First, yay I finally finished it! I read about half, then stopped for a while and got back into it and finished it after Christmas. Ok, so the review (note that I would give this 3.5 if possible). I thought it funny, that a book titled "A Dance With Dragons" would have more of the dragons in it. The best part didn't come around till like the 700th page or something? urgh. Also, while I admire the detailed characterisation that Martin puts in, I think some of it is unnecessary at times, and sometimes while I read I think to myself, 'Just get on with the story!' But any Song of Ice and Fire reader should know by now that Martin likes to take his time, and make sure to either make you love a character so much you can't wait to get to their chapter (and subsequently break your heart if they are killed off) or tease a character ever so slightly that you are so annoyed there wasn't any more information about what they are doing (hello Jamie and Brienne). He also has a knack for leaving all the juicy bits to the end. 
 *le spoilers* 
 So to this book's deaths. 
 And the OMG WTF moment goes to: Jon. However I doubt he is really dead. That was left wide open. Also, Jon's last breath of "Ghost" (I think) leads me to believe he may return as Ghost, just as all the Stark children have become one with their direwolves. (I'm not counting Rickon as he's not really a character yet, and seriously, where in Westeros did he go? I guess Davos'll find him). If he doesn't return as Ghost I think there's a clue in the bodies that he kept in the dungeons, maybe he will be able to talk (similar to cold hands? he could talk, right? I cant remember as that was in the first half of the book I read so long ago). Either that or Milisandre could resurrect him, although I don't know why, he made a lot of bad decisions towards the end, even if his heart was in the right place, but he definitely changed his character a bit, thought too much of himself and tried to do too much I think. 
 Quentyn. Oh boy did I see that coming. What an idiot, like 3 people told him to go home, but the stubborn little brat didn't listen. At least he set the dragons free. Hopefully Victarion's horn does not work though, those dragons are Danys, dammit! Although that's exactly what Martin would do. Make everyone think that its Dany's destiny to rule Westeros, and all the other characters will help her in some way (Tyrion, the Starks, Jaime), but others will try and race her to the finish (Aeron, Stannis) only to band together and defeat the Others that have broken down the wall. Then once most people are dead, split the kingdom so everyone can be their own king and live happily ever after. But no no no, Martin would totally kill everyone off, put someone like Jon Connington on the throne and form a spin-off that follows the lives of the commoners living under the corrupt leaders' rule. He would soo do that! (But whatever he does, I still can't wait!) 
 Kevan Lannister. Poor Kevan. Everything was going swimmingly for this guy. Although he was a Lannister, he was still (kinda) honourable, as honourable as you can be while still sticking up for your own house. He would probably have been a nice guy under any king, as long as things worked the way they should. Basically he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and his death conveniently let us readers know what Varys' plan was. I would really love a POV from Varys. Just to get inside his head and hear all his motivations for the things that he does. 
 So there was a lot of travel in this book. Travel across seas and travel by characters who haven't taken the right path that they should have. Finally Daenerys is going to head to Westeros (I guess). Finally we see at least a semblance of a direction the series may be headed towards. Amongst all this, though, there are some people we don't know where the hell they're gonna go. Arya? Is she destined to be a warrior woman, trained to come in at the last minute and save someone, or perhaps the next Varys, flitting through the Kingdom with a different face in each town, gathering information for the future ruler? Will Bran stay in his icy prison forever? Or be rescued by R'hllor and reunited with his shell of a mother and the rest of his family? Will Jamie continue to be the most honourable man he's turning into, or another character to be killed off in the last battle, saving someone or something? 
 Only 2 books to go! Hopefully the next will come out within the next couple of years, and the other in time for the end of the tv series (season 10 if they split a couple of books?) Honestly I doubt that Martin will finish in time for it all to be put into production (if it continues to be a success, and they actually keep making it on tv). Ad if he doesn't complete the books, and the tv series continues, they will end up making the ending up, and then it probably wont be as good. So I'm really wishing that Martin has some sort of plan to complete the series by 2018 at the latest, provided storm of swords, feast of crows and dance with dragons are split across 5 seasons. (tricky to work out, as feast and dance are within the same time frame.) 
 Ok, massive detailed review over! Obviously if I didn't enjoy the book I wouldn't write so much about it, so it deserves the 3.5 stars I want to give it.