Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows

A Feast for Crows, the fourth book of A Song of Ice and Fire, wasn't as aptly named as I maybe expected. The title phrase is mentioned but it was more a promise of things to come rather than any special event.

The novel is notable for its lack of many of the old characters. The story focuses on King's Landing, visits the Iron Islands to see a new king crowned for the ironmen, and introduces the kingdom of Dorne where House Martell rules. Daenerys and The Wall and the people there are ignored. I laughed out loud when after the final chapter George R.R. Martin's explanation for all this follows, titled as MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE WALL...

Viewpoints visit some new characters for only one or two chapters, and I got the feeling they might not return as such in the future. The Wheel of Time often tells the story briefly through minor characters even outside prologues, but I think this was a new thing for ASoIaF. Of course, the characters might be visited again in the future, though maybe not in the next one yet.

Sansa Stark, or Alayne Stone, was for some reason far less annoying this time -- Lord Petyr has a good influence on her, I think. She didn't get to do much other than try to put up with the young Robert (who's doomed to die), however. Sansa's sister, Arya, grew even cooler, though after she killed the defector black brother, she was rewarded with waking up blind. I'd like to doubt that it's permanent. Much use will she be if she can't see anything. Right?

Cersei's fumble attempts at controlling the realm were pretty amusing. Even though she ended up imprisoned and soon to be put on trial, I think her story is not at its end yet. If it goes to a duel before gods again (silly practice, really) that mysterious champion of Qyburn's will surely win the day -- Jaime is unlikely come to Cersei's help. I think the maester has raised the corpse of The Mountain That Moves.

Brienne's escapades were not as interesting to read. At least her story ended finally. Catelyn Stark is really as stupid in undeath as she was in life. I hope Brienne won't be brought back, though. I have seen enough of her already.

Samwell is likewise one of my least favorite characters. You'd think he had lost his fat during the adventures beyond the Wall; spending so much energy every day and getting little back is ought make one slim quickly. And evidently he has indeed lost some weight but is still fat and weak nonetheless. However, there might be some excitement in him starting maester studies.

On a somewhat related note, I always found it odd they call the Night's Watch crows with their all-back attire. Crows here (Hooded Crows) are black and gray. However, after reading Wikipedia, it turned out that American crows are in fact completely black. We have similarly colored crows (Rooks, though we call them "black crows") in Finland, too actually, but I've never seen them this far north. There's also the fully black carrion crow that habits Western Europe instead of the hooded one. I guess crow is a good name for a man of the Night's Watch after all when looking at it from Martin's perspective.

I wonder if that horn the ironmen have can really charm dragons. If it does, Daenerys might be in trouble. I  have a feeling the Iron Fleet will be arriving at her doorstep soon; the next book is called A Dance with Dragons after all. I also think that the very dragons will be most important in defeating the coming winter as well. I actually thought about that already while reading the second novel and now maester Daemon very much confirmed my guess. A song of ice and fire, indeed.

Now I need to get the fifth book from my sister. After I've read that, though... I guess it's back to The Wheel of Time. Who knows when Martin manages to get the sixth part out.

Edited 2021-06-24: Added a note about carrion crow.

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