George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows

Emery Woodward

 

These books have been like reading a combination of “days of our lives” and “The Lord of the Rings”. It was a constant thriller with drama at the end of almost every single chapter along with all of the action, adventure and character growth that you come to love in almost every George R.R. Martin book. In this book in the series of “A game of Thrones” the realm has reached somewhat of a lull in the fighting and the kingdoms are attempting to pick up the shattered pieces of what is left of their former glory; Whilst this goes on the characters that we have grown to love and hate plot against each other with more fury than ever before. Queen Cersei attempts to rid herself of the Martells in Kings Landing while also hunting down her brother. The Dornish want war with Kings Landing while the Starks roam the Seven Kingdoms broken and tattered. While there is less action the book still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire read.

The Character development throughout the book is marvelous as in all of his books up to this point. You will come to love the characters you already loved even more while seeing other sides to them, and will cheer along the downfall of the characters that you already love to hate. Although there is always that fear in the back of mind about getting to attached to a character because in these novels at the end of any page turn there is a chance for the entire world to be turned upside down… yet again.

 The plot throughout this installment of the series has been just as exciting as ever even though there has been slightly less action. In certain scenes in the book you can almost feel the tension in the room as characters plot and reveal their plans to each other. One such example happens between Cersei Lannister and her Uncle early on in the book. “‘You would abandon your king when he needs you most,’ She told him ‘you would abandon Tommen’ ‘Tommen has his mother.’ Ser Kevan’s green eyes met her own, unblinking. A last drop of wine trembled wet and red beneath his chin, and finally fell ‘Aye’ he added softly after a pause, ‘and his father too I think’”. The tension in this scene between Cersei and Ser Kevan is Palpable and wouldn’t be felt without the incredible descriptive skills of George R. R. Martin.

One of the great Rhetorical skills that I have found that George R.R. Martin often uses is foreshadowing, throughout the past few books there have been moments where, as you were reading you could figure what was going to happen next before it even happened, and that’s one of the things that I love about this book. Sometimes the thing that you think the foreshadowing is implying will play out exactly as you expected but George R.R. Martin also does an incredible job of keeping you guessing throughout the entire read.

“She narrowed her eyes ‘what is our hearts desire?’ ‘Vengeance’ he whispered softly as if he were afraid that someone might be listening ‘Justice.’ Prince Doran pressed the Onyx dragon into her palm and his swollen, gouty fingers, and whispered ‘Fire and Blood’”. In this instance there is foreshadowing to a great many things that may take a while to describe but it is obvious from this chapter that something big is going to happen within one of the great families in the Seven Kingdoms.

Overall this book deserves a rating of at the very least an A-. While it has not had the action and excitement as much as the previous books George. R.R. Martin still keeps to his incredible one edge stile of writing while building up the tension and events for things to unfold over the last three books that are left.

Fiction and Nonfiction: When it comes to certain books the Truth is a necessity, you can't write certain books with partial truths and leave out or embellish details. Non-fiction books such as textbooks can't afford half truths or embellished details because they need to present unbiased unembellished fact. The people who read this books are looking for just that and shouldn't have to worry about being misinformed whilst reading these books. When it comes to something like a memoir a little bit of imbellishment or white lie isn't unheard of. If there are certain small details that an author wants to leave out to make him/her look better in her story but don't stray too far from the truth than the author has that right, it is after all his/her story and he/she has the right to choose what to and what not to share with us. If the story whether 50% or 100% true is an entertaining one then people will still read it and still enjoy it whether or not you call it a memoir a fiction. Often times fiction writers will add details of their own lives or influences from their own lives into their writings but people wouldn't go balistic if they found out a few quotes or conversations from their favorite fictional novel were based in reality. It might make them love that author even more, so if an author chooses to blend fiction and non-fiction then so be it, and let them choose where to draw the line in labeling their book as such, if they even want to label their book, and the public will choose either way whether it becomes a best seller or not.

3 to keep 2 to cut

-One of the most important scenes in the first book that absolutely would have to be kept is the scene where the starks discover the direwolfs. This scene obviously has a lot of plot importance but also includes a significant amount of foreshadowing.
 -Another scene that I love from the first book is the scene between tryion and John snow on their way to the wall. Tyrion has a pretty great quote in this scene because they are both outcasts that has to be kept in any film adaptation.
-Finally one part that i have a beef with in the second season (which i have already seen and read) is that they leave it 5 characters that stay behind in winterfell that help bran with his struggles significantly and that i feel absolutely should have been included in the show.

--Janos slynt from books one and two is probably a character with a side plot that isnt all that important.
--Now in the third book there are three men who have captured arya and are taking her back to their King but their part in her overall escape and story arent all that relevant and may just take up time unnecesarily.

Book Project Number 1

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“The Host Experience”

Emery Woodward

Fans of Stephanie Meyers “The Host” can pay to live the host experience for one week in the beautiful caves of Colossal Cave Mountain Park in Tucson, Arizona. With a down payment and a signed waiver these lucky fans will immerse themselves for one week living just like the characters from the book. They will have to live off of the land with the help of survival experts, and paid actors pretending to be Jeb, Kyle, Ian, Jared, Jamie, and other characters from the book and will even get to relive reenactments of scenes from the book so real they’ll forget they are on vacation and will begin to feel like they are actually living in an alien controlled earth! Go on a Raid with Jared, or help Wanderer become part of her new human family; Help Doc with one of his dissections or just explore the caves yourself, and in the end you get to help make one final decision that will change the course of humanity and decide whether or not you survive “The Host Experience”.                                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                              How it will work

I based this idea roughly off of camp joy but mostly from the book itself, because the only way to truly experience all of the raw emotions and intensity of this book is to be there for yourself; to fight the fight they are and invest yourself into this family of people until you truly want to do everything you can to help them and you survive the experience. When you go on a raid for supplies and have to hide from the aliens, the actors will make the experience and the tenseness of the whole scene feel so real it will be an experience like no other. While scenes from the book are being reenacted you will feel for the characters like you never have before and you will feel incredibly strong sense of emotions, a huge emphasis throughout the entire book, the power of emotions. “Happy and sad, elated and miserable, secure and afraid, loved and denied, patient and angry, peaceful and wild, complete and empty… all of it, I would feel everything. It would all be mine.” (Meyer 608) By the end of the whole experience you should feel so attached that, as Melanie says to Wanderer “I think you’ve found your home” (Meyer 113). And you will come to truly appreciate what a blessing we have in being human. The same idea that you take from the end of the book, you will get to feel at the end of the host experience “This place was truly the highest and lowest of all worlds—the most beautiful senses, the most exquisite emotions… the most malevolent desires, the darkest deeds” (meyer 141).

Why it will work

This will work for the same reason that camp joy does, because people truly want to experience these things for themselves, reading a book or seeing a movie is one thing, but there is no other experience like loving and fearing and running for your life with other people like you are in the book itself.  Not only will you get to experience the story like you never have but there is also an outdoor adventure aspect to it. For those who love to camp, hunt, spend time outdoors and even survive in this wilderness this will add a broad appeal to them while being 100% safe at the same time. It will be an incredible adventure that will appeal to fans of the books, fans of survival challenges and anyone who is looking for a great time.

A book is...

A book is an idea. A book doesn't have guidelines or rules. There is no reason for that a book should be required to be written on paper. Books, or stories in ancient history used to be written on stone tablets, or cave walls but when a new technology was discovered that made it easier to write, these ancient concepts were abandoned. We didn't continue to write on caves because we "love the way a new cave smells", instead we advanced as we should and came to love the new vehicle for sharing our stories. Books are far more important than any attempt at a physical representation of what they are. A book is far more than a couple of pieces of paper taped to some plastic to hold it all together. A book transcends the physical nature of paper and is adaptable to any environmnet. You dont even need to have something physical to represent a book because a book is just a story, a story that can start through sharing from mouth to mouth. As society advances book will advance with us, because if there is one thing that Tom Piazza got right, it was when he said "I mean if there's no future for books, there's no future". There may be no future for the United States postal service, and there may be no future for paper stories, but the idea of books, and stories will always have a future, so long as the human existence has one. So we will advance, slowly more and more people will come to have electronic versions of books. In church you will start to see more and more kindles or Ipods in the place of the Bible until the ratio switches to where instead of occasionally seeing an ebook, you will only occasionally see a real book. And maybe we will miss the smell of a new book, but as our children grow up with our technology and read books through a different vehicle they will learn to become nostalgic of the smell of a new Ereader. They will love the smell that a Kindle gives off, however minute. If a newer technology comes along to replace Ipods and Ereaders than so be it. Each technology will have it's own way to bring up waves of nostalgia, and it may not be a smell, we may just come to love the feel of an environment as we delve into our new worlds. But the idea of a book. of a story can never, ever disappear in a society that remains innately human.

Why I Read

Reading a book for me is a way of escaping my universe and exploring strange new ones. I love to read science fiction books because they expose me to new ideas and concepts that amaze and entrance me. Books can tell a story and teach you new things and entertain you all at the same time if you find the right one. Often time the things you are being taught aren't just facts or new ideas but a lesson in how to deal with day to day life. Reading gives me this perfect balance of entertainement, entrancement and information that you often can't find in a movie or other forms of entertainement, and it can be done anywhere and at any time. You can gain knowledge and experience in many aspects without even leaving the comfort of your living room. Explore entire worlds while swinging in your hammock, and for that very purpose i read as often as i have the free time to.