It's been a long wait for fans of George R.R. Martin's best-selling fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire. The saga's fifth installment, A Dance With Dragons, finally hits bookshelves Tuesday, six years after the last entry, A Feast for Crows. The success of HBO's Game of Thrones, adapted from the first book, has increased interest in the series exponentially, and now critics are raving about the latest installment which follows several noble families' struggle for supremacy on the divided continent of Westeros — calling it a "worthy of Tolkien" and the "book of the summer." Is it really that good?
It's a "relentless masterpiece": A Dance With Dragons is "unrelentingly ambitious and suspenseful," says Jace Lacob at The Daily Beast. At over 1,000 pages, Martin manages to juggle an array of "darkly enthralling" characters' subplots. Yet somehow, "there's a simplicity and ease" to the reading of Dance With Dragons. In fact, "it's impossible to imagine how Martin keeps track of it all." After a six-year wait, "expect to see many readers at the beach carting around" Martin's "triumphant" latest.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.