Repetition, can be such a great thing. For example, when a great book is written and when a follow up novel comes out and continues to be amazing, I am happy for that repetitiveness. G.R.R. Martin does in fact write heavy laced plots that intertwine to the point you really don't know who you should root for anymore. I like the effect that he tries to pull off, and in many people it may indeed work. For example, a lot people seem to like the Kingslayer (Jaime Lannister) now. But anyway, just like its monstrous predecessors, Feast for Crows contains other repetitions. There are phrases that again are repeated over and over. Everything seems to happen in "half a heartbeat", and Jon Snow's main reaction to dialogue is to "tighten his burned hand" and everywhere we turn there are "dark wings with dark words" most of the characters are "almost a woman or man grown", and finally "steel is singing against steel" in every battle. 
 These are but a few of the repeated phrases heard in this book. I read this book a while back so my memory is fading to what actually took place just in this novel, but having just wrapped up A Dance with Dragons the storyline is still fresh in my head. This novel, although shorter than the others, was not my favorite in the story telling department of the series, but it was my favorite regarding its length. However, this is only because he was forced to break this one down because the full novel was way too large. So Martin technically didn't succeed where I give him this credit. 
 Don't get me wrong, the whole story line in general is still great and immersive, but where Martin succeed triumphantly in that area he fails again with too much detail. I have looked online to see family trees and relationships, at some point Martin needs to say enough is enough. There really is absolutely no need for the hundreds of characters that get mentioned in offhanded conversations that have no place in the plot. If he wants to introduce them later, fine toss in their backstory there. Martin's single flaw in my opinion would be his use of exposition. When a character makes an appearance he just babbles on and on about who this guy is in a long drawn out narrative. Most authors know it is best to show than tell, but Martin does a whole lot of telling in his books, so much so that after the lengthy backstory I totally forgot where the character was at. I'm being told about a battle this guy was in here, and how he raped some woman here and he fathered two children from a wedded wife and five from women he forced himself upon, then this same guy joined forces and called his banner-men to another war, and his horse was given to him by another high lord, and he had failed in combat while fighting for another higher lord's son. Then BAM we are back to where the scene opened, and I forgot he was sitting down to eat, with no doubt "grease running down and over his chin." Do people not know how to eat without making a mess in these books? You'd think this noblemen and women would have been taught etiquette. 
 Anyway, most people didn't like this novel also because many characters were left out. However knowing the reasons behind why that was done, I really didn't have a problem with that, because I knew I would be reading about their exploits in Dance with Dragons. So to keep up the repetitive cycle I grant this book a 4 star rating as well, losing a full star for the insane amount of exposition. When details go on for innumerable amounts of time I feel that a picture is no longer being drawn out for me, but a lecture is being thrown.