A Dance with Dragons

by George R.R. Martin

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Genres: Fantasy

233 pages, Hardcover

Published November 11, 1904

About the author

George Raymond Richard "R.R." Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: The Hero, sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.

In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.

In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.

Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.

Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...

Reviews

[Elijah Larson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let this review serve as a warning!
Out of the series this is the only one I have read recently before downloading this app. It has still been a few months since I read it and I can still taste the vomit in my throat from the ending. (Not really but I am still pissed). This review might be harsh and even slightly off but I wanted to write a review nonetheless.

This book was incredibly difficult to rate because some chapters were incredible and some were horrible. Sadly after reading the first 4 books I had to finish it. Here are a list of my favorite aspects of the book and possibly more importantly my least favorite:

Starting with the pros: Martin sets up multiple incredible plot lines between Jon snow forced to team up with Stannis, Arya’s training arc, Ser Barristan struggling with being a solider and a politician and Tyrions journey to the Queen. The fantasy is quite possibly the highest in the series which is fun. A lot of interesting things take place and a lot of characters have great moments. It’s hard to talk abt the pros but there are some great chapters… ok to the negatives:

Holy crap does this author piss me off. By this book he had far too many characters so after reading an intense Jon chapter the reader is forced to wait 4-6 chapters until they read from that characters pov again. At the beginning of the series it was fun and there was only a handful of characters, it is now exhausted and frustrating to an endless degree. Banking off of this fact, ypu never read anything worth of value. 90% of the chapters end in cliff hangers and what you actually desire to read (a battle, fight, or dragon flight) is always found out later in the worst way. As an example (spoiler free as possible) you follow Stannis for a handful of chapters stalking through the snow to Winterfell to fight. Later you find out in another persons POV the result. Like what was the point of all that build up, the reader just never wins with Martin.

In conclusion I loved the series and this book was such a terrible later installment part of me wishes I hadn’t started. It’s very evident to the reader that Martin lost any interest he had in Westeros halfway through the book. I just hope he ends the series one day and book 6 redeems this read. Thank you.

[Diego Guerrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far, the best of them all.

All the details, the development of the stories and that the fantasy aspect of it being front and center makes it so much interesting. And knowing that by the end of the book almost every character (outside of the Lannisters) what one thing only… a Targaryen back in the Iron Throne, makes you want more.

Can’t wait for the Winds of Winter… if we live to see it published.