But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces--some familiar, others only just appearing--are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.
It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests--but only a few are the survivors.
As an old savant says, "Dead history is writ in ink, the living sort in blood." Martin is definitely employing the latter medium; thus his pages breathe and caper. -- Paul Di Filippo, Scifi.com
If A Feast for Crows is only a transitional volume in this gigantic saga, it is still a story told with as much passion and humanity as Martin has brought to any previous volume. -- T. M. Wagner, SFReview.net
...my sole problem with A Feast for Crows is that I have to wait till next year for the rest of it. -- Hilary Williamson, Bookloons
Fantasy fans, your wait is over: 'A Feast for Crows' delivers -- Steve Perry, The Oregonian
...Martin has brought depth and believability to the usually cartoonish fantasy genre. -- Dorman T. Shindler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Start wherever you will (but preferably at the beginning with A GAME OF THRONES) and you can count on being taken a very willing prisoner by this highest of high fantasy achievements. -- Pauline Finch, BookReporter
Even the best fillet mignon in the world gets tiresome if you eat it and eat it and eat it and eat it again. This song about ice and fire is starting to get tumid. -- Inchoatus