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Title: A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) by George R. R. Martin ISBN: 0553381709 Publisher: Spectra Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57
Rating: 5
Summary: Better than Tolkien
Comment: Yes, you read right--George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice is BETTER than Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Why is everyone afraid to admit this? Yes, Tolkien is a genius--the fantasy genre wouldn't exist without him, and no doubt, A Song of Fire of Ice couldn't have been written. But ... each of Martin's books are more entertaining than Tolkien's trilogy. I get bored at times reading The Lord of the Rings; I barely sleep when I read each of the 700+ page Martin books. Am I alone?
Rating: 5
Summary: What makes this book so good?
Comment: Storm of Swords is a great addition to this series. Martin risks driving his readers away by killing off central characters, but doing so is true to the story he's telling.
In Storm of Swords, the rebellion in the seven kingdoms is gradually winding down as the various kings die--some mysteriously and magically. North of the wall, both human and non-human enemies of all of the kingdoms are growing stronger while the kingdoms remain focussed only on their internal struggles. The Black Watch seems unlikely to hold the wall.
Martin continues his style of tracking a number of characters, giving each a chapter, then leaving them hanging. He introduces several new point-of-view characters including Jaime the Kingslayer, and returns several favorites.
Daenerys Targaryen, in particular, has matured nicely as a character. She now has personal motives beyond merely becoming queen because she is the last Targaryen, and is developing leadership skills and the ability to make hard decisions. The Stark children remain strangely underdeveloped given that they have been central characters throughout this series. Possibly they will be fully fleshed out in the fourth book in the series.
At 900+ pages, the book is daunting--but I still found it hard to put down and finished in two days. I don't buy many books in hardback but this is a steal.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Masterfully Written, Brutally Realistic Fantasy Epic
Comment: Wow... I dont know if there has ever been a fantasy series as well written, realistic, unpredictable, morally ambiguous and ruthlessly brutal as 'A Song of Fire and Ice' is. Despite this books considerable length (900 odd pages)I literally could not put it down for longer than 10 minutes, and spent the best part of 2 days engrossed in reading it.
In writing this book George R.R Martin has succeded in combining a brilliant narrative and 1st class dramatic writing, with conventional fantasy elements (magic, dragons etc) and a complex 'War of the Roses' type political situation to make a truly gripping and innovative fantasy novel. Indeed in some senses the book is almost a semi-historical fiction rather than pure fantasy novel because of the amount of elements and plot situations drawn from the 14th century English dynastic 'War of the Roses'. This serves to make the book an excellant read for anyone who is interested in medieval European/English history, regardless of whether they like the conventional fantasy genre or not.
However even if u dont care about the history i would have to recomend 'A Storm of Swords' and indeed the other 2 books in the series to just about anyone who can handle the fact, that these books are brutally Realpolitik, with a morally ambiguous situation (no clearcut good vs evil), brutally unpredictable twists (much loved main characters can and do die) and complex realistic style (none of the characters fits the true hero mold, all have their own weaknesses and dark side that readers may find repulsive).
In fact if there is anything bad about George R.R Martins writing it would have to be the fact that it takes him nearly 2 years to write each installment, which makes for a long and agonising wait.
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Title: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Fire and Ice, Book 2) by George R. R. Martin ISBN: 0553579908 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 05 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R.R. Martin ISBN: 0553573403 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Crossroads of Twilight: Book Ten of 'The Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan ISBN: 0312864590 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4) by George R. R. Martin ISBN: 0553801503 Publisher: Spectra Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Runelords: The Sum of All Men (The Runelords, Book One) by David Farland ISBN: 0812541626 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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