A Feast for Crows
George R. R. Martin, 2005
★ 4.18 from 817.3k ratings on Goodreads
Fantasy Science fictionMystery, thriller & crime
After a war of kings, the survivors divide the wreckage—and queens, outlaws and broken men get their turn. The mood is heavy with power, dread and grief, and the pace is slower, carried by many voices and a wide view of war’s wreckage.
Feels like dread, grief and unease. About power, war and family.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy patient political fantasy, deep character work and seeing a world widen beyond its main heroes. Be warned that readers often find this volume slow, with favorite viewpoints missing and many new perspectives to track.
Why read it
It shows what follows victory: damaged families, rival claims and ordinary people living among the ruins. The deeper character work gives the series a darker, more intimate turn.
A page from the book
Grief arrives first as the hole a lost tooth leaves behind.
No, that cannot be. That is not the way a lion dies. The queen felt strangely calm. She remembered the first time she had lost a tooth, when she was just a little girl. It hadn’t hurt, but the hole in her mouth felt so odd she could not stop touching it with her tongue. Now there is a hole in the world where Father stood, and holes want filling. What readers say
Readers are sharply divided: many are frustrated by the slow pace, missing favorite viewpoints, and too many new perspectives, while others enjoy the deeper character work and expanded world.
George R. R. Martin.The book was split from a larger manuscript: Martin divided the characters by geography, sending the North and Essos to A Dance with Dragons and leaving the south to this volume.
Books that feel like this
More by George R. R. Martin
A Clash of Kings
George R. R. Martin, 1998
Five kings claim one throne. In the capital, the cleverest man alive has been handed the job of defending it.
A Storm of Swords
George R.R. Martin, 2000
For the prologue alone: a frozen conspiracy, a migrating people, and a steward sharpening a grudge.
A Dance with Dragons
George R.R. Martin, 2011
Exiled and out of gold, Tyrion Lannister crosses the narrow sea into a merchant's manse, where his wit is the only thing he still owns.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is A Feast for Crows for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy patient political fantasy, deep character work and seeing a world widen beyond its main heroes. Be warned that readers often find this volume slow, with favorite viewpoints missing and many new perspectives to track.
- What is A Feast for Crows like?
- The mood is heavy with power, dread and grief, and the pace is slower, carried by many voices and a wide view of war’s wreckage. Feels like dread, grief and unease. About power, war and family.
- What should I read after A Feast for Crows?
- If you liked A Feast for Crows, try Morning Star (Pierce Brown), Dune (Frank Herbert) and Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins).
A taste of the feed
Everything is cracked except the moments that make it worth it.
I breathe in the full scent of her. If it ends tomorrow or in eighty years, I could breathe her for the rest of my life. But I want more. I need more. I tilt her slender jaw up with my hand so that she’s looking at me. I was going to say something important. Something memorable. But I’ve forgotten it in her eyes. That gulf that divided us is still there, filled with questions and recrimination and guilt, but that’s only part of love, part of being human. Everything is cracked, everything is stained except the fragile moments that hang crystalline in time and make life worth living.
Morning Star · Pierce Brown
What to say to yourself when fear arrives and will not leave.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Dune · Frank Herbert
What it costs to stop believing your own species deserves to survive.
I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despite being one myself. I think that Peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences.
Mockingjay · Suzanne Collins
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