Paperback: £ 8.99
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Frequent readers of my blog and tweets will know that I am a huge, huge, huge, huge, HUGE fan of Mr Martin and The Song of Ice and Fire. You guys will no doubt feel for me when I say, this part of the epic tale has left me distraught. It is nothing, that's right NOTHING on the other parts!! GEORGE WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??
I will admit it now, I am probably saying it's pants as I'm comparing it to the other volumes, and particularly Storm of Swords parts 1 and 2 which totally blew my mind! There are many many new POVs which I thought would rule, but alas they did not. Some of the new POV characters only cropped up once and George kept repeating the shittest one of the lot (I won't say who as it may spoil) all the time. This particular POV was so so so so so slow moving and tedious that I wanted to give up and skip those chapters! So very unlike me! I really missed two of the usual POVs (again no spoilers) and the book really missed a certain something for me by not including them.
There is a lot of politics in this part and not all that much action (in comparison anyway). The action is what I have come to love about this series. The politics is pretty important though and hugely integral I'm sure. Also, the politics does indeed provide a lot of background to what has happened and why things are happening. OOO, another point, and a good one this time! The use of more old timey lang was more consistent here and I didn't get that annoyed at modern interjections at all as they were few and far between! HOORAY!! Also, I bloody love Asha! She is amazing!!!
The last 100 pages or so really picked up the pace and they were the most enjoyable bit of the whole book. Lots of action, some crazy cool twists and some fruition of plans that took BLOODY AGES to develop! OOO, actually I say the last 100 pages were the best bit, I also enjoyed the Prologue. That was pretty cool!
OOOO, another point that may or may not be interesting, and may or may not be true, but I read somewhere (can't remember where now) that George initially intended this part to be set 5 years AFTER the wars in Westeros when the dragons were all big and cool and Dany had conquered, but he chose not to do that in the end as so much would have been missed out and glossed over. Could this have something to do with the fact that there is so much tedium and talking in this part? Maybe part 5 will answer some of these questions for me!
It may be unfair that I am comparing it to the previous ones and therefore saying this book is a bit shitty....but as it is part of a series then I don't think anyone can blame me. None the less, don't let this dishearten you from reading the series and this part. It is obviously needed in the grand scheme of things!
Happy Reading
Book Geek
:-)
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