George R. R. Martin

The Starks are scattered. Robb Stark may be King in the North, but it will be a bloody struggle for him to hold his crown. And while his youngest sister has escaped the clutches of the depraved Lannisters, Sansa Stark remains their captive. Meanwhile, across the ocean, Daenerys Stormborn, the last heir of the Dragon King, approaches Westeros with vengeance in her heart. A STORM OF SWORDS, PART TWO: BLOOD AND GOLD, the second half of Book Three of A Song of Ice and Fire, continues the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age.--

Blood and gold

A Storm of Swords

The three surviving contenders for the throne of the Seven Kingdoms continue to struggle among themselves, Robb defends his kingdom from the Greyjoys, Jon confronts an escalating threat, and Daenerys and her dragon allies continue to grow in power.

fira

Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king? When everyone was shouting King in the North, King in the North, I told myself. Swore to myself..that I would be a good king, as honorable as Father, strong, just, loyal to my friends and brave when I faced my enemies...now I can't even tell one from the other. How did it all get so confused? 

After so long in darkness, the world was so sweet that Jaime Lannister felt dizzy. I am alive, and drunk on sunlight.

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3)

Another masterpiece! Easily the best of the series so far.

Adwait Kulkarni

The three surviving contenders for the throne of the Seven Kingdoms continue to struggle among themselves, Robb Stark defends his kingdom from the Greyjoys, Jon Snow confronts an escalating threat, and Danerys Stormborn and her dragon allies continue to grow in power.

This one nearly broke me. Yes, the final quarter picks up, but getting there felt like a medieval endurance test. Martin’s obsession with feasts and family trees had me begging for a fast-forward button.

Too many chapters meandered with little payoff, and the Starks? Still suffering. Arya’s in a loop, Sansa’s stuck, Rickon vanished like a side quest we forgot to finish.

I’m exhausted. Holding off on the next book until I emotionally recover—or until someone sends a raven with good news.

Liana

This one nearly broke me. Yes, the final quarter picks up, but getting there felt like a medieval endurance test. Martin’s obsession with feasts and family trees had me begging for a fast-forward button.

Too many chapters meandered with little payoff, and the Starks? Still suffering. Arya’s in a loop, Sansa’s stuck, Rickon vanished like a side quest we forgot to finish.

I’m exhausted. Holding off on the next book until I emotionally recover—or until someone sends a raven with good news.



Despite the fact that SO many quintessential asoiaf plot points happen in this book, I have to limit it to 4 stars. The pacing with this one was very off to me, and there were character chapters I dreaded getting to. I would be fully invested in what’s happening, and then here comes a Jon chapter or a Danaerys chapter. Obviously all of their storylines are relevant and necessary, but they always seemed to come when I least wanted them to, which affected my enjoyment of the book. The winning POVs of this story, however, are Sansa, Jaime, and Catelyn. GRRM did his big one with those, and I’m LOVING the easter eggs for future plots casually dropped into certain scenes. They would be seen as nothingburgers to people who don’t know what’s coming, and I enjoy the cleverness.

Nik ✨

my favorite of the series so far. not quite a 5 star bc i just don’t care about some of the povs so i would get bored😓 and yeah it dragged a little but the rest of the book made up for it in my opinion. i can’t wait to see how the next 2 books go.

millie

this is george rr martin at his best. i loved clash of kings so much i was worried that it would be hard for him to top it but now i don’t think any book will top asos for me. i’m obsessed with this book and i will think back and wish i could read it again for the first time. jaime lannister i love u

alyssa 

I maintain my most controversial opinion is that Martin only wrote the women in these books like scaffolding and that the dialogue is really weak and people are remembering the books blended with the shows in their mind because I’m rolling back through these everyone and… it’s looking a little thin in here pals. 

Apiecalypse Jen

pamela enojas

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

A medieval fantasy on the land of the Seven Kingdoms, chronicling the intrigues of its ruling families as they jockey for power. By the author of A Game of Thrones.

A Song of Ice and Fire

Vicky  Nuñez 

Rating: 4.5
(Only because everything I dreaded happened.)

I don't even....

My relationship towards this book can only be describe as: love-hate. Mr. Martin is an evil man, even when horrible things were happening he made me enjoyed the book & keep on reading. His writing goes on so smoothly making you cherish each line. He is an evil mastermind. 

I can honestly say he created a great sequel. There are the same characters with new revelations and new ones with secrets of their own, but the essence is the same. I eagerly await to read the other books in this series.

This one seemed to drag a bit. Still worth reading maybe?

A Storm of Swords 1

Jehan Chawla

A pretty well written book. Heard many complaints about the books slow pacing but I liked it regardless. It wasn't an eventful book like other ASOIAF variants but it pushed the plot forward with it's character arcs. I personally loved Jaime's chapters in the books with him turning up to become my favourite character.Something I love very much about these books is that whilst there is a lot of death, violence and gore there is also amazing humour. It lives up to the first two books but the first book is still my Favourite.
Can't wait to read Part II.

A Storm of Swords 2

My second favourite book of the series. This one was just filled with so many high stake pieces. Both the prologue and the epilogue of this book are in my opinion must read even for non fans of the series. Jaime's character arc was my personal favourite in this book. Possibly the most devastating, awesome, exciting and surprising instalment yet. 
The characters development is so unreal in this book! It's too damn good to be true. You can see how they grow more into their own skin, how they improve chapter by chapter.

gracyn neely

Briar's Reviews

Aubrey Hicks

** spoiler alert **
           A Song of Ice and Fire is beginning to feel exactly like I was afraid it would. It's turning into this huge plot driven enormity without a strong sense of the world Martin is building. So, while I'm enjoying this epic fantasy series, I feel that it's lacking in the world building. It has an immense cast of characters and a gigantic landscape and yet I feel a lack of culture. I'm three thousand pages in and I know there are old gods and new gods but not a whole lot about what that means to the people. Martin is trying to include it, but in my opinion his style prevents it from really creating a fully realized culture for me. 

The series strength lies in it's huge plot and cast of characters. I gave 5 stars to A GAME OF THRONES and A CLASH OF KINGS because I felt like I understood the story he was telling. I felt like it was the story of the Starks - that they were separated and they would find their strengths and then come together. Now that I'm three thousand pages in, I don't feel like I could tell the story anymore. It's not about the Starks anymore, it's not about the seven kingdoms even - it's outgrown that. So for me, if the story doesn't somehow settle it will soon become too epic for caring. If the culture and this struggle between the faith in old gods and new, or between the Kingdom and Freedom became stronger themes then I think this could get better. At this point in the series, I feel that this huge plot will just outpace itself and I will fall out of love with the characters, most of whom seem to be floundering with little purpose other than survival.

THE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO. Rarely has there been a tale as gripping, or one as likely to seize the minds and hearts of a generation, as George R. R. Martin's epic high fantasy series. In A Game of Thrones, an ancient kingdom was torn by the ambitions of ruthless men and women; in A Clash of Kings, war, sorcery, and madness swept over the kingdom like a voracious beast of prey. Now, as the brutal struggle for power nears its tumultuous climax, the battered and divided kingdom faces its most terrifying invasion—one that is being spearheaded from beyond the grave. . . . A STORM OF SWORDS Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King's Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. Filled with the stench of death and decay from the destructive dynastic war, Daenerys is gathering allies and strength for an assault on King's Landing, hoping to win back the crown she believes is rightfully hers. But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings bent on overwhelming the Seven Kingdoms arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. And as the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest in the quest for victory until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords. . . . Brilliantly conceived and grand in scope, A Storm of Swords is the incredible tale of a world of harsh beauty and powerful magic, torn by treachery, ravaged by brutality, and consumed by greed and ambition. It portrays a war-torn landscape in which nobles and commoners, heroes and villains, the freeborn and the enslaved, all struggle to survive and to find their destinies...along with the dazzling bounty and wondrous enchantment that was once their birthright in the Seven Kingdoms.

A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three

Wynter

Argh-meh-ZING! The best book I've read in a long time. Martin has outdone himself yet again!

Michael Springer

You MUST read this series. You MUST read this book. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm not gonna say any more. 

But I will say this: I have an effing signed copy of this effing book. And I actually stood before the great effing GRRM as he signed it! "Michael, Keep your sword sharp." That's what it says. (I stuttered out something mostly incoherent about loving his books, and he kindly pretended that what I'd said had involved actual English words.) 

And coming up in May, I'll be seeing him at LepreCon in Tempe, AZ, so I'm going to get a copy of A Clash of Kings signed as well. I'll need to buy a new copy since mine is falling apart after 11 or 12 years of use. Maybe this time I'll say something that makes me sound like less of a dork.

Only reason I took off a half star is because I found the first half of this book to be a bit slow and dense, but the second half was so exciting I couldn't possibly rate it any less

Emma Lechner

Meghan Navoy

It took me ~2.5 months to read this entire book. It's SO long!! George RR Martin is absolutely amazing in the way that he is able to create these intricate worlds for so many different characters and have them wind around each other. I love every book in this series.

Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown in the Kingdom of the North, but his defences are ranged against attack from the South, the land of House Stark's enemies the Lannisters. His sisters are trapped there at the whim of the Lannister boy-king Joffrey and his depraved mother Cersei.

Jamieson

“In King’s Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the pieces.”



A Storm of Swords is responsible for so many of the now-iconic moments from Game of Thrones. The Red Wedding, The Purple Wedding, (view spoiler)[ Tyrion's trial and Tywin's death, Oberyn Martell and Gregor Clegane's fight, Daenerys conquering of the cities, especially Astapor (hide spoiler)] and so much more. 

So it's not surprising this is such a well-loved instalment of the series. I do have to agree with the masses and say this is the best of the ASOIAF books so far. 

The first half is excellently plotted with meticulous character and political arcs, and the second half is a whirlwind of action and drama that undermines expectations over and over. Sam and Davos are extremely boring but, beside their chapters, I genuinely loved every POV included in this book and every character and plot arc. AND THAT EPILOGUE !!


  “You are grown so very great now, yet the higher a man climbs the farther he has to fall.”


And onto A Feast for Crows! Who knows when I'll get to it, though. I like that this is a world I can easily jump in and out of. I did have a lot of fun with this though, and I'll be looking forward to seeing what comes next (especially since I believe we're getting to the point where the book and show start to really deviate)

“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.)

Jeff James

A sequel just as good as the first, and even quicker to read. This is a really great series, and I imagine I'll be recommending it to folks just like Eddy recommended it to me. I don't think I'll start book three until I read some of my library books, though.

Siya S

★★★★★ 5 KISS-OF-LIFE-BY-THE-LORD-OF-LIGHT STARS 


  
    “The way the world is made. The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and 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"
  


Here's actual footage of me reading ASOS:



And then:



*Throwing the book across the room*
*Walk across the room*
*Pick it up*



More wine, sucker. 

I’m not a ASOIAF scholar, meaning I couldn’t write a 4 pages essay on how some knight’s wooden tooth might reveal the secret behind some king’s birthright, but I can sure write relentlessly on how amazing this series is and how many emotions it made me feel. 

In my third sorry attempt on reviewing probably one of the best books ever written in the history of high-fantasy realms, it's safe to say...I'm overwhelmed. Let’s see what we’ve got so far:

*** REVIEW FROM THIS POINT CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS.
CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED *** 

In ASOS, the story continued as the Starks working on their ways to become the most unfortunate clan in the whole literary universe, though debatably most of the time they brought the shitstorm onto themselves.


  I’m not a lady, Arya wanted to tell her, I’m a wolf


Arya, went over the Steppenwolf mode for a bit, kept her badasseries in check, and though her path to glory wasn’t really what we had in mind, the kid had taken care of herself alright (debatable). Sansa, on the other hand, continued her plot with nothing much but hope of getting home. What she got in return was a maiden veil and not-so-ideal lord husband waiting at the end of the altar. But of course, that was only the beginning.

For the rest of the family, especially Robb and Cat, let's just say...brace yourself, brace it hard.



Trust me, we know it more than you do, Robb. 


  I’ve lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war.


In the meantime, Jaime had become one of my most favorites characters overnight. Jaime? Like Jaime the baby-paralyzer? Jaime the sister-banger? Jaime the Kingslayer smug? I know I’m being crazy. His voice was a classic teen with existential crisis, and his journey to self-discovery rung a nostalgic tune as an almost coming-of-age YA story. Martin has, yet again, made the impossible possible. He has managed to fuck our minds with his cunning-but-so-goddamn-awesome writing talent, spinning and using characters to their greatest potential.

Brienne, the ultimate underdog of this saga, was simply all of us who want break the stereotypes and taboos. Not only she was one of a few good guys left in the series, she was in fact quite inspirational at times. She was all of us who want to do good to this world even though basically everyone else chose to say optherwise and become your goddamn obstacles. I empathized with her a lot. And comments about her 'look' and gender and everything else that didn't really matter just broke my heart EVERY.DAMN.TIME.


  “Why?” he made himself ask, though he knew he would rue the question.

“You ask that? You, who killed your mother to come into the world? You are an ill-made, devious, disobedient, spiteful little creature full of envy, lust, and low cunning. Men’s laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors, since I cannot prove that you are not mine. To teach me humility, the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about wearing that proud lion that was my father’s sigil and his father’s before him. But neither gods nor men shall ever compel me to let you turn Casterly Rock into your whorehouse"




*awkward silence* O....Kayyyyyy...yy

I wish I could say Tyrion was in a better shape than the rest I’ve mentioned. But nope. He was misunderstood by basically everyone in Westeros (and probably Essos and beyond). On the brighter note, his segment had brought one of the greatest characters, (*whisper-scream* OBERYN-SEXY-MOTHERFUCKER-MARTELL), on board. Though the guy got not much of a screen time, his presence and episode was, well, mesmerizing.


  “Woman?” She chuckled. “Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man.”


Standing ovation for the 
  Khaleesi
 because her segment was no longer boring, though at times I thought to myself: ‘what the fuck are you actually doing? Didn’t you have a throne to claim?’. But yeah, she freed some slaves (see Grey worm's monologue below) and rewarded herself with some kingdoms, no big deal. But in truth, weren’t those just a distraction from something that actually matter? 


  Grey Worm had remained Grey Worm. When she asked him why, he said, “It is a lucky name. The name this one was born to was accursed. That was the name he had when he was taken for a slave. But Grey Worm is the name this one drew the day Daenerys Stormborn set him free"


Did you hear that? That the sound of my heart broke for the slightest bit.

So that’s pretty much the recap. I agreed with everyone that ASOS was by far the best book of the series. It was all action-packed with mysteries and twists that kept me semi-heart attacked at the edge of my seat from cover to cover. The characters are all golden, both old and new, and their developments always worth a standing ovation of their own. And though sometimes we might not like the way Martin plays with our feelings, we just couldn’t help but head on bravely because it means so much to us to find out what the actual hell would happen to them and how the heck this whole mess would go.

Overall, let’s just say....I couldn’t wait to start A Feast for Crows. Just one amazing book nobody (with patience and the right mood for it) should miss. Ever.

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A Storm of Swords Blood and gold

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