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A review by elijah_le_fou
A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin
5.0
“The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day is beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good… death and life.”
The first part of a storm of swords promises it to be the best entry in this series yet. By dialling back on the admittedly complex but tedious description of the war from the previous book, more focus can be put into the fantastical elements of the series that have not yet had their time.
the aspect that really lets this book shine is that the characters have a chance to breathe and come into their own. With the first book acting as their introduction and the following centring them all on intersecting pathways during a war. This finally gives opportunity for each characters to have their own equally intriguing storyline without losing the converging complexity of the plot.
One of my biggest grievances with the last book was how little Daenerys changed or developed (granted she was used sparingly). Yet with only a few chapters, herself and her story have become infinitely more enjoyable. Similarly to this, Sansa has unexpectedly become a favourite of mine, even if it may be largely due to the characters she gets to interact with and the politics present in King’s Landing.
Already flourishing characters have continued to do so. Jon’s inner turmoil and relationship with Ygritte had me enjoying his character even more than I had before. Arya while being slightly less compelling as she had been in the previous book, still managed to be thoroughly enjoyable. Tyrion only continues to grow as a character and Davos managed to be a surprisingly great part of the book.
Catelyn isn’t present much and thus doesn’t have the opportunity to impress or disappoint. The weak link however still remains to be Bran. Even though he is only given a couple chapters, his whole character still disappointed me. I do hope his character has some form of development eventually as I cannot see myself lasting him for much longer.
Being able to read from Samwell’s perspective is a very very welcome addition, his character will no doubt only get better. However my favourite part of the book is undoubtedly Jaime and Brienne, I don’t have a particular reason, their story was just the most riveting to read and made both characters some of my favourite of the series.
I very much appreciated the expansion of the world in terms of different ‘non-house’ related factions. Brotherhood without banners opens the story up to common people and their view of the war. Roose Bolton further demonstrates the presence of a darker side to each side of the war. And the wildlings open up the world to so many more possibilities.
In saying all this, this is only the first half of a book. It is hard to jump to conclusions. The only reason I wrote so much was to show that this is the first time so far that I’ve seen this series fully excel. I hope and trust that this quality can continue.
The first part of a storm of swords promises it to be the best entry in this series yet. By dialling back on the admittedly complex but tedious description of the war from the previous book, more focus can be put into the fantastical elements of the series that have not yet had their time.
the aspect that really lets this book shine is that the characters have a chance to breathe and come into their own. With the first book acting as their introduction and the following centring them all on intersecting pathways during a war. This finally gives opportunity for each characters to have their own equally intriguing storyline without losing the converging complexity of the plot.
One of my biggest grievances with the last book was how little Daenerys changed or developed (granted she was used sparingly). Yet with only a few chapters, herself and her story have become infinitely more enjoyable. Similarly to this, Sansa has unexpectedly become a favourite of mine, even if it may be largely due to the characters she gets to interact with and the politics present in King’s Landing.
Already flourishing characters have continued to do so. Jon’s inner turmoil and relationship with Ygritte had me enjoying his character even more than I had before. Arya while being slightly less compelling as she had been in the previous book, still managed to be thoroughly enjoyable. Tyrion only continues to grow as a character and Davos managed to be a surprisingly great part of the book.
Catelyn isn’t present much and thus doesn’t have the opportunity to impress or disappoint. The weak link however still remains to be Bran. Even though he is only given a couple chapters, his whole character still disappointed me. I do hope his character has some form of development eventually as I cannot see myself lasting him for much longer.
Being able to read from Samwell’s perspective is a very very welcome addition, his character will no doubt only get better. However my favourite part of the book is undoubtedly Jaime and Brienne, I don’t have a particular reason, their story was just the most riveting to read and made both characters some of my favourite of the series.
I very much appreciated the expansion of the world in terms of different ‘non-house’ related factions. Brotherhood without banners opens the story up to common people and their view of the war. Roose Bolton further demonstrates the presence of a darker side to each side of the war. And the wildlings open up the world to so many more possibilities.
In saying all this, this is only the first half of a book. It is hard to jump to conclusions. The only reason I wrote so much was to show that this is the first time so far that I’ve seen this series fully excel. I hope and trust that this quality can continue.