A Dance with Dragons

A Dance with Dragons

Author	George R. R. Martin
Cover artist	Larry Rostant
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	A Song of Ice and Fire
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Voyager Books (UK) & Bantam Spectra (USA)
Publication date	12 July 2011 (US, UK)
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	More than 900
ISBN	ISBN 0-553-80147-3 (978-0553801477)
OCLC	191922936
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. Although some publishers had listed provisional release dates, after several previously announced dates were not achieved Martin indicated that no release date would be set until the book was finished. On March 3, 2011, publisher Bantam Spectra announced that the novel will be released on July 12, 2011.

A Dance with Dragons was originally the title of the second novel in the sequence, when Martin still envisioned the series as a trilogy. Some early US editions of A Game of Thrones (1996) list A Dance of Dragons as the forthcoming second volume in the series. The 1998 anthology Legends, which features the novella The Hedge Knight from the same universe, lists A Dance of Dragons as the fourth installment of the series.

Plot introduction

Set in a fictitious world reminiscent of Medieval Europe in which magic exists and the seasons can last for many years, the Song of Ice and Fire series follows the violent dynastic struggles of an empire in turmoil. A Dance with Dragons continues the events of A Storm of Swords (2000), the third novel in the series. The first part of the book runs concurrently with that of its predecessor, A Feast for Crows (2005), while the second is set afterwards and will give resolution to some of the storylines begun in A Feast for Crows.

Plot summary

The War of the Five Kings in Westeros seems to be winding down. In the North, self-declared 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 from the supposed children of his dead brother Robert Baratheon, actually offspring of incest between Robert's wife Cersei Lannister and her twin brother, Jaime the Kingslayer; this is complicated by the fact that much of the west coast is under occupation by the Ironborn. On the Wall itself, Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but the young man has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall, where the armies of Mance Rayder are amassing for an assault. Dwarf Tyrion Lannister has been wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of his young nephew, King Joffrey Baratheon, and has fled by ship across the narrow sea to Pentos, but not before murdering his hated father Tywin. In the far east, Daenerys Targaryen — sole heir to the deposed ruling family, the Targaryens — has conquered the city of Meereen, and rules it to hone her skills of leadership before she moves on to take back Westeros. But her presence is now known to many, and from the Iron Islands and Dorne, from Oldtown and the Free Cities, emissaries are on their way to find Daenerys and use her cause for their own ends.

As early as 2006, Martin made sample chapters available on his website. and at Amazon.co.uk.

Characters

The story is narrated from the point of view of at least 11 characters and, as with previous volumes, a one-off prologue point of view of a relatively minor character.

• Varamyr Sixskins (Prologue), a skinchanger and one of the surviving wildlings north of the Wall.
• Daenerys Targaryen, sole heir to the Targaryen dynasty who ruled Westeros for 300 years until their deposition 15 years prior to the first novel. Self-proclaimed Queen of Westeros, she now rules the city of Meereen.
• Jon Snow, the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and bastard son of Eddard Stark.
• Tyrion Lannister, dwarf and uncle to the King Tommen of Westeros, a fugitive wanted for kinslaying and regicide. Recently fled the Seven Kingdoms.
• Davos Seaworth, former smuggler and King's Hand to Stannis Baratheon.
• The Merchant's Man: Quentyn Martell, eldest son of Prince Doran Martell of Dorne, traveling into the east on a mission for his father.
• Bran Stark, rightful heir to his brother, the late Robb Stark. Seeking an old power beyond the Wall, believed dead by his own family.
• The Wayward Bride: Asha Greyjoy, niece of King Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, lately fled from the isles.
• Reek: Theon Greyjoy, presumed-dead son of recently deceased King Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, a captive of Ramsay Bolton and now tortured, starved and barely sane.
• Arya Stark, hiding in the Free City of Braavos, where she is also called "Cat of the Canals" and continues her training as an assassin by the House of Black and White (The Faceless Men). Meanwhile back in Westeros, an impostor Arya has been betrothed to Ramsay Bolton.
• Lady Melisandre, a mysterious shadow-binder from Asshai and a devoted priestess to the red god R'hllor, advisor to Stannis.
• Cersei Lannister, the Queen Regent, currently imprisoned in a tower cell, awaiting trial.
• Another, as yet unrevealed point of view. It is possible that this character was Aeron Damphair, as Martin has stated that his one chapter in A Dance with Dragons has been moved to The Winds of Winter.
• An epilogue character.

In a progress update on his website dated January 1, 2008, Martin said he would add "some chapters from the point of view of one of the characters featured in the first lot of Ice & Fire miniatures from Dark Sword, a character who has never had a POV in any of the earlier books". The three characters that met these criteria were Melisandre, Sandor Clegane, and Loras Tyrell. Martin later ruled out Sandor, and on October 17, 2009, he confirmed that Melisandre has at least one point of view chapter in the book.

Split in publication

According to Martin, his manuscript for the fourth novel in the series had become too large to publish in a single volume. Rather than simply split it in half and publish it as essentially "Part 1" and "Part 2," Martin decided to split the book by character and location. Published in 2005, A Feast for Crows is narrated primarily by characters in the South of the Seven Kingdoms and in the new locations of the Iron Islands and Dorne. Characters in the North and across the narrow sea will be featured in A Dance with Dragons, although 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.

In 2009, Martin confirmed that, contrary to earlier statements, Sansa Stark will not appear in A Dance with Dragons; Sansa chapters initially slated for the novel have instead been pushed back to The Winds of Winter, which is planned to be the sixth book in the series. In early 2010, Martin noted that his intent for A Dance with Dragons was for the first 800 manuscript pages to cover the alternate characters in the same time span as A Feast for Crows, and that "Everything that follows is post-Feast, so that's where some of the cast from the last book start popping up again." Stating that "I wanted to resolve at least a few of the cliffhangers from Feast," Martin also mentioned the possibility that some of his finished chapters might get pushed to the next novel, The Winds of Winter, depending on the length of the finished manuscript for A Dance with Dragons.

Delays in publication

Despite original predictions of possible completion in late 2006, Martin has not finished the book as of March 2011. Martin's blog has featured sporadic updates on his progress, and in January 2008 he posted an update on his website affirming his vigilant commitment to finishing the book. In early 2008, publisher Spectra Books (a division of Random House) announced that A Dance with Dragons would be released on September 30, 2008, but Martin stated this would only be possible if he finished writing by the end of June, before a trip to Spain and Portugal, and he did not meet this goal.

On February 19, 2009, Martin posted on his website, "I am trying to finish the book by June. I think I can do that. If I do, A Dance with Dragons will likely be published in September or October." On June 22, 2009, the author expressed "guarded optimism" in respect to his progress on the book, while still not confirming a publication date. When asked in a July 2009 interview with FREE! Magazine how the book was going, Martin stated, "It is going pretty well, actually. I am hoping to finish it by September or October; that is my goal." On October 6, 2009, Martin said that his working manuscript for A Dance With Dragons had just exceeded 1,100 pages of completed chapters, plus "considerably more in partials, fragments, and roughs." He noted that this made the upcoming novel longer than his earlier books A Game of Thrones and A Feast for Crows, and nearly as long as A Clash of Kings.

On March 2, 2010, Martin remarked that he had reached 1,311 manuscript pages, making Dance the second longest book in the series at that point, behind only the 1,521-page manuscript of A Storm of Swords. On July 8, 2010, Martin spoke at a conference and confirmed the current length of the book to be 1,400 manuscript pages. He expressed his disappointment that he was unable to completely finish the book by the conference, although he would not speculate how soon the book would be completed after his return home on July 11. At the same conference, Martin also confirmed that he has written one Sansa, one Arya, and two Arianne chapters for the planned sixth novel, Winds of Winter, and has transferred two Cersei chapters from that book into A Dance with Dragons. On August 7, 2010, Martin confirmed that he had completed 8 POVs, excluding prologue and epilogue.

At the New York Comic Con on October 10, 2010, Spectra senior editor Anne Groell announced that Martin had only five chapters remaining to finish, with sections of the chapters already completed. She stated her desire to have the manuscript completed by December. In a December 2010 interview with Bear Swarm, Martin stated that he almost had A Dance With Dragons completed.

The delays surrounding A Dance with Dragons have polarized some of Martin's fan base, with some questioning his commitment to finishing the series.

On March 3, 2011 the publisher announced that the novel, though still incomplete, would be released on July 12, 2011. Martin claims this July 2011 publication date is different from the previous publication dates in that it is “real” as opposed to the “wishful thinking, boundless optimism, cockeyed dreams, honest mistakes”. On March 12 he revealed that the unfinished manuscript had exceeded A Storm of Swords in length, making it the longest book in the entire series. On March 27 he announced that the manuscript had exceeded 1600 pages.

External links

• The latest info regarding the completion of A Dance with Dragons
• Official website of author George R. R. Martin
• A Song of Ice and Fire series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database