Few books have captivated the imagination and won the devotion andpraise of readers and critics everywhere as has George R. R. Martin’s monumental epic cycle of high fantasy. Now, in A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth book of his landmark series, as a kingdom torn asunder finds itself at last on the brink of peace...only to be launched on an even more terrifying course of destruction.
A Feast for Crows
It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears....With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.
But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, 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—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.
It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.
From the Hardcover edition.编辑推荐
From Publishers Weekly
Long-awaited doesn't begin to describe this fourth installment in bestseller Martin's staggeringly epic Song of Ice and Fire. Speculation has run rampant since the previous entry,
A Storm of Swords, appeared in 2000, and
Feast teases at the important questions but offers few solid answers. As the book begins, Brienne of Tarth is looking for Lady Catelyn's daughters, Queen Cersei is losing her mind and Arya Stark is training with the Faceless Men of Braavos; all three wind up in cliffhangers that would do justice to any soap opera. Meanwhile, other familiar facesnotably Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryenare glaringly absent though promised to return in book five. Martin's Web site explains that
Feast and the forthcoming
A Dance of Dragons were written as one book and split after they grew too big for one volume, and it shows. This is not Act I Scene 4 but Act II Scene 1, laying groundwork more than advancing the plot, and it sorely misses its other half. The slim pickings here are tasty, but in no way satisfying.
(Nov.)
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
In the fourth volume of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga,the evil king is finally dead-and trouble is starting to brew.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Martin’s manuscript for
Feast of Crows was so long that his publisher relegated half the chapters to a fifth book due out in 2006,
A Dance with Dragons. With only half the storylines and characters present from
A Storm of Swords (2000),
Feast of Crows should seem thin—but it’s so rich with characters, plot twists, and settings that a few critics thought the novel one of the best in the fantasy genre. Martin renders his characters—would-be queens, outlaws, priests, squires, ladies, and fools—with unusual depth and moral complexity, while placing their personal dramas within the epic sweep of lands lost and won. Though the book stands alone, readers will reap greater rewards by starting with the first of the series,
A Game of Thrones.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips Nelson Media, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
The crow is the traditional scavenger bird of the medieval battlefield, and this fourth volume of Martin's monumental Song of Ice and Fire is appropriately named. King Robert is dead. His widow, Ceris, occupies the Iron Throne, surrounded but not supported by her relatives. Outlaw leader Robb Stark is also dead, and what he has left behind aren't kindred noblemen and -women but warlords and bandit chiefs, all squabbling over the pieces of the Seven Kingdoms that they anticipate grasping. Martin confesses that he could not find room to continue all the characters of the preceding series entries--A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1999), and A Storm of Swords (2000)--and that those neglected here will be seen next year in A Dance with Dragons. Martin's command of English and of characterization and setting remains equal to the task of the fantasy megasaga, which is good because Martin's Song is starting to rival the page count of Robert Jordan's 12-volume Wheel of Time. Good news for readers of robust appetite. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
'Fantasy literature has never shied away from grandeur, but the sheer mind-boggling scope of this epic has sent other fantasy writers away shaking their heads! Its ambition: to construct the Twelve Caesars of fantasy fiction, with characters so venomous they could eat the Borgias' Guardian'Truly epic ! with its magnificent action-filled climax, it provides a banquet for fantasy lovers with large appetites.' Publishers Weekly'I always expect the best from George R.R. Martin and he always delivers A Game of Thrones grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant.' Robert Jordan'George R.R. Martin is one of our very best writers, and this is one of his very best books.' Raymond E. Feist'Colossal, staggering ! Martin captures all the intoxicating complexity of the Wars of the Roses or Imperial Rome in his imaginary world ! The writing is always powerful !' SFX'Such a splendid tale. I read my eyes out -- I couldn't stop till I'd finished and it was dawn' Anne McCaffrey'A Game of Thrones offers the rich tapestry that the very best fantasy demands: iron and steel within the silk, grandeur within the wonder, and charactrs torn between deep love and loyalty. Few created worlds are as imaginative and diverse.' Janny Wurts'George Martin is assuredly a new master craftsman in the guild of heroic fantasy.' Katharine Kerr--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Of those who work in the grand epic-fantasy tradition, Martin is by far the best.... [He] is a tense, surging, insomnia-inflicting plotter and a deft and inexhaustible sketcher of personalities.... This is as good a time as any to proclaim him the American Tolkien.—Time Magazine
The only fantast series I'd put on a level with J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings…. It's a fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don't read fantasy…. If you're new to the series, you must begin with Book 1, A Game of Thrones. Once you're hooked…. you'll be like the rest of us fans, gnawing your knuckles until book 5”—Marta Salij, Detroit Free Press
“THE MOST impressive modern fantasy, both in terms of conception and execution, is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.… A masterpiece that will be mentioned with the great works of fantasy.”—Contra Costa Times
Long-awaited doesn’t begin to describe this fourth installment in bestseller Martin's staggeringly epic Song of Ice and Fire.—Publishers Weekly
Grabs hold and won't let go.It's brilliant.—Robert Jordan
Such a splendid tale and such a fantistorical! I read my eyes out.—Anne McCaffrey
Fantasy fans will feast!—Associated Press
From the Hardcover edition.
作者简介
George R.R. Martin sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally since then. He spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer-producer, working on
The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and
