Thursday, July 28, 2011

A Dance with Dragons (George R.R. Martin)

I have to admit that it's hard to review a book that comes in the middle of a series. You want to be able to share something substantial with your reader but must be cautious enough not to spoil anyone. Had HBO not produced a TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, I probably would have been freer with my thoughts. It has, after all, been years since the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, that any information meant to summarize the previous books for review purposes would not have been deemed too spoiler-y. (Also, who reads reviews of a fifth book when you haven't read the first until the fourth?) But since the TV series has generated new interest in the books, it might be better to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible.

Most of the events in A Dance with Dragons occur simultaneously with the events in AFfC. Mr Martin has always reminded us that AFfC and ADwD were originally meant to be one book but were later separated geographically instead of chronologically. While AFfC focused on King's Landing, the Vale, and Dorne, this fifth volume takes us to the Wall and eastward, to the Free Cities and Slaver's Bay. Mr Martin fleshes out places like Meereen, Astapor, Pentos, and Volantis, among others, so readers have to brace themselves for a new slew of information. I've been pretty geeked out by this series after following it for about fourteen years, so I've always looked forward to exploring more of the Great Eastern Continent but some readers might want to look at this as fair warning.

As with A Feast for Crows, Mr Martin uses A Dance with Dragons to move his characters around like cyvasse pieces. Both the second and third books in this series featured much action amidst the scheming; in this however, there is much more travel involved. Quite understandable: the events that have gripped most of Westeros in A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords have somewhat settled down. Characters in this book are left regrouping and scrambling for position. The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch is faced with making unpopular decisions for the good of the realm. Somewhere, a rebel king's Hand is beggaring for support for his liege. In the east, a queen fights to maintain control of her new kingdom, unaware that powerful men from Westeros are already on their way to win her to their cause. Away from the courts, most of these characters are shown relying on their street smarts and negotiating skills for a means to an end. But though the travel elements in this book are expository, I feel that the gradual pace takes away from some of the high-impact events in the book.

The book features some new (and forgotten) POV characters. I really applaud Mr Martin for Reek's chapters. He is not a character I particularly like but I feel that Mr Martin has turned out a thoughtful and moving character study here. I read his chapters with a combined pity and revulsion, and they certainly didn't want for action either. Same with Jon Snow. Though his chapters may not be as quickly paced as others', they really delve into the man he has become. As readers we really get to see how he thinks and reasons and why he does the things he does. Jon has learned to 'kill the boy' and proves himself a true Stark. The latter half of A Dance with Dragons continues the story of some of the POV characters from the previous book, like Arya, Jaime, and Cersei, signaling that events are finally back on their chronological track. I suppose it was this merge that left me that expecting something big would occur, but in the end, I got more of a 'defining moment' instead of the climax I wanted.

If there's one thing that all these different characters agree on, it is that 'Words are wind.' Prophecies are foretold, promises are made, deals are brokered, but words are worth nothing in the game of thrones. Some of these characters use that to their advantage while others find themselves at the mercy of fate. Whether you're in Westeros or in the East, it is perhaps the only formula for survival. And with that I'll leave you to wonder if your favorite character survives this latest book.

9 comments:

Frida Fantastic said...

Nice review :) What are your thoughts on the expositionary travel and pacing? Is it pretty much at the same level as with the previous book, or is it slower? It seems like the established SF/F reviewers have been giving high praise for this book, while the Amazon rabble has been pretty mixed. I've tended to side with the Amazon rabble with Feast for Crows so I've been kind of eeenh at picking up this book.

dementedchris said...

It could be my biases, but I found this book's pacing much slower. (The introduction of the Martells and Dorne in AFfC was one of the reasons why I actually enjoyed that book; also, I was also getting some kind of perverse fascination with the trainwreck that was Cersei. :P) ADwD has its surprises but the shock factor was lost on me. Maybe that's why I found it slow; most of the time it just confirmed theories being bandied about in sites like Westeros and Tower of the Hand for years. It's still solid, but not the winner that ASoS was for me.

Frida Fantastic said...

That makes sense. Splitting a book by geography and not by chronology takes away quite a bit of surprises, I imagine. Yeah, Cersei going under is pretty fun to watch, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to read more into this particular series. I really hope GRRM doesn't pull a Robert Jordan :P Maybe I should wait until there's another book ready...

dementedchris said...

I was thinking that GRRM's inclusion of some of the characters from AFfC hints that there was something slightly awry with the geographical division (though practical). But I'm still hopeful that we don't have to wait long for The Winds of Winter!

coolbutike said...

I totally agree with you on the Reek chapters. Reading them flipped my world around. I also just want to say...Jaime! :D

dementedchris said...

The Reek chapters were really well-written. It was one of the things I liked about DwD. They made me want to go back and re-read not just the earlier books but also GRRM's other short stories, to recall other perspectives that he's tackled before.

Leki said...

Finally! I went back to read this review, haha. I just finished this a few days ago.

I found AFfC slower than this one, probably because I was getting annoyed that more new characters/POVs were being introduced and it had me consulting the Ice and Fire wiki constantly while reading through the book, just so I could remember how significant these characters were.

ADwD naman, I liked it from the start. Pero by the end, I wanted to tear my hair off. I didn't want to finish this book because I just KNEW something like that would happen and I don't know if I can wait for 2+ years for the next installment! T_T And looking at George R.R. Martin...he's really not getting any younger, please just please finish the series before anything happens.

I agree with the Reek and Cersei chapters. Characters I don't like, but whose POVs were interesting to read. Same goes for Alayne. Wait, now I've gotten the last 3 books confused, hahaha!

dementedchris said...

I love reading the Cersei chapters! LOL. And I know not a lot of people like Alayne, but I've really grown to like her. There's something to be said about the way she's surviving this whole thing. Though she's not as in control of her destiny her siblings, she keeps her head down and recognizes where the wind is blowing. We've seen how people with honor and strong beliefs get cut down in the series and here's a contrasting POV that actually manages to keep her head above water. Na-iintriga ako hehe.

dementedchris said...

You know, Lex, I was thinking why I wasn't as taken with this book as I wanted to be. I think this was the longest I had to wait between books and when it finally came, I was thinking... where's the payoff? I certainly didn't find a substantial amount of it here. Even if I wasn't a fan of the stuff that went down in Dorne, I think I could still excuse the lack of it (payoff) in AFfC because I knew it was an incomplete work. And if ADwD was supposed to be the culmination of that, then it felt a bit lacking. I wasn't even surprised by half of the things GRRM pulled in that one, except for that bit in the end, which I can attempt to draft my own theories on at this point. LOL. Sakit ng walang magawa. I wonder if I'd have the same reaction to it if I had read it so soon after AFfC. I had time to like AFfC. You won't believe how many times I've read/re-read that one while waiting for ADwD. Kaya siguro it grew on me. But I still haven't lost faith in GRRM...