What are the motifs in A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin?

Intrigue seems to be the favored method of playing the Game of Thrones. In A Feast for Crows, most of the powerful characters and many of the not so powerful ones resort to intrigue to advance their goals. Qyburn, as master of whispers, leads Cersei's spy network and tortures her prisoners for information. Cersei uses her cunning to wring vital information from Maester Pycelle, allowing her to hatch her plot against Margaery, in which she even goes so far as to have sex with a young knight to convince him to lie about Margaery to the High Septon.