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A review by brassaf
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
5.0
Holy cow! Or should it be, "Holy crow!" instead? OK it was very hard to put down this book. I think I wrote that already. I knew there were many shocking moments in this book from whispers about the office by my coworkers who'd read it or watched the 3rd season of the HBO series. I even accidentally skimmed a few spoilers on the reviews here at Goodreads (argh!).
By now readers of this series know that main characters--even characters whose names grace the chapter titles--are not safe from the "Storm of Swords" that swipe greedily through the necks of the poor people of Westeros. Before I started reading this volume, I feared that dreadful pattern would continue.
Whether or not my fears were relieved or confirmed would be a spoiler--so let me just say that even through the last pages of the last chapter, and even the epilogue chapter, I was still bracing myself, not knowing if I had weathered the last of the deaths or not! I think it goes without saying or spoiling that yes, a lot of folks die in this latest installment, too.
But decapitations, etc., aside, my thoughts on the book as a whole: tasty. The battle scenes: epic. And not just the grand battles. From the small skirmishes to the big combat chaos scenes, the details were juicy and sometimes overwhelming. Characters we've come to love across 1 or 2 or 3 books struggle to find their way--and this was as much a book of journeys as it was of storms or swords--and I was on the edge of my seat for many of the chapters where I honestly thought it was the end of the road for that character, found myself surprised it wasn't, and sometimes was nevertheless shocked when it was.
Martin's got me good. It is going to be hard to squeeze in some other books before I dive into book 4!
By now readers of this series know that main characters--even characters whose names grace the chapter titles--are not safe from the "Storm of Swords" that swipe greedily through the necks of the poor people of Westeros. Before I started reading this volume, I feared that dreadful pattern would continue.
Whether or not my fears were relieved or confirmed would be a spoiler--so let me just say that even through the last pages of the last chapter, and even the epilogue chapter, I was still bracing myself, not knowing if I had weathered the last of the deaths or not! I think it goes without saying or spoiling that yes, a lot of folks die in this latest installment, too.
But decapitations, etc., aside, my thoughts on the book as a whole: tasty. The battle scenes: epic. And not just the grand battles. From the small skirmishes to the big combat chaos scenes, the details were juicy and sometimes overwhelming. Characters we've come to love across 1 or 2 or 3 books struggle to find their way--and this was as much a book of journeys as it was of storms or swords--and I was on the edge of my seat for many of the chapters where I honestly thought it was the end of the road for that character, found myself surprised it wasn't, and sometimes was nevertheless shocked when it was.
Martin's got me good. It is going to be hard to squeeze in some other books before I dive into book 4!