Back to intrigue
I would say this volume is more satisfying than Feast for Crows, but that may simply be because it finally catches us up on the lives of Dany Targaryen, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and Bran Stark. The tone is fairly similar to Feast. There are few game-changing events here. Instead we see Dany learning to rule the city she's taken despite a treacherous populace, Jon learning to command despite an unhappy Night's Watch, Bran learning to access his gifts, and Tyrion just trying to stay alive. As always, Martin's prose is eloquent and rich in detail. Most of the joy of this novel is not in the forward progression of the events we're all beginning to anticipate, but in the realistic interactions of characters who behave in recognizably flawed, human ways. A Dance With Dragons, like A Feast for Crows, returns to the sense of intrigue with which A Game of Thrones started.