2013 Book 13: A Storm of Swords
Book 13: A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book Three) by George RR Martin, isbn 9780553573428, softcover, 1177 pages, Bantam Spectra, $7.99
Premise: (from the back cover): Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb Stark still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled Queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others -- a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords...
My Rating: 3 stars
My Thoughts: I find it difficult to write a review of this book that isn't rife with spoilers for those who haven't read it yet. I'm not so concerned about spoiling the events of earlier books in the series, but I find that it's hard to talk about the portions of this book that affected me the most without giving away major plot points. So I'm going to divide this review into two parts: the part I'll cross-post to Amazon, BN and Goodreads, and the part I'm going to post only here and hide behind a cut so that folks looking at their Friends Page on LJ won't be spoiled if they don't want to be.
Overall, I was satisfied with the third installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I also felt like it dragged in places. Martin has done a lot of world-building down to the most minute details, and so of course he wants to share them with us. There are times for this reader, though, where several pages of descriptions of banners and sigils becomes overwhelming and drags the whole story down. This isn't a problem I find unique to my reading of George RR Martin; I had the same problem with The Lord of the Rings. I love the world Martin has given us, but I struggle with details I know I'm not going to remember three pages from now. As the cast grows and the story moves in wider arcs, I hope Martin will cut down a bit on the detail in order to make sure the plot keeps moving and not have the story stagnate. Because of this personal qualm, I'm giving this book three stars, which is "average" on a five star scale. The stronger plot and characterization moments were unfortunately balanced out by those long pages of banners, sigils and introductions of retinues with characters so minor they don't even count as fourth- or fifth-string.
I am intrigued enough by where the book left off to continue with the series, although I'll take a bit of a reading break before diving into book four. Right now, at least, I feel like the pace has not slowed to unreadable (to me) levels despite the points where the story feels padded by details. Unlike, say, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, where it seems it takes 1000 pages to track characters' movements over a mere handful of days with little of major import happening (my gripe with the middle books of that series), Martin has several major plot events occur in this book, and he moves his characters around with purpose (well, mostly; it still feels like Arya's path has been especially padded and drawn out to get her to where she's ultimately going). We already know from previous books that Martin is not afraid to kill characters and destroy fortresses to advance his story, and there's plenty of that to go around in this book, leaving the reader with a pretty solid sense of uncertainty even when you think you know where the plot is going.
So, final non-spoilery comment: I still think the first book is the strongest in the series and would rate Storm of Swords the weakest of the first three but still overall enjoyable.
Now, on to those spoilers....
The Red Wedding. Jesus. I was reading that section over dinner. I had a sense that something wasn't right with the way the Freys were behaving, which started with Robb's direwolf's reaction to the men on the bridge and only built when Catelyn learned that certain younger members of House Frey were not present for the wedding. I expected, once Cate realized why the bride was crying when she met her intended, that something major was going to happen. I was not at all expecting a massacre. I don't often have a physical reaction to the books I read no matter how emotionally involved I become; perhaps it was that I had just finished dinner, but nausea hit when Robb was stabbed and threatened to come up when Catelyn's throat was cut. I put the book down for twenty four hours after that chapter and cannot say for sure that I would not have hurled it across the room had I been home or in my hotel room instead of in a restaurant. Even when I picked the book back up, I felt uncomfortable throughout Arya's chapter and Tyrion's and for several thereafter.
By comparison, Joffrey's death was almost anti-climactic. As his behavior became more and more insulting and boorish, I knew Joff's time had come -- especially because with two of the three Kings Stannis had cursed dead, it was pretty clear Joff wasn't long for the world anyway.
So one unexpected wedding massacre, one expected wedding assassination ... and then to cap things off, Petyr Baelish pushes Lyssa Arryn out of the Aerie and frames her letch of a musician. Show of hands, how many people think Peter put the moves on Sansa in the garden precisely because he knew it would set Lyssa off and enable him to take her out of the picture? Petyr and Tyrion, to me have always had one thing in common: a certain amount of respect for young people they feel a strong connection to. Tyrion could have essentially raped Sansa on their wedding night, but knew it wouldn't be the right thing to do; I suspect Littlefinger has that same trait and he's not really hot to get Catelyn's daughter in bed.
I was only slightly surprised at the turn of events for Jon Snow -- from spy to leader of the defense to prisoner to possible legitimization as the last living heir of Ned Stark to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. While some of Jon's chapters felt a bit repetitive (man, if I had a dollar for every time Ygritte said "You know nothing, Jon Snow"), I felt it was a good arc for him and I'm excited to see how strong of a leader he is. I also liked the hints we got of who Jon's mother is and hope that someday Arya will be able to share that with her brother.
Those of you who have read books four and five probably already know the answer to this last question, but I'm including it anyway: Is "Coldhands" really Benjen Stark? I hope so, and I'm excited to see where Bran's journey beyond the wall takes him as well.
Premise: (from the back cover): Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb Stark still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled Queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others -- a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords...
My Rating: 3 stars
My Thoughts: I find it difficult to write a review of this book that isn't rife with spoilers for those who haven't read it yet. I'm not so concerned about spoiling the events of earlier books in the series, but I find that it's hard to talk about the portions of this book that affected me the most without giving away major plot points. So I'm going to divide this review into two parts: the part I'll cross-post to Amazon, BN and Goodreads, and the part I'm going to post only here and hide behind a cut so that folks looking at their Friends Page on LJ won't be spoiled if they don't want to be.
Overall, I was satisfied with the third installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I also felt like it dragged in places. Martin has done a lot of world-building down to the most minute details, and so of course he wants to share them with us. There are times for this reader, though, where several pages of descriptions of banners and sigils becomes overwhelming and drags the whole story down. This isn't a problem I find unique to my reading of George RR Martin; I had the same problem with The Lord of the Rings. I love the world Martin has given us, but I struggle with details I know I'm not going to remember three pages from now. As the cast grows and the story moves in wider arcs, I hope Martin will cut down a bit on the detail in order to make sure the plot keeps moving and not have the story stagnate. Because of this personal qualm, I'm giving this book three stars, which is "average" on a five star scale. The stronger plot and characterization moments were unfortunately balanced out by those long pages of banners, sigils and introductions of retinues with characters so minor they don't even count as fourth- or fifth-string.
I am intrigued enough by where the book left off to continue with the series, although I'll take a bit of a reading break before diving into book four. Right now, at least, I feel like the pace has not slowed to unreadable (to me) levels despite the points where the story feels padded by details. Unlike, say, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, where it seems it takes 1000 pages to track characters' movements over a mere handful of days with little of major import happening (my gripe with the middle books of that series), Martin has several major plot events occur in this book, and he moves his characters around with purpose (well, mostly; it still feels like Arya's path has been especially padded and drawn out to get her to where she's ultimately going). We already know from previous books that Martin is not afraid to kill characters and destroy fortresses to advance his story, and there's plenty of that to go around in this book, leaving the reader with a pretty solid sense of uncertainty even when you think you know where the plot is going.
So, final non-spoilery comment: I still think the first book is the strongest in the series and would rate Storm of Swords the weakest of the first three but still overall enjoyable.
Now, on to those spoilers....
The Red Wedding. Jesus. I was reading that section over dinner. I had a sense that something wasn't right with the way the Freys were behaving, which started with Robb's direwolf's reaction to the men on the bridge and only built when Catelyn learned that certain younger members of House Frey were not present for the wedding. I expected, once Cate realized why the bride was crying when she met her intended, that something major was going to happen. I was not at all expecting a massacre. I don't often have a physical reaction to the books I read no matter how emotionally involved I become; perhaps it was that I had just finished dinner, but nausea hit when Robb was stabbed and threatened to come up when Catelyn's throat was cut. I put the book down for twenty four hours after that chapter and cannot say for sure that I would not have hurled it across the room had I been home or in my hotel room instead of in a restaurant. Even when I picked the book back up, I felt uncomfortable throughout Arya's chapter and Tyrion's and for several thereafter.
By comparison, Joffrey's death was almost anti-climactic. As his behavior became more and more insulting and boorish, I knew Joff's time had come -- especially because with two of the three Kings Stannis had cursed dead, it was pretty clear Joff wasn't long for the world anyway.
So one unexpected wedding massacre, one expected wedding assassination ... and then to cap things off, Petyr Baelish pushes Lyssa Arryn out of the Aerie and frames her letch of a musician. Show of hands, how many people think Peter put the moves on Sansa in the garden precisely because he knew it would set Lyssa off and enable him to take her out of the picture? Petyr and Tyrion, to me have always had one thing in common: a certain amount of respect for young people they feel a strong connection to. Tyrion could have essentially raped Sansa on their wedding night, but knew it wouldn't be the right thing to do; I suspect Littlefinger has that same trait and he's not really hot to get Catelyn's daughter in bed.
I was only slightly surprised at the turn of events for Jon Snow -- from spy to leader of the defense to prisoner to possible legitimization as the last living heir of Ned Stark to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. While some of Jon's chapters felt a bit repetitive (man, if I had a dollar for every time Ygritte said "You know nothing, Jon Snow"), I felt it was a good arc for him and I'm excited to see how strong of a leader he is. I also liked the hints we got of who Jon's mother is and hope that someday Arya will be able to share that with her brother.
Those of you who have read books four and five probably already know the answer to this last question, but I'm including it anyway: Is "Coldhands" really Benjen Stark? I hope so, and I'm excited to see where Bran's journey beyond the wall takes him as well.