Well,
I’ve made it through all of Martin’s A
Song of Ice and Fire series that has been written to date. The fifth novel,
A Dance with Dragons, picks up where
the third novel left off, running parallel to and then passing beyond the
saga’s fourth installment. Finally, we return to the saga’s more potent
storylines and characters. The fifth novel is noticeably more satisfying than
the fourth novel; it hits the ground running, so-to-speak, and seems to be
running toward a grand conclusion, at that. Sadly, however, the novel runs to
the edge of cliff—several cliffs in fact—and we, the readers, are left hanging
on the edge alongside most of the saga’s focal characters.
A Dance with Dragons has life,
though—and enough of it to make you forget the blandness of A Feast for Crows. A new storyline
emerges in the novel, one that will propel the saga toward its final end.
Still, that storyline, like all the other storylines in the novel ends in a
cliffhanger. It seems that books four and five provide a large interlude
between the saga’s third novel, A Storm
of Swords, and the sixth, yet-to-be-published novel, The Winds of Winter. Together, the fourth and fifth novels span the
length of autumn (remember, in Martin’s world seasons can last for years, even
a decade), a turbulent interlude between the wistfulness of summer—and the
first three novels—and the harsh realities of winter that will come in the
saga’s concluding novels (not that there wasn’t some harshness in the first
three novels).
As with
past posts, I will provide a brief plot summary between the starred lines
(watch out for spoilers below) and then conclude with some final thoughts.
***************
In
Westeros, the Lannisters’ grip on the Iron Throne has certainly grown weaker,
though their boy-king, Tommen, still sits the Throne (sometimes). While the War
of the Five Kings is all but over,—with Jaime negotiating the final surrenders
of the rebels in the Riverlands, and the few vestiges of Stannis’s power in the
South under siege—the Iron Islanders, under the command of their new king,
Euron Crow’s Eye, sack the Reach, and Stannis marches from the Wall to rally
the Northern lords to his banner and retake Winterfell from the Boltons.
In the
East, the real threat to the Lannister’s power looms. Daenerys sits in Mereen.
Unbeknownst to Daenerys, her nephew, Aegon, long supposed-dead, sets out to
meet her, with his retinue of banished high-lords, who were faithful to his
father, the Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, to the bitter end.
The
Dornish have also set into motion their plot to avenge their murdered kin: Princess
Elia (wife of Rhaegar), her daughter Rhaenys, and her son Aegon (the same Aegon
who readers learn was never actually killed, but no one in the Seven Kingdoms
knows that). Doran Martell, lord and prince of the Dornish, has secretly
dispatched his son, Quentyn, to woo Daenerys, and unite Dorne and Targaryen
once again, so that together, they can reclaim the Iron Throne.
All,
however, are marching against time, because Daenerys and her people are
threatened by foes from inside and outside the walls of Mereen. Outside, the
companies of the slave-city Yunkai, along with its allies and hired swords, lay
siege to Mereen. Inside, Daenery’s troops are set upon at night by the secret,
Sons of the Harpy, a group presumed to be composed of members from some of Mereen’s
noble families, who would see Daenery’s dead, and their city returned to their
rule, and its tradition of slavery. Desperate for peace, Daenery’s flirts with
the idea of a marriage that will silence the Sons of the Harpy, and that will
enable peace with Yunkai and its allies.
Yet, it
is at the Wall, where Jon Snow rules as Lord Commander, that the greatest
threat to Westeros and its people looms. Beyond the Wall, the White Walkers
still lurk. On the South side of the Wall (at the edge of the Seven Kingdoms),
Stannis has made his base, and Jon must navigate the edge of knife to appease
Stannis, and keep the Nights Watch out of the Seven Kingdom’s wars (for the
Nights Watch takes no part in such wars). Yet, Jon must also battle his own conscious,
for he still feels tied to his family, and he still hurts from the loss of so
many that he loved. His heart pulls at him to make choices to protect the
family that he has left, but to do so, he may forsake the vows he took when he
joined the Watch.
***************
Martin
manages his storylines well, fitting them together like pieces in a puzzle that
has yet to be completed. He has given readers a glimpse of the larger picture,
but has yet to fill in enough of the gaps to let them see the image that will
be formed when the puzzle is completed. The saga is enticing and intriguing. A Dance with Dragons has some moments
that are truly powerful. Its prose draws you in, and its story compels you to
keep reading. If its conclusion—or lack thereof—is a weakness, its strength is
getting you there without boring you. The book is long, and it has some slow
moments, but all-in-all, it is a fun and exciting read.
Now, I
must put aside Martin’s A Song of Ice and
Fire for a while, until Martin finishes the next installment. Next up on my
reading list is the new novel by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner and A
Thousand Splendid Suns), And the
Mountains Echoed.
JCM
25 May 2013
