A Dance With Dragons. George RR Martin/Harper Voyager, £25.
HBO’s adaptation of A Game Of Thrones has introduced thousands of newcomers to George RR Martin’s brutal fantasy vision. Four books further into his epic Song Of Ice And Fire series comes this much-delayed instalment; mercifully, it justifies the wait.
Plot specifics would be unfair on those following the TV series, or inspired by it to catch up with the books; much has changed in the intervening volumes. What remains constant is Martin’s deft characterisation, evocative description, and compelling plotting.
Even as multiple plot strands interweave and twist, no development feels forced; everything unfolds with the terrible inevitability of history.
Mystical and fantastical elements have gradually played a larger part as the series has unfolded, from the dragons of the title to the walking dead beyond the great Wall in the north, but the lands of Martin’s imagination have always retained a sense of realness and solidity rarely found in fantasy – or any fiction.
ALEX SARLL
