Chronological reading list for A Feast for Crows & A Dance with Dragons

WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS. THIS POST SHOULD ONLY BE READ BY THOSE WHO ARE UP TO DATE WITH A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE

Just to be absolutely clear, I'm going to warn you all again - this post contains spoilers for ASoIaF so only read it if you're up to date with the series and have read A Dance with Dragons.

Okay, so that's my disclaimers over and done with now and I can get on with the rest of this post! I hope I don't to sound too angry in them, by the way, but I know how annoyed I'd have been if someone foretold ASoIaF for me and I don't want to see anybody leaving comments beneath this post moaning that I've given stuff away! So I'm going to assume that everyone reading to this point has now read A Dance with Dragons...

As you have, will have undoubtedly noticed that its chronology is weird and actually overlaps with A Feast for Crows. As I understand it, this is largely due to problems that George R. R. Martin had while he was writing the series. Following A Storm of Swords, Martin had originally wanted the series to jump ahead by a few years and had actually started writing Feast as if it had. He had only gotten a short way into the book, however, before he realised that this idea wasn't going to work and had to start again (which was a factor in the length of time it took to complete the novel). So Martin re-planned his concept for Feast,  but found that while the time jump didn't work for some characters, it did for others. Furthermore, he found that he had too many characters to write about simultaneously and, hey-presto, we've ended up with two chronologically overlapping books.

Obviously this has led to certain PoV characters being completely absent in one of the two books, which some fans think has 'staled' their storylines somewhat. Many have also suggested that this takes some of the power away from certain revelations because the initial shock has worn off and we've had time to become accustomed to the plot twist. A good example of this is Tyrion Lannister's descent into alcoholism after he murders his father and flees Westeros. By the time we get to read of his fate, we're all long accustomed to his exile!

In response to this, many fans of the series have begun to develop ways of reading Feast and Dance together as one book - we do, afterall, have both of them available now. There have been many problems with this though, which is largely due to the complexity of the story - let's face it, aside from Martin himself, I think we all struggle to comprehend everything that's going on to some degree!

Sean T Collins, however, is one such fan and seems to have had some success with this idea - managing to restructure both of the books into one so that the entire story flows chronologically (at least roughly). And while I'm not really a fan of this idea and will always reread the books exactly as Martin wrote them, I think that the idea sounds fun and has merit. So, if you are interested in this and would like to reread the series in a custom, chronological order, please see below for the chapter list (as it appears on Sean's website). Enjoy!

1. Prologue (Varamyr): ADWD 1
2. Prologue (Pate): AFFC 1
3. The Prophet (Aeron I): AFFC 2
4. The Captain of Guards (Areo I): AFFC 3
5. Cersei I: AFFC 4
6. Tyrion I: ADWD 2
7. Daenerys I: ADWD 3
8. Brienne I: AFFC 5
9. Jon I: ADWD 4
10. Bran I: ADWD 5
11. Tyrion II: ADWD 6
12. The Merchant’s Man (Quentyn I): ADWD 7 ^
13. Samwell I: AFFC 6
14. Jon II: ADWD 8
15. Arya I: AFFC 7
16. Cersei II: AFFC 8
17. Jaime I: AFFC 9
18. Brienne II: AFFC 10
19. Sansa I: AFFC 11
20. The Kraken’s Daughter (Asha I): AFFC 12
21. Tyrion III: ADWD 9
22. Davos I: ADWD 10
23. Jon III: ADWD 11
24. Daenerys II: ADWD 12
25. Reek I (Theon I): ADWD 13
26. Cersei III: AFFC 13
27. The Soiled Knight (Arys): AFFC 14
28. Bran II: ADWD 14
29. Tyrion IV: ADWD 15
30. Davos II: ADWD 16
31. Brienne III: AFFC 15
32. Samwell II: AFFC 16
33. Daenerys III: ADWD 17
34. Jon IV: ADWD 18
35. Jaime II: AFFC 17
36. Tyrion V: ADWD 19
37. Cersei IV: AFFC 18
38. Davos III: ADWD 20
39. The Iron Captain (Victarion I): AFFC 19
40. The Drowned Man (Aeron II): AFFC 20
41. Brienne IV: AFFC 21
42. The Queenmaker (Arianne I): AFFC 22
43. Arya II: AFFC 23
44. Alayne I (Sansa II): AFFC 24
45. Cersei V: AFFC 25
46. Reek II (Theon II): ADWD 21
47. Jon V: ADWD 22
48. Tyrion VI: ADWD 23
49. Daenerys IV: ADWD 24
50. The Lost Lord (Jon Connington I): ADWD 25
51. The Windblown (Quentyn II): ADWD 26
52. The Wayward Bride (Asha II): ADWD 27
53. Brienne V: AFFC 26
54. Samwell III: AFFC 27
55. Jaime III: AFFC 28
56. Tyrion VII: ADWD 28
57. Jon VI: ADWD 29
58. Davos IV: ADWD 30
59. Cersei VI: AFFC 29
60. The Reaver (Victarion II): AFFC 30
61. Daenerys V: ADWD 31
62. Melisandre I: ADWD 32
63. Jaime IV: AFFC 31
64. Brienne VI: AFFC 32
65. Reek III (Theon III): ADWD 33
66. Tyrion VIII: ADWD 34
67. Cersei VII: AFFC 33
68. Jaime V: AFFC 34
69. Cat of the Canals (Arya III): AFFC 35
70. Samwell IV: AFFC 36
71. Cersei VIII: AFFC 37
72. Brienne VII: AFFC 38
73. Jaime VI: AFFC 39
74. Cersei IX: AFFC 40
75. The Princess in the Tower (Arianne II): AFFC 41 ^
76. Bran III: ADWD 35
77. Jon VII: ADWD 36
78. Daenerys VI: ADWD 37
79. The Prince of Winterfell (Theon IV): ADWD 38
80. The Watcher (Areo II): ADWD 39
81. Jon VIII: ADWD 40
82. Tyrion IX: ADWD 41
83. The Turncloak (Theon V): ADWD 42
84. The King’s Prize (Asha III): ADWD 43
85. Daenerys VII: ADWD 44
86. Alayne II (Sansa III): AFFC 42
87. Jon IX: ADWD 45
88. Brienne VIII: AFFC 43
89. Cersei X: AFFC 44
90. Jaime VII: AFFC 45
91. Samwell V: AFFC 46
92. The Blind Girl (Arya IV): ADWD 46
93. A Ghost in Winterfell (Theon VI): ADWD 47
94. Tyrion X: ADWD 48
95. Jaime VIII: ADWD 49
96. Jon X: ADWD 50
97. Daenerys VIII: ADWD 51
98. Theon VII: ADWD 52
99. Daenerys IX: ADWD 53
100. Jon XI: ADWD 54
101. Cersei XI: ADWD 55
102. The Queensguard (Barristan I): ADWD 56
103. The Iron Suitor (Victarion III): ADWD 57
104. Tyrion XI: ADWD 58
105. Jon XII: ADWD 59
106. The Discarded Knight (Barristan II): ADWD 60
107. The Spurned Suitor (Quentyn III): ADWD 61
108. The Griffin Reborn (Jon Connington II): ADWD 62
109. The Sacrifice (Asha IV): ADWD 63
110. Victarion IV: ADWD 64
111. The Ugly Little Girl (Arya V): ADWD 65
112. Cersei XII: ADWD 66
113. Tyrion XII: ADWD 67
114. The Kingbreaker (Barristan III): ADWD 68
115. The Dragontamer (Quentyn IV): ADWD 69
116. Jon XIII: ADWD 70
117. The Queen’s Hand (Barristan IV): ADWD 71
118. Daenerys X: ADWD 72
119. Epilogue (Kevan): ADWD 73