Which brings me to a solo post for the April edition of This Month's Reads featuring A Dance with Dragons, (Game of Thrones Book 5).
Published by Bantam on Oct. 29, 2013
Genre(s): Fiction, Fantasy, Epic
Format: Kindle
Pages: 1,125
Goodreads
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.
Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.
From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.
George R.R. Martin does it again in the fifth installment of his cult classic hit, A Song of Ice and Fire, more popularly known as the original work for the HBO series A Game of Thrones. This book, even though it was released fifth in the series, picks up after the end of the third novel, A Storm of Swords. The plot in Dance occurs parallel to the fourth novel, A Feast for Crows, profiling the lives and happenings of separate characters than those followed in Book 4. It's difficult to recommend this book if you haven't read those in the series that proceed it, but let it be known that the twists and surprises that occur prior to the beginning of this book are nothing compared to what happens inside... ALSO.... I feel obliged to warn that only 3 episodes into the current season of the HBO show, I am completely and utterly deterred and can no longer consider the two of the same entity. Read these books. They are 500 x better. (Rumor has it, Martin will release the 6th book this Fall/Winter!!! Eeeek!!)
