Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #940 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The third volume of his six-volume fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire, A Storm of Swords continues Martin's vigorous account of the civil wars which follow the death of King Robert, the usurper who deposed a dynasty gone mad and dangerous, and the judicial murder by his widow and heir of Ned Stark, the man who made him king. The surviving Stark children are scattered--Robb leading revolt in the North, Arya learning hard lessons as she treks through the war zone, Sansa an observer of court intrigue, crippled Bran heading towards a sorcerous destiny, Jon engaged in desperate defence of the icewall against barbarians and worse things. Daenerys, pretender and ruler of dragons, is building an empire elsewhere. And characters we have thought of as villains, notably Jaime Kingslayer, are developing belated consciences ... Martin keeps on upping the ante of violence and betrayal in this compelling saga of a fantasy middle ages soiled with blood and mud; his economic use of magic and his fascination with complex characters make this the sword-and-sorcery series for people with adult taste. As the series proceeds, his writing gets ever leaner and sharper, the evocation of the magical ever more sinister. --Roz Kaveney

Synopsis
Split into two books for the paperback, the third volume in George R.R. Martin's superb and highly acclaimed epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire continues the richest, most exotic and mesmerising saga since The Lord of the Rings. The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud, and winter approaches like an angry beast. Beyond the Northern borders, wildlings leave their villages to gather in the ice and stone wasteland of the Frostfangs. From there, the renegade Brother Mance Rayder will lead them South towards the Wall. Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown in the Kingdom of the North, but his defences are ranged against attack from the South, the land of House Stark's enemies the Lannisters. His sisters are trapped there, dead or likely yet to die, at the whim of the Lannister boy-king Joffrey or his depraved mother Cersei, regent of the Iron Throne. And Daenerys Stormborn will return to the land of her birth to avenge the murder of her father, the last Dragon King on the Iron Throne.

About the Author
George Raymond Richard Martin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sept 20 1948. He began writing monster stories as a child, and by high school was contributing fiction to comic fanzines. His first professional sale, short story `The Hero', written while he was in college, appeared in Galaxy February 1971.Martin graduated from Northwestern University (BS Journalism 1971, MS 1972). A conscientious objector, he worked for VISTA at Chicago's Cook Country Legal Assistance 1972-4. From 1976-8 he taught journalism at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, and spent another year there as writer-in-residence 1978-9. He has been a full-time writer ever since.He was story editor for CBS's The Twilight Zone series in 1986, and worked as writer, executive story consultant, producer, co-supervising producer, and executive producer on Beauty and the Beast from 1987-90. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Martin won his first Hugo for the novella `A Song for Lya' (1974). In 1980 he won the Nebula and Hugo Awards for novelette `Sandkings', and a Hugo Award for short story `The Way of Cross and Dragon'. Martin won a second Nebula in 1986 for `Portraits of His Children', a 1988 Bram Stoker Award for `The Pear-Shaped Man', a 1989 World Fantasy Award for novella `The Skin Trade', a 1997 Hugo for novella `Blood of the Dragon', and is a 10-time Locus Award winner.His novels include Dying of the Light (1977), Windhave (with Lisa Tuttle, 1981), Fevre Dream (1982), The Armageddon Rag (1983), Wild Cards VII: Dead Man's Hand (with John J. Miller, 1990), and three novels in A Song of Ice and Fire sequence: `A Game of Thrones' (1996), `A Clash of Kings' (1998) and `A Storm of Swords' (2000). He has several short story collections, notably A Song for Lya and Other Stories (1976), Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977), Sandkings(1981) and Portraits of His Children (1987), and has edited a number of anthologies, including volumes for the New Voices in Science Fiction and the Hugo-nominated Wild Cards series.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Fantasy
These books are just intense and wonderful and gripping and deep and they move you at every level!! I LOVE them.

Oh and Tyrion is the best character EVER.

Brilliant
George R R Martin is at least mostly a genius. His plots are excellent - complex, slightly confusing and thoroughly engaging - made even more so by the juggling act he performs in having the story told from between six and ten characters' points of view. This is something I love - you get to the end of a chapter, feel let down by having to leave one character's journey only to find yourself smack bang in the middle of a story you didn't want to leave three chapters before.

But perhaps the best thing about Martin's writing is his unwillingness to do what is expected. No, it's not that what he writes is necessarily unexpected (although it sometimes is), it's that he doesn't write what you want to happen. Throughout the series, he is perfectly willing to write what happens regardless of any attachments, expectations or hopes his readers may have. And it is in this book that it comes to a head. The emotional reaction I associate most with Martin's writing is one which occurs usually once in each book, but uncomfortably more often than that here - is a gut wrenching sense of disbelief. An almost physical reaction of disappointment or surprise. Martin doesn't really deal in emotional impact in any other ways - other than these moments of disbelief the plot is exciting and free-flowing, and provokes a real interest in the characters and their stories.

A thoroughly recommended read. But make sure you start at the beginning...

Steel and Snow
Following on directly from (and, as Martin's note on chronology informs us, sometimes simultaneously with) A Clash of Kings, this is the first half of book three of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Steel and Snow begins at a far more exciting pace than the two books before it, and it never really slows down. It is full of the wonderful character development, powerful but subtle fantasy, unexpected twists and turns, and beautiful writing of 'Thrones and 'Kings, but with book three being split into two volumes, the pages seem to turn all the more quickly. Steel and Snow also includes some surprises in which characters are given chapters -- Jaime Lannister hardly gave the impression of being main character material in the previous books, but Jaime's chapters are some of the most enjoyable here. This is a true page turner, and will grab you in much the same way as the rest of this series.

Some of the foreboding fantastical elements that have remained subtle and behind-the-scenes in the series so far are made more apparent here, and the book is all the better for them. It certainly feels like more of a fantasy tale than 'Thrones did, though thankfully the edge to Martin's writing is never lost from word to word... and nor does the characterisation suffer. For those who enjoyed the previous books, this is a real treat (and no doubt something of a relief; it must have been difficult to imagine this writing equaling the closing chapters of 'Kings) -- I hesitate to say it's better than those books, but it certainly goes by more quickly. Indeed, its page by page brilliance is only really matched by the second part of book three, Blood and Gold.