A Storm of Swords

Man, I love this series. Swords is even longer than the first two volumes and continues to escalate the drama of the story. I'd need more than two hand to count the number of times the plot took a turn that completely blindsided me. Even in the last fifty pages, when the pace is supposed to be winding down, I was taken by surprise repeatedly. But it's not just crazy happenings that make these books awesome, as I've said before. Martin's prose is still excellent, completely readable while still being intelligent, and occasionally artistic when called for. His capacity for building an enormous cast filled with characters that are three dimensional and almost universally generate a strong emotional reaction, whether good or bad, is astounding. Even ones who only occasionally show up in the background are generally memorable, only a few of the various knights and lords in the capital city tend to blur together in my mind.

The thing you have to understand before starting the series is that reading it is not always the most joyful experience. When the author admits to having trouble bringing himself to write an important chapter, you know that your heart's probably going to be broken a few times. It's not exactly constantly depressing, and there are plenty of moments as triumphant as any others are bleak. Still, the world these characters live in is a brutal and unforgiving one, and readers are constantly being reminded that no one is untouchable. Well, maybe a couple people are, but they're few and far between. I forgot to mention this back when I was saying that the good in the series wasn't all spectacle, but the subtle backstabbing and political maneuvering, involving lots of forced marriages, is just as engrossing as anything else in the story. It's a constant mystery who's really the cause of anything, and it's safe to say that you can't really be sure about anything at this point. The next book, A Feast for Crows, is limited to the largest of the multiple regions the story covers, due to the stuff happening in the other places giving Martin so much trouble writing that he decided to split them apart, and release Feast earlier. I've heard that it is less eventful than the first three books, which I think I'll be fine with, because I could use a breather, and it might be a chance to really enjoy the quieter aspects of the story.