Has anyone picked this up? The series is hands down my favorite fantasy so far, but experience says that book 4 is where most fantasy series tend to go to shit (horribly in the cases of Black Company and Wheel of Time, to a smaller extent in the Riftwar Saga). Is it worth buying in hardcover, or can it wait?

Feast of Crows eh, I'll have to check it out.

Fandros

This is the series containing A GAME OF THRONES, A CLASH OF KINGS and A STORM OF SWORDS

A fairly good series but definately not my favorite fantasy. By far my favorite fantasy involves myself, two naked 18 year old females a six pack and a sleeping bag.

OMG ITS OUT!!!!!

/e runs to bookstore

I hear Dumbledore gets killed :(

The cover is very red.

I've picked it up, and I'm over halfway done. Without giving out any spoilers, here is my impression so far:

There is a trove of information and character development that makes me want to go back and read all of the earlier books with my new viewpoint. Some of the previously peripheral characters have moved to the front of the stage- after getting deep into this book, it is easy to forgive the delays and easily see why it had to be split up into to different books.

At times while reading a viewpoint I've had feelings similar to watching a horror movie as a kid; the ones where you're thinking "No, don't go into the dark basement by yourself, you idiot!"

My stance on Impossibly Long Fantasy Books (ILFBs) has been changed by this series. I think all of the other authors of ILFBs need to read this series, take notes and learn from it (JORDAN!). A 784 page long thriller is a joy to read.

Some of the previously peripheral characters have moved to the front of the stage-

That's because GRRM kills off everyone else!

I've finished the book, and I'm already waiting for the next one. The real kick in the balls is that the storylines that were left hanging in Crows is going to have to wait until after the next book, and of course Martin left most of the storylines as cliffhangers.

He has done a great job of narrating how things are falling apart, but I wish to hell I'd not started reading the series until it was finished.

If you didn't know, he's completed the 'next book' already, so it shouldn't be long before it comes out. I think next year? according to amazon reviews anyway.

Blast it, sold out still at my local Media Play.

Fandros

Feast for Crows was supposed to be published in 2004 too, I wouldn't hold my breath :>

If you didn't know, he's completed the 'next book' already, so it shouldn't be long before it comes out. I think next year? according to amazon reviews anyway.

Yes, but that book is going to focus on different characters- we can expect some overlap, sure, but many of the plotlines in A Feast For Crows will not be covered until the book following A Dance With Dragons