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What can I say that hasn't been said before? This series just keeps getting better and better. The third instalment had more twists and turns than I could count, taking me from utter elation to despair and back again, sometimes within a few pages. Things get pretty bleak but also incredibly awesome, everyone suffers horribly, but in the end some really pivotal events occur that I really, really did not see coming. And MAN are there some surprising characters. I'm really looking forward to the next two books, but not looking forward to potentially waiting another 6 DAMN YEARS for the sixth one to come out. Hop to it, George! (P.S. I say that with love)

This book takes some of the more, shall we say "unsavoury" characters in the series and lets you see into their motivations. In particular Jaime, who until this point is the evil asshole who killed Aerys Targaryen and pushed Bran out of a window. Not to mention he's doing his sister. He's shallow, completely vain, and would kill you so much as look at you. Enter Brienne, Renly's killer-accused, a stubborn (and apparently really, really ugly - we hear about how ugly she is at least a dozen times in every chapter she's in) woman who develops the cutest frienemy relationship with Jaime ever. Between that and having his hand chopped off, his character goes through some rather interesting moral and personality changes and I hate to admit it but I kind of like him now.

Tyrion. Oh man. This poor guy. Not only does he lose his nose and practically half his face, he's forced into yet another sham marriage, hoping that for some reason his new wife won't find him as repulsive as he knows he must look. His father and sister want him dead, and he's stripped of all the power that made his character so delightfully cheeky and smarmy in the first two books. The realm hates his guts, the woman he's in love with betrays him, and everything just falls to pieces around him. I just want to give the guy a hug or something. Watching him deliver some much-deserved revenge at the end of the book was satisfying to say the least.

Bran, Arya, and Sansa. None of them have a clue what each other are up to, half of them think the other half are dead, and so on. Sansa's story in book three is nothing short of horrifically painful to read. There is a brief moment of relief when she finally escapes the clutches of the Lannisters, only to fall into the clutches of someone else with (shocking, I know) designs on her of their own. Bran hasn't found the three eyed crow yet, but he hasn't been caught by anyone and for once, seems to be doing well. Arya can't seem to stop getting captured by pretty much everyone she runs into, but I almost clapped in joy when she finally got Needle back. As for the bizarre father-daughter relationship she has with the Hound, I kinda wish she hadn't left him to die but I think I'm a little more fond of him than she is.

Samwell and Davos were two characters I had troubles getting into, mostly because all Davos does is try to convince Stannis Melisandre is evil (duh - although she does seem rather earnest in her attempts to save the world) and Samwell annoys the crap out of me because all he does is whine. About everything. I am hoping he is finally starting to grow a pair, it seems like he might be toward the end of the book.

Daenerys was the only character who seemed to do well, despite the usual betrayals she emerges relatively unscathed. Her attraction to that random slaver guy is a little weird, why do all of the women in the series seem to have terrible taste in men? I am not particularly even that fond of her character since she took off on her own, but the dragons are pretty badass. I just wish she would reach Westeros already so her story didn't seem so disjointed from what is happening in the rest of the book. But oh wait, she's staying in Meereen now. Awesome. I am also waiting for her decision to banish Jorah come back to haunt her, as I am sure it inevitably will.

Jon Snow. I love Jon Snow! I can't wait to see him as commander of the Night Watch. He totally earned it. I am also very happy he reunited with Ghost, if I had to read about another direwolf disappearing or dying I was going to throw my book out the window.

The Red Wedding chapter was by far the hardest thing to read. You would think the Starks would eventually learn to STOP TRUSTING PEOPLE THEY KNOW WHO WANT THEM DEAD. SERIOUSLY. Catelyn is just as bad as Eddard, it's so infuriating! Although it opens the door for an interesting plot segue, or at least I'm assuming it will. The final page of the book was pretty darn cool as far as that whole thing is concerned.

As usual, another page turner for me and I will be starting on the next book right away. I need to finish this series so I can go return to my normal life already.