A Feast for Crows

This is probably an unpopular view, but I honestly think A Feast for Crows is the best ASoIaF so far. The titular "feast" is the aftermath of war - both literally, as the crows descend upon the carrion, and figuratively, as some take the opportunity opened to them as the five kings are cleared off the map. It is, indeed, very slow paced. Very little actually happens throughout this book, but that somber, slow tone is so very suitable for the subject matter, and it allows GRRM to take a more ponderous look at the meaning of the events he has described so loftily so far in the series.

This book focuses primarily on events at the heartland of Westeros, with some digressions to Dorne and Braavos - the latter being the least fitting to the general themes of the book (and man, wouldn't that scene between Cat and Sam have been much better if Cat's identity was only revealed in the next book?). Without a doubt, Brienne's storyline is the most powerful of all. More than anything, that is because of the monologues of her companions on the road. The septon's description of the lives of the broken men was downright haunting. This surprised me, given the almost comic relief nature of her storyline in the TV show. I also thought that a book without the big favourites of the books would be lackluster, but now I'm almost wary to continue to the next book without the protagonists of Feast for Crows. At least I won't need to wait six years for it...

The best bits are when a 'lowborn' (a dispossessed) gets the change to point out to a 'highborn' (a privileged) 'this is what happens to us when you lot play your game of thrones'. So universal and timeless.

Now, on with the merciless critique:

Endless lists and descriptions of things that seem to have no relevance for the scene in question, or anywhere else in the book for that matter. Then into the action, which has to be explained by flashback of events that happened in the past, some times interlaced so much with the 'present' that you don't know if you are in the room described or in the fields years ago.

Then the chapter stops in the middle of the action, or in the middle of a conversation, to leave you in a 'cliffhanger'.

The next chapter that will relate to that character will be a few chapters afterwards (or maybe a book later) and will invariably start again with a lengthy description of places, clothes and food, only to start off new action or dialogue months after that cliffhanger, about which you will find out (or not) in between paragraphs relating to current and past events.

However: an accurate depiction of how politics work in real life. Once you get used and over those shortcomings, I see it as a kind of 1984 only set in the past in order to explain how politics - and all human relations for that matter - work. From what I know of History, it is well applicable to nowadays politics and also all the way back to the time humankind settled down to plant food efficiently so that some privileged could spend time doing other, more fun, less useful things, while generally living a lot better.

The best bits are when a 'lowborn' (a dispossessed) gets the change to point out to a 'highborn' (a privileged) 'this is what happens to us when you lot play your game of thrones'. So universal and timeless.

Now, on with the merciless critique:

Endless lists and descriptions of things that seem to have no relevance for the scene in question, or anywhere else in the book for that matter. Then into the action, which has to be explained by flashback of events that happened in the past, some times interlaced so much with the 'present' that you don't know if you are in the room described or in the fields years ago.

Then the chapter stops in the middle of the action, or in the middle of a conversation, to leave you in a 'cliffhanger'.

The next chapter that will relate to that character will be a few chapters afterwards (or maybe a book later) and will invariably start again with a lengthy description of places, clothes and food, only to start off new action or dialogue months after that cliffhanger, about which you will find out (or not) in between paragraphs relating to current and past events.

However: an accurate depiction of how politics work in real life. Once you get used and over those shortcomings, I see it as a kind of 1984 only set in the past in order to explain how politics - and all human relations for that matter - work. From what I know of History, it is well applicable to nowadays politics and also all the way back to the time humankind settled down to plant food efficiently so that some privileged could spend time doing other, more fun, less useful things, while generally living a lot better.

I have to admit that I first didn't like it very much because of the last of characters in this book. But somehow George managed to make it good anyway.
Brienne character developes a lot, you learn all about her childhood and her fears and it makes a wonderful and tormented character that sometimes just want to go home and forget everything but she doesn't because she knows she must keep her promise to Jaime because she couldn't with Catelyn and that's stronger than anything else.
Jaime character is as tormented as always. He tries to be a good person and sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't. But the important thing is that he tries while before he didn't even think about it. He's the perfect example for character development. He's so dark and his darkest side is with Cersei but he shows another face to the people who insult Brienne and that's a lot for someone like him.
Cersei is as evil as always, if not worse. She's the wickest of all the characters in these serie. She excuses herself with the 'I do it for my children' phrase but she knows that's not enough anymore. Jaime and her are not the same anymore, she knows it as well as him. He's changed, he's a better person; while she's worse than she was before. If anything, it keeps being a great evil character.
Samwell is the best of them, probably. He never killed anyone but a wight, and he always thinks the best for people. Jon's command goes hard on him but he knows he cannot disobey him. He's story gets more interesting than ever and I'm glad for that because he's character has a lot to work on.
Arya story is the saddest. She never stops being alone with people she doesn't even know in a place she doesn't even know the language. But she knows she doesn't have anywhere else to go. Nobody will take her with Jon, Sansa is King's Landing or so she thinks and then the rest she believes dead. So Braavos is her best option. But there she will become in something that no one will stop, maybe for good and maybe for bad.
Sansa is safe. That's what we believe in the end of the last book. She has to be, she's with someone who loves her and takes power from that relationship. In a way she's better with Petyr, I can't deny it. But he's constantly abusing the poor child with kisses in her lips and then it's the sickly child Robert with his sickness and he loves Alayne too much. It's incredible how things can go so well but then there's always something wicked about it.
The Greyjoy's fight for the throne is truly violent. Asha is probably the best of them, but no one wants a woman to defend them. They're more dangerous than they seemed, more savajes. And they want power so badly that they could ruin everything...
House Martell is a chaos. The prince isn't listening and the Sand Snakes are like crazy for their father's dead and his daughter wants justice so badly... Arianne Martell makes a lovely character. I really like this family.
All in all, the ending was so surprising and good that I couldn't put less than five stars to this book. As ever, Martin is incredible.

Avec ce douzième tome (déja ?), on voit enfin la conclusion d'un des tomes originaux de [a:Martin|1077326|J.K. Rowling|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1199340861p2/1077326.jpg]. Du coup, logiquement, l'action se précipite pour certains : Cersei et Jaime ou Brienne (même si, comme le dit l'auteur dans une post-face très intéressante, quelques personnages n'ont pas pu être traités - dommage, Jon, Tirion et Daenerys sont mes préférés, et on ne les as pas vu). Brienne, par exemple, voit enfin se conclure sa quête , même si c'est d'une manière totallement inattendue pour moi (mais, il faut bien le reconnaître, tellement dans les manières de [a:Martin|1077326|J.K. Rowling|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1199340861p2/1077326.jpg]). Et Cersei voit elle arriver ses terribles machinations à leur terme le plus logique.
Toutefois, le personnage dont l'évolution est la plus intéressante est indiscutablement Jaime Lannister, qui m'a donné l'impression en particulier dans ce tome d'essayer de réparer les erreurs du passé, quoique la manière qu'il choisit pour cela est assez ... curieuse (je pense par exemple à cette histoire de trébuchet ....).
En fait, l'un des éléments les plus intriguants pour moi est la capacité de l'auteur à renouveler sans cesse son monde : il y a quelques milliers de pages, les sept couronnes constituaient un royaume uni derrière un roi on ne peut plus royal, et les querelles se résolvaient sous l'égide de sa main. Après quelques années de guerre, il n'y a plus de royaume, et les querelles ont été éteintes, pour la plupart noyées sous le sang des querelleurs. On pourrait croire que l'hémorragie de personnages aurait coupé les moyens de l'auteur, mais il n'en est rien. Il lui reste encore assez de profondeur pour alimenter les tomes à venir, ce dont je me réjouis.
C'est aussi la profondeur de son monde qui fait que je me réjouis bien entendu de cette lecture de qualité, même si, comme je le disais plus haut, le tiercé de tête de mes personnages préférés ne figurait pas dans ce tome.