A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire #3

Moving on to A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, the third installment in A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Goodreads Stats

Why I Read This Book/How I Heard About It

As an avid fan of the HBO series, I am on a personal mission to read all the Game of Thrones books, after finally picking up the first book and conquering my fear of the series several months ago.

Goodreads Summary

Here is the third volume in George R.R. Martin's magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. Together, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

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 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 still left in the world. And as opposing forces manoeuver 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...

First Impressions

Started off like any other Game of Thrones book. I knew what I was getting myself into. As mentioned before, I hate this narrator, but oh well...I'm stuck with him as long as I'm listening to the audiobooks.

To be fair, I can't imagine having to narrate a series of books with hundreds of different character voices, so I do have compassion for the man, in that sense. But, he mixes up his accents and it gets a little confusing who is speaking. He gets tired and mispronounces names. I guess those are my main complaints. And the fact that he makes Gendry sound like an idiot and Varys sound stupid as well. And he pronounces Brienne's name as BRY-EEN. WTF? These are great characters and these things just bother me.

Final Thoughts

This was the best book yet, in my opinion. We got The Red Wedding, the John Snow/Ygritte love story, the marriage of Sansa to Tyrion, the Baelish/Sansa journey, the Brienne/Jamie journey, the Arya/Hound journey, Bran's trip into the Wilderness, the banishment of Jorah Mormont from Queen Daenerys, and the murder of King Joffrey.

It's like things are finally happening and some of the worst characters are finally getting what they deserve. For the most part, the books are following the show super closely so far. I haven't noticed too many plots that are different. I am ready to get to the point in the series where things are different. Because then it will be like a brand new story for me. But, up to now, it's been fun reliving the show in my head as I read.

Rating on Goodreads

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.

My rating method:

• I rarely rate books 5 stars. I save this for the absolute best books I've read. You know the ones...the ones that you can't get out of your head, even after you've finished them. The ones you think about for weeks afterwards.

• If a book is really, really good, I'll give it 4 stars. If you see a 4-star rating from me, I'd definitely recommend it to you to read.

• If it's just OK, it gets 3 stars. Basically, it means I could take it or leave it. I'd probably read it again because it wasn't terrible. But not like a favorite or anything.

• If I rate it 1 or 2 stars, I would not recommend anyone read it. It either didn't hold my interest or I couldn't relate to the characters/plot.