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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
Westeros is still in the grip of the War. Joffrey Baratheon holds the Iron Throne, but Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy and Stannis Baratheon, jostle for their claim with blood and steel. Catelyn Stark has released Jaime Lannister as an exchange for her daughters, Sansa and Arya, who she still believes are at King's Landing. Having been victorious until now, Robb Stark suffers setbacks, and learns that Winterfell has been taken, and his other brothers are now presumed dead.
In the North the Wildlings are marching on the wall, with a pitiful small force of Night's Watch to counteract them. With the wights also attacking them, they realise the odds are so far stacked against until they realise that there is a possible way to defeat these creatures of the night. In the east Daenerys Targaryen is trying to raising forces to retake the Iron throne, which she sees as her divine right. She encounters slave trading, and makes plans to release these people from they captors.
As the players in the game of thrones move their pieces, the stakes are raised higher and higher. In this world you win; or you die.
Martin has managed to continue this epic tale of the land of Westeros in the same vain as before. There is not so much action in this one, but you get a full realisation that he is setting the scenes for the next books as the characters develop and grow, rise and fall, win and die. He is not afraid to eliminate characters as you get to know them, and occasionally even like them. This world that he has created is tough and brutal, and I like that way that the underlying magic, adds a little zing to all that is happening.
But what makes this series so good is the political manoeuvring and intrigue that he has infused into this land. As alliances are forged and broken, loyalties are tested beyond all measure.
In the North the Wildlings are marching on the wall, with a pitiful small force of Night's Watch to counteract them. With the wights also attacking them, they realise the odds are so far stacked against until they realise that there is a possible way to defeat these creatures of the night. In the east Daenerys Targaryen is trying to raising forces to retake the Iron throne, which she sees as her divine right. She encounters slave trading, and makes plans to release these people from they captors.
As the players in the game of thrones move their pieces, the stakes are raised higher and higher. In this world you win; or you die.
Martin has managed to continue this epic tale of the land of Westeros in the same vain as before. There is not so much action in this one, but you get a full realisation that he is setting the scenes for the next books as the characters develop and grow, rise and fall, win and die. He is not afraid to eliminate characters as you get to know them, and occasionally even like them. This world that he has created is tough and brutal, and I like that way that the underlying magic, adds a little zing to all that is happening.
But what makes this series so good is the political manoeuvring and intrigue that he has infused into this land. As alliances are forged and broken, loyalties are tested beyond all measure.
BEST SO FAR!!!!!11!!! i need more and i don't have anywhere around here to buy the second part of the book and now i'm going crazy
/crying
also: jaime.
/crying
also: jaime.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
first read—october 2016
first reread—october 2022
i love it here...
a book of journeys whether it was moving to a new place or to a new rank. was rly looking forward to this one solely for the jamie x brienne journey but the other parts that I barely remembered were so great too I'm glad for my memory loss privileges. loved arya's parts as always but bran's pov also found its footing here and both their parts especially reinforced the fantasy-ness and magic of the book in a way that I didn't feel in the previous books. i especially love when we get to see parts of and knowledge about westeros not seen earlier (the quartet in the north, arya and the outlaws on their way to beric), even if for a few pages <3
first reread—october 2022
i love it here...
a book of journeys whether it was moving to a new place or to a new rank. was rly looking forward to this one solely for the jamie x brienne journey but the other parts that I barely remembered were so great too I'm glad for my memory loss privileges. loved arya's parts as always but bran's pov also found its footing here and both their parts especially reinforced the fantasy-ness and magic of the book in a way that I didn't feel in the previous books. i especially love when we get to see parts of and knowledge about westeros not seen earlier (the quartet in the north, arya and the outlaws on their way to beric), even if for a few pages <3
this is a dnf but i got 450 pages in before i stopped so it counts as a read book imo
i read the first two books of this series a while ago and remember enjoying them vaguely but this one is so weirdly slow-paced. sansa and daenery's chapters were the only ones i was really sticking around for and even those ones grrm manages to make uncomfortable and just creepy in some places. i'm not the kind of person that thinks all books should be bastions of morality but there's only so many times i can read about middle-aged men staring at a child's breasts.
i read the first two books of this series a while ago and remember enjoying them vaguely but this one is so weirdly slow-paced. sansa and daenery's chapters were the only ones i was really sticking around for and even those ones grrm manages to make uncomfortable and just creepy in some places. i'm not the kind of person that thinks all books should be bastions of morality but there's only so many times i can read about middle-aged men staring at a child's breasts.
With this novel being so monstrously large, it was split into two parts and is more concerned with the history and backstory of the characters we are slowly starting to bond with and although this addition of the history of the House's does ultimately slow the storyline, it really does show how much thought George RR Martin has driven into his creation.
I found that Part 1 of A Storm of Swords had an awful lot of travelling included, making Jamie's and Arya's POVs feel very samey throughout. This being said, Martin is an incredibly talented writer and counteracts these sometimes not so interesting parts with his beautiful descriptions of the Seven Kingdoms and widens the scale of the world he takes so much pride in crafting.
In previous reviews, I have complained that the female perspective was barely present and I'm disappointed to say that I felt the same way in this book, too, again with Daenerys scarcely appearing. Although Sansa was definitely more included - or at least it felt like it now that she was included heavily in Tyrion's POV - I still found it lacking, especially as Catelyn's POV brought so much misery and grief and sorrow and again did nothing to really engage me to the point where I was dreading Catelyn's chapters.
However, in light of my negative comments, this was in no way a bad book as Martin's story-telling skills are unmatched. Throughout the entire novel, he can be seen to use foreshadowing and irony and if you are someone who has already watched the entire HBO series, will be able to pick up on these techniques much more easily and definitely turns plain irony into retrospective irony. Not to mention that the ending of this book was by the far the most heart-wrenching of the bunch, with Jon and Bran's chapters being consecutive to one another and ultimately leaving it on a cliffhanger, urging the reader to pick up the second part - a clever trick from Martin.
I found that Part 1 of A Storm of Swords had an awful lot of travelling included, making Jamie's and Arya's POVs feel very samey throughout. This being said, Martin is an incredibly talented writer and counteracts these sometimes not so interesting parts with his beautiful descriptions of the Seven Kingdoms and widens the scale of the world he takes so much pride in crafting.
In previous reviews, I have complained that the female perspective was barely present and I'm disappointed to say that I felt the same way in this book, too, again with Daenerys scarcely appearing. Although Sansa was definitely more included - or at least it felt like it now that she was included heavily in Tyrion's POV - I still found it lacking, especially as Catelyn's POV brought so much misery and grief and sorrow and again did nothing to really engage me to the point where I was dreading Catelyn's chapters.
However, in light of my negative comments, this was in no way a bad book as Martin's story-telling skills are unmatched. Throughout the entire novel, he can be seen to use foreshadowing and irony and if you are someone who has already watched the entire HBO series, will be able to pick up on these techniques much more easily and definitely turns plain irony into retrospective irony. Not to mention that the ending of this book was by the far the most heart-wrenching of the bunch, with Jon and Bran's chapters being consecutive to one another and ultimately leaving it on a cliffhanger, urging the reader to pick up the second part - a clever trick from Martin.
“Why would the stars want to look down on such as me?”
A Storm of Swords is definitely a lot slower than it's predecessors. In this book, there's a sense everything is just on the verge of falling apart, like everyone is moving into position and soon there will be utter chaos. So I enjoyed the scheming, the political machinations, the set-ups and the lore that we get throughout this book - but I also found parts of it quite slow.
My favourite part of this book was definitely the backstory and history we get about the characters and the world. A lot if about Rhaegar, Aerys and Roberts Rebellion. I always find worldbuilding and history really interesting and engaging in fantasies so these bits really drew me in. While I did know a bit of it from the TV show, getting more was nice. And I really like how much George RR Martin has actually thought out this world and the histories and backstories of the characters. He reveals just enough to transform our perceptions of them without defining them - like Jaime for example, and I think that's fun.
I also noticed George R.R Martins writing a lot more in this. It was a little more poetic than the past two books which I appreciated.
My least favourite bit is how much TRAVELLING there is. Arya and Jaime's chapters are pretty much just them walking around and it was definitely boring. I think there was too many POVs in this with not enough for each of them to do, because although we hear from each character a few times, most of them don't actually have much to do.
My favourite to least favourite POVs are as follows:
Catelyn
Daenerys
Sansa
Tyrion
Bran
Jon
Jaime (except that ONE BATH CHAPTER WHICH DESERVES EVERYTHING)
Davos
Samwell
“The world grows a little darker every day.”
Yes, unpopular opinion but I love Catelyn's chapters. I feel her pain! And I think the entire Stark camp is the one that has the most happening. Also I know whats about to happen and I want to appreciate them while I can.
Daenerys is one of my least favourite characters (another unpopular opinion) but I liked her scenes in this book especially in Qarth. Truly epic and iconic. Also I liked the reflection on Rhaegar/Aerys and the Targaryens reign in Westeros.
Sansa is MY GIRL and I like all the Kings Landing politics. Same reason I liked Tyrion's chapters.
I like Bran. I like Jojen and Meera. Their travel chapters were just more interesting to me than the others and also Bran had Summer with him and I'm just a sucker for those good boy wolves
“I'm not a lady, Arya wanted to tell her, I'm a wolf.”
Anyway, Game of Thrones is like a friendly warm fantasy world to return to. Which, I know sounds weird since it's brutal, but since I know the characters and the world and the majority of the story from the show it's such an easy and fun thing to return to and experience in a new way.
ANYWAYS I'm not sure when I'll get to A Storm of Swords part II. I'll be slowly making my way through this series since I want to catch up and be ready for the new release (when it's hopefully actually coming.)
"Night falls for all of us in the end, and too soon for some.”
Part 1 of A Storm of Swords was less exciting than it's companions. I grew tired of most of the character's plot lines and couldn't get enough of others. I especially love that we finally get introduced to the Tyrells and the Dornish people. They definitely belong to my favourite characters and make all the events in King's Landing even more exciting.
While I really like Brienne I don't care much for yet another long journey with unexpected (parts annoying) turns through Westeros. They stumble and get dragged through places and by characters that I do not have any interest in - same goes for Arya. And I don't like Jaime very much. Catelyn's story is pretty much the same every time, a lot of mourning and sorrow. While I like her and Robb very much, it's still unnerving. Davos and Stannis would be extremely boring as well if it weren't for the Red Lady.
So here are the many POVs, starting with the chapters I liked the most down to the ones I didn't:
Daenerys
Tyrion
Sansa
Jon
Bran
Samwell
Arya
Davos
Catelyn
Jaime
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Part 1 of A Storm of Swords was less exciting than it's companions. I grew tired of most of the character's plot lines and couldn't get enough of others. I especially love that we finally get introduced to the Tyrells and the Dornish people. They definitely belong to my favourite characters and make all the events in King's Landing even more exciting.
While I really like Brienne I don't care much for yet another long journey with unexpected (parts annoying) turns through Westeros. They stumble and get dragged through places and by characters that I do not have any interest in - same goes for Arya. And I don't like Jaime very much. Catelyn's story is pretty much the same every time, a lot of mourning and sorrow. While I like her and Robb very much, it's still unnerving. Davos and Stannis would be extremely boring as well if it weren't for the Red Lady.
So here are the many POVs, starting with the chapters I liked the most down to the ones I didn't:
Daenerys
Tyrion
Sansa
Jon
Bran
Samwell
Arya
Davos
Catelyn
Jaime
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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes