A Storm of Swords

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, 1177 pages

Wow, does Martin know how to kill his characters or what? In this, the third book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, the body count is continually escalating, both with those that you can kind of see coming and those that seem to come out of nowhere. And those are just the well-known, named characters; let us pause a moment to give respect to all the nameless passersby that are slain by Martin's pen.

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OK, now that that's done, I'll say that it is nearly impossible to talk about this book without spoiling something, thanks to all those deaths. However, in very broad terms, I'll say that the story continues to get more complex, and as I read, I kept wondering how in the world all of these characters would get out of their predicaments. Martin's as good at keeping the reader guessing as he is at coming up with gruesome ways to kill off characters. Sadly, he's also decided to trade in those rare humorous asides that appeared throughout the first two books, and sub in some all-out creepiness, giving A Storm of Swords a tinge of horror in its high fantasy. I like the scary bits, which is probably good, as I can only see them getting more prevalent as this series continues.