A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Fire and Ice, Vol. 5) by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just finished a listening marathon of the 5 volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire (volumes 1-5;). Trust me, it was a long marathon! If the story of the 7 kingdoms was not good, I would not have finished it...or have I. I normally do not like a series where you have to follow each book or clarity is lost or the story confusing. This is a must for this series in order to understand who's who and why things are happening as they are or why someone who appears dead lives. From this final volume, it would appear that there are more volumes to follow. This makes me sad. I wish this had been the last and things were more or less wrapped up as opposed to so many story lines dangling. There is much repetition. There are lots of twist and turns as you follow political and plots and schemes as well as character evolvement.

While I would like to know how it ends (if ever), I don't know that I will invest the time and Audible credits to continue. Do I regret my investment? No.

I must address the narrator, Roy Dotrice. He has a good voice and reads well. Listening to the five volumes in tandem, I found myself hearing different people with similar voices. This did not really bother me much, it's really just a nit. What was not a nit were the voices of women. They are just not right. Oh, the accents are good but they don't sound really feminine. The voice of the girl queen is especially off. She sounds old and scratchy. With so many characters to voice, the narration might be better served with at least one other person (a woman) added.

With roughly 201 listening hours, each book must be quite hefty. I mention this as a warning to those who do not like really long books.