Feast reminds me of MLK Jr's revolution of values. But whereas he was concerned with race, class and militarism, Feast is concerned with gender, class and militarism. And just as MLKJ aimed to transform society by changing individual beliefs and behaviors, Feast too it is explicitly concerned with personal transformation. The book begins with the question, have you decided what you are? The next 1000 pages force us to confront that question over and over in different social contexts.
Of course, no book in the series gets more hate than Feast. That's understandable--the earlier books comprise arguably the greatest epic fantasy trilogy of all time. Faced with writing a sequel to that, GRRM plotted an entirely different course--Feast sacrifices epic action for internal struggle.
The original trilogy is about heroic characters remaking the world around them. In Feast, we're navigating internal landscapes. The transformation is personal. Consider these lines from the book: Have you decided what you are? The question is, who are you? Girl or boy, we fight our battles, but the gods let us choose our weapons. What is dead may never die but rises again stronger. What changed? I died in the Battle of the Trident. Who are you? No one.
The earlier books contained many great ideas and insights. Feast goes a step further and shows how you can apply those ideas to enrich your own life. Another big difference is that Feast emphasizes and highlights the social context in which we operate. As a result, it offers a much more nuanced and thoughtful discussion of personal choice and responsibility than does the original trilogy.
Feast also differs from the earlier books because it's the product of a different cultural moment. The earlier books were conceived and written in the 1990s, when political scientists were contemplating "the end of history." Feast is written after 9/11 and Bush/Gore, when our understanding of democracy and our place in the world has been massively shaken.
The point is, Feast is not at all like the original trilogy--it's even better.
Mentioned during pod:
Original, correct Margaret Thatcher quote with context:
Francis Fukuyama and the end of history:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24027184
The cost and complexity of "greed is good": https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/moral-ambivalence-gordon-gekko
GRRM against voter suppression: https://grrm.livejournal.com/287215.html
Song of Myself (I contain multitudes):
https://poets.org/poem/song-myself-51
The Summer Day (one precious life):