Book Review: A Dance With Dragons

If you asked me in High School or even my first few years of college if I enjoyed reading, the answer would be absolutely not. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy a good story, I could just never see why I would take time away from playing video games to sit down and read a book. Well that all changed for me with audio books (thanks Audible.com) which has allowed me to read more then I ever thought possible.

The perfect example of this for me is the fact that I have finally read all of George R.R. Martin's books (released so far) in the Game of Thrones franchise. A Dance With Dragons Book 5 in the series not only is the latest book in the series it is also its longest. The book comes in at 49 hrs. In fact after reading all of these books I have racked up over 200 hrs of audio book glory on this series alone. That's some serious audio book consumption.

So was A Dance with Dragons all its cracked up to be?

I loved the first three books of the series and was lukewarm on the 4th. A Dance With Dragons although feeling a little long winded got the series right back on track. As you would imagine with a series that has so much depth trying to keep all of the characters straight can be a challenge. Martin does a terrific job throughout giving you updates on characters you love while introducing you to new characters.

Without spoiling any of the big happenings, the book has some major plot twists that will leave some including myself depressed beyond measure. I cannot wait to see what Mr. Martin has in store for the remaining books in the series. While I wait I will enjoy HBO's great recreation of the series over and over again.

"You know nothing, Jon Snow"