Customer Reviews

A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three

5 star:		(493)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

Thats the only reason I can think that this author continues to write this series. He certainly isn't doing it for you the reader. He is almost as bad as Jordan and others who prolong a series for no apparent reason. His characters are for the most part shallow individuals whom he cant keep consistent changing their basic selves at a moments notice. He rambles somtimes incoherently as he leads you from subplot to subplot without the ability to tie them together. While the first book was...okay, the second began the descent and now this claptrap brings you to the nethermost region of readers hell. I can't understand how anyone would rate this above 1 star (I gave it 1 only because there is not a no star button). I have been searching for years for a good series of fantasy, but have only found individual novels that meet my standard, that would hold me, and draw me in as only the masterpiece has done in over 35 years of reading fantasy. If you are pleased with this book (God help you), if you are pleased with the work of Jordan, Eddings, Brooks or Goodkind go back to basics and re-read (or God forbid read for the first time) The Lord of the Rings and remember how 1st class literature/fantasy is supposed to be written.

I'm not sure why this third novel is scoring such high reviews. Frankly, the author has slowed the plot down to an absolute crawl, and I find myself able to skim through chapters and still not miss out on anything. The third novel in, and the main characters are all STILL stuck in the same positions we found them in by the end of the first book. Some are getting outright annoying. If the plot doesn't pick up soon, I may not be able to continue on with the series. Too bad - it started off so well!

The first 2 books I loved and read them almost nonstop. However in this the 3rd book some of the things are getting old. Dany is boring, Cat is getting boring same things over and over. However I think the book was good and I would not stop to recommend it to anyone.

One of the biggest problems with the book is that I want some "good guys" to have a little better outcome. I do not know how to explain it really it is just reality of the world of the 7 Kingdoms seems way to much "Earth reality"... I do not know it is like the Starks started out as the center point and they would bring about a heroic and masterful success in the realm. We had good guys and bad guys and guys in the middle. I like Tyrion very much and have a strange respect with the Kingslayer.

However my favorites keep getting stamped out and the others that are very interesting are not getting enough time. Jon for instance, Jon and his adventures and misadventures could be a standalone book without any of the rest.

I know this is a hard review to read it is hard to explain how I feel about the book. It is for sure that you must read it there is no doubting that. I just sometimes feel depressed after reading parts of it!

There is not White and Black in this series only shades and shadows of good and evil which is spread a little thicker here and there and neutral with other characters. Too much like the real world?

3 or 4 stars I will go for 3 just because I am not having a good time reading anymore. Is like reading about history in this world and I read fantasy to get away from here. Even so Martin is one of the finest if not the finest storytellers I have read. I just wish for little less depression and mental let down once I connect with a character. Sometimes I just expect Jon to fall off the wall or get stepped on by a Mammoth... yes I want a hero that lives long enough to do something. And like a Timex watch the bad guys just keep on ticking.

The first 2 books I loved and read them almost nonstop. However in this the 3rd book some of the things are getting old. Dany is boring, Cat is getting boring same things over and over. However I think the book was good and I would not stop to recommend it to anyone.

One of the biggest problems with the book is that I want some "good guys" to have a little better outcome. I do not know how to explain it really it is just reality of the world of the 7 Kingdoms seems way to much "Earth reality"... I do not know it is like the Starks started out as the center point and they would bring about a heroic and masterful success in the realm. We had good guys and bad guys and guys in the middle. I like Tyrion very much and have a strange respect with the Kingslayer.

However my favorites keep getting stamped out and the others that are very interesting are not getting enough time. Jon for instance, Jon and his adventures and misadventures could be a standalone book without any of the rest.

I know this is a hard review to read it is hard to explain how I feel about the book. It is for sure that you must read it there is no doubting that. I just sometimes feel depressed after reading parts of it!

There is not White and Black in this series only shades and shadows of good and evil which is spread a little thicker here and there and neutral with other characters. Too much like the real world?

3 or 4 stars I will go for 3 just because I am not having a good time reading anymore. Is like reading about history in this world and I read fantasy to get away from here. Even so Martin is one of the finest if not the finest storytellers I have read. I just wish for little less depression and mental let down once I connect with a character. Sometimes I just expect Jon to fall off the wall or get stepped on by a Mammoth... yes I want a hero that lives long enough to do something.

The first 2 books I loved and read them almost nonstop. However in this the 3rd book some of the things are getting old. Dany is boring, Cat is getting boring same things over and over. However I think the book was good and I would not stop to recommend it to anyone.

One of the biggest problems with the book is that I want some "good guys" to have a little better outcome. I do not know how to explain it really it is just reality of the world of the 7 Kingdoms seems way to much "Earth reality"... I do not know it is like the Starks started out as the center point and they would bring about a heroic and masterful success in the realm. We had good guys and bad guys and guys in the middle. I like Tyrion very much and have a strange respect with the Kingslayer.

However my favorites keep getting stamped out and the others that are very interesting are not getting enough time. Jon for instance, Jon and his adventures and misadventures could be a standalone book without any of the rest.

I know this is a hard review to read it is hard to explain how I feel about the book. It is for sure that you must read it there is no doubting that. I just sometimes feel depressed after reading parts of it!

There is not White and Black in this series only shades and shadows of good and evil which is spread a little thicker here and there and neutral with other characters. Too much like the real world?

3 or 4 stars I will go for 4 just because Martin is one of the finest if not the finest storytellers I have read. I just wish for little less depression and mental let down once I connect with a character. Sometimes I just expect Jon to fall off the wall or get stepped on by a Mammoth...

Martin is a great storyteller, but no Tolkein. I enjoyed this series, but the storylines tend to keep repeating themselves--namely: treachery, murder, killing, rape, sexual exploits, and torture. The storyline keeps jumping from character to character, so you have to try and remember what the character was doing the last time you read about them (perhaps four or five chapters before). Sometimes the storyline seems to drag until you just want to read the last chapter and see what finally happened. And--heaven forbid you get too attached to any character or are looking for a hero or heroine in these books! There are no "good guys" here and if there are, they don't last long! One thing that really turned me off about these books is Martin's graphic descriptions of murder, mutilation, torture, and especially the sexual exploits of characters (especially Tyrion and Danerys). Martin uses so much crude language that sometimes these books seemed more "X" rated smut literature, than good fantasy. Maybe he is trying to appeal to a more masculine audience--but from the standpoint of a female that enjoys Science fiction/fantasy books, I was repulsed by the vulgarity and crude graphic sexual explanations. Don't get me wrong--every chapter does not contain this kind of text, but he does tend to have certain crude words that he uses like common adjectives over and over. He could take a lesson from Tolkein and learn that great fantasy doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have explicit sexual encounters, vulgarity, and extreme graphic violence to create a great fantasy novel. I did really enjoy the basic storyline in these books and Martin kept me interested enough to finish the series. Will I read "A Feast for Crows" when it comes out--probably yes, because I want to see what happens. Don't get me wrong--Martin is a great storyteller. Just be forewarned that some of the explicit and graphic content and vulgar language may turn some people off. I would personally be very careful about who I recommended these books to.

First off, I must admit: I adore reading the Song of Ice and Fire series, I've read it more than once, and I believe it's very well-written. The political intrigue is brilliantly conceived, and the world it's set in has been developed to the exceeding detail that's a characteristic of many great fantasy novels, like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (and of course Tolkien's Lord of the Rings). And SoIaF is better at keeping the reader's interest in some ways than WoT, refraining from going into immense detailed paragraphs about things irrelevant to the plot.

However, Song of Ice and Fire's intensifying sources of woe(horrendous rape, torture, execution, etc.), growing particularly apparent in Storm of Swords, are getting slightly tiring. The fact is, even though you come to sympathize with many of Martin's great, well-developed characters, you start to become sick of everyone becoming subject to every awful occurence that one could possibly conceive of in a fantasy setting...multiple times. Inner conflict starts blurring together, and I cringe every time I come upon yet another character about to declare: "ANGST! Angst, angst angst and more angst! Oh my angsty angsty angst!" etc. etc. Little that is new and different from what's previously happened in A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings shows up, also. The novelties that seemed so interesting and wonderful in the beginning start getting old--"Oh, no, not more obsessing over the Iron Throne. Aaah."

This books owes more to TV soaps & dramas like "All My Children" & "Dallas" than it does to written works like Tolkien's "Rings".
That's not to say it's a "bad" book, far from it. The story lines are well written and despite the 900 plus pages, it is a very enjoyable fast paced read. The short chapters focusing on an individual character at a time keep the book flowing and moving forward quickly. And, like TV soaps, the plotting, scheming and backstabbing (literally in this case) are first rate! However, if you enjoy reading books (a trilogy in this case) that come to a conclusion, ending or finale, best look elsewhere. After 3 books and almost 2500 pages, you would think the "R.R." could have finished what he started, not. The book ends with more unanswered questions than answered ones. Most of the storylines woven throughout the book are left hanging with no closure. I guess the reader will have to wait for the next installment of the series to find out "who shot J.R.". Personally, I am looking forward to the next book; but, I still can't decide if Martin's choice of the initials "R.R." is blasphemy.

My favorite aspect of Ice and Fire is the complexity of its characters. You are allowed to see the humanity of the most dastardly villan, while at the same time, even the most virtuous of characters have elements which, at best could be called weaknesses.
While there is a solid core of the supernateral within the series, obvious in the opening, do not look for it within the first book, it is a captivating political story of a disintegrating kingdom with some of the best battle scenes in literature.
I am EAGERLY awaiting the continuation. I will enjoy the first three again, before reading the forth. My only question is why the hard cover version of the first book was pulled by the publisher.

The first two volumes of Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" were GREAT. Book 3 is a horrible disappointment. Can you say "Filler?" Literally hundreds of pages pass where absolutely NOTHING happens. Martin is on the money train now, the one being run by Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind and their clones. And Martin has his characters start doing stupid, totally out-of-character things just to shock the reader. It felt contrived, shallow, and, well, dumb. The few significant scenes in this book take up less than a hundred total pages. But you have to slog through a whole lotta to get to them. I know you'll read it, no matter what the reviews say. But you'll be profoundly disappointed.