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    A Dance With Dragons
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    A Dance With Dragons
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    A Dance With Dragons
    Audiobook48 hours

    A Dance With Dragons

    Written by George R. R. Martin

    Narrated by Roy Dotrice

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    HBO’s hit series A GAME OF THRONES is based on George R R Martin’s internationally bestselling series A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age. A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is the fifth volume in the series.

    The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance.

    In the east, Daenerys, last scion of House Targaryen, her dragons grown to terrifying maturity, rules as queen of a city built on dust and death, beset by enemies.

    Now that her whereabouts are known many are seeking Daenerys and her dragons. Among them the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who has escaped King’s Landing with a price on his head, wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of his nephew, King Joffrey. But not before killing his hated father, Lord Tywin.

    To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone – a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but he has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall, where the wildling armies are massing for an assault.

    On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 12, 2011
    ISBN9780007237494
    Unavailable
    A Dance With Dragons
    Author

    George R. R. Martin

    George R.R. Martin is the author of fifteen novels and novellas, including five volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, several collections of short stories, as well as screenplays for television and feature films. Dubbed ‘the American Tolkien’, George R.R. Martin has won numerous awards including the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an Executive Producer on HBO’s Emmy Award-winning Game of Thrones, which is based on his A Song of Ice and Fire series. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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    Reviews for A Dance With Dragons

    4/5

    388 ratings248 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is concurrent with A Feast for Crows, until the last quarter of the book,and tells the stories of the characters that were left out (Jon Snow, Dany, and Tyrion.) More eventful than AFFC, but not nearly as much as A Storm of Swords. Here's hoping book 6 is finished this year.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I love the series. But this book was slow moving and when nowhere. WE were informed on the characters that were missing in the last book (Daenarys, Jon Snow, and Tyrion). I just didn't see much growth in the characters. This book just seemed to be alot of filler, no real meat to the story. We were introduced to a few new characters. Some with no real major role, some still remain to be seen what role they play small or large. There is no Targaryan battle for Westeros and no army of the dead invasion.It has been 8 years now, book 6 The Winds Of Winter still in waiting. I will be anticipating it's release. And hopefully we get a resolution to the fight for the throne and the fight of the century with the others and their white walkers.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Perhaps the best book in the series since A Game of Thrones.Roy Dotrice did a fantastic job narrating until the last two books, where he has been confusing some voices.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      The book is excellent, no issue there. But audio is bad, chapters are not aligned with chapters of the recording which make the whole experience much worse.
    • 5/5
      Damn you to seven hells, George RR Martin. I reckon this is the best instalment of the series yet, but the last 100 pages or so left me reeling, and yelling at the text on more than one occasion. The worst thing is, God only knows when the next instalment will appear. But the man knows how to plot a gripping tale, that's for sure.
    • 2/5
      I tried very very hard but and slogged through around 450 pages but it just became unreadable and far too detailed.After the first three books the last two have been a huge huge letdown in terms of writing, storytelling and Martin just seems to be filling up pages.Usually not so negative but this book just laid waste to all the expectations that I had.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was great! I probably had an easier time with it since I only just discovered the Song of Ice and Fire series so I didn't have a super long wait for this to come out.

      I like that we get to check in with some of the people that weren't in book 4, and see what they have been up to. I think Dany's story is spinning its wheels a bit and even Tyrion is moving ahead slowly. This felt a lot like a set-up book.
    • 4/5
      I read this book on my Kindle app. This long-awaited fifth entry in the Fire and Ice series had its ups and downs. Separating this book from Feast for Crows by character rather than chronology made for some dull early chapters. When he passes the point where the last book finishes, the story definitely picks up. By the end, you can see where some of the plot lines may be coming together and a resolution may be in sight. While I feel this book is more uneven than the first three books in the series, it is still outstanding fantasy. Very violent and explicit; recommended for adults.
    • 4/5
      Spoiler Warning!ADWD left me cursing and swearing I wouldn't read the next one. I was lying, of course, which I why I waited to write this review.I suppose I was most annoyed at not knowing the even short term fate of several of the major characters. Is Jon dead or alive? Is Jaime dead or alive? What's happened to Stannis? There are several other characters whose fates were left very much up in the air. I felt that the rather casual dismissal of the cliffhangers from Crows was a bit of a ripoff as well. Anya's blindness was temporary and no big deal. The fact that Brienne was alive was basically dismissed with a single sentence. If the other cliffhangers from this one are as casually dismissed, I'll be thoroughly annoyed!On the other hand, I certainly don't want Jon dead and to the people who are assuming he is, let me remind you that Martin characters are dead when he shows them dead. Otherwise, he's leading up a garden path. Not that he hesitates to kill off major characters, but you can never assume anything.I felt very dissatisfied with a novel that long that I waited that long for. Dany chains up her dragons and refuses to use them? What?! Tyrion is just kind of wandering around? Bah. Martin can do better than that, especially with six years to do it in. The Mereen sections dragged, seemed irrelevant and I just wanted them over with which they finally were. At least the Bran plot is finally getting somewhere.Yes, this is a good book in what may end up being a great series, but the middle is definitely dragging. Martin needs to pick up the pace. I was lying when I said I wouldn't read the next one but this did NOT live up to the promise of the first three.
    • 4/5
      A sprawling bridge book in the series that reunites us with old POV characters who we have grown to care about. It wasn't the catastrophic crescendo that was A Storm of Swords, but forwards the plot just enough to keep me engaged. I wonder if the lack of motion on the part of many of the main characters reflects Martin's own feelings in going forward?

      I didn't reread the series and was apprehensive that I wouldn't remember enough to follow this book well, but I found this a clear enough read, with only a few trips to Westeros.org to refresh my memory on a few points. Word is that the rest of the series will still be finished in two books, even though this was technically the second half of A Feast for Crows. I look forward to it.
    • 2/5
      the book is great but the chapters don't align with the audio book chapters
    • 2/5
      There's a reason so many authors write trilogies. This series, which looks to go on forever, has definitely gotten too long. While I like following my favorite characters, it really irritated me that Martin now titles the chapters with descriptions [the blind girl, etc] instead of the character's name [Arya, Jon, Bran]. I think I would have been really annoyed to have waited 5 years for this book, which was supposed to conclude the story, only to find that things will go on .. and on ... and on.
    • 4/5
      A revival, of sorts, to the pulse pounding exitment of the earlier books in the series and the plot returns to some of the more central (and favorite) characters of aSoIaF. A very entertaining read, can't wait until winds of winter. Things are starting to really heat up!
    • 4/5
      "A Dance with Dragons" is the fifth installment in George R.R. Martin's epic "Game of Thrones" fantasy series. As with the previous four books, Martin sticks to his tried and true formula of chapters from viewpoints of different characters, rich descriptive detail, scheming characters and well-timed cliffhangers.The trajectory of the series is, unfortunately, headed down. This is the first book where Martin seriously deviates from a fixed set of characters (he juggles between many and introduces new ones after the half-way point) and overuses deus ex machina plot twists to end the book. Having said that, it is still a worthy sequel, and the author has laid enough groundwork that if you've made it to book five, you're in it till the end.
    • 3/5
      3.5
      George R. R. Martin is one sick fucker.
      I guess I'm worn out. Tired of caring about people only to have them die (or...?), tired of countless wars and BEYOND countless whores. I don't *think* the writing was any poorer in this one, and yet it felt more tedious and repetitive then the others in the series. The internal thoughts seemed more frequent and disruptive to the flow of the story.
      I fear there are just too many players in the game of thrones to continue to hold my interest, and that too many of those who will arise as the most likely taker of the throne will be latecomers in whom I have less interest. I fear the horrible will never get their "just desserts". I'm saddened by the plight of women and lack of respect for life.
      In short - yes, it's too much like real life! It's what I, on some level, love and respect about this series, but... just worn out. I'm actually going to welcome the lapse until the next book.
    • 3/5
      I'd have preferred a quicker pace, and this fifth installment does little to focus the tale Martin is telling; I was particularly disappointed with the cliffhanger ending.
    • 4/5
      It was good to see the other half of the characters, but again not much happening, except at the end and that felt really rushed. SO overall still just Ok.
    • 2/5
      Not as good as it could have been. G.R.R.M. is in sore need of an editor. Too much wasted space. Does he really have to describe every speck of food in the land? Does he have to describe how much food dribbles down everyone's chins when they eat? Does he have to constantly remind us that Jon Snow knows nothing? That words are wind? That the Imp is looking for where whores go? And does he have to use the word "jape" in almost every single chapter?

      The plot doesn't actually move until the end of the book. The rest of the time he is dilly-dallying as he moves people about. He could have just reduced the movements down to a report someone gave and handed us the last few chapters as being relevant.
    • 4/5
      One of the best cliffhanger given where it has ended.
    • 3/5
      I understand that a series of this magnitude is quite an undertaking but I am quite disappointed that George R.R. Martin has apparently lost his way. Things were repeated - I really didn't want to read the same chapter from 2 different character viewpoints. Things meandered - a character or two aren't acting like themselves. It's just... he lost the story somewhere and I really really hope the next book gets back on track. He mentions in an aside that the reason he broke up the books/storylines etc... is that it would have been too confusing or it would have left certain stories hanging and that's why he changed his format. I don't understand this way of reasoning, as the previous 3 books (I count the 4th as the start of the decline) were perfectly fine leaving the stories hanging - something I don't think any of the readers minded as this is something to be expected with a series, especially one w/so many characters and story lines. It's what makes you look forward to the next in the series! Honestly I think he got lazy, what w/all I heard of his traveling and doing this convention and that convention. I understand the man has a right to live his life how he wants, but I also feel he has a responsibility to keep the ball rolling and not ruin this series (which is much beloved by me, even w/the missteps) because he can't pay attention to whether he's repeating himself or just letting the story meander because, I don't know, he's bored of it or something. I'm probably not even writing this well, I'm going to stop ranting now. Even though this book was very weak, it's still a better book than most anything else being published. I am grateful for that at least!
    • 5/5
      Looking at some of others' reviews, I am not sure I agree with the lower-rated reviews. I was just as enthralled in this book as I was in books 1-4.

      Some of my favorite people weren't mentioned, some were killed, and I am still dying to know what happens next.

      One thing I'm for sure: I do believe that winter is here.
    • 5/5
      Martin continues his outstanding series and continues to add new characters and storylines. And, characteristically, some of those storylines don't go where expected and some characters ... die. The complexity of the story continues to grow. The biggest question becomes how Martin plans to bring the story to resolution over the next two (or is that now three?) books. This will be a challenge as there are so many characters and storylines.My two criticisms of this volume are relatively minor. The portion of the story that focused on one particular character (sorry, no spoilers here) seemed to be dragged out without much happening other than Martin needing to move time along to allow other events to catch up. And a few characters were absent (or nearly absent) from this volume and I would have liked to have seen at least a bit of their story.Please, please, please, don't make us wait 6 years for the sixth book!
    • 4/5
      3.5/4

      With over a 1000 pages per book of A Song of Ice and Fire, and here, I just finished my 5th, I can honestly say that I've loved and hated, enjoyed and loathed, admired and ridiculed, gasped and yawned, at parts of the series at one time or another. It has dragged me over a wall and through the snow. I've writhed inside the characters' skins, tasted their food and searched my mouth for missing teeth. George R.R. Martin is an excellent writer, but he can also be bad. The whole work is messy, but I see scaffolding and threads holding it together, encouraging me forward. Several surprises await in this one, not as frequent as the others, but fascinating just the same. One more book, I say. Just one more.
    • 5/5
      A big improvement over A Feast for Crows.
    • 4/5
      Finally finished. As Martin himself said "if the last book was a bitch this one was three bitches and a bastard." I like the HBO series but reading the books at the same time is difficult. It took me 3/4 of the book to mentally reconcile what was happening as a read with what had already been portrayed in the screenplay. I love epic fantasy; the more detailed the better but the story-lines between the volumes in Martin's series are non-linear making these books really challenging. More work than enjoyment really.
    • 4/5
      It took me almost two months to get through its 1,000+ pages, but I finished it this afternoon. My thoughts? There's a favorite quote in the book, "words are wind", and I found that to be true about this story. Lots of wind, but the storm never really arrived. One of the pitfalls in just about every multi-volume story is that there is eventually a book in the series that really only serves to setup the next book. A Dance With Dragons is one of those books. (See also, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [Rowling] and The Dark Tower Book 6: Song of Susannah [King] and Xenocide [Card])With that said, I really enjoyed the experience. Like a chess game, all of the pieces have been put in place for an epic showdown. New characters have staked their positions, familiar faces have performed their maneuvers. And with all this movement and posturing, we still end the book with Daenerys rudderless and no closer to her goal of re-taking Westeros.Like all good Song of Ice and Fire novels, we have a few new dead characters, but I'm certain that one of them isn't really dead at all. Fans of George R.R. Martin's work have come to expect their favorite characters to be killed off - but I think we're also getting better at knowing when to call Martin's bluff.Overall, it was a good read. Some sections were a bit of a chore to get through, but for the most part, I enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      This may be my least favorite of the five. I still highly enjoyed reading it, but it took me much longer to get through this one than it did the other four. One reason is that it is a little longer, but I also didn't want to get to the end as I know that I now have to wait forever for the next book to come out. The suspense is going to kill me.Yet, I think another reason it took me so long to get through this one was the fact that the characters' stories were not as thrilling as the others. Much of the action is really drawn out and not much happens to a lot of the characters. At least Bran only has two chapters in the whole book, which is a relief as he doesn't do anything but sleep and go into animals' minds. After a while, that becomes eye-rollingly boring. (Look at that. I made a new phrase.) But even some of the most exciting characters, like Tyrion, don't have much going for them in this book. Most of the time, Tyrion is traveling via various methods which is boring to read after a while. Martin also leaves a lot of annoyingly open-ended questions by the end. There are a couple of characters, like Jamie, that probably should have had another chapter but didn't so we see him once, something happens in the end, and then there is nothing for the rest of the book. I seriously believe that the only reason this became a problem is because Martin now has way too many characters and is trying too hard to develop those who used to be minor characters or establishing new characters, which often forces him to spend less time on his original (and frankly, more important) characters.I think Martin adds like four characters into the book which makes it hard to follow when we get to those chapters since for most of the chapter we are trying to figure out who the heck that person is anyway. I personally don't believe that any of the characters he has randomly added in the book need to be there. There is enough intrigue as it is without them. Their only purpose is to further complicate the already complicated plot. Also, by the middle of the book, at least two of the characters are completely worthless, and we honestly see no reason for them being there since their original missions have already failed (which one realizes and the other still doesn't).In fact, nothing truly exciting happens until the end of the book, and it is the end that redeemed it in my eyes. Even though I'm angry with it...You'll know what I'm talking about when you read it... I think if it weren't for all the stuff that happens in the end, this book would have gotten an even lower score.In the end, this was a rather disappointing place to have to wait for the new book. I'm still impatiently waiting for the next one, but I just wish we had been given something more exciting and a little less confusing. However, he does end the book with a classic George R.R. Martin twist, so at least there is that. A decent read overall but not the best.
    • 3/5
      So I'm at last caught up with the published works of A Song of Ice and Fire. Unbelievably, five tomes into the series Martin is still introducing new major characters and plots. So it drags it times and can be hard to keep up. But largely this is still a compelling story and it is good to catch up on the stories of characters like Daenerys, Jon, Tyrion, Theon, and Arya. And there's a really cool part with a dragon. Now I join the rest of the world in waiting for the next novel. My theory is that Martin has actually written material for several new books and is constantly rearranging chapters, unable to cut anything, and introducing entirely new families and storylines.
    • 4/5
      Good lords, compared to all other books, this one is the one that took me longer to read. While I do like pretty much all the characters in the series, my favorite ones showed up more frequently in A Feast for Crows, so the reading of A Dance With Dragons was awfully dragged back. Absolutely NOTHING seemed to happen until near the end of the book, and compared to the previous books, even the occurrences of the end of the book don't really seem as shocking as the end of A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows. For several pages, it felt like the author was just filling the pages with trifle things (specially banquet descriptions. Seriously, whenever I read any chapter that has banquets in it, it feels like he wrote that when he was absolutely starving). In a way, it's good, it helps you to picture the whole scenario quite better. But after this has been going on for over a thousand pages, it starts getting very tiring.

      Nevertheless, I never felt so glad to finish reading a book. I'm finally free from heavy spoilers for another while.
    • 5/5
      As power shifts throughout the realm, nothing is sacred and nobody is safe. Tyrion Lannister is fleeing for his life, but can he trust his new allies to deliver him where he wants to go or will they sell him out to his sister? Daenerys Targaryen has her dragons and her army, but she is stuck a world away from the Iron Throne with seemingly little change of ever making it back to Westeros. John Snow is Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, but can he defend The Wall from the Others if he can’t even trust his own people? Who will ultimately win the throne of the Seven Kingdoms might just come down to who survives bitter betrayals and bloody wars.A Dance with Dragons is the fifth book in George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire series. The first half of it actually runs in parallel with the timeline of the previous book – A Feast for Crows – before combining the storylines and continuing on in the second half. All of the elements of the previous four books are here – vivid characters, breathtaking scenes and a plot that is both intricate and enthralling. However, unlike A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons feels much more like the first three books as far as pacing and action. If A Feast for Crows was the deep breath before the plunge, A Dance with Dragons gives you that weightless feeling as you drop off the edge and pick up a lot of speed. “Foes and false friends are all around me, Lord Davos. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The fat man’s fingers coiled into a fist, and all his chins trembled. “My son Wendel came to the Twins a guest. He ate Lord Walder’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with his friends. And they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Freys choke upon their fables. I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter…but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”Once again, some stalwart characters won’t see the end of A Dance with Dragons, but you won’t have any idea who it will be until the sentence when it happens. Even then, you will catch yourself rereading to make sure it really happened. With Martin, the action never feels forced – it always reads like an organically grown plot that simply won’t let you go. Every single time I think I have what will happen next figured out, Martin proves me wrong…and makes me glad I was.Now comes the hard part. I’ve read the last three volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire in quick succession and am dying to know what happens to all of these characters. I can’t get the storylines out of my head. Problem is, Martin won’t release the next installment until most likely 2015 and the final installment in 2018. Uggggggg. That is a very long wait. In addition, I’m not sure how he is going to successfully wrap up all these storylines convincingly with only two remaining volumes. It really feels like the midpoint of the story after five books. What I am sure of is, I will be buying them the instant they come out. It really is a series like no other and I highly recommend reading them all.