution of a man who went AWOL from his lifetime appointment as a member of the Night’s Watch who guard The Wall. He has invited his children to watch the execution to teach them about duty, honor, and the importance of a ruler meting out the justice he prescribes.

On the way back to the castle from the execution, the group comes upon a den of six direwolf pups. The wolf is the symbol of the House of Stark and Ned’s children are each given a direwolf to raise as their own pet.

Ned has six children, but his oldest is a bastard and not in line for the throne. Jon lives in the castle and is treated as a full brother by his half brothers and sisters. However, his father knows he is not an heir to the lordship of the kingdom and Ned’s wife treats him as if he didn’t exist. Jon Snow is determined to leave the house of Stark and become a member of the Night’s Watch.

Shortly after Ned’s return to his castle, he learns that King Robert Baratheon is coming to visit. He plans to ask Ned to assume the position of Hand of the King which is the King’s right hand man. The previous hand, Jon Arryn, died suddenly and seemingly without cause. Arryn was Ned’s brother in law.

King Robert arrives with his wife, Cersei of House Lannister accompanies him with her twin brother and younger brother who is a dwarf. Ned and Robert reminisce about their battles in overthrowing the old king and placing Robert upon the throne. Meanwhile, the Lannisters are up to mischief.

Bran Stark, Ned’s middle son, is a natural climber and enjoys climbing the exterior walls of the castle. One day, he climbs and looks into the Queen’s bedroom window. There, he sees the queen engaged in incestuous sex with her twin brother, Jaime Lannister. Jaime sees the boy and gives him a push from the window. He falls to the ground and is badly hurt. He ends up in a coma.

Before Ned leaves, Lady Catelyn Stark, Ned’s wife, receives a note from her sister, Lysa Tully. Lysa was married to Jon Arryn and claims that the previous Hand of the King was murdered. Catelyn tells Ned who promises to investigate when he arrives at the palace. Ned departs, taking his daughters Sansa and Arya with him, heading south to King’s Landing and the royal palace. Left behind are Ned’s sons, Robb who is the oldest of his children with Catelyn and his heir, Bran who is too badly injured to travel, and Rickon, who is just four years old.

Meanwhile, in the eastern reaches, the last heir of the old king, Viserys Targaryen, is scheming to return to power. He has betrothed his 13 year old sister to Khal Drogo, the leader of the Dothraki horse warriors. The marriage is consummated and Daenerys is pregnant with Khal Drogo’s child. They begin the plot to restore a Targaryen to the throne in Westeros.

Shortly after Ned and the girls depart, there is an assassination attempt on the helpless Bran. His direwolf and his mother thwart the attack and kill the would-be assassin. Catelyn recovers the dagger used in the attack.

Fearing that her husband’s and daughters’ life might be in danger, she decides to travel to King’s Landing by sea. She arrives before her family and consults with her old beau, Petyr Bellish – also known as Littlefinger who now serves as court treasurer. He identifies the dagger from the attack as one belonging to Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf brother of the queen. Catelyn stays in King’s Landing long enough to visit her husband and daughters before heading north by land toward home.

Ned settles into his duties as the King’s Hand. His daughters find their own activities to entertain them. Sansa is very much caught up in the trappings of royalty and is eventually betrothed to the twelve year old heir apparent Prince Joffrey. Arya is very much the tomboy and takes up sword fighting as a hobby.

Ned finds that King Robert is very much an absentee ruler who prefers drinking and hunting to the responsibilities of the crown. Ned is left to run the kingdom and finds time to investigate Lysa’s claim that her brother was murdered. In his research, Ned learns (as Jon Arryn did before him) that Joffrey is not the king’s son, but the child produced from the queen’s incestuous relationship with her twin and therefore not the heir to the throne. Dangerous knowledge indeed for the Lannisters are conspiring to take the throne for their own.

After her meeting with Littlefinger, Caetlyn and her small entourage head back north via land. On their way, they encounter Tyrion Lannister and take him prisoner. Caetlyn is determined to see him punished for the attempted assassination of her son. They head for Eyrie, a distant land of Caetlyn’s birth and where her sister rules.

When they get there, Caetlyn’s sister, Lyssa, is eager to put Tyrion to death because she knows the Lannisters murdered her husband. However, Tyrion demands the right of trial by combat. One of Caetlyn’s own hired men agrees to be Tyrion’s champion. He defeats Lyssa’s man and by law, Tyrion has earned his freedom – the gods having judged him innocent by having survived the trial.

Tyrion’s father, Tywinn Lannister has no love for his undersized son, but cannot allow the affront of the abduction to go unpunished. He declares war and moves his army north toward Eyrie.

Meanwhile, King Robert meets with an unfortunate hunting accident. When it comes time for the heir to assume the crown, Ned makes it known that Joffrey is not the rightful heir. He is arrested and his men are slain. The twelve year old Joffrey assumes the throne as King of the Seven Kingdoms. As his betrothed, Sansa stands to be queen when she and Joffrey are of age to be wed. Arys learns of the plot against her father and flees to his tower to find that he’s been imprisoned. She is now a fugitive, hiding out in depths of the castle.

Ned agrees to plead guilty to treason to spare his daughters lives. Joffrey promises Sansa that he will be merciful. However, when the time comes to pronounce sentence, Joffrey orders Ned beheaded. Sansa is forced to watch as her father is executed and she is betrayed and trapped in the grips of the Lannisters.

Robb, now the lord of his father’s lands in the north, assembles and army and heads south where he meets the Lannister’s army and defeats them. Robb and his allies proclaim him King of the North

While all of this transpires in the south, Jon is on the Wall at the northern reaches of the kingdom. He learns of his father’s death and must decide if he will desert his vowels of allegiance to the forces who guard the wall and help avenge his father’s death. . He leaves but his friends catch up with him and convince him to return. He will soon be a part of a detachment of troops who will venture north from the wall in search of Jon’s uncle who disappeared with his men while hunting the mysterious Others who dwell in the forest beyond.

Renly Baratheon – the king’s youngest brother – decides to pursue the throne since his older brother won’t. He wins the loyalty of the house of Tyrill through an arranged marriage and prepares to march on King’s Landing to seize the throne.

Meanwhile, Daenyrus is very pregnant in the east and about to give birth. Before she does, an attempt is made on her life. To avenge the attempt, her husband, Kahl Drogo attacks Westeros and is wounded. He dies and his men desert to join other armies. Daenyrus is left with few men and women in her army, but still bears the child with the dragon blood whom she deems the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms.

A Game of Thrones ends with the kingdom involved in a massive civil war with several families vying for the throne held by the demented child king, Joffrey who is a puppet for his evil mother and the Lannister family.

Martin spins a complex tale of intrigue, warfare, betrayal, and mysticism. It is written from many points of view and each of the characters – especially the devious Tyrion – are developed wonderfully. One must read carefully to track the shifting loyalties and pay close attention to the maps to understand where each army is located and what their next goal is.

This is not traditional fantasy as fans of Tolkien know it. There is little, if any magic. The dragons are all gone, having been slain by the Baratheons. What emerges is a medieval tale of intrigue rather than high fantasy.

The book was first published in 1996 and did well. Sequels have been published every three years since and they have also sold well. However, when HBO decided to make a television series based on the books, sales skyrocketed and all of the books made the best seller list and the series has emerged as the most popular since Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

In future books, we know that some of our favorite characters are going to die. Martin is notorious for this. I have not progressed beyond the first book, but those who have read the series tell me it is frustrating to see their favorite characters die, but it makes for interesting reading because Martin’s story is so unpredictable and unorthodox.

Complex characters, complex backstories and complex plots make A Game of Thrones one of the finest “fantasy” books I’ve ever read. I look forward to taking in the entire series.