A Dance with Dragons

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**A Dance with Dragons**
Author	George R. R. Martin
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	A Song of Ice and Fire
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Novel
Publisher	Voyager (UK) & Spectra Books (USA)
Released	2007 (tbc)
Media Type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	tbc
ISBN	tbc
Preceded by	A Feast for Crows
Followed by	The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)

A Dance with Dragons is the fifth of seven planned novels in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by American author George R. R. Martin. As of December 5th, 2006, Martin states that the book will not be completed by the end of 2006, as previously announced, and Martin will no longer announce dates when he hopes to deliver the book to his publishers.[1]

'The Dance of the Dragons' is the name given to a fictional civil war in the history of Westeros, leading to much speculation that the novel will feature the long-awaited invasion of Westeros by the army of Daenerys Targaryen. However, at ComiCon 2006, George R. R. Martin says that is not necessarily what the title is referring to.[2]

A Dance of Dragons was originally the title of the second novel in the sequence, when Martin still envisaged the series as a trilogy. Some early US editions of A Game of Thrones list A Dance of Dragons as the forthcoming second volume in the series. It was also the original planned title for the fourth novel.

1 Plot summary
2 Characters
3 Split in publication
4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

A Dance with Dragons is set in a fictitious world reminiscent of Medieval Europe (primarily on a continent called Westeros), except for the fact that in this world, seasons can last for years, occasionally decades.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A Dance with Dragons picks up where A Storm of Swords left off and runs simultaneously with events in A Feast for Crows. The War of the Five Kings seems to be winding down. In the North, King Stannis Baratheon has installed himself at the Wall and vowed to win the support of the northmen to continue his struggle to claim the Iron Throne, although this is complicated by the fact that much of the west coast is under occupation by the ironborn. On the Wall itself Jon Snow has been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall to watch for. Tyrion Lannister has been taken by ship across the Narrow Sea to Pentos, but his eventual goals are unknown even to him. In the far east, Daenerys Targaryen has conquered the city of Meereen, but has decided to stay and rule the city, honing her skills of leadership which will be needed when she travels on to Westeros. But Daenerys' presence is now known to many in Westeros, and from the Iron Islands and Dorne, from Oldtown and the Free Cities, emissaries are on their way to find her and use her cause for their own ends...

[edit] Characters

The tale is told through the eyes of 9 POV characters and, as with previous volumes, a one-off prologue POV.

Prologue: unknown
Jon Snow, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
Tyrion Lannister, lately fled from the Seven Kingdoms.
Ser Davos Seaworth, King's Hand to Stannis Baratheon.
Daenerys Targaryen, the Unburnt, the Mother of Dragons, and self-proclaimed Queen of Westeros.
Bran Stark, rightful heir to the late Robb Stark, in hiding beyond the Wall and believed dead.
Arya Stark, in hiding in the Free City of Braavos, where she is also called 'Cat of the Canals'.
Asha Greyjoy, the niece of King Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands.
Theon Greyjoy, the nephew of King Euron Greyjoy and a captive of House Bolton at the Dreadfort.
A new POV character of unknown identity.

[edit] Split in publication

When the fourth novel in the series, A Feast for Crows, was published it was missing many of its key characters. This was because the book had gotten far too large to publish as one volume. Rather than simply split it in half and published it as 'Part 1' and 'Part 2', Martin decided to split the book by character and location. This decision was apparently inspired by a conversation with Martin's friend and fellow writer Daniel Abraham. Thus, characters in the South of the Seven Kingdoms and in the new locations of the Iron Islands and Dorne appeared in A Feast for Crows. Characters in the North and across the sea were held back for A Dance with Dragons. Arya Stark and Asha Greyjoy will appear in both volumes.

Approximately one-third of the published A Dance with Dragons will consist of material that had been written for the pre-split A Feast for Crows, although much of this has been rewritten by Martin. Martin has also promised to try and include some 'catch-up' chapters at the end of the novel to reveal what happened to some of that novel's characters after the ending of A Feast for Crows, such as Sansa Stark, Brienne of Tarth and Jaime and Cersei Lannister.

[edit] External links

GeorgeRRMartin.com - official website of the author.
The Citadel at www.westeros.org - extensive archive about the series, including detailed thematic notes, timelines, artwork & heraldry, and correspondence from the author.
Tower of the Hand - A comprehensive treatment of A Song of Ice and Fire with chapter summaries and individual pages for every character, location, historical event, noble house, etc. from the series all thoroughly cross-referenced and hyperlinked.
Amoka.net Gallery of fan-created portraits of the Song of Ice and Fire characters.
Song of Ice and Fire books at Amazon.com
Message Board - extensive topical theory discussion about current and upcoming books.
A Song of Ice and Fire series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database