INSPIRATION
As avid fans of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series know, books 4 and 5 ("A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons," respectively) were originally intended as a single book. Due to the ever expanding scope of the story that Martin wanted to tell as well as the publishing issues concerned with a work of such length, Martin was forced to reconsider his intended story. He was forced to determine how best to split up his story into two volumes.
After much deliberation, he decided that instead of chronologically separating the books and leaving an abrupt and awkward halt to all the character's stories, he would divide the books geographically. "A Feast for Crows" focused more on the events around King's Landing, the Iron Islands, and Dorne while "A Dance with Dragons" looked up north to the Wall and beyond and across the Narrow Sea to Pentos and Slaver's Bay.
Both books start up immediately after the events of "A Storm of Swords" (Book 3), but "A Dance with Dragons" eventually continues beyond the point of "A Feast for Crows" at which point we are reintroduced to the characters from that book. The next book (Book 6: "The Winds of Winter") will once again have all the characters together.
Due to the geographic division as well as Martin's original intention to contain the two volumes in one work, many people have suggested interspersing the chapters of the two books to create one large volume that follows the events of all the characters. There are numerous suggestions on the order to read the chapters, but one thing is certain: simply intermixing the chapters in current order will result in a very choppy and jarring reading experience that does not honor Martin's writing. Taking this into account, Book 4.5: "A Ball of Beasts."
After much deliberation, he decided that instead of chronologically separating the books and leaving an abrupt and awkward halt to all the character's stories, he would divide the books geographically. "A Feast for Crows" focused more on the events around King's Landing, the Iron Islands, and Dorne while "A Dance with Dragons" looked up north to the Wall and beyond and across the Narrow Sea to Pentos and Slaver's Bay.
Both books start up immediately after the events of "A Storm of Swords" (Book 3), but "A Dance with Dragons" eventually continues beyond the point of "A Feast for Crows" at which point we are reintroduced to the characters from that book. The next book (Book 6: "The Winds of Winter") will once again have all the characters together.
Due to the geographic division as well as Martin's original intention to contain the two volumes in one work, many people have suggested interspersing the chapters of the two books to create one large volume that follows the events of all the characters. There are numerous suggestions on the order to read the chapters, but one thing is certain: simply intermixing the chapters in current order will result in a very choppy and jarring reading experience that does not honor Martin's writing. Taking this into account, Book 4.5: "A Ball of Beasts."
What was the methodology behind this reading order?
"A Ball of Beasts" was created with the intention of presenting a cohesive story, first and foremost, but a focus on narrative chronology was also employed. What that means is the order took into account a few specific goals: the chapters from each individual book should not be read out of order unless absolutely necessary to maintain suspense in a plotline for first-time readers, the chapters should flow from one to the next in a manner that highlights the themes intended by the author as well as transition in a manner that feels like one body of work, the chapters would be spliced together from each book in the most likely order that they occur within the world unless either of the two previous points necessitated a difference. With those goals in mind, "A Ball of Beasts" came to fruition after repeated re-readings to ensure the ultimate sequence of events for not only clarity and enjoyment but also literary value.
What makes "A Ball of Beasts" stand out from other orders?
This reading order was constructed with exceptional care and tedious investigation rather than a cursory few days of thought. Opinions were taken from a wide variety of sources and weighed for their input before establishing the final sequence that would stand the test of time. While some reading orders have you reading chunks of one book at a time in order to ease the physical process, ABOB focuses primarily on the order as if it were not two separate books. For those who already own both books, professionally compiled electronic versions are also available for convenience.
In addition, "A Ball of Beasts" took the most jarring experience of a combined read (a certain repeated scene in the Jon and Sam chapters), and masterfully merged them into a single Night's Watch chapter without altering or deleting any of George R. R. Martin's work. This is the standout of the order and the final piece of the puzzle that truly manages to turn AFFC and ADWD into a single body of work indistinguishable as a combined reading order. "A Ball of Beasts" truly is a book in its own right.
Finally, the level of detail and scrutiny it took to create A Ball of Beasts will be evident even in the smallest of places, such as the renaming of the Victarion and Melisandre chapters to match the naming convention of the rest of the chapters. It is these types of things which ensure that A Ball of Beasts will be the ultimate combined reading order for "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons," far ahead of any and all competitors.
Is "A Ball of Beasts" recommended for readers who have not read Books 4 or 5 before?
Absolutely! "A Ball of Beasts" was crafted carefully to ensure that major reveals would not be spoiled by the early chapters of "A Dance with Dragons" before the storylines had a chance to culminate in the later "A Feast for Crows" chapters. Fortunately, this was easily accomplished by only having to move a single chapter out of order, and the change creates no confusion or plot holes that need to be brushed aside. In fact, the order here will be enjoyable to both first-time and veteran readers!
Why "A Ball of Beasts"?
The title takes into account Martin's naming conventions for the rest of the series. The only two books not to have the preposition "of" were "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons." This includes the upcoming Book 6 ("The Winds of Winter") and Book 7 ("A Dream of Spring"). It stuck out that the two volumes he split up had different prepositions, so it only made sense that a combined volume would return to "of." Also, while keeping the alliteration suggested by "A Clash of Kings" and "A Storm of Swords" as well as the single syllable of every prime noun throughout the series, "feast" and "dance" sounded like an old medieval ball with copious amounts of food and dancing. Also, both crows and dragons are types of beasts, and the word beast is symbolic of the monsters in all men. So there it is: the reasoning behind the title of "A Ball of Beasts."
Will chapters from "The Winds of Winter" or other books also be integrated eventually?
Unless George R. R. Martin splits future books geographically again, no other books will be included in "A Ball of Beasts." The intention here was not to rearrange all of his work but rather to keep a consistency of storytelling from which "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons" strayed. Those interested in a variant read should take a look at our sister project, The Iron Throne Saga novella series.
"A Ball of Beasts" was created with the intention of presenting a cohesive story, first and foremost, but a focus on narrative chronology was also employed. What that means is the order took into account a few specific goals: the chapters from each individual book should not be read out of order unless absolutely necessary to maintain suspense in a plotline for first-time readers, the chapters should flow from one to the next in a manner that highlights the themes intended by the author as well as transition in a manner that feels like one body of work, the chapters would be spliced together from each book in the most likely order that they occur within the world unless either of the two previous points necessitated a difference. With those goals in mind, "A Ball of Beasts" came to fruition after repeated re-readings to ensure the ultimate sequence of events for not only clarity and enjoyment but also literary value.
What makes "A Ball of Beasts" stand out from other orders?
This reading order was constructed with exceptional care and tedious investigation rather than a cursory few days of thought. Opinions were taken from a wide variety of sources and weighed for their input before establishing the final sequence that would stand the test of time. While some reading orders have you reading chunks of one book at a time in order to ease the physical process, ABOB focuses primarily on the order as if it were not two separate books. For those who already own both books, professionally compiled electronic versions are also available for convenience.
In addition, "A Ball of Beasts" took the most jarring experience of a combined read (a certain repeated scene in the Jon and Sam chapters), and masterfully merged them into a single Night's Watch chapter without altering or deleting any of George R. R. Martin's work. This is the standout of the order and the final piece of the puzzle that truly manages to turn AFFC and ADWD into a single body of work indistinguishable as a combined reading order. "A Ball of Beasts" truly is a book in its own right.
Finally, the level of detail and scrutiny it took to create A Ball of Beasts will be evident even in the smallest of places, such as the renaming of the Victarion and Melisandre chapters to match the naming convention of the rest of the chapters. It is these types of things which ensure that A Ball of Beasts will be the ultimate combined reading order for "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons," far ahead of any and all competitors.
Is "A Ball of Beasts" recommended for readers who have not read Books 4 or 5 before?
Absolutely! "A Ball of Beasts" was crafted carefully to ensure that major reveals would not be spoiled by the early chapters of "A Dance with Dragons" before the storylines had a chance to culminate in the later "A Feast for Crows" chapters. Fortunately, this was easily accomplished by only having to move a single chapter out of order, and the change creates no confusion or plot holes that need to be brushed aside. In fact, the order here will be enjoyable to both first-time and veteran readers!
Why "A Ball of Beasts"?
The title takes into account Martin's naming conventions for the rest of the series. The only two books not to have the preposition "of" were "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons." This includes the upcoming Book 6 ("The Winds of Winter") and Book 7 ("A Dream of Spring"). It stuck out that the two volumes he split up had different prepositions, so it only made sense that a combined volume would return to "of." Also, while keeping the alliteration suggested by "A Clash of Kings" and "A Storm of Swords" as well as the single syllable of every prime noun throughout the series, "feast" and "dance" sounded like an old medieval ball with copious amounts of food and dancing. Also, both crows and dragons are types of beasts, and the word beast is symbolic of the monsters in all men. So there it is: the reasoning behind the title of "A Ball of Beasts."
Will chapters from "The Winds of Winter" or other books also be integrated eventually?
Unless George R. R. Martin splits future books geographically again, no other books will be included in "A Ball of Beasts." The intention here was not to rearrange all of his work but rather to keep a consistency of storytelling from which "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons" strayed. Those interested in a variant read should take a look at our sister project, The Iron Throne Saga novella series.