A Dance with Dragons... and patience

I crawled through A Dance With Dragons (aDwD). I fought with all the demons that came along reading this amazing and epic series. I took a break and came back to finish this tome with a vengeance. And it paid. Take a bow Mr Martin. What an amazing ride it has been.

I liked the earlier book a lot too. Going apart from the general consensus that Book 4 was boring, I enjoyed the plot setting. aDwD was supposed to be marginally better than Book 4. Yes it is. It brings back the bigger and plot moving characters. You get Jon, Dany and the others I don't want to spoil. Even the ancillary characters that GRRM portrays really well. Davos, Tormund Giantsbane, Ser Archibald, Daario, Ser Barristan, Victarion, Mance... and so on. aDwD also takes the story ahead of Book 4. Even though about 2/3rd of aDwD runs parallel with Book 4, the remaining part is superbly fascinating and filled with elements that make the series so amazing.

Mr Martin, I am not just waiting for the next book in the series like an eager maiden waiting to get married, but also will scour the theories that have been building up and read up as much as possible before I plunge again in the superb world that you have created.

Then why the 4 stars? I would have liked to give it an additional 0.5 stars, but I tend to compare the book with Storm of Swords and no other. The book has left almost all the threads in such an interesting and cliffhanger like situations that the wait for the next book seems to be much longer than it hopefully would be. Thus clawing on the 1 elusive star.

Oh what a high his writing gives you. GRRM has changed the way I look at books. Superb. Left me aghast, Left me wanting for more. Left me with a smile.

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A review I posted on Goodreads.