A Storm of Swords
Ratings1,332
Average rating4.5
Third in the Song of Ice and Fire series. And the second time I read it (first time was in 2006). Some big deaths in this one and some serious changes of fortune for Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Tyrion Lannister, and Jaime Lannister. Why did Tyrion say what he did to his brother at the end of this one? And that final surprise... whoa.
Great book, the last 200 pages blow my mind. I'm totally looking forward to start the next book in the serie.
All I have to say is by the time I finish the next two.. the 6th had better be out! These books are awesome! Also.. George R.R. Martin certainly knows how to destroy any hopes and dreams of your favorite characters surviving.
So good I read half of the book in a night. Read it. Seriously. It's amazingly written just like the two previous books in the series.
Really enjoyed this one because the latter half had cliffhangers at the end of every chapter and it really kept me flipping the pages.
So so so amazing! I can see why this is everyone's fan favorite so far!! It reads very quickly because so many things happen that you can't even stop to take a breath. Absolutely fantastic, I can't wait to see what happens next!
Vorig jaar las ik de eerste 2 delen en ben er toen mee gestopt. Niet omdat ik ze niet goed vond, maar omdat ik even een pauze wou. Omdat een vriendin in een razende vaart alle boeken aan het lezen is en nogal raar vond dat ik was gestopt, heb ik het derde deel toch weer opgenomen. Tot nog toe begrijp ik ook niet meer waarom ik ben gestopt. Ik denk dat de 900+ pagina's mij wat afschrikten ;-)
Wow. So much to be said about this installment. I couldn't put this one down and ended up losing a lot of sleep in order to finish it. Overall, I really enjoyed this offering, and am glad that My favorite characters made the cut because there were so many casualties! Martin is really stacking up the body count!
So far this is my favorite installment of the series.... In love with the characters, the plot twists and even the killing of some of some my favorites didn't bother me as much as I thought it would... Thanks sir, for another stunning book....
Not much to say about this book except that it is as awesome of the previous books in the series. Lots of exciting things happen – I both look forward to and dread reading these novels since you just never know who might perish.
Warfare continues as winter approaches the Seven Kingdoms. Robb Stark fights to hold together the Northern territories despite serious setbacks and Jamie Lannister has escaped from Riverrun to execute a trade for the Stark girls. Sansa finds her situation worsening, and Bran must decide to follow a path to safety or to a discovery of his true potential.
Every time I think I've got this series figured out, Martin throws me for a loop! Story lines that I thought were progressing in one direction suddenly diverge in a new direction, characters that were once beyond redemption surprise with a unexpected hidden side, and the twists get more dramatic as the novel progresses.
As the fighting intensifies, characters reveal themselves in fascinating ways. Catelyn becomes obsessed with reuniting what is left of her family, at the potential expense of her son Robb's crown. Robb must decide if he wants to continue fighting the Lannisters or see to the tragedy awaiting him at his home at Winterfell. Jon, traveling with the Wildlings beyond The Wall, sees what is truly approaching the Seven Kingdoms and must decide where his loyalties lie. Even Tyrion and Jamie must decide how loyal they are to their family - and how far they'll go to demonstrate that loyalty when called to do so.
Overall, this was the best yet in the series. As usual, the writing is superb, painting a picture of a land so believable you'd swear it wasn't fantasy you were reading, but a finely crafted political thriller...with dragons. The good guys don't always win and the bad guys don't always lose...and aren't always bad. The plot almost reads like a mystery, full of twists and turns, so much that it's difficult to know what to expect when you turn the page.
I'm trying to pace myself to not get too far ahead of the show, but after reading this installment, I might just have to move on to Book #4.
Thank goodness for this book or I would have given up on A Song of Ice and Fire completely. It felt like more happened in the first 100 pages of this book than the whole of the previous book, and the hits just kept on coming. I ended up finishing the epilogue at 1am with a “What the Actual Fuck, GRRM” moment (in a good way!). A series redeemer, although I have heard that this installment is actually the best of all of them written so far, so I'm hoping it's not all downhill from here.
I almost didn't read this book. It sat on my nook, untouched, for several months, a giant albatross of a book. I had spoiled myself, you see, in anticipation of something I had heard about called “the Red Wedding.”
You see, GRRM hit a sweet spot in these books, conflating my loves of period pieces (did you know that these books were inspired by the War of the Roses?! Dear Reader, I Did Not!) and epic medieval fantasy. And that Red Wedding, inspired by an actual event, led to the worst spoiling ever. It almost made me not pick up the book again.
The book takes about four fifths of its time telling backstory. One of my complaints earlier in the book is that instead of resolving anything (and by that I mean, questions that have been sitting there, festering, for TWO OTHER BIG THICK BRICKS of book), the book just continues to unwind, spreading its characters thinner and thinner, and meanwhile my anxiety over my beloved Jon Stark grows, and I wonder where the heck Nymeria is, and will my precious Starks ever meet again??? But.
But.
When GRRM does start answering those questions, he does it with a vengeance. I'd read it again, tension, Red Wedding and all, just to read the glorious, revelatory ending again. I come out of the book, excited about the next one (and I promise not to spoil myself this time).
One quibble: a particular character is credited with a previous mystery. To me, this resolution feels tacked on. I give this character no credit for having any particularly deep inner life, let alone the motivations attributed to him here.
Unlike the previous two books where I was draggin my feet, with this book I found I wanted to read it constantly, but had a problem finding the time! What with sewing so many skating costumes for other people, I barely had time to finish things for myself, let along get around to reading a book for fun. Even so I managed to read the first half of the book at a fairly steady clip until about mid-May, and then didn't get back to it until near the end of August. When I literally could not put it down. Seriously.
I said in my previous reviews that it felt like the series was building to something, and oh boy did we get there. Total pay-dirt. I mean, there are still big huge things that need to happen (clearly, since the series isn't completed yet), but so many of the little open-ended things have finally been put to rest. Kinda of. In a way. And by “put to rest” I mean opened a whole new can-o-worms that will be dealt with in next few books (I hope). So much stuff I don't even know if my brain can handle it all. I mean, seriously, you guys, it is good. Really really good.
So, I am officially a fan now. I mean, I liked these books before, and I have always appreciated the craftsmanship with which they were written, but now I am officially joining the fandom. Not the crazy hard-core I will tattoo “Winter is Coming” on my back fandom, but, you know, the generally George R. R. Martin obsessed readership fandom. I would write more, but I really don't want to spoil any of this book (because, ah, so much so good!) so I suppose my overall assessment of this book is: Read them. Go. Do it now.
In the meantime I will be starting on book four...
I am still a bit shell-shocked from all the twists and turns in this book, but not so much so that I cannot say without hesitation that this is the best of the first three books. The way Martin moves, removes and “kings” his players on the chessboard is mesmerizing. The end, while I was sorry to see it, was incredible. I cannot wait to begin book 4.
