The Art of George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire

by various artists, 189 pages

As I mentioned in my post about A Feast  for Crows, I just read and enjoyed the first book of art inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire. As usual, some of the best images are of Jon Snow, the bastard son of Ned Stark, and his dire wolf, Ghost. Jon becomes part of The Night's Watch in the first book, A Game of Thrones, and is sent to the great Wall in the North to serve the realm.

The images in the book are varied in style, and most are wonderfully rendered studies of many of the characters and settings in the books. I was surprised at the number of European artists involved. The artists' bios at the end of the book lead you to their websites for further exploration. A second volume has just been published, so there will be more scenes of the Seven Kingdoms and beyond to peruse at your leisure. Well, you have to do something while you're waiting for Season 3 of A Game of Thrones on tv.

A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire

by George R R Martin, 753 pages

The 4th book in A Song of Ice and Fire is quite different from the first 3 in the series. The narrative voices of some of the major characters are not included, and new characters are introduced. I miss some of my favorites, but there was enough continuity in the story to get me through it.

Martin claims this a just half of what was to be book 4, and that book 5 (A Dance With Dragons) is the other half. I wonder since there were so many years between the two stories publication dates. While it's not really filler, there is quite a bit of background and stories from the outer fringes of Westeros. So that gives it a kind of "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." feeling.

That said, I did enjoy the book and the variety of settings. We still followed Jaime, Cersei and Brienne through different parts of Westeros. To me, Brienne emerges as more of a heroic character, and Jaime reveals new facets of his dark and complex character. Though I will say some of the scenes on the Iron Islands and in Dorne didn't engage me as much because I didn't know or didn't like some of the characters there. I am assuming they will play a larger role in later volumes.

So, all in all, it's worth reading to keep in touch with all the plot elements but I just didn't find it as engaging as the first three books.

The library recently acquired 2 volumes of The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. This image of Jaime Lannister in his King's Guard armor is from the first volume.  The picture below is from the new cover for A Feast of Crows, so there is a lot of interest in creating art to go along with the stories. It sounds like a beautiful new illustrated edition.