George R.R. Martin - A Dance With Dragons - Part 1 Dreams and Dust

BOOK FIVE OF

A Song of Ice and Fire

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpervoyagerbooks.com

Previously published in paperback by Voyager 2012

First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2011

Copyright © George R.R. Martin 2011

Cover illustration © Larry Rostant. Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Game of Thrones™ The Original Series based on A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin © 2011 Home Box Office, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. HBO and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

George R.R. Martin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007466061

Ebook Edition © March 2012 ISBN: 9780007482900

Version: 2019-03-14

this one is for my fans

for Lodey, Trebla, Stego, Pod,

Caress, Yags, X-Ray and Mr. X,

Kate, Chataya, Mormont, Mich,

Jamie, Vanessa, Ro,

for Stubby, Louise, Agravaine,

Wert, Malt, Jo,

Mouse, Telisiane, Blackfyre,

Bronn Stone, Coyote’s Daughter,

and the rest of the madmen and wild women of

the Brotherhood Without Banners

for my website wizards

Elio and Linda, lords of Westeros,

Winter and Fabio of WIC,

and Gibbs of Dragonstone, who started it all

for men and women of Asshai in Spain

who sang to us of a bear and a maiden fair

and the fabulous fans of Italy

who gave me so much wine

for my readers in Finland, Germany,

Brazil, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands

and all the other distant lands

where you’ve been waiting for this dance

and for all the friends and fans

I have yet to meet

thanks for your patience

Contents

Cover

Title Page A DANCE WITH DRAGONS PART ONE: DREAMS AND DUST BOOK FIVE OF A Song of Ice and Fire

Copyright Copyright HarperVoyager An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpervoyagerbooks.com Previously published in paperback by Voyager 2012 First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2011 Copyright © George R.R. Martin 2011 Cover illustration © Larry Rostant. Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019 Game of Thrones™ The Original Series based on A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin © 2011 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. HBO and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. George R.R. Martin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780007466061 Ebook Edition © March 2012 ISBN: 9780007482900 Version: 2019-03-14

Dedication this one is for my fans for Lodey, Trebla, Stego, Pod, Caress, Yags, X-Ray and Mr. X, Kate, Chataya, Mormont, Mich, Jamie, Vanessa, Ro, for Stubby, Louise, Agravaine, Wert, Malt, Jo, Mouse, Telisiane, Blackfyre, Bronn Stone, Coyote’s Daughter, and the rest of the madmen and wild women of the Brotherhood Without Banners for my website wizards Elio and Linda, lords of Westeros, Winter and Fabio of WIC, and Gibbs of Dragonstone, who started it all for men and women of Asshai in Spain who sang to us of a bear and a maiden fair and the fabulous fans of Italy who gave me so much wine for my readers in Finland, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands and all the other distant lands where you’ve been waiting for this dance and for all the friends and fans I have yet to meet thanks for your patience

A Cavil on Chronology A CAVIL ON CHRONOLOGY It has been a while between books, I know. So a reminder may be in order. The book you hold in your hands is the fifth volume of A Song of Ice and Fire . The fourth volume was A Feast for Crows . However, this volume does not follow that one in the traditional sense, so much as run in tandem with it. Both Dance and Feast take up the story immediately after the events of the third volume in the series, A Storm of Swords . Whereas Feast focused on events in and around King’s Landing, on the Iron Islands, and down in Dorne, Dance takes us north to Castle Black and the Wall (and beyond), and across the narrow sea to Pentos and Slaver’s Bay, to pick up the tales of Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and all the other characters you did not see in the preceding volume. Rather than being sequential, the two books are parallel … divided geographically, rather than chronologically. But only up to a point. A Dance with Dragons is a longer book than A Feast for Crows , and covers a longer time period. In the latter half of this volume, you will notice certain of the viewpoint characters from A Feast for Crows popping up again. And that means just what you think it means: the narrative has moved past the time frame of Feast , and the two streams have once again rejoined each other. Next up, The Winds of Winter . Wherein, I hope, everybody will be shivering together once again … —George R. R. Martin April 2011

Maps

Prologue

Tyrion

Daenerys

Jon

Bran

Tyrion

The Merchant’s Man

Jon

Tyrion

Davos

Jon

Daenerys

Reek

Bran

Tyrion

Davos

Daenerys

Jon

Tyrion

Davos

Reek

Jon

Tyrion

Daenerys

The Lost Lord

The Windblown

The Wayward Bride

Tyrion