A Storm of Swords: Wow, Ya’ll!

My “Summer of George R.R. Martin” is in full swing, and I have been spending my time avoiding the sweltering heat wave with A Storm of Swords, the third book in the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Without a doubt, Storm is the best of the books to date (although if reviews are to be believed, A Dance with Dragons is supposed to be even better). It’s all the best elements of the previous books rolled up in a tight, amazing package. Like in Game of Thrones, Martin proves once again that he’s not afraid to murder beloved characters, including major narrators. And from Clash of Kings, we get some incredibly suspenseful battle scenes between the kings contesting for the throne, including one of the most elaborately planned, vengeful and bloody sneak attacks of the series.

Danerys, Tyrion and Jon Snow continue to be the most interesting, elaborate and well-developed characters, but Arya Stark experiences the most intense journey in Storm (literally and figuratively). Arya’s been on the road since her father’s murder in Game of Thrones. Since then, she’s been enslaved, held for ransom by two different bands of outlaws and murdered five adult men directly and two by proxy with a “hired” assassin (all of whom had it coming, by the way). Arya’s completely lost in Westeros, operating all on her own– she’s had to blend in with so many groups and hide her identity from so many people that she bears no resemblance to the noble Starks any more. With multiple aliases she’s adopted along the way, she’s become a savage lowborn outlaw herself, with no name, no home, no money and no family to call her own.

Storm also brings us new central narrators, including Jaime Lannister. By far the most interesting new voice to add to the tale of Westeros, Jaime is a shining example of the complexity of character development in the series. In one book, Jaime goes from an uber villain who pushed Bran Stark out of a window and savagely battled Robb in the Riverlands, to a…well, a sympathetic sort of guy. Things go quite poorly for Jaime in Storm, giving him some humility and tempering his personality so that he is able to care about people other than himself and his sister, Cercei.

By exposing readers to Jaime’s point of view, we learn of his 16-years of guilt over breaking his oath to protect the Mad King, and the mitigating circumstances for Jaime’s killings, which no one ever bothered to learn in their zeal to paint him as a self-serving murder machine. But, in the end, poor Jaime is really just a pawn. His father has tyrannical control over almost all his “official” actions of duty, while Cersei controls the rest by using his love of her as a weapon of cruelty.

Which brings me to the remaining Lannisters: Tyrion and Lord Tywin. Like Jaime, Storm puts Tyrion to the test. He was horribly disfigured in the Blackwater battle at the end of Clash, and now that his father Tywin is back in town, he’s been relegated back to steerage class. There’s no recognition for all he did as the King’s Hand, and instead, Tyrion suffers constant insults and debasements. Why? Because his father, Tywin, is one of the most evil sons of bitches in fiction. Why is Joffrey an insolent, toxic and cruel little boy? Tywin. Why is Jaime so twisted, guilty and emotionally crippled? Tywin. Why is Cercei such a malicious viper? Tywin. Why has Tyrion been tortured and japed at his whole life? Tywin. In the pantheon of bad dads and downright awful people (Darth Vadar, Ryan O’Neill, Jack Torrence, John Phillips, the Great Santini) Tywin tops them all. But fret not, dear readers, because Tywin gets his comeuppance in one of the most emotionally satisfying chapters of the series.

While Game of Thrones was all about power, and Clash was all about protecting turf, Storm of Swords really focuses in on villainy. Villains aren’t born in Westeros, they’re cultivated, either by family or circumstances. And sometimes, whether the actions are vile or not just depends on your perspective – and on who’s telling the tale.

More From the Summer of George R.R. Martin: A Dance With Dragons Sets the Publishing World Afire!

You heard it here first, dear readers. As I predicted a few months ago on this blog, George R.R. Martin is the new toast of the literati. Largely due to the success of the HBO series A Game of Thrones, Martin's 5th book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance With Dragons, has become the most anticipated book release since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Want proof? Just check out this story about brisk book sales of all the Ice and Fire books in the New York Times. Or this write up, complete with a customized cartoon in The New Yorker. Or this assessment in the Onion's AV Club. In fact, The Onion seems to heart GRRM so desperately that three... that's right, count 'em, THREE...of this week's lead stories are about the fantasy sensation sweeping the nation. In addition to covering the brisk book sales, they've also covered Martin's blog, and written about how to geek out with his collected works. And you know things have gotten out of hand when the book launch makes it into Time, which dubbed Ice and Fire "the great fantasty epic of our era." CAUTION: If you click on the Time link, be sure you've read A Feast for Crows. I started reading the article and had to stop after I read a HUGE spoiler. I'm still kind of angry about it, to be honest, as I'm still working through A Storm of Swords.

And it's not just book sellers loving Martin right now. HBO owes him a big debt, too, as Game of Thrones walked away from the Emmy nominations with a slew of nods, including best dramatic series.

So, if you're one of the unfortunates that hasn't gotten the memo, this is the new hotness, America. Get your Ice and Fire copies now, because at more than 1,000 pages per book, it's going to take a while to catch up.

The Summer of George R.R. Martin

After Game of Thrones, I quickly started tearing through A Clash of Kings, the second of the George R.R. Martin series.

When we last left Westeros, Dany had hatched some dragons, King Joffrey held the Iron Throne and everyone else was at war to take it from him. Clash of Kings picks up from there, with five different factions fighting for control of the realm: The Starks of Winterfell; the former King Robert’s two brothers, Renly and Stannis; King Joffrey and the Lannisters; and Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands. Oh, and Dany is planning to come back to Westeros with her dragons to reclaim the throne her father lost.

The biggest bombshells happening in this installment concern Stannis, who’s hooked up with a bizarre cult priestess and gotten religion. Problem is that the priestess’s god is a malevolent one, who’s given her the power to give birth to creepy shadow demons that can go out and kill people. And she kills three during the course of her travels, including Stannis’s own brother, Renly. Meanwhile, Theon Greyjoy, who’s been a foster child of the Starks since the age of 10 and a trusted friend to all of them, turns traitor, joins in his father’s bid for the realm and ultimately invades Winterfell.

Most of Clash of Kings is set up – everyone’s preparing for the ultimate throw down, recruiting alliances and getting armies in place. So, the bulk of the book wasn’t as exciting as Game of Thrones. But that all changes once the fighting starts, and the last 300 pages are a real roller coaster.

Not only does Theon take over Winterfell, but everyone’s under the impression that he’s killed Bran and Rickon. I say under the impression because the youngest Starks actually do get away and are hiding in the family crypt. But Theon can’t look like he’s been outsmarted by two kids aged 9 and 4, so he finds some villagers, kills them and covers them in tar and pretends they are the Stark children.

Later, after a shadow demon kills Renly, Stannis takes over his army, calls his fleet from Dragonstone, and launches a major invasion on King’s Landing to unseat Joffrey. And what a battle that turns out to be! Akin to the Helm’s Deep fight in the Two Towers, this is a fight of epic proportions.

Tyrion the dwarf and uncle to Joffrey has developed some interesting ways to protect a city with nominal armed forces, including raising a harbor chain across the bay to trap Stannis’ fleet, which they then destroy with wildfire, sort of a cross between Napalm and Jagermeister. The fire spooks The Hound, Joffrey’s vicious bodyguard, who takes off without a trace in the middle of the fighting. Tyrion has to take over The Hound’s command, and gets himself slashed and nearly killed in the fighting – not by Stannis’s men, but by one of his own. And finally, when the battle starts going poorly for Tyrion, his father shows up with a massive army to rout Stannis.

Similar to Game of Thrones, we’re left with a lot of questions by the end. Who ordered the hit on Tyrion? What’s going to happen to Stannis now that he’s been soundly beaten? How will the Starks retake Winterfell and get the Greyjoys back in line? Where’s The Hound and what will he do next? How freaking long is it going to take before Dany gets to Westeros?

Hopefully, we’ll get those answers soon, as I’m already 200 pages into A Storm of Swords. It truly is the summer of George R.R. Martin!