A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)

by George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin’s superb and highly acclaimed epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire, the richest, most exotic and mesmerising saga since The Lord of the Rings, continues with A Storm of Swords. There is passion here, and misery and charm, grandeur and squalor, tragedy, nobility and courage.

The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud, and winter approaches like an angry beast. Beyond the Northern borders, wildlings leave their villages to gather in the ice and stone wasteland of the Frostfangs. From there, the renegade Brother Mance Rayder will lead them South towards the Wall.

The men of the Night’s Watch are ready for the coming of a great cold and the walking corpses that travel with it. But now they face a horde of wildlings twenty-thousand strong – hungry savage people steeped in the dark magic of the haunted wilderness – poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown.

But Robb’s defences are ranged against attack from the South, the land of House Stark’s enemies the Lannisters. His sisters are trapped there, dead or likely yet to die, at the whim of the Lannister boy-king Joffrey or his depraved mother Cersei, regent of the Iron Throne. Cersei’s ambition is unfettered while the dwarf Tyrion Lannister fights for his life, a victim of treachery.

And on the other side of the ocean, the last of the Targaryens rears the dragons she hatched from her husband’s funeral pyre. Daenerys Stormborn will return to the land of her birth to avenge the murder of her father, the last Dragon King on the Iron Throne.

• ISBN13: 9780002245869
• Publish Date: 21 August 2000
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 May 2002
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 976
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[sa090]

It's insane to think that this book and Clash of Kings belong to the same series.

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I'm astonished that I finished this 1000+ book in less than a week, that's like my fastest read ever of something of this magnitude and I'm honestly grateful that it's predecessor didn't extend to reach that page count because it would've been more awful. One of the best things this book did for me is add new POVs, seeing things from even more angles is never a bad thing for me since it helps me get to know more characters and get acquainted enough with previously shown characters for them to matter in case they are no longer around so this to me was a definite plus and I honestly hoped for more. The issue that remains in the series concerning them though for me is the lack of interest I had for some of them until a certain point.

Luckily in this book the ones I had a major issue with (aka the Stark children), had some happenings that finally made them interesting enough to matter to me. Sansa has always been a special case for me because being rooted in King's Landing means I can see a lot of things there even though she herself isn't that interesting to read about but her siblings have been a constant pain in the first two books. Bran and Arya are getting more interesting as we go by which makes me super glad and excited to see where they are taking me to next especially after their last chapters in the book, both ended on a very interesting note. Jon however, remains the meh part of this book for me. He's a good guy who's trying to survive beyond the wall and prove himself worthy in a way but compared to everyone else, all the grey and plain evil ones I read about, he unfortunately is just boring in comparison.

I hope the upcoming books make me like him more because it sucks that a guy with these qualities gets overshadowed by the enjoyment I get from others. Speaking of others, Tyrion and Daenerys remain the top two most enjoyable POVs for me and the most interesting ones too, the latter because of her being the only one in an entirely new continent (which I wished to see a lot more focus on since a lot of things seem to be happening in a short amount of time or off screen for it to be truly memorable) and the former because of his wit and overdue actions this book. I'm not going to mention who are the new ones but regardless, they thankfully brought in interesting stuff to the table.

The real best thing this book did for me was killing off some relevant characters for me, I'm not sure this is a spoiler since relevant for someone could be nothing to another but again no names either way. Here's the thing from when I read this series with its hundreds of character, they get introduced, chat for two seconds and then some of them get killed by the next few chapters but personally I had forgotten who they were in the first place or I didn't get to build enough feelings about them for me to feel sadness or happiness at their apparent demise, so it never felt like I got the "Never love a character in this series because they never last" warning I got from so many people. Literally, the only relevant deaths until this book for me were Eddard and Robert's deaths in the very first book. So seeing that get fixed now was very enjoyable, this is a very terrible feeling to have, trust me I can tell, but I honestly enjoyed it. Kept rooting for some to kick the bucket too but alas ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It could be to show that lives don't matter much in this series regardless of who you are but to me personally that doesn't register when their dying left and right feels like the fodder I kill in a dynasty warriors game. The one thing that I had the biggest issue with in this book though are the descriptions, Martin always always describes things a lot from what I can tell now with his writing but even with that, it felt like this book took it up a notch. It could be because there is not that much of a gap between my reading time of each of the three books (2 months between 1&2 and a month between 2&3) that it feels too much for me... that's a very terrible explanation but I hope it made a little bit of sense.

In the end this was SO MUCH BETTER than Clash of Kings so I really hope A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons are just as good if not better.

Final rating: 4/5

[KitsuneBae]

SPOILERS AHEAD!


Finally, Catelyn's dead. That would be one less boring POV in book 4. I wish Sansa was dead, too. Wish that Joff killed her before he got himself poisoned.

Overall, A Storm of Swords is by far the most enjoyable book among the three that I've read that I couldn't wait to read the next book.

Maybe these books might be better as a show, but for the length of these books I expect a bit more out of these. 75% of the book consisted of details, details, details of countless characters that you can hardly keep track of bouncing back and forth. You can literally skip many chapters and still not miss a single plot point of the story. Overall, I feel that this series consists of hundreds of pages of dullness consisting of medieval soap opera drama. I know that there are many people who rave about this series but I was just not impressed.
I made it this far but don't intend on continuing the series.

[inlibrisveritas]

So after the events of Clash of Kings, where it became the beginning of the aptly named “clash of kings” and an all out war for the throne…many of our main characters are still trying to find some solid ground to stand on. Solid ground which honestly doesn’t exist, unless you’re Daenerys…in which case all you have to do is command things to go your way and they basically do. We learn that weddings are events full fantastic food (seriously, what’s up with all the food?!), baudy bedding traditions, and things bad for ones health. In fact I’m trying to think if there was a wedding in this book that didn’t turn out to be awful for at least one person…and I think their are like 5(ish) weddings or something similar in this one. There is even more intrigue and outright deceit, some new friendships, new romances…and new magic!

We are also treated to two new points of view, Jaime Lannister and Samwell Tarly..I actually appreciated getting to know Jaime despite the internal groaning when I saw the first chapter. I figured Jaime for a brilliant soldier, but a rather weak minded individual that just does what he’s told. But once I finished the book i can honestly say I like him, he’s got gross tastes in women (namely the only woman he has eyes for), but he’s actually rather smart and has a lot more to his story than I thought he had to offer. We get his account of what happened the day everyone named him Kingslayer and we get more on his relationship with Cersei, for better or for worse. We get to see more of Melisandre, who has gone from slightly scary to sort of weirdly pathetic. I mean she’s still terrifying in what she’s capable of, but I don’t have a mind for prophecy so anytime she conveniently changed her tone about something I just sort of snorted. Arya continues to be a badass, and if at all possible has become more so. Jon Snow is coming into his own at the Wall and beyond, and I’m super excited to find out just how his story progress because it has HUGE potential. Catelyn is still irritating as hell and still among my most hated characters. Joffery is at his most Joffery-est…which basically left me seething or wishing someone would strangle him with his own crown. Sansa’s chapters were also a pleasant surprise, as she slowly becomes more of a player in the game and less of a pawn. That being said, by the end of the book she’s still very much terrified of everything and everyone like she is at the beginning, she’s just a bit more aware of what’s going on and how to react. Tyrion is another favorite that remains where he is. These books would be a rather serious if not for his witty quips and insults, and over all cynical nature about the world and his family.

And last but not least Dany…my lovely Kahleesi, the Mother of Dragons, the unburnt, the….why the hell does she have so many titles? Dany’s chapters are some of my favorite parts of these books. She’s in her teens and she’s already striking fear into the hearts of men (mostly men anyway) over the Narrow Sea. There were some new developments that I didn’t expect, and some that hint that her story might slow down for a bit in the future.

At this point my list of people I want dead has gotten longer, even with a few crossed out. I feel like Arya when she whisper each name before she goes to sleep. The fact remains that even a book this huge can still be a ton of fun read. It might take me a while, and there might be a few chapters I could careless about but I still appreciated all of it. The warring points of view lend a full view of events as they happen, you also get to see ‘bad’ characters as good people and vice versa. I look forward to getting into A Feast of Crows!

[celinenyx]

It has taken a while, but Martin's world is finally in its maturity. All of the seeds he has planted in the first two books have grown into cut-throat plots and killer conclusions. Martin's writing style is still dry, but the trials he puts his characters through made me forget that A Storm of Swords isn't perfect. This is the first volume of the Song of Ice and Fire series that I managed to read in little over two weeks - usually these take me at least a few months. My favourite book in the series so far.

[Angie]

That last page...WHAT?! O_O

[Chelsea]

Cover

Still think these covers are boring. Why haven't they released a super awesome set?

Initial Thoughts

Starting this book, I had already gotten into the fourth season of the tv show. So I mostly knew what was going to happen already. I am happy to saw that I'm caught up in my reading now though! Season 4 is about to end and I've already finished book three!

My New BFF

Margaery. I love her to death! I'm really excited to see what happens with her situation too. She seems like such a sweetheart but she has to be tougher to have already lost two husbands. I just think she's much more clever than everyone thinks. She's only 16 but she can do so much!

My Crush

Tyrion. He's a lot stronger than we give him credit for. I love how he fights with words not swords. It makes him different than the other characters. Someone like him should be king. He has such a sad situation though. I hate that his father can't stand him, same with his sister. I love Jaime for being a good brother to him. I hate that everyone pretty much left him in this book. He doesn't have a whole lot anymore.

Writing Style

George R.R. Martin has a perfect writing style. He's clever and sneaky and makes the reader figure everything out. I like that though. I like not knowing where a book is going and then being surprised when something crazy happens. This book had a lot more action in it than the others. There were less boring parts and lots more action. He writes with just enough detail to make it seem as though you're right beside the characters.

Closing Thoughts

I'm loving this series so far. It's not something that I would have picked up on my own but I'm glad I did. There wasn't anything not exciting about this book. It seems like it's slow but then all of a sudden you're half way through. There was more of everything! Death, action, romance, mystery. Pretty much anything you can think of. This is easily my favourite book so far.

It make you feel all sorts of weird things. This is easily the high point in the series. You think, oh this character can't be so bad, I think I like him. NOPE. He's dead now. The characters you hate the most live though. Because that makes sense right? George Martin knows how to play with your emotions. The story is just so complex that there's no way you can catch everything the first time though. This will soon be a worn out book on my shelf.

[boghunden]

Jeg var så uheldig, at få spoilet tre ret store ting i den her bog. Det ødelagde selvfølgelig fuldstændig chok momenterne. Desværre! Jeg kan kun forestille mig, hvordan det må have været at læse den, uden at vide, hvad man gik ind til.

Heldigvis, så var bogen stadig alt det jeg håbede på – og mere til. Og den slutning. Hvad var det nu for noget?!?! :O

Jeg blev mere glad for Dany i den her bog, hurra! Hvor har jeg virkelig kedet mig under hendes kapitler tidligere. Den her gang, var det mest Samwells kapitler der kedede mig, men det var ikke alle sammen, kun omkring hvert andet. Til gengæld fandt jeg Jamie ret spændende! Og Tyrion, men det gør jeg vist altid. Og så ELSKER jeg bare Sansa! Jeg tror, hun er min yndlingskarakter! Jeg er vist den eneste, der ikke hader hende… Og nå ja. Ygritte. Hun er altså også ret sjov at følge.

Det er altså ikke nemt, at sige noget fornuftigt om den her bog, uden at spoile. Folk, der har set serien først, går fuldstændig glip af spændingen ved bogen. Og folk, der ikke har hverken set eller læst den her serie, de går bare glip af noget fantastisk. Et absolut mesterværk.

[clementine]

I was so impressed by this book - I found parts of the last one a bit slow, but this one was perfect. It was pretty much nonstop action, tension, and intrigue, with so many plot twists and character deaths that I always felt like I needed to be on my toes. I was spoiled for The Thing ahead of time (which was made even more upsetting because I managed to go SO LONG unspoiled), but it still had such an impact that I ran about half a kilometre up the road to get reception so I could yell about it on the internet. (Such are the perils of reading these books at the cottage, I suppose.) Luckily I was completely unspoiled about Joffrey's death - I seriously thought he would make it until the last book, if he ever died, which was a very fun surprise.

The character development was superb; characters who I already like became even more layered and complex, and there were various characters who I either disliked or didn't care about who I found much more interesting and even sympathetic. I was also especially appreciative of the level of detail in the world; I admired that in the first two books, but it was especially evident in this one.

Definitely the best in the series so far, and I am looking forward to pressing on!

[clq]

Ahhh, back to brilliance. I enjoyed Blood and Gold (second half of A Storm of Swords) as much as I did A Game of Thrones. Once again I was regularly fooled into thinking I had some idea where the story was going, and once again it went somewhere completely different most of the time. I can't really say much about why I enjoyed the book without spoiling it, so I'll just settle with saying that I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you found the second book slightly stale compared to the first book, read on. The third book brings the A Song of Ice and Fire right back up to the level of A Game of Thrones.