"Of those who work in the grand epic-fantasy tradition, Martin is by far the best.... [He] is a tense, surging, insomnia-inflicting plotter and a deft and inexhaustible sketcher of personalities.... This is as good a time as any to proclaim him the American Tolkien."--
Time Magazine "The only fantast series I'd put on a level with J.R.R. Tolkein's
The Lord of the Rings.... It's a fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don't read fantasy.... If you're new to the series, you must begin with Book 1,
A Game of Thrones. Once you're hooked.... you'll be like the rest of us fans, gnawing your knuckles until book 5"--Marta Salij,
Detroit Free Press "THE MOST impressive modern fantasy, both in terms of conception and execution, is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire
.... A masterpiece that will be mentioned with the great works of fantasy."--
Contra Costa Times "Long-awaited doesn't begin to describe this fourth installment in bestseller Martin's staggeringly epic Song of Ice and Fire."--
Publishers Weekly "Grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant."--Robert Jordan
"Such a splendid tale and such a fantistorical! I read my eyes out."--Anne McCaffrey
"Fantasy fans will feast!"--
Associated Press
It seems too good to be true. The war of the Five Kings has finally ground to an uneasy halt, with House Lannister and their allies the apparent victors. But all is still not well in the land.
With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King's Landing. Robb Stark's demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist - or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively.
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.