A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin

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

by George R.R. Martin

THE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO.

Rarely has there been a tale as gripping, or one as likely to seize the minds and hearts of a generation, as George R. R. Martin's epic high fantasy series. In A Game of Thrones, an ancient kingdom was torn by the ambitions of ruthless men and women; in A Clash of Kings, war, sorcery, and madness swept over the kingdom like a voracious beast of prey. Now, as the brutal struggle for power nears its tumultuous climax, the battered and divided kingdom faces its most terrifying invasion—one that is being spearheaded from beyond the grave. . . .

A STORM OF SWORDS

Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King's Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. Filled with the stench of death and decay from the destructive dynastic war, Daenerys is gathering allies and strength for an assault on King's Landing, hoping to win back the crown she believes is rightfully hers. But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings bent on overwhelming the Seven Kingdoms arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. And as the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest in the quest for victory until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords. . . . Brilliantly conceived and grand in scope, A Storm of Swords is the incredible tale of a world of harsh beauty and powerful magic, torn by treachery, ravaged by brutality, and consumed by greed and ambition. It portrays a war-torn landscape in which nobles and commoners, heroes and villains, the freeborn and the enslaved, all struggle to survive and to find their destinies...along with the dazzling bounty and wondrous enchantment that was once their birthright in the Seven Kingdoms.

Reviewed by sa090 on

4 of 5 stars

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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

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 11 August, 2017: Finished reading
  • 11 August, 2017: Reviewed