Book Review: Inferno - By Dan Brown

"The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral crisis"
                           Martin Luther King Jr.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I wonder, if I am the only Christian in the world who enjoyed these 2 movies: The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons. I love the character of Robert Landgon in this series, and I also like the esoteric, mysterious atmosphere emanating from these stories.

Age 48, the American novelist Dan Brown, seems to be very good at doing 2 things: 1) Breaking sales record when he publishes a novel, and 2) Offending religious people.

It is true, whenever Dan Brown releases a book, or if a movie is made based on his novel. Money and controversy follow suit. I still remember, in 2006, when Ron Howard's movie, The Da Vinci Code was released. University campus Christian groups were going nuts, hosting talks such as "The Da Vinci Decoded" and such. It was an exhiliarting experience, to watch the reactions from Christian groups about this Hollywood movie. As a Christian, while I doubt the credibility of the idea behind The Da Vinci Code, but I was also well aware that, it is a fictional story built for entertainment, and I really have to give Dan Brown credit, for conjuring such a thrilling story out of his imagination. Having said all this, I have never read a novel by Dan Brown. Not until I heard Mr. Brown was working on a 4th Robert Landgon novel, titled Inferno, inspired by my one of my favorite literature masterpiece, the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. So when this book became available for pre-order, immediately I ordered a copy. Since I have never read a book written by Dan Brown before, I had no idea what to expect. But the book finally arrived a day after its publication date. And with great eager, I opened the pages and started reading, and finished it in 3 days. Today, I will talk a little bit about this book, and share some of my thoughts about it.

Synopsis:

Professor Robert Langdon, a professor in religious iconology and symbology at Harvard University, woke up in a hospital. Suffering from a head wound and amnesia, and after discovering he was in Florence, Italy, Langdon could not recollect the events of his life in the past 2 days. As Langdon wsa lying in the hospital bed and in misery, an assassin broke into the hospital and tried to kill him. Landgon escaped with the aid of his doctor, Sienne Brooks. As the duo made their way to temporary safety, Langdon realized the only way forward, was to investigate this bizarre incident.

Little did the duo realize, their investigation will gradually uncover a global conspiracy that will forever change the fate of the entire humanity, a conspiracy engineered by a brilliant mastermind. Clues to solve this conspiracy is only hinted in Italian poet, Dante Alighieri's masterpiece, Inferno. Once again, Langdon has to decipher ancient symbols, solve cryptic mysteries, find historical artifacts, and venturing into ancient secret passage ways while being pursued by members from a secret organisation. Should Langdon and Sienne fail, earth will become a living semblance of Dante's vision of hell, Inferno coming to live!

What I think about the book:

This is the first time I read a book written by Dan Brown. There are certain things I really like about Dan Brown's style of writing, but there are also things I don't like. To begin with, this book is a real page turner! While Inferno will not earn any literature awards, but it is extremely fun, and an entertaining ride. I like how Dan Brown selected a series of historical events and artifacts, then conjure hidden realities behind them to create riddles. He has got a special talent for being an excellent storyteller.

I also like the setting of the book, set in Florence, Italy. Several key elements to mysteries in the story are concerned with locations, and arts from the Renaissance era. However, the main theme of the story is drawn by projecting a futuristic concept of transhumanism, and the present problem of global overpopulation, into a mix bag of mysteries hidden behind renaissance arts. By combining these elements, Dan Brown created a very good blend of the past, the present, and the future, while maintain the constant, esoteric feel throughout the entire story.

But this does not mean the Inferno is without flaws, actually, this novel has lots of flaws. What I didn't like, was that sometimes, Dan Brown would step away from the story, and started to play the role of a tour guide, going into too much details about the history of a geographic location, or providing too much historical background for a piece of renaissance artwork. While such information might be educational (provided Dan Brown's knowledge is correct), but most of the time, I find Dan Brown's "tour guide" style can be very distracting from the story progression. The result is, while Inferno is a fun, breathless entertainment, but it is also clunky, very clunky.

Reflection:

You are probably dying to ask this question: "Did Dan Brown attack religion again in this book?"

To be honest, after I read the book, I don't think Dan Brown is attacking religion this time. Instead, in this round, Dan Brown seems to be questioning the Catholic church's stance on contraception and birth control. I've always found this topic very interesting, because this is a good question: Given that Africa is already struggling with the widespread of sexually transmitted diseases and poverty, if condom distribution in Africa can prevent the spreading of HIV AIDS, while reducing the chances of unwanted pregenancies, should the Catholic church condemn condom distribution in Africa? I don't hold a particular stance to the answers of question, but I think it is an important question to think about.

However, after I read this book, the topic that re-surfaced in my mind, is "transhumanism". I, for one, have been pondering on the question of transhumanism in the last 2 years. With the rapid improvement in the technology of genetic engineering, and biomedical engineering. The day won't be far when we, as a human race will have the capability to fundamentally alter who we are through technology. In fact, transhumanist technologies are already in development (for example, see this article about scientists creating a cybernetic ear that can give you superhuman hearing). Should such a day arrives, when we can choose to use technologies from genetic engineering or biomedical engineering to make our children, or ourselves smarter, stronger, healthier and live longer. Should we do it? Because such technology will only be available to the rich, so would such a technology produce a new form of discrimination? One that's not based on the color of your skin, nor your gender, but a discrimination based on what sort of genetic upgrades are in you, or what sort of biomedical upgrade you possess. What sort of shifts in the socio-economical paradigm would such a technology bring to the world? Is transhumanist technology the next step of natural human evolution? Or will it cause great harms to the equality of all men, and jeopardize the very meaning of humanity?

Such a question, remains to be discussed. While we are holding great public debates such as social health reform, greenhouse effects, homosexual marriages and the like in the early 21th century, sometimes I wonder, in 20 years time, perhaps we will be arguing if we should commence the next stage of human evolution by augmenting our bodies with genetic and biomedical technologies. If this comes to reality, it will be the most imporant collective decision we have yet to make in the human history, because it will forever change the definition, and the value of "humanity". It will be a time when we will possess in our hands, the power of God at the moment of creation. As Christians, we cannot remain on the neutral ground if we are required to make a decision when the time comes. By then, what should the Christian perspective be, and which side should we stand, should this day finally arrives?

Book Review: The Facade - By Michael S. Heiser - Part 1

Back in my highschool days, X-Files was a very popular TV series. This TV show attracted mass following by inviting audiences to journey with 2 particular FBI agents, to investigate the paranormal activities such as UFOs and aliens. Almost everyone watched X-Files, but I was never really interested in X-Files, it's not because I think these UFO and alien stuff were stupid, but because I thought the stories were too confusing.

Although I didn't watch X-Files, but I've always been interested in UFO and aliens. It's not because I think I think X-Files is a documentary program, but the reason is because, I know a real life story about UFO encounter.

The story came from my own father...

As far as I can remember, ever since I was a little kid, my father has always been telling me an extra-ordinary story. See, my father claimed he has seen an UFO. He started telling me this story, since I was a kid, even until today. When I was at school, he also told my friends. The result is my school friends thought I came from a strange family. I have to say, his UFO sighting story is so intriguing, that after spending 4 years of my life studying at university as an aeronautical engineer, and after using those knowledge I learnt to analyse his story, I think whatever he saw, has very little chance that it was made by earthly technology.

The story goes like this: My father is born in Taiwan, and he lived in Taipei almost his entire life. When he was a little child in the 1950s, one night, he was playing on the roof of a 2-3 storey house. Now remember, back in 1950s, Taipei was pretty much a 3rd world city which just came out from the rules of Japan after WWII. There were no skyscrapers, a tall building was an extremely rare sight. Most buildings were old, Japanese or Chinese styled houses. Back to the story, both children were squatting on the floor playing with marble balls. While they were playing, my father felt something was watching them. He looked up, and saw a very large, orange disc. It was suspended in mid air, making no sound at all. This flying object suspended at approximately 6 meters above them. My father recalled, the orange disc had a black rim around it (which my father later speculated as possibly, observation panels of some sort). The disc was suspending in mid air at an angle, giving the impression that it was looking down at them.

My father bend down and called his friend to look up. When his friend looked up after a few splits of seconds. This orange flying disc was gone, all they could see, was a speck of a light/object flying away to the corner of the sky at incredible speed.

By the way, my father does not have mental problems, nor is he some sort of sci-fi crazed nerd. I mean, my father doesn't even like sci-fi movies. In fact, my father said, he didn't even know what he saw was called "UFO", until he started to see photos and media reports/productions about UFO in his teenage years.

This is why, I always had an especially deep interest in UFO (and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life). When I became a Christian, this topic gained even more weight in my inquiring mind. But the funny thing is, until 2 years ago, I never told any Christian, that I believed the UFO phenomenon is very real. And very rarely did I tell other Christians about my father's own UFO encounter. The reason is because, I half expected to be met with ridicule and mockery. Because let's face it, most evangelical protestants, are still struggling to adopt evolution into their worldviews. So can you imagine what they will say to me if I announce publicly, that I believe UFO phenomenon is real and tell them my father has seen an UFO?

In the meantime, the more I researched about UFO sighting reports, both old and new. The more  convinced I became, that UFO phenomena is undeniably, very likely to be real (see the appendix section, I have collected some links to various UFO related information).

However, I announced my view last year. And as I expected, I met very fierce resistance from Christians (whom I personally know). Some tried to discount my story by saying that, he doesn't know my father so the story has no weight (which is ironic, because I wonder what's his basis for believing the resurrection story through the biblical evidence in the New Testament, although he doesn't personally know Mark, John, Luke and Matthew). Some suggested perhaps my father saw a secret aircraft in development. Based on my knowledge in aircraft design, I constructed arguments to express why I think such a proposal is highly unlikely. But instead of listening to the technical reasoning I presented, they used belittling tactics, implying my qualification means nothing to this topic (a non-sequitur argument really). Essentially, most people make up whatever reasons they can, so they can feel comfortably secured within their existing worldview.

But that hasn't stopped me from trying to engage in such conversations with other Christians. In fact, my exchanges with other Christians on this topic revealed a few things to me:
1) The truth is, a lot of Christians fiercely reject the possibility of UFO and ET existence, because they fear such a reality might somehow, shake the foundation of their faith.
2) A lot of Christians are still unable to reconcile with evolution, and they fear UFO phenomenon and ET existence will further prove the theory of evolution.
3) While some Christians accept evolution, but they fear for the stability of their faith, should ET existence be real and ET claim to be creators of human beings (panspermia).

Back in 1960s, NASA commissioned the Brookings Institution, to perform a study on the implications on the American social attitudes and values, should extra-terrestrial life becomes a reality. This report was submitted to the 87th United States Congress. It was called the Brookings' report (the link to Brookings Report here). The report found, should the existence of extra-terrestrial life is confirmed, it would have catastrophic impact on the Christian sect in the US. Although I live in Sydney and not US, and it is now 2013 and not 1961, but from what I have seen and heard, most Christians still have this lurking fear and uncertainty about the stability of their faith, in relation to the matters of evolution, and the possibility of alien life forms.

The strange thing is, as governments around the world are slowly releasing declassified UFO reports. The Vaticans has been hosting conference on ET and Christianity as well, and publicly announcing the existence of alien life forms won't clash with Christianity.. what's going on? This is something that has been largely overlooked in the evangelical Christian community, and I think we ought to pay more attention to this kind of development.

Having understood this, I set out on my quest to find out, if Christianity can accommodate the reality of extra-terrestrial life. For my own sake, and also for other Christian's sake, this is the question I ask:

 If ET is real and they landed on earth tomorrow, and make contact with us. How will such a revelation impact your faith, and what does that mean for Christianity? Furthermore, if ET claim to be creators of human beings, what will you do and what effect will it have on your spiritual life?

And this is when I came across Dr. Michael Heiser, a scholar with PhD in the Hebrew Bible and Semitic language, most famous for debunking History Channel's TV series Ancient Aliens. Out of interest, I bought his book, The Facade, Christian book that talks about UFO and Christianity, but written in the form as a page turning, supernatural thriller. The book itself, I will review in the next part of my review.

Appendix:

Category A: Links to declassified UFO reports from governments:

From FBI
From NSA (National Security Agency)
This report from NSA is very interesting

From CIA
Memo of flying saucers by director Walter Smith
Document 1

Declassified UFO sighting reports from the British government

Declassified UFO sighting reports from the Brazilian government

Declassified UFO sighting reports from the Canadian government

Declassified UFO sighting reports from the the Danish government

French COMETA report part 1

French COMETA report Part 2

Category B: Links to articles and documentaries of UFO sightings reported by eyewitnesses

Battle of Los Angeles (original footage)

"I know what I saw" documentary

New Zealand government to release UFO files

UK airforce executive summary of "Unidentified aerial phenomena)

Russian navy reveals its history of secret UFO encounter

RAF was ordered to shoot down UFOs

US pilot was ordered to shoot down UFOs

A former Top Gun pilot revealed he was ordered to shoot down UFO over Norwich

Japan's top government official says UFO definitely exist

Brookings' Report 

Category C: Vatican's statement about UFO and Christianity

The Vatican says it's ok to believe in UFO
The Vatican hold astrobiology conference on ET life

Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire book 5: A Dance with Dragons

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one".

  Reading a story is fun. When we read, we glimpse into the minds of characters in the story. When we read, we journey along the actions of characters in the story. Reading a story, is an invitation to see the world through those characters' eyes, and a chance to live out the story with them, so we can learn a thing or two about life. This is why, since the dawn of time, people have been telling stories both big and small. Because a story, is the best way to make sense of a complicated world, our world, where things are not not always black and white, but full of shades of grey. Furthermore, readers will resonate with a good story, because a good story tells us something about our human nature. And this is why, the above quote is a truth that should resonate with people of all gender, culture, and age.

Where did this quote come from? It is from George R.R. Martin's book: A Dance with Dragons. This book, is the 5th installment to the fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. A heft tome boasting 1000+ pages. A Dance with Dragons, is also the latest installment to this series. So if you are a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, I am afraid you will have to wait patiently for the release of book 6 sometime in the (hopefully) foreseeable future. But today, I will like to tell you more about this book, and also share some of my thoughts on it.

Synopsis:

According to the author, the story in A Dance with Dragons took place concurrently with events in the previous installment, A Feast for Crow. While A Feast for Crows mainly focused on the events that took place at King's Landing. A Dance with Dragons, focuses on the events in 3 areas: across the Narrow Sea, the Wall, and the North. Some major POV characters returned; Daenery, Jon Snow, and Tyrion. A few secondary characters also become POV characters in this book, such as Barristan Selmy, Theon Greyjoy, Quentyn Martell, Asha Grejoy, Davos, and Victarion Greyjoy.

Across the Narrow Sea, after acquiring the powerful army of Unsullied, Daenery fought to abolish the slavery trade in the region. After battles, she took the city of Meereen. Following the conquering of the city, Daenery discovered it is harder to rule a city than to conquer a city.

In the meantime, following the victory over the wilding invasion at the wall. Jon Snow became the new commander for the Night Watch. As the commander of the Night Watch, he realized the coming danger of The Others who threaten to invade the realm of man. Jon Snow is determined to unite the Wildings with the Night Watch, hoping the combined strength will be sufficient to counter the attack of The Others. However, the hatred, and the bloody history between these 2 factions caused much tensions in this new alliance. As Jon makes difficult decisions, he realized he has no true friends who will support him.

After killing his father, Tyrion Lannister escaped from King's Landing. He was transported to Pentos, and encountered Magister Illyrio, who expressed his plan for Tyrion to join Daenery in her ambition to reclaim the Iron Throne. Tyrion set out on a journey to find Daenery at Meereen according to the Magister's plan, but fate it seems, has a different plan for the imp..

These events seem to be driving towards an inevitable, mass clash in the near future, where the fate of Westeros will be decided once and for all.


What I think about the book:

I really like A Dance with Dragons. The pace of the story is better than A Feast for Crows. One of the weaknesses of A Feast for Crows is, the different plots in the book weren't really progressing. In A Dance with Dragons, there is a general story development that compels the plots to a certain destination. This means there is a real sense of story development. The pace of the storytelling is faster too, every chapter grabbed my attention, and I was never bored. Overall, in terms of story development and pace, A Dance with Dragons is definitely superior than its predecessor and it was a fun read.

Another strength for this book is, the interwoven plots in the story are supported by a very interesting cast of characters. For example, in A Dance with Dragons, Ser Baristan Selmy has finally become a POV character. Throughout the entire series, Barristan Selmy has been a very important secondary character, but readers were never able to have a closer look at him. However, in this installment, this honorable old knight finally became a POV character, and has several chapters dedicated to him. Readers are now able to meet this character. And may I say, Selmy's chapters are my favorite chapters in this book.

This book also takes readers to explore Theon Grejoy, a morally conflicted man who betrayed the Starks in book 2. Following the event in A Clash of Kings, Theon was captured by Roose Bolton's bastard son, Ramsay Bolton. Theon suffered cruel tortures, and became a very broken man who lived under the fear of Ramsay. Now, Ramsay Bolton, is no doubt one of the most despicable characters in the series. This man is cruel, insane, and chaotically evil. As Theon suffered in his captivity under Ramsay, readers are made to sympathize with Theon, as this man has been reduced to a truly pitiful states.

The only weakness for this book, is Martin's treatment of his new POV character, Quentyn Martell. Quentyn, is a Dornish Prince who travelled to Meeren with his companions  His mission was to propose an alliance between Daenery and Dorne through their marriage. However, by the end of the book, Quentyn met his demise. While Martin has a reputation for killing off characters, but the demise of Quentyn Martell is completely unexpected, nor is it necessary.

The influence of religion was little felt in the first 3 books of this series. However, religion became a prominent aspect in this series. In this installment, religion played an important role in the motivations for different factions. The story is about the new gods versus the old gods, tradition versus revolution. In the story, many characters continuously question the gods of their religion as they suffer, living in a world that doesn't make sense. In this book, Martin did an excellent job in portraying the role of religion in every day lives, from politics, war, to cultural traditions. Where suffering is the source to compel people to seek hope from religion, but at the same time, suffering is also the source of doubt for people to question the existence of the divine. Perhaps the answers are rooted in our nature to seek justice. But this insight begs a question: what is justice and why does it matter if there is no God? Perhaps, if I may suggest, our nature to seek justice is the beginning of our journey to God.

In the meantime, I eagerly anticipate the publication of the next book, Winds of Winter.

Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire book 4: A Feast for Crows

"History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again".


A Feast For Crows, is the 4th book in A Song of Ice and Fire series. Comparing to the previous installment (A Storm of Swords), book 4 is a bit shorter, counting to 780 pages. However, this book also received some negative reviews from fans. Some readers complained the pace of the story is too slow, some complained there aren't enough story progression in this book. While some readers complained about the absence of major POV characters from the previous books. But is it really that bad? Let's find out.

Synopsis:

The story for A Feast for Crows, follows the story from the previous installment of the series. The plots in this book mainly focuses on King's Landing, after the war of the five kings has ended. The Stark family has been wiped out, but the realm suffers from the effects of these wars. And in this book, Martin has decided to tell his story based on a handful of previously unexplored characters, while introducing a few very interesting, new POV characters into the mix.



The story tells the aftermath of the war. Following Joffery and Tywin's deaths, Queen Cersei mourns

for her son and her father. Her second son, the 9 years old prince Tommen inherits the Iron Throne and became the new King, and is married to Margaery Tyrell, the daughter of House Lannister's biggest opponent. The boy king is very fond of his queen, but Cersei has fears that House of Tyrell is secretly plotting against them. In the meantime, Cersei and her brother Jaime's relationship began to crack apart. As a result, Cersei became more and more paranoid. Cunning but short sighted and vile in nature, Queen Cersei attempts to remove her opponents to stablise King Tommen's position on the Iron Throne at all costs.

In the meantime, Jaime Lannister has somewhat changed after his ordeal during the war. After loosing his sword hand, Jaime lost his identity as a knight because he lost his ability to wield a sword. He started to think about the past, and became a much changed man, recalling the honor he had lost as a knight of the Kingsguard.

This book also focuses a lot on Brienne of Tarth. An honorable warrior maiden with a manly and unattractive physical appearance. Brienne has been mocked all of her life for being bigger and stronger than most men, especially after she decided to pursue a career as a knight. After escorting Jaime Lannister back to King's Landing, it turned out Sansa Stark is missing. Jaime gave Brienne a treasure sword, and equipment, then set her out on a quest to find Sansa Starks and protect her, to fulfill his vow to Catelyn Tully. Charged with this noble quest, Brienne travelled across the realm on a quest to find Sansa Starks. Her quest took her to different places, witnessing different aspects of life and the devastation caused by the war.

A Feast For Crows, also introduces a few new POV characters. The most interesting one is Victarion Greyjoy, the brother to King Balon of house Greyjoy. Victarian is the lord captain of the Iron Fleet, and devout religious man.  He is a fierce, axe wielding warrior and seasoned battle commander. He often wears a full plate armor and donnes a war helmet shaped like a kraken. Following his brother's death, Victarion Grejoy contested for the position as the Iron King against his evil brother, Euron Grejoy, and his niece, Asha Greyjoy. The end of Victarion's story suggests he has a key role to play in future books.


What I think about the book:

A Feast for Crows is a little bit different to previous books. Jon Snow, Daenery, and Tyrion did not

appear in this book. Martin's explanation for this, is the original book 4 is too big to be published in one volume. So he decided to publish first half of book 4 in 2005, and the second half of book 4 as a part of book 5. I did enjoy this installment, I like these new POV characters such as Victarion, and Arianne Martell. I also appreciated those chapters where we get to know about Brienne. However, I do feel like in this installment, the story progression doesn't have a set destination. What I mean is, the story didn't progress much. Comparing to A Storm of Swords, the pace of this installment is rather slow, and it feels like this 780 page book could have benefited by cutting it down to 650 pages. However, this is not saying it is a bad book. It is just not the same as the previous books, and it is still very good but it surely could have been improved if Martin had pushed the story to develop a bit faster.

In this book, the story explores the devastation of wars. Through the view point of Brienne of Tarth, who traveled across the realm in search of Sansa Stark. We are taken on a journey, alongside Brienne to see the effects of war on every day people in Westeros. Another interesting aspect is, the series is beginning to explore religious fundamentalism and politics. Personally, I cannot wait to see how the story will unfold under the current patheos.

At the end of the day, I like A Feast for Crows, while it suffers from "middle book syndrome", it is still a good book and an enjoyable read. George R.R Martin is a skilled author, under his pen, he created one of the most vivid fantasy worlds, filled with interesting characters, to tell a grand fantasy story encompassed with realism. In this fiction world, the characters wrestle with the same struggles as we do, and make good and bad decisions as we do. I cannot wait to see what's in store for the next installment.

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.