A Dance with Dragons

Extravagant. Does George R.R. Martin get paid by the word? Book five of the Song of Fire and Ice series titled, A Dance with Dragons, comes in at over a thousand pages. Considering that this book was meant to extend the stories of half the characters in book four that he left dangling in that large book, the volume seems excessive, and would benefit from editing. The popularity of the Game of Thrones television adaptation will bring Martin new readers, but I expect those who enjoy the visual grandness of this fantasy world will become tired by the prose and the ways in which Martin leaves one storyline and starts up another. Readers with patience and who are tolerant of wordiness will find extravagant and imaginative stories on these pages. Those who find value in more pages per dollar spent will find such value here. Most readers will bore easily and become confused by all the characters and their backstories. Fans will also be bored by the wasted paragraphs retelling the backstories that loyal readers may know as well as the author. All that said, this is a genre with little of decent writing to entertain readers, and for those who like fantasy tales, there’s much to enjoy here, very much.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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