My
Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Amazon
Rating: 3.60 / 5.00
Goodreads
Rating: 4.21 / 5.00
This is the fifth book in Mr Martin’s highly
acclaimed ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series. I have previously reviewed Book 1: A Game
of Thrones, Book 2: A Clash
of Kings, Book 3: A Storm
of Swords & Book
4: A Feast for Crows
Warning: this review
contains numerous spoilers for the previous four titles: if you have not read
them, then I would suggest that you avoid the rest of my review.
Note: As I mentioned at the beginning
of my review for A Feast for Crows, this title runs somewhat parallel to that
book. However, whereas Book 4 deals almost exclusively with Southern Westeros,
this title focuses on the Wall and the North, plus the various storylines
converging in Essos. Also we see the return of Bran, Daenerys, Davos, Jon and
Tyrion as POV narrators, thank goodness.
King Stannis Baratheon has shown that
he is above petty politics and prefers to actually save the Kingdom from its
enemies by moving his army north to support the Night’s Watch and the Wall. The
two make an uneasy alliance after Jon refuses Stannis’ plan to install him as
Lord of Winterfell. Jon does not want to assume the title because he believes
that some of his siblings are still alive and have a better claim to it. Also
he does not want to renege on his vow to the Night’s Watch. As Stannis tries to
rally the North to his banner, Jon is harassed by dissension amongst his
officers. Stannis moves south, capturing Deepwood Motte and taking Asha Greyjoy
prisoner before heading to Winterfell, which is now held by Ramsey Bolton and
his new bride ‘Arya’ Stark. However, the weather hampers their movements and so
they are still miles away when Reek makes a break fro freedom, taking the
abused ‘Arya’ with him.
Meanwhile, somewhere beyond the Wall,
Coldhands leads Bran to the three-eyed crow through increasingly bad weather
and whilst hunted by the Others. They finally arrive at a cave where they meet
some of the Children of the Forest as well as the three-eyed crow himself.
There, Bran learns more about his talents and comes to understand what his
future will hold.
After murdering his father, Tyrion
Lannister is on the run and headed east across the Narrow Sea. His first stop
is Pentos, where he is wined and dined by Magister Illyrio Mopatis. However, it
seems that the Magister sees Tyrion as a useful piece in his plan to place
Daenerys on the Iron Throne because the former-Hand can offer her a great deal
of very wise advice about how to manipulate the lords of Westeros. He sends off
Tyrion to the Mother of Dragons with the news that he has persuaded the Golden
Company of sellswords to support her claim to the throne. However, Tyrion’s
travelling companions prove to include a young man that is later revealed to be
Aegon Targaryen, heir to Rhaegar, who Varys replaced as a baby and then
smuggled out of Westeros after the sack of King’s Landing. Aegon intends to
join forces with his aunt Daenerys, marry her and then lay claim to the Iron
Throne himself, but Tyrion points out that she may not want to give up her own
intentions to rule Westeros and persuades the boy to take advantage of the
chaos and begin a campaign of conquest at once. But then Tyrion gets very, very
drunk in a whorehouse and is captured by Jorah Mormont, who hopes to use him to
curry favor with Daenerys. Unfortunately, on the voyage to Volantis they are
captured by slavers and end up in the Yunkish camp outside the walls of
Meereen.
Inside Meereen, Daenerys has
discovered that conquest does not always run smoothly. Staying to rule the city
and practice her statecraft, she has found that people can be very difficult to
manipulate. The Sons of the Harpy are killing Unsullied at random as well as
others amongst her supporters and trying to undermine her authority.
Unfortunately, her rather sizeable dragons are now getting difficult to control
and have taken to raiding the local farmland, even killing children, so she has
them caged in one of the old fighting pits. Then there is her man problem. She
is in love, or at least in lust, with Daario Naharis, but he would be
unsuitable as her husband. For political expediency she must marry Hizdahr zo
Loraq, a wealthy Meereen noble man, but shortly before the ceremony she is
approached by Quentyn Martell, who carries a pact that stated that Viserys was
to marry Arianne Martell. He asks her to honor that agreement by marrying him,
but she refuses. There then follows some rather dramatic dragon-driven chaos.
As with A Feast for Crows, we find
POVs with obscure names, such as The Windblown and The Dragontamer. Our new
POVs again add to the complexity of the storyline, but also add to our
understanding of the many plots and schemes in play.
Expanding on the Dornish theme of
Book 4, we follow Quentyn Martell in his travels from Volantis to Mereen as he
attempts to follow his father’s wishes and claim Daenerys’ hand in marriage.
Like many of Mr Martin’s characters, Quentyn is not really suited to this
challenge, but he valiantly keeps in trying, even when everything goes wrong
and he is the centerpiece of one of the funniest chapters in the whole series.
As The Dragontamer he attempts to steal either Rhaegal or Viserion from their
pit and it does not quite go to plan, as you might imagine.
Rather than being given Aegon’s POV
we see him through other people’s eyes, much as we did with Robb Stark. Jon
Connington, aka The Griffin, was Rhaegar’s closest friend and has been the
young prince’s father figure, protector and educator since taking charge of him
as a boy. Jon is tired and ill, but driven to do everything he can for his
friend’s son, even when the boy is hotheaded and troublesome. It would seem
that Aegon might be a forceful, charismatic leader like his aunt, but there are
also echoes of his uncle Viserys’ petulance and narcissism. Only time will tell
if he is a good or bad Targaryen.
The other two new POVs are characters
that we are very familiar with: Melisandre and Barristan Selmy. The Red Witch
has only a single chapter, but it proves to throw a great deal of light upon
her character. As with Jaime Lannister, her motivations are not be what we
expect them to be: she truly believes in the Great Other and is desperate to
defeat it. This overturns the idea that she is merely a cynical trickster who
is using Stannis for her own power-crazed gratification. There is still a great
deal that we have to learn about her, but I expect it to be interesting and
unexpected.
Sir Barristan provides us with an
insight into how everyone views Daenerys, but also continues the commentary on
Meereen after she leaves on Drogon. He attempts to continue her rule, but
everything is spinning out of his control as the Queen’s absence lags on. He
does his best, but politics is most certainly not his forte.
As we saw earlier with Jaime
Lannister, Mr Martin likes to let his characters grow and change. In this title
the biggest growth is probably that shown by Reek / Theon Greyjoy, who is
arguably the most changed character of the whole series so far. First he was
Robb’s snarky sidekick, then the spurned son trying to impress his father, then
the turncoat and dreadful leader. Recently he has been a most unpleasant time
at the hands of the vile Ramsay Bolton and has changed beyond all recognition.
Indeed, Asha meets him at the end of the book and does not even recognize him
as her little brother. However, by this stage he has also shown more courage
than anyone could have expected of him and has escaped from Ramsay with the
fake ‘Arya Stark’. Mr Martin signals this changing identity by using a variety
of names for his POV chapters, beginning with Reek and ending with Theon as he
finally reclaims his own identity. This rehabilitation is an astounding
character arc and it makes me understand why Alfie Allen jumped at the chance
to play him.
Finally, I cannot review this title
without talking a little about the remaining Starks. Bran’s story is pure
Fantasy and the realization of his destiny is very sad indeed, especially when
one considers Hodor and Summer. On the other hand, Arya recovers from her
blindness and is taking her first steps as a face-changing assassin: yay Arya!
She is also expanding her warging, which I hope means that Nymeria will return
to the storyline in a more substantial way. Then there is Jon, trying to cope
with Sir Alliser Thorne: a man who should surely have had a quiet nighttime
meeting with Ghost a long time ago. Amongst the men fighting against Jon’s
command is Bowen Marsh, the Steward, who spends a great deal of time moaning
and being a bit of a whiner. We leave Jon at a critical moment, with possibly
the worst cliffhanging ending that I have ever read, especially as I know that
The Winds of Winter is not due until 2015. Arghh! Write faster, Mr Martin!
Other Reviews:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let me know what you think, because comments make me happy!
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.