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Nov 07, 2011

Jessi rated it:

First an update on the Direwolf situation

I still do not have one...sadface.

This series !!! What can I say I am loving it! I don't know if I was just sick of everything else or just needed the escape but I am soooooo enjoying.

The great thing is that I am on the third book and its not like I can't say which book I like better, which was weaker they are one long story that come in three(so far for me) packages.

Its not like Indiana Jones. Where we say More...

11 comments like (40 people liked it)

Jul 13, 2011

Matt rated it:

This year (2011) has been rough for those of us who count ourselves Minnesota Twins fans. A few weeks ago, however, I watched Francisco Liriano nearly pitch a perfect game. Earlier in the season, Liriano pitched a no-hitter, which was a bright spot in an otherwise unremitting series of losses, injuries, and disappointment. But this was different. This meant more. This was a perfect game (and you can’t get better than perfect).

The announcers, with no regard for karma, started talking More...

10 comments like (60 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

mark rated it:

it's time again for...A Game of Heroes and Zeroes!
__________

HEROES

he's the Revenant Robin Hood, leader of a band of merry men whose purpose is to steal from the wicked, give to the needy, ransom the royalty, hang the bad guys, and maybe get laid some. Lord Beric comes equipped with a nifty super-power (courtesy of the Lord of Light, 'natch)...he gets to come back from the dead! unfortunately, his various hideous wounds get to come back with him. but so what... More...

21 comments like (60 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Ryan rated it:

So I know Empire is the best film in the trilogy because I've seen it a hundred times, but it's a different thing to choose the best book in a series. Unfortunately, I've only read George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books twice (and actually only the first three novels at this point). So who can say how A Storm of Swords will be remembered?

The focus of the series becomes a bit fragmented at this point, reflecting the fact that the War of the Five Kings has not only devastat More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2011

Jim rated it:

A Storm of Swords, by author George R.R. Martin, is the third installment in the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series, and has become a must-read series for fantasy enthusiasts at this point.

The Battle of the Blackwater is finished, but the Seven Kingdoms are hardly at peace. This story continues with the aftermath of the slaughter outside the walls of King's Landing and the ongoing campaigns of the kings to lay claim to Westeros. Tywin Lannister has arrived at King's Landing to take More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2012

Cassy rated it:

Martin outdid himself. And honestly, he didn’t have to try so hard. I was already going to give him five stars for this scene alone: <spoiler>THE RED WEDDING! I cannot believe the King of the North, Robb Stark was murdered!</spoiler>

Have you ever seen a car accident? Not the aftermath that messes up traffic, but the actual event itself? Having driven in both Atlanta and Houston’s rush hour, I’ve seen a handful. It’s horrible horrible horrible. There is that signature sou More...

11 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Nastassja rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

10 comments like (13 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Lorre rated it:

I loved A Storm of Swords!
It is a huge book with it's 1000+ pages, but it never felt like the book was too long because there was so much happening and I just wanted to keep reading.

There are some many twists and turns in this book, some expected but others totally unexpected. I loved all the intrigue, betrayal, fighting that was going on.
All that struggle for power, plotting to take each others land, castle, title, wife or kingdom...

The characters are so More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Jackie rated it:

Another excellent book in the Song of Ice and Fire series.
I can see why this is a favorite among fantasy enthusiasts.

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2011

Joyzi rated it:

Jesus. Christ. Christ. Jesus.

Best book of the series so far. I have heard that the book series is originally intended as a trilogy, but the story became so complicated that it needs seven books to resolve all the problems and plot issues.

I think that the series is really a complicated story even more complicated than Lord of the Rings. When I started the series I feel that I know who the villains and who the good guys were, but even the characters are complic More...

15 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2011

Samantha rated it:

My favourite so far in the series. I want to give this book ten stars. The Red Wedding. The chapters with Sansa and Tyrion I found totally heartbreaking.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Ken-ichi rated it:

Ok, so I'm 3 books into this series. 2972 pages. Let's take stock of the Starks:
<spoiler>
* Eddard was a lord. Now he is dead.

* Catelyn was a lordly lady with a loving, honorable husband with 5 beautiful children. Now she's a widow, her kids are all dead (or so she thinks), and she, also, is dead. Bonus: she's a zombie.

* Sansa was an annoying, helpless, spoiled preteen. Now everyone she's ever loved is dead, but she remains annoying and helpless despite i More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Ben rated it:

N.B.: As with my review of A Clash of Kings, I will avoid spoilers for this book but not for previous books.

We had a good thing going back in the beginning of A Game of Thrones. Robert Baratheon was King of Westeros, and while he wasn't a great guy, at least the kingdom was stable. Then he died and it all went to hell. Now we have more kings than castles. Joffrey and Stannis both lay claim to the Iron Throne, and Robb Stark has managed to get himself declared the King in the North an More...

3 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Ryan rated it:

I started reading Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series a couple of years ago, and have loved it ever since. It's a gritty, dirty, clever, foul-mouthed, and witty take on the fantasy novel. Martin has no problem killing the characters he knows everyone's fallen in love with (which, ahem, may happen again in this book), and no problem giving crowns and laurels to the most despicable characters around. Martin seems to say: THIS is the real medieval world. This is what it was like. Mor More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Collin rated it:

This book is George R.R. Martin times 1000. If you liked "Game of Thrones", with its callous treatment of major characters, moral ambiguity, spilling of various fluids and high quotient of badasses, then "A Storm of Swords" will make your head explode. I knew I liked the series prior to reading Storm of Swords; I loved it after this book.

Pacing and plotting are good. There really aren't any slow patches here. Every point of view is engaging and there are revel More...

0 comments like (16 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Graham rated it:

Several aspects of this book make me want to give it only one star, several push me to rate it closer to the opposite end of the spectrum. I give it just over three stars.

On the one-star end:

The writing style grates. Opening to a random page, I find "green as the summer grass" and "caught between the hammer and the anvil." Opening to any other page would provide similar cliches. The book could be shortened without removing substance: long lists of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 08, 2011

Lucy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

12 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Tim rated it:

A Storm of Swords is where George R.R. Martin's fantasy series goes from good to great. Everything about this volume is a step beyond the well-crafted social realism of the first two books. Swords functions as a 1000-page long treatise about how to live and act honorably in a cruel and unjust world. While that may sound like a tired fantasy cliche, Martin's use of multiple character perspectives, his focus on the rippling consequences of actions and his willingness to cruelly torment his char More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Terry rated it:

I've come to the conclusion that George RR Martin doesn't write books so much as he writes plot buckets. He has a world inhabited by characters whom aren't always interesting but about whom you want to know more and he keeps adding events to the plot bucket until it tips the scale in the neighborhood of 1100 pages. The text he's produced so far could have been recut in a dozen ways to produce something more akin to a story arc and he seems to have compassion for what this does to the reader.
More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

David rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Rad Ryan rated it:

"Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens."

A Storm of Swords picked up the BEST story where A Clash of Kings left off. The Seven Kingdoms were in the middle of the War of the Five Kings namely, Robb Stark, Joffrey baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Balon Greyjoy and the deceased Renly Baratheon.

All claiming that they are kings and the imaginary kingdoms were theirs to begin with, some by rights, some by conquering and some by manipul More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Brian rated it:

Series 11/13/11 - 9/10
I re-read the first 4 books and then read the 5th. The first 3 books are amazing...some of the best, grittiest, most surprising fantasy I've read. Unfortunately the 4th (and now the 5th), really slow things down. It seems like the plot is getting a bit unwieldy with all the characters. It's also getting a little repetitive with some of the statements, and a little cheesy with some of the viewpoints and the copouts of bringing lots of people back. I'm still really More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it:

Just when I thought this series couldn't get any more twisty-turny,

<spoiler>I started to like Jamie Lannister. A lot.</spoiler>

How the hell is Martin doing this? No, seriously. Not only is he keeping up with 50 pages' worth of characters without bogging the story down in names, but he has twisted this story in every conceivable direction without turning it back on itself. I keep thinking that I have made my peace with losing characters that I love, but More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 12, 2008

Lucie rated it:

While the first book of the series was okay and the second book was good, this one - the third in the series - is brilliant. The thing I love are first and foremost the characters. You get a whole row of well-built characters, each with their own unique personality, quirks and fates. Usually, I find it bothersome when an author keeps switching perspectives chapter after chapter, but Martin makes this work to his favor - this way, we get to see the story from many differenet angles and viewpoints More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2008

Camille rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

14 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 12, 2011

Brittany rated it:

I have come to the conclusion that there are four types of people who read (or at least begin to read) Song of Ice and Fire

1. People who start to read it, get 100 pages in (or a whole first book) before giving up in disgust, throwing the book across the room, and wondering what happened to the (usually) good sense and good taste of the friends who will not stop vehemently recommending these books.

2. People that read them, enjoy them somewhat, but don't get caught up in them

More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

May 27, 2011

Becky rated it:

I seriously need a "Whoa!" or "WTF?!" shelf for these books. They are seriously in a league of their own when it comes to... well, everything. I just finished, and the last chapter (before the epilogue) literally (and I mean literally) had me reading with wide, disbelieving eyes. This, despite all that I've seen before in these books. And that's a lot.

I love these books, and I am mentally kicking myself for never having read them before. The characters are fantas More...

8 comments like (20 people liked it)

Nov 21, 2007

Roberta rated it:

Okay, I know Martin is the second coming of Tolkien or whatever, but I didn't like this book nearly as much. I know it is supposed to be realistic and gritty, but he killed off too many characters that I honestly liked. I fear that there will be no happy ending at all for any characters. I know sometimes characters die, but he seems to kill off or maim most of his characters. Also, I don't think everyone is morally gray like his characters are. I think there are some people that do fit a bl More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 07, 2008

Laura rated it:

Darker and darker yet... Martin is an author of stories frightening and sorrowful both, this I knew already. But this book! Betrayal upon betrayal and murder most foul, not to mention the dead who get back up and come back to take their revenge upon the living.

One thing about this series which is strange to me: usually a story has a hero and a villain, a good guy and a bad guy, they battle each other and the story ends when the hero defeats the villain once and for all. Not this stor More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2008

Jordan rated it:

They think: My least favorite in the series so far, but still enjoyable. This book is actually split into two books, so thus far I've only read Part 1, at a whopping 602 pages. Though I do enjoy the story line, I can't help but feel like Martin's Editor was a little overly enamoured with him, as this book could have used some SERIOUS cutting. The amount of superfluous information doled out borders on indulgent at times. And as one is bound to cling to their favorite story thread, it makes the ti More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

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