To be honest, when I first picked up my HARD copy HARDBACK from Waterstones in Gower Street, I skipped back to my office, quite trick to do considering I'm 5 ft and this book weighs more than I do. Regardless, I started to read with vigour, vigour soon turned into confusion into down right despondancy. It all started so well, the early chapters were strong, the characters had depth, but now with hindsight I realise it was because the earlier chapters centred on familiar Tyrion, Dany and Jon Stark. GRRM updated us on their fates: Jon was pretty much Stannis Baratheon's bitch, Dany stuck in hot, sweaty and dusty Meereen with a fragile population and under threat of attack by the Sons of the Harpy, Tyrion was literally out at sea. But this was fine, this was comfortable and familiar. THEN, holy mother of all that is sacred, GRRM had Westerosi characters and characters from Essos descend upon us in their droves. The genealogy at the back provided scant help. Why? Because its almost as long as a chapter !
I really think this book should have been split into two volumes like A Storm of Swords. Unless the characters were Westerosi, the rest lacked the same substantial depth and "readability" as the Westerosi characters. Some of the chapters did not add to the storytelling. Dany's chapters meandered, we learn she boffs Daario before marrying Hizdahr and flies off on her son Drogon. What else did she achieve really? The female characters did not achieve much in fact. It's a shame as GRRM's two strongest female characters feature heavily in this book - Arya probably not as much as she should have done, but Dany has a large proportion of the book dedicated to her rule. Its encouraging to see her emerge as a very wise and just queen, BUT; like a school girl she dreams of Daario in between her legs as mush as she does about the fate of her dragons or her subjects. The Red Lady Melisandre as King Stannis's svengali is a clumsy attempt I think at readdressing the sexist balance. Apart from the few and far between prominent female characters, this book is a pissing context between the male dominated Westerosi families: Starks, Freys, Karstarks, Boltons. The earlier volumes when they featured female characters helped to temper some of the "my cock is bigger than your's" prose, but in this volume, they were sorely missed.
A charge of racism parading as exoticism is levelled at GRRM in this book. Race and identity, gender and identity are characteristically not dealt with sensitively in fantasy writing. However, as a genre, it is one that fosters exoticism as a way of distinguishing "the other." En masse, I don't see fantasy writing moving away from the canonical anglo-saxon norm. So to be fair, why should we expect GRRM to be any different? However the constant bombardment of whores, bed slaves, the C-word, the predilections of the Essosians and Southern Islanders implying the fact that they are DIFFERENT to the Westerosi is clumsy on the part of GRRM. Not what I would have expected from a writer so skilled at plot intricacies. His characterisations have let him down in this volume.
I didn't enjoy this as much as I had enjoyed the earlier volumes, it was a chore to get through. It could have worked as a split volume a lot better, a lot of loose ends to be tied up and an unenviable task lies ahead for GRRM.
Here are two contrasting reviews to further inform your judgement:
Channelling words
Hiopinion
Read this by all means, however be prepared for a long ride and a sore bum.
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