Tag Archives: War

Spoiler Edition: A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5)

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Synopsis:
Tyrion becomes a slave, Dany pines for Daario while marrying someone else, her dragons eat children and incinerate a prince, Jon Snow upends 8000 years of tradition, a couple of no-goodniks get baked into a pie, Stannis can haz teh dumb, Theon Greyjoy lives the worst version of a Lifetime movie thanks to the Bastard of Bolton, Arya kills time, Ser Barristan the Bold displays mad skillz, Davos is not dead, Victarion rows his boat, Asha picks the wrong fort to defend, Cersei and Jaime don’t get back together, everyone eats something called “neeps” and Bran turns into a tree.

Review:
My second read of A Dance with Dragons was the audio version, narrated by the no-longer-incomparable Roy Dotrice. Unfortunately, he turned Daenerys into a ninety-year-old Irish crone and gave Cersei almost the same voice as Tyrion. But I forgive him because he still brings incredible thespianship to his reading and I was definitely excited to take any chance I could get to listen.

Many have complained that Dance is just A Feast for Crows part two, complete with aimless wandering and annoyingly resurrected characters. However, I forgive Martin, too. I am too invested in this world to give up now. When we get to the end is when I’ll decide if it was worth it. For now, I’ll just assume that it is.

Oh, and I am in love with A Podcast of Ice and Fire.

A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5)

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Synopsis:
You really need to read the first 4 books.

Review:
I have never anticipated a book the way I anticipated A Dance with Dragons, not even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This will be a spoiler-free review. I plan to listen to the audio book next month and that review will be spoiler-filled.

I was thoroughly entertained and satisfied by the book, and loved what happened in the new POV characters, especially Reek. I am impressed by Martin’s manipulative abilities–he is in such control of the reading experience and I love him for it. I loved the Cersei chapters, wanted one more Jaime chapter and was sad that another A Feast for Crows POV was missing from this one. I was totally wrong about the identity of the Ghost in Winterfell. I felt like I was tracking everyone’s location throughout Westeros, the North, Slaver’s Bay, and the Free Cities, which is a testament to Martin’s abilities. I’m also grateful for the hard work of the folks at Tower of the Hand for all their essays that helped me keep all of the houses and politics straight going into the book.

Very happy and very sad right now…

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Book 2)

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Synopsis:
Mistborn Vin and her lover the scholar-king fight to carve out a new society in the wake of the end of the thousand year reign of the Lord Ruler, but enemy armies amass on their city, and Vin herself becomes haunted by an ancient prophecy.

Review:
I honestly don’t know why I like these books so much. Brandon Sanderson is a pretty terrible writer and his characterizations are pretty thin. But I really love what he has created in Vin, a street urchin with the ability to burn metals inside her body to give her extraordinary powers. Even though she’s pretty much a superhero, she’s not invincible or invulnerable, and Sanderson does a good job of conveying what her efforts cost her.

Well of Ascension ends with a cliff-hanger that pretty much guarantees that I’ll be listening to the next book when it comes out.

A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4)

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Synopsis:
The aftermath of the war of the 5 kings leaves Westeros in decay and despair, with Cersei the scheming queen and her twin brother the Kingslayer watching all they dreamed of shatter into pieces.

Review:
So I totally boycotted the audiobook for A Feast for Crows because the good folks at Random House didn’t think we’d care that they couldn’t make it work with Roy Dotrice. I couldn’t stand to listen to anyone else voice Jaime’s distinctive Lannister lilt, or Samwell Tarly and Brienne of Tarth’s harsh consonants. Good thing Tyrion the Imp is lost somewhere in the Free Cities or beyond because imagining some other actor try to do justice to his acid turns of phrase just gets me mad.

I remember we all felt disappointed when this first came out, mainly because it didn’t have any of the stars. No Jon Snow, no Daenarys Targaryen, no Tyrion Lannister. Instead we were disappointed to find POV chapters from Brienne, the Maid of Tarth, a hideous horse-faced woman who wants to be a knight, and Samwell Tarly, the fat and craven man of the Night’s Watch who cowers and whines. Arya and Sansa appear but don’t do much except move from place to place. And then there were the new POV chapters with random characters who haven’t played into things until now, whose stories felt like filler, like so many pieces being shuffled into place for the real story.

But having reread (via Audible and the incomparable Roy Dotrice) the first 3 books, knowing that the 4th was going to go in a different direction, I paid attention to Brienne and Samwell and the Greyjoys and the Martells. And so in rereading this book 4 I discovered that there was way more story there than I’d given it credit for. I noticed for the first time the depth of the connection between Brienne and Jaime Lannister, and my curiosity about the differentness of the Greyjoys was whetted. And a lot of the Beric Dondarrion stuff went over my head the first time so all of that was much more satisfying this time around.

Perhaps having a better map in my mind of the characters helped. Listening to the audiobook forced me to pay attention to the character names in way that is hard to do when you’re engrossed in a story. Everything stuck more completely. I tracked the Freys and Lord Roose Bolton, could tell the Kettleblacks apart, and fully appreciated the meaning of valar morghulis and valar dohaeris. I’m beyond ready for the next book.

And hey! George RR Martin announced that A Dance With Dragons will definitely be on the shelves in July! As soon as they post the Kindle format I’m pre-ordering it so I can have it same day.

A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3)

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Synopsis:
The war of the Five Kings heats up, with intrigue, conspiracy, regicide, betrayal, and black magic abounding.

Review:
First of all, I am outraged beyond belief that Random House couldn’t get Roy Dotrice to perform the audiobook version of fourth installment of this series. It’s breaking my heart that I can’t continue listening to his incomparable narration. His work is masterful, bringing all the intensity of the plot and subtlety of the characterizations to life. It’s really depressing to me.

A Storm of Swords is book three of a proposed 7-part series. As most fans know, it remains to be seen whether the series will be completed, which is a source of great stress. However, I’m all for George RR Martin taking as long as he needs to complete A Dance With Dragons (book 5). This second encounter with the series is proving to me how deeply layered his work is. He stints on nothing. If he needs time to get it right, so be it.

The emotional impact of the key sequences in the story–the Red Wedding in particular–are all the more heightened because I know they are coming and I can see how Martin is preparing the way for the devastation. I’m also able to track the characters so much more easily because the names are familiar to me.

I remember loving Sansa so much the first time through. This time, I’m loving Samwell Tarly in a big way. He’s such a great character, so brave despite his protestation of cravenness.

Traitor’s Gate by Kate Elliott (Crossroads, Book 3)

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Synopsis:
The conclusion to a trilogy about a world at war.

Review:
If I were not the exhausted mother of two small children, perhaps I might be inclined to spend more time writing about Traitor’s Gate. But as it is, I am bummed that I spent my precious reading time on a trilogy with such a lackluster conclusion. I just really feel like I wasted my time.

Clash of Kings by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)

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Synopsis:
With four kings fighting for control of Westeros and a dragon queen rising in the south, the scattered children of the executed traitor Eddard Stark try to survive the perils of civil war.

Review:
Continuing to love re-reading this series. I am just so in love with the complexity that Martin brings to his characters and the world. Yes, A Clash of Kings gets really dark, but the second time around I noticed how much hope he puts into the story. Martin is a master of structure and pacing, and I wish his imitators would learn how to infuse their works with as much depth as he does.

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)

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Synopsis:
Political powers battle for control of the Iron Throne, while to the north supernatural powers threaten, and in the south a dispossessed royal begins to raise an army.

Review:
I wanted to reread Game of Thrones before the HBO series launches in April, and decided I’d give the audiobook a try. I am so glad I did. The narrator, Roy Dotrice, not only has a magnificent voice but sets all of the characters apart from each other. He’s just amazing.

As for the story, well, it’s just as captivating as I remember, perhaps even more so because I know where Martin plans to take the characters (at least as far as book 4 of the planned 7-part series). I definitely got a lot more out of it because I knew to pay attention to seemingly minor figures like the Hound and Renly Baratheon.

And because I wasn’t caught up in the “what happens next” suspense, I could really enjoy the big set pieces, like the Hand’s tourney and the battles seen through Tyrion’s and Catelyn’s eyes.

I am so excited for the HBO series. Have you seen the 10-minute extended look?

The Year of the Warrior by Lars Walker

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Synopsis:
Captured by Vikings, Aillil escapes slavery by claiming to be a priest, and despite his practical atheism finds himself doing God’s work as the brave, noble hersir Erling Skjalgsson tries to bring order to the violent world of 10th Century Norway.

Review:
The Year of the Warrior is a prequel to Lars Walker‘s more recent West Oversea, and actually comprises two novels. I think it would be best to read them in order, but all three books are so excellent and stand so well on their own that it doesn’t really matter.

What Walker does so well is to integrate Aillil’s spiritual journey into the action-packed political intrigue and warfare that dominates the plot of the book. Aillil wants nothing to do with God or Jesus when he’s captured, and in fact has a number of encounters with the pagan deities and powers that live quite near the surface in his new home in Norway. His coming to faith doesn’t happen easily, and even after becoming a “real” priest his questions and doubts do not end. There is so much spiritual wisdom packed into these stories that they’re valuable to the struggling believer, and yet there’s so much excellent plot and action that you can’t accuse Walker of being preachy at all.

I wish this book were more widely available. It really is a hidden treasure. If you like historical fiction, you are likely to really love this book.

Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood

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Synopsis:
A fictional account of the invasion of Saipan in the south Pacific during WWII as told through the eyes of a native boy and his half-Japanese cousin.

Review:
For the history-buff teen, Warriors in the Crossfire is one to check out. Meticulously researched and well-plotted, author Nancy Bo Flood makes a forgotten incident from WWII come alive with poetic imagery and no shortage of action and adventure.

For me, personally, it didn’t grip me as much as I wanted it to, but war stories in general aren’t really my thing. I did feel like I learned something about history and certainly appreciate Nancy Bo Flood’s high quality writing. I’ll be passing this one on to a bookish 10-year-old and her YA-aficionado mom.

Be sure to check out the trailer as well as the other bloggers on the tour:

Whispers of Dawn
Cafe of Dreams
The Hungry Readers
My Own Little Corner of the World
KidzBookBuzz.com
Reading is My Superpower
5 Minutes for Books
Becky’s Book Reviews
Fireside Musings
My Utopia

Many thanks to Front Street for the review copy.