6 reviews for A Dance With Dragons No.1- Dreams And Dust
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A Dance With Dragons No.1- Dreams And Dust
by George Martin
Description:
Book 5, Part 1 of A Song of Ice and Fire. In the aftermath of a colossal battle, new threats are emerging from every direction.
Tyrion Lannister, having killed his father, and wrongfully accused of killing his nephew, King Joffrey, has escaped from King’s Landing with a price on his head.
To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark’s bastard son Jon Snow has been elected 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. But Jon has enemies both inside and beyond the Wall.
And in the east Daenerys Targaryen struggles to hold a city built on dreams and dust.
About The Author
George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), often referred to as GRRM, is an American novelist and short-story writer in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres, a screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known for his international bestselling series of epic fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, which was later adapted into the HBO dramatic series Game of Thrones.
Martin serves as the series' co-executive producer, and also scripted four episodes of the series. In 2005, Lev Grossman of Time called Martin “the American Tolkien”, and the magazine later named him one of the “2011 Time 100”, a list of the “most influential people in the world.
Skryf Review
“Good Reading”
Sejal
Martin apologizes with saying that not much story actually happen with this book, but I’d rather look at it as learning and understanding the characters more in this volume than in last volumes. I think in this series a lot of people are disappointed that its not all blood shed and tears after the epic and eventful A Storm of Swords. I would like to point out that you can’t really root for someone to take the Iron Throne if you can’t fully understand why they want too. With every word Martin writes the more you understand and the more annoyance you will have, either it’s the characters you love or the characters you love to hate. Martin has his world and now yours characters sunk into your skin and has made you care about them and we just sit along and go with the whirlwind ride that is A Song of Ice and Fire
Pooja
My complaint by the way, is not about the wait itself. I think I have been waiting since 1998 for this (this was supposed to be book 3 sometime in the past). After a few years of waiting, I think I managed to ignore it (by ruthlessly ignoring almost all discussion of anything related to these books for years). Other authors take their time: Megan Whalen Turner seems to also take 5-6 years on each new book and that does not impair my love and appreciation for those. Dorothy Dunnett also took her own time planning and writing. My criticisms are not about the wait. (I certainly got enough other books to read while waiting). My complaint is that this series seems to have lost focus, became much slower and fragmented. We have many mysteries, prophecies pending from the first 3 books. I want to know who Jon´s parents are (for sure, I mean), or what Varys´s objectives actually are, know how this ends. And we got almost nothing. More hints, more misdirection, a few historical easter eggs for hardcore fans and many many cliffhangers for us to mull till the next book cames out (3 books wait, mininum according to the author). We are not amused. I have hope yet there will be a complete rest of the series. But I am stopping recommending it to people now. For years I have been saying, part of the fun is the wait and discussing it with other fans and reading it along with people when it cames out. But after two books which carry the story very little forward, yes, better wait till we are sure the story is completed (and not disa
Navya
Tyrion Lannister’s horse was rubbing him raw as they rode onward, the branches of the trees above them swaying in a branch-like way. Ravens flew about among them, and clouds of dust hovered like halos around the hooves of their steeds. Wiping sweat from his brow, Tyrion spoke to yet another minor character you’ve never seen before. “I hear that the Morvin and the Shornpel clans have sided with Darvus Farier from the great city of Bee Eff Eee, and are pushing forward late king Baratheon’s bastard’s scullery maid’s uncle’s melanoma as the true heir to the throne.”The minor character shrugged, tearing a piece from his bread bowl and dipping it into a small puddle of balsamic vinegar. “You forget about the people beyond the wall, and the dragons in the east, and Bobbert, King Robert’s mechanic. He now claims to have been conceived with the king’s own cum, and thus has a claim to the throne.”
Angaan
Since it’s a national newspaper and many of the readers may never have read a fantasy book, let alone the first four in the ASOIAF series, the review is less about this book and more about the series and the author. I hope to make them the gift of a great reading experience. My rating for the book is set in the context of the alternative works of fantasy on the shelves rather than in an attempt to rank this volume amongst its predecessors (I would say signficantly better than A Feast For Crows – less good than the first three, still excellent)A Dance with Dragons advances the story with more purpose and scope than its predecessor, reacquainting us with favourite characters (Tyrion, Jon, Dany, and Bran) we’ve not seen since A Storm of Swords (2000). The story ranges across thousands of miles from icy wastes to dusty desert, expanding the incredible diversity of Martin’s world, showing stories on the small scale (Arya’s training) and the grand (Daenerys’ realpolitik). And although the 1000 pages meander through many lives and situations, there are hints at the ultimate convergence and conflict of disparate story threads, a slow building sense of momentum, and finally a rising tension and pace that drives us breathless to the edge of several cliffs.
Anupama
This is a really good book. After reading A Feast for Crows (which was quite slow and boring), I was expecting some improvement in this book. And improve it did – with the re-introduction of our favourite characters such as Tyrion, Daenerys, Arya, Jon, Bran etc. The events in this book go side-by-side with the events in A Feast for Crows.The only problem I found with the story was that GRRM has extended the story a little too much, and the entry of too many new characters is a bit irritating at times. I don’t want to spoil anything in this review, but people might get bogged down by the sheer size of A Dance with Dragons. This is the first part of that book, and it is alone around 600 pages long! GRRM could’ve maybe shortened the book a little. I’m not saying it’s not interesting to read; on the contrary it is a real page turner. I used to sit for hours at a stretch to read it. But the problem is that the introduction of too many characters has slowed down the story a lot. Over the course of ADWD, the story progresses very little, as compared to A Storm of Swords. This book is very good, but not as good as the third book, which is the best of the series so far (in my opinion).