Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire Book3: A Storm of Swords

"Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time".

  A storm of swords, is the 3rd book in A Song of Ice and Fire series. This book is even bigger than the previous installment, A Clash of Kings, counting 1000+ pages. If you have purchased Harper Voyager's 7 books box set, then book 3 will be divided into 2 books.

Surely A Storm of Swords is a gigantic tome, but does it live up to the expectation of the series? Has George R.R. Martin deliver a good sequel to this series? Let's find out.



Synopsis:

A Storm of Swords continues the story from A Clash of Kings. Following the War of Five Kings in the previous book. The realm is still in full scale war. Rob Stark, vowed to avenge his father, and continues to battle against the Lannisters. Rob has won a fierce reputation for himself as he has never been defeated in the battlefield. However, it seems sometimes, winning battles does not warranty a final victory to a war. Rob Stark gradually realized, there is more to winning the war than just winning battles. In the meantime, his enemies are conjuring treacherous plots in the shadow. Can he prevail?

As Rob Stark fights his war against the Lannisters. King Joffery, a cruel and spoiled boy of 13 years of age, sits on the Iron throne as the king. Aided by his mother Cersei and his grandfather, the powerful and cunning Lord Tywin Lannister. While the youngest son in the Lannister family, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister struggles to survive the life at the royal court, matching power and strength with his wits.

On the other hand, after suffered a crushing defeat at King's landing (in the previous book). Stannis

Baratheon retreated to his stronghold at Dragonstone. Nursing his wounds and planning his next move. Stannis' advisor, the red sorcerer Melisandre, counseled Stanis to sacrifice his brother's bastard son to awake the stone dragon to aid his contest for the Iron Throne. However, Stannis' loyal counselor  the onion knight Davos protests strongly against this. Will Stannis yield to Melisandre's plea?

Beyond the wall, Jon Snow has been captured by the wildings, and following his superior's orders, Jon played the role of double agent by pledging fake loyalty to the

wilding king. As Jon Snow travels with the wildings, he began to realize the true enemy is not the wildings, but some force far more ancient and terrifying which has lie dormant for over eight thousand years. Struggling between his vows to the Brotherhood of the Nighwatch, and his new found romantic interest, a wild woman called Yigrette. How will Jon Snow act? As the wildings march towards the wall on the journey of conquest, Jon Snow must somehow find a way to stop the wildings. If the wall falls, then the entire realm will be in danger... because winter is coming.

At the same time, across the narrow sea, the exile princess Daenery Targaryen slowly gathers her force, to fulfill her ambition to reclaim her father's throne. As she contemplate to purchase a fearsome army made of slave eunuchs, Daenery wrestles with the moral dilemma if she should purchase an army of slaves to aid her quest. At the same time, she realized she can trust no one, because some of her closest advisers are not who they seem to be.



What I think about the book:

In my opinion, A Storm of Swords is even better than the previous 2 books. The pace of the story has a good rhythm. The character developments are good, and the story is even more unpredictable. Without spoiling much, I will say A Storm of Swords feels a little bit like "The Empire strikes back". The story reaches its darkest moment since the series began, yet hope is not completely wiped out.

I really like the way Martin kept all interwoven plots alive through

the entire book. While we see the struggle on the battlefield, we are also witness the danger and intrigues in the royal court. The characters in the royal court is surrounded by just as much danger as those characters fighting a war. The journey of the remaining Stark family members, such as Arya and Bran, play pivotal roles in the series. Arya's journey not only show us the effect of war on normal people's lives, but also contains a great deal of character development, while serves as an interesting view point for the reader to gaze into supporting characters such as the Hound.

Another thing, the character of Daenery Targaryen became a really interesting character in this installment. The reader can easily witness her development, from a innocent young girl in book 1, to a strong, bold and a mature queen in book 3. Not only is her story fun to read, but her part of the story is also supported by a full cast of cool characters such as Barristan Selmy, Strong Belwas, and Jorah Mormont. In book 3, Daenery's story has a very healthy balance of story development as well as actions.

Finally, the story of Jon Snow continues to unfold. His adventures with the wildings gives us some hints and insights into the events beyond the wall. Suggesting some mega, gigantic events yet to come in future books of this series.

Another strength of book 3 is the cast of supporting characters, they are full of intrigues. For example, in book 3, the famous Red Viper finally made his appearance, although his appearance is rather short, but his climatic duel with Gregor Clengane is no doubt, one of the most memorable and exciting moments in the series.

There are 3 major themes in A Song of Ice and Fire: Politics, religion and violence. In book 3, the

theme of religion vs. suffering and evil provides a very interesting view point, exploring the problem of evil and suffering. In the story, Sansa Stark could not comprehend why her god will allow her family members to be murdered while the bad guys remain unscratched. Similarly, among all the wars and sufferings, several characters in the story reflected on their doubts as to whether if the divine really exist or not. While we read the story, we discover we face the same struggles, and the same doubt as these characters in the story. As we read the story, we cling to the hope that somehow things might get better, just like we cling to hopes in our everyday lives. Without hope, we should surely perish, but where should we find the real hope in our life? If you have been pondering on this question as you read this book, then I implore you to search into the good news of Jesus Christ. I pray that in Him, you will find the hope and peace you've longed for, a place to rest your weary soul.

P.S: A word of caution, A Storm of Swords contain explicit contents, user discretion advised.