A Storm of Swords

I almost didn't read this book. It sat on my nook, untouched, for several months, a giant albatross of a book. I had spoiled myself, you see, in anticipation of something I had heard about called “the Red Wedding.”

You see, GRRM hit a sweet spot in these books, conflating my loves of period pieces (did you know that these books were inspired by the War of the Roses?! Dear Reader, I Did Not!) and epic medieval fantasy. And that Red Wedding, inspired by an actual event, led to the worst spoiling ever. It almost made me not pick up the book again.

The book takes about four fifths of its time telling backstory. One of my complaints earlier in the book is that instead of resolving anything (and by that I mean, questions that have been sitting there, festering, for TWO OTHER BIG THICK BRICKS of book), the book just continues to unwind, spreading its characters thinner and thinner, and meanwhile my anxiety over my beloved Jon Stark grows, and I wonder where the heck Nymeria is, and will my precious Starks ever meet again??? But.

But.

When GRRM does start answering those questions, he does it with a vengeance. I'd read it again, tension, Red Wedding and all, just to read the glorious, revelatory ending again. I come out of the book, excited about the next one (and I promise not to spoil myself this time).

One quibble: a particular character is credited with a previous mystery. To me, this resolution feels tacked on. I give this character no credit for having any particularly deep inner life, let alone the motivations attributed to him here.