A Feast for Crows

 George R.R. Martin

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Fantasy

I’m disappointed somehow to say that A Feast for Crows got the lowest rating from me in the series—3.0 out of 5.0. After the epic events in the previous book, this installment feels very different. It shifts its focus toward the aftermath of the war. It also focuses on the political and emotional consequences of that war across Westeros. While some things worked for me here, many of them felt undercooked.

To be brief, the story follows characters like Cersei, Jamie, Brienne, and Arya most of the time. Cersei tries to consolidate her power in a very unstable kingdom. Jamie felt like he didn’t have a clear mission. Brienne the wench is going places in search of Sansa. While Arya continues her training far from Westeros. 

One of the biggest drawbacks for me was the absence of major characters like Jon Snow, Tyrion, and Daenerys. A huge gap was felt due to their absence. I consider these characters the core emotional connection to the series, and without them, this book felt incomplete and less interesting. I feel the author has treated this book like a setup for future events rather than an actual installment in itself. 

The new characters that were introduced in this book didn’t feel that compelling. They didn’t compensate for the absence of those important ones. I think one of the reasons why I was not a big fan of them is that their motivation didn’t entirely make sense to me. 

If I had to choose the strongest POV, then it would be Cersei’s chapters. Her descent into paranoia and her mistakes and flawed decision-making were truly fascinating and entertaining at the same time. Jamie’s internal conflict, despite no clear goal, was surprisingly the second strongest POV. 

Pacing, however, is where the book struggles the most. It is undeniably slow, with very little actually happening for long stretches. I found myself particularly tired of Brienne and Arya’s chapters, where the repetition in their journeys started to wear thin. What might have been atmospheric instead became frustratingly stagnant.

I understand that the author chose to structure the book this way to avoid splitting character arcs into half-stories, as he has mentioned, but in my opinion, this approach did not work well—at least not for me. It did not benefit the series and made this installment feel like an incomplete piece rather than a cohesive whole.

Interestingly, it took me nine books in The Wheel of Time to give a 3.0 rating, but for this series, it only took four. With one book left for me, I don’t see this changing my overall perception. I still consider this an excellent fantasy series, but it doesn’t come close to The Wheel of Time in my view, and I do think it’s somewhat overrated. Perhaps many readers are influenced by the TV adaptation, which I haven’t watched yet. 

Once I finish the fifth book, I plan to watch the show and treat that as the conclusion, rather than waiting indefinitely for future books. I’m a fan, but not one who will wait endlessly. It’s also worth noting that in both series, I gave the most popular entries—Book 3 here and Book 4 in The Wheel of Time—a 4-star rating. Maybe it’s the weight of expectations, or simply the effect of hype.

Key Themes

• Aftermath of War
• Moral Decay
• Honor
• Survival
• Identity
• Transformation