A Storm of Swords: The bestselling classic epic fantasy series behind the award-winning HBO and Sky TV show and phenomenon GAME OF THRONES: Book 3 (A Song of Ice and Fire)

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Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King's Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. . . .  This year (2011) has been rough for those of us who count ourselves Minnesota Twins fans. A few weeks ago, however, I watched Francisco Liriano nearly pitch a perfect game. Earlier in the season, Liriano pitched a no-hitter, which was a bright spot in an otherwise unremitting series of losses, injuries, and disappointment. But this was different. This meant more. This was a perfect game (and you can’t get better than perfect). A gorgeous illustrated edition of the third book in the beloved A Song of Ice and Fire series, for fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones, published in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the book.

A Storm of Swords: The Illustrated Edition - Google Books A Storm of Swords: The Illustrated Edition - Google Books

A gorgeous illustrated edition of the third book in the beloved A Song of Ice and Fire series, for fans of HBO's Game of Thrones, published in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the book. The ever-expanding plot of A Song of Ice and Fire is impossible to summarize neatly. In Storm, as in the other books of this series, the story is told from the alternating viewpoints of various characters. The selected viewpoints are: Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Catelyn Stark, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Bran Stark, Samwell Tarly, Davos Seaworth, and Daenerys Targaryen. but those were just minor flaws in what is otherwise a great book. george martin is good at a number of different things. for epic fantasy, which is usually defined by action sequences and the large-scale, his books are so skillful at the quiet moments. don't get me wrong, there are plenty of HUGE scenes in this book, but there are also so many small conversations that are seemingly inconsequential to the overall storyline, but they go so far towards character development, which is something lost in a lot of genre-fiction. these characters are vivid, and their decisions (mostly - see gripe number 2) make sense in terms of their positions and ambitions and survival instincts.and they will affect you. Reading this was cray because I keep looking to see if I had read it before! I thought why is so much of this familiar. Then I thought, "Oh yeah, stupid, you own and have watched all of the current shows!" <--- I mean duh!I loved this book because of the amount of promise it brought to the series. It brought our characters to the brink of greatness, put them in the positions that were surely going to change the course of this entire story. Examples: Jon and Dany. It was amazing to see how these two very young characters grew and developed due to all the battles, losses, and betrayals that they suffered. Both of them at the end of this story carry such potential for the future of this series. Having read book 5, I think that so much of it was unfortunately wasted. Finally, Tyrion remains the transcendent character he was in the first two installments. I expected his droll wit and smartass remarks to start wearing thin, but Martin’s choice to put Tyrion on the defensive, hemmed in by his father and sister, was an act of genius. It kept him evolving, which is no small feat after we’ve spent so much time with him.

A Storm of Swords: The bestselling classic epic fantasy A Storm of Swords: The bestselling classic epic fantasy

I just felt like there was so much more to Brienne and Jaime's time together in the book. I wished he would have quit calling her ugly and such though. Jerk, but they did seem to be friends of a sort at the end of their time and I liked that. That is not the extent of Martin’s talent. He has a marvelous sense of humor, and a nice, organic wit threads its way through novel, leavening the dour proceedings. Martin also has a nicely-tuned sense of dialogue. There are enough crisp one-liners and bon mots to put one in mind of The Godfather. A gorgeous illustrated edition of the third book in the beloved A Song of Ice and Fire series, for fans of HBO'sGame of Thrones It’d be nice to say these questions don’t matter, that A Storm of Swords and the other completed novels can stand on their own. They can’t. Ultimately, Storm will be judged upon the entirety of A Song of Ice and Fire. If the cycle falters, or is left unfinished, then Storm will be reevaluated along with the rest. A beautiful edition of Tolkien’s classic children’s story. Leaving his comfortable hobbit hole Bilbo Baggins goes on a reluctant adventure to defeat a dragon, and along the way he encounters the vile, but pathetic Gollum, and his ‘Precious’ – a ring to rule them all.Of course, not all the viewpoint characters are created equally. Sansa Stark finally has things to do (and finally rejoins the plot; she has basically stood mute since betraying her father Eddard in A Game of Thrones), but she is still dumber than a garden gnome. Martin finally convinced me that Davos Seaworth, loyal to royal pretender Stannis Baratheon, is an important character; unfortunately, his importance does not make him interesting. Like Eddard Stark before him, Seaworth’s square, dogged sense of honor – shorn of wit or pragmatism – makes him an uninspired character.

A Storm of Swords: The Illustrated Edition | Penguin Random

Peter Benchley’s Jaws is the ultimate pulp thriller, and this is the ultimate illustrated edition. Folio commissioned Hokyoung Kim for the artwork, while the late author’s wife, Wendy Benchley, provides a fascinating new introduction.Innocent? The wretched boy was spying on us. All Jaime had wanted was an hour alone with Cersei. Their journey north had been one long torment; seeing her every day, unable to touch her, knowing that Robert stumbled drunkenly into her bed every night in that great creaking wheelhouse. Tyrion had done his best to keep him in a good humor, but it had not been enough. “You will be courteous as concerns Cersei, wench,” he warned her. Es un libro que me ha atrapado completamente, no solo por el contenido sino por la prosa tan agradable para leer. Martin supo aprovechar perfectamente la ventaja de que existieran los dos libros anteriores. La aprovechó porque aquí no necesitó presentar personajes, ni describir lugares, ni preparar el contexto: ¡Nada! En Tormenta de espadas, sentí una historia completamente impulsada por si misma que avanzaba a la velocidad que el autor quería proponer. Por ejemplo, cada vez que inicié un capítulo, por la prosa serena de los primeros párrafos, creía que me estaba encontrando ante un capítulo de transición, pero una vez seguía leyendo, sorpresa tras sorpresa me dejaba boquiabierto y en ciertas ocasiones quedaba súper emocionado por los giros inesperados que nos tiene bien guardados Martin. Todo el tiempo el autor jugó con mis sentimientos, con mi mente, y no logré adivinar pero en absoluto el contenido que iba a aparecer más adelante. Fueron como seis capítulos con nivel Dios, otros diez aproximadamente con nivel épico, y en general muchísimos capítulos entretenidos, sorprendentes, atrapantes y muy, pero muy adictivos. No sé si Martin planeo así su obra —yo creería que sí— pero usar Juego de tronos y Choque de reyes como aperitivo de este volumen ha sido una gran elección de su parte. Y lo mejor es que para la estructura de este libro, toma de Juego de tronos la prosa ligera, la extensión de los capítulos y los momentos bastante inesperados, pero de Choque de reyes toma la intensidad, el caos, los viajeros errantes, las batallas sangrientas, la desesperación, la muerte, etc. Si se ve de otra manera, es como si Tormenta de espadas fuera una fusión de sus dos predecesores. But the cow could row. Beneath her roughspun brown breeches were calves like cords of wood, and the long muscles of her arms stretched and tightened with each stroke of the oars. Even after rowing half the night, she showed no signs of tiring, which was more than could be said for his cousin Ser Cleos, laboring on the other oar. A big strong peasant wench to look at her, yet she speaks like one highborn and wears longsword and dagger. Ah, but can she use them? Jaime meant to find out, as soon as he rid himself of these fetters. Quiet,” the wench grumbled, scowling. Scowls suited her broad homely face better than a smile. Not that Jaime had ever seen her smiling. He amused himself by picturing her in one of Cersei’s silken gowns in place of her studded leather jerkin. As well dress a cow in silk as this one.