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.
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