Upon finishing A Feast for Crows, I had to think long and hard about why people dislike the book so much. I read a lot of reviews stating that the pace was sluggish and the plot was simply uninteresting. While not my favorite entry in the series, there was hardly a dull moment to be found for me. 
 Brienne's story is both enlightening and heart-breaking, the irony of Cersei's tale is brilliantly unfolded, the poor Stark sisters dive ever deeper into increasingly hopeless situations, Samwell Tarly finds courage despite all claims to the contrary, the fascinating culture of the people of the Iron Islands is on full display and the character of Jaime continues the transformation he began in A Storm of Swords. All of this and more can be found in the book. Does that sound boring to you? 
 I will admit I had my doubts at first, but after the first few chapters (the story in Dorne were the only bits I may have struggled through) George R.R. Martin reminded me that he's simply the best fantasy writer we've got right now. I've come to care about all of these characters so much. They're all less than perfect, and that's what makes this series a thing of beauty. 
 In fact, that's my only complaint of the book, albeit, an unfair one: a lot of the characters I love were missing. After realizing that this and A Dance With Dragons occur concurently to fully expand upon everyone's stories as well at marvelling at Mr. Martin's sheer writing talent, I didn't miss those characters too much. I now have some new favorites. 
 I liked this better than A Clash of Kings, which was the one to really bore me in places. As long as you're aware of what the author is doing with this book and the next one as well as keep an open mind on some previously unexpounded characters and locations, you'll be fine. Can't wait to start A Dance With Dragons.