A Dance With Dragons

So I haven't been able to post in awhile-- since baseball season began, I've been super busy balancing work, school preparations, and life in general!! In all of my downtime, I have either been binge watching Criminal Minds or reading the longest/best book I've ever read.......

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).

A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martion
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!!)

Rating:

Read More

World Book Day: March 5 2015 {NRM Pt. 2}

Of course, I'm late to the World Book Day party in terms of posting, but don't worry at all- I was sure to celebrate the beautiful Thursday by listening to my audiobook while I drove around running errands, reading while I was relaxing before and after work, & I even finished a much anticipated novel: the fourth installment in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Feast for Crows. (That's HBO's Game of Thrones, y'all, and it rocked.)

Since this month of March is so special in honoring books, (and let's be real, I'm not at all concerned about the fact that I am turning this life & style blog into a bookworm blog....sorry?), I am going to write about each book I'm reading as I finish them, rather than a tell-all post at the end of the month like in my This Month's Reads series. What the heck, maybe I'll still post at the end of the month, too!

So...first up:

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
Published by Bantam on Oct. 17, 2005
Genre(s): Fantasy,Fiction, Epic
Format: Kindle
Pages: 1,061
Goodreads

With A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making.

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.

Truly, there is a LOT to be said about this book....IF you've read the first three. But unfortunately, if you haven't, you wouldn't really be too interested in the crazy twists and turns Martin brings forth in this novel. What I will say (both for those of you yet to reach this book/following along with the HBO series) is that things get real in Feast. Martin's Ice and Fire books are known for the structure of character chapter viewpoints...meaning, each chapter is told from the title character's point-of-view. However, in this novel, Martin completely omits half of the series' characters (!!!), barely mentioning them, not writing in their point of view AT ALL. He writes this book focusing on characters in King's Landing, the Vale, Dorne, and Harrenhal. When the book ends, there is a note form the author begging you to relax and understand that the next book, A Dance with Dragons, Book 5, will follow all of the characters that were left out of Feast, occurring parallel in time. It's definitely making Dance an interesting read because I keep having to remind myself that certain things that I JUST read in Feast haven't actually happened, but it works because it allows for major events in each characters' stories to come full circle without the interruption of a split novel. I'm freakishly excited for the show to come back in April, where HBO will pick up with the start of Book 4, albeit in their own way with some changes.

Rating:

Five stars, no doubt, but you must read the first three. I promise they are worth the time and dedication it takes to immerse yourself in the world of Westeros!

Not four days later, I finished another book, so stay tuned for my review of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and other concerns) by Mindy Kaling, coming soon. xo

Read More