Running parallel to A Feast for Crows before eventually advancing the timeline, A Dance with Dragons picks up the storylines absent from the previous volume. Jon Snow commands the Night's Watch as Lord Commander, making controversial decisions that put him at odds with his own brothers. Tyrion Lannister travels east through the Free Cities toward Daenerys. Daenerys herself rules Meereen as queen, struggling to hold a conquered city while her dragons grow increasingly uncontrollable. In the north, Stannis Baratheon marches on Winterfell through a brutal winter. A young man claiming to be Aegon Targaryen - believed killed as an infant during Robert's Rebellion - lands in Westeros with a mercenary army. Published six years after A Feast for Crows, this volume was the last to appear before the HBO television series overtook the novels.