A Storm of Swords

"A Storm of Swords" is the third book of George R.R. Martin's six-volume epic, "A Song of Ice and Fire." His characters continue to be unlucky in love, and not all of the four kings who were still alive at the end of volume II, make it through volume III.If I were a king in one of Martin's fantasies and someone suggested it was high time I married, I'd jump on my destrier and gallop like hell for the nearest monastery. It would be safer to enlist in the Night Watch and fight animated corpses beyond the Wall of Ice than it would be to take a bride.Speaking of which, the Night Watch and its enemies beyond the Wall come into much sharper focus in volume III. Barbaric tribes of Wildlings begin to fight their way over the Wall, driven by the supernatural Others and their own living dead. Most of the battle scenes take place at or near the Wall in "A Storm of Swords," although the Queen across the Water, Daenerys Targaryen fights a few of her own while freeing slaves and raising her three dragons.Martin doesn't spare his reader the gory details of medieval warfare or courtly love, which is why I don't think he should be compared to T. H. White ("The Once and Future King"). Martin harkens back to the older, medieval legends of Arthur (e.g. Mallory's "Morte d'Arthur") where the knights were a much bloodier, bawdier lot---not the types that Disney would want to immortalize.T. H. White's advice on the battles and tournaments, "Let's skip the parts where Sir Somebody smote somebody...," was definitely not taken to heart by Martin. In his first three volumes, knights routinely whack off each other's collops, codpieces, and assorted body parts. Four of the narrators in "A Storm of Swords" are mutilated---a nose, a hand, and four finger joints go missing; the young boy-narrator, Brandon Stark was thrown from a window (in volume I) and paralyzed.There are a couple of regicides, a patricide (or an attempted patricide), and a wife murder in volume III, plus other killings too numerous to mention.The two Stark daughters, Princess Sanya (age 12) and Princess Arya (age 10) continue their narratives in "A Storm of Swords." Sanya is bent on escaping from the Lannisters who rule in the name of Joffrey, the boy king. Arya, who has already escaped is bent on avenging the death of her father. Every night before she falls asleep, she recites the names of the people she wants to kill. She is an innocent yet repellent little girl who bullies her friends and kills people in order to survive. Her sister Sanya is much more passive. She still believes that someday a noble prince will show up and ride off into the sunset with her.However, she is now certain that her noble prince is not a Lannister.Martin has created a harsh, yet dazzling world where even children have to kill or be killed.

1) This is, BY FAR, the best fantasy I have ever read. Ever. Better than Donaldson, Jordan, Goodkind, Brooks, better than everyone.2)This is, BY FAR, the best characterization I've ever come across in the fantasy genre. Never in my life have I at so many different times over the course of the three books written been so amazed (Daenerys from the fire, obtaining the Unsullied, choosing between the {better?} of two betrayels) stunned (Catelyn, Ser Barristan Selmy) grief-stricken (from deaths of beloved characters, of course only to realize by the end of the next chapter there are so many fantastic characters left). And of course these are just a few examples, there are so many more but don't want to mention at the risk of spoiling new readers.Yes -- amazed, stunned, saddened. I spontaneously and literally yelled, gasped, cried, and cheered while reading these books. Never have I been so emotionally invested in such a large cast of characters. Memories of these books bring forth emotion in me even now, a month after I read this, his latest book.3)Fabulously intricate plotting. I find it interesting that a common thread in the slightly more negative reviews of this book find Martin a bit ponderous -- that there's so much writing with not alot of action. This couldn't be further from the truth!Yes, this is high, epic, cruel fantasy of the tallest order. Yes, this is a tall read for younger readers, or those weaned on Jordan, Goodkind, Brooks, etc. But there literally isn't a SINGLE CHAPTER in any of his books where some part of the plot isn't advanced in some way -- spanning over 2000 pages of hardcover text. That's how good the writing is.4)Deftly understated magic. I remember reading the first book thinking to myself, 'where's the magic? isn't this supposed to be fantasy?' And I kept reading, still finding almost no magic. The only real magic from the first book I can remember bookends the first book. I will never forget the birth of the Unburnt at the very end of the first novel. I'm gasping right now as I recall it. Such a POWERFUL moment. And there was some magic there. And the fact that my senses hadn't been already been dulled by the overdone, contrived use of magic found in so many other fantasy novels allowed me to feel the real impact of what Dany accomplished at the end of that first novel. Magic means so much more in these novels because at least over these the first three books, there is so little to be found.5)Spectacular dialogue. This is the best dialogue I've ever read. Razorsharp wit, acid tongues, stoic nobility, prideful revenge, hungry vengeance, soul-baring sadness, and so many other wonderful emotions conveyed by superior dialogue. If this review weren't so long, I'd quote a few passages. I just remember reading some of those Lannister exchanges saying to myself 'you go! oh yeah! perfect!" I remember laughing out loud at some of the things said, not so much because they were humorous (although some of them were) but because so often the pointed words exchanged felt more like the point of a rapier twisting through the ribcage into the recipient's heart. It's just that good. So consistently good.6)Anyone remember Thomas Covenant? One of the great anti-heroes in fantasy. You rooted for him and hated him. You knew he was the good guy, but you were never quite comfortable enough with who he was to cheer him on without reservation.Well, many characters like him, not just one, populate Martin's books. As soon as you think you've found the bad guy, you begin to root for him as well. And you wonder, as you go from chapter to chapter, how you can find yourself rooting for almost every character in the book? Well, that's just one of the many great things about Martin's books. Practically every character is an anti-heroe and how a book can be so riveting with (at this point) no clear villain is a testimonial for the great characterization in these books.People, I'm not kidding. This is the best out there. If Martin pulls off this series it will far and away be the best epic fantasy ever written. It already is, I'm just praying it's sustained. Yes, it's better than Tolkien, but only in the way that The Godfather was better than the old great silent pictures of the early 20th century. I regard Tolkien's work with great reverance, and it's wonderful to see the foundations of the fantasy genre brought to the big screen, but Martin is taking the genre to new heights. He truly is.For me, I knew at least the first book was special early on. If you can... sense something... if yours eyes open just a bit, if your curiosity is peaked... if you're thinking 'hmmm'.... as the first chapter closes with the discovery of the Direwolves, then you'll be tasting just a hint of the wonderment Martin's books can give you.Just try not to be too sad when you've finished and realize there may not be anything this good for a long, long time to come.

Excellent Item. In excellent condition. Perfectly described.

The ending!!!!! Oh. My God. Not TV Game o’ Thrones: total game changer. Going right into next book now. Wow.

If you despise fantasy fiction, READ THIS ANYWAY.GRRM delivers a RARE series - a sophisticatedly written series - it is both mature and complex at every level, and manages to do so without tedium, but quite the opposite. I've found myself hardly able to bear moving to each successive chapter to follow a separate storyline or character due to the gripping story in the one I was reading. But as I switched gears to the next "nugget" in this grandly woven tale, I found myself equally enthralled by THAT storyline.As far as the cast of characters - it is vast. And character development is sophisticated. You have a vast range of personalities, motivations, biases, vices, scheming, hurts, etc. You watch upon a stage where the marionette has directed their interplay so intricately it is a believable plotline that echoes real life as action and schemes between characters collide. And as time moves forward in the story you experience those characters exult in victory, seethe with hatred, quail in defeat, rage in frustrated schemes, and hope against hope. Not only that - but they grow with their experiences. Their motivations can at times be complex scheming or simple earthy passion (whether that be angry violence or lust or daydreaming). The stage is set with a great cast as well - both men and women each with their subtleties and unique persona. Not every woman is a damsel, just as not every man is a hero - which is fantastic.As far as the politicking - it is multilayered. You have Lords and Kings vying for position, status, power, peace, justice, or vengeance. This through marriages, treaty, war, subterfuge, assassination, etc. You have the character level politicking where personal vices come into play whether that be noble or ignoble - rooted in either their sense of duty, selfishness, naiveté, or other. Its just so varied and rarely formulaic or repeatable.I can't necessarily say there are plot twists in the traditional sense of the word (where one can almost feel the author shout 'got ya! - didn't see THAT coming eh?' to the dumbfounded reader). The machinations of each character in this vast stage - competing and colliding with one another's - and that ends up speaking for itself. The reader may cheer or curse depending on a particular turn of events, but that has more to do with the efforts of one party or another succeeding against all others. It's a dose of near-reality. Plans win and fail - and there isn't an overarching "blessed" subset of characters. It is extremely refreshing and entirely spellbinding.As far as action, magic, and monsters. There is very little compared to what one would expect in the scifi fantasy paperback novels. There are clashes and contests. There are strange creatures and powers, yes. But this isn't your summer 80s Schwarzenegger/Stallone action flick. This is a sophisticated story that has such content in its proper place and not gratuitously. There is fighting but it's not center piece as a simpleton's hack and slash hero-save-princess-defeat-demonprince novel. Nor is this series meager on action. There is plenty - yes there's fighting, but there's also violence, there's action-y physical feats, there's sex. Sometimes it can be raw brutality, exposing the crueler and despicable side found in humanity (torture, rape, etc). GRRM doesn't have wizards bouncing around making things blow up like "Tim the Enchanter" nor do we have some wondrous creature at every turn. The reader will find that yes - magic and monsters do come on stage, but it's not the centerpiece, obviously.The good vs evil hero's saga akin to Tolkien is great. One will find store shelves littered with lesser versions of that, and in much simpler format. GRRM is on an entirely different track - where multilayered politicking vies against the striving of characters good and bad. Wars, fights, loves, plots, etc - all go into a great tumbler. The protagonists (assumedly so because of their nobler aspirations) don't necessarily win. Plenty of characters whom the reader may come to empathize with may be frustrated (even killed). It's part of the reason why the series is so exciting to read - you are never assured of how things will turn out.As for myself - I am an eclectic reader. I've enjoyed writings from Hawthorne, Nordic sagas, Homer's Iliad, Shakespeare, Cervantez (Don Quixote), Jane Austin, Dickens, Tolkien, Chaucer, Vonnegut, Alexander Dumas, Michael Moorcock, Victor Hugo, to LRHubbard, etc.If you've enjoyed any of the authors as such listed above, TRY this series. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised. It is very well written.