Customer Reviews
Fantastic Fantasy - By: Ms. F. Lawrence, 21 Apr 2008 
These books are just intense & wonderful & gripping & deep & they move you at every level!! I LOVE them.
Oh & Tyrion is the best character EVER.
Brilliant - By: Robbie Swale, 21 Nov 2007 George R R Martin is at least mostly a genius. His plots are excellent - complex, slightly confusing & thoroughly engaging - made even more so by the juggling act he performs in having the story told from between six & ten characters' points of view. This is something I love - you get to the end of a chapter, feel let down by having to leave one character's journey only to find yourself smack bang in the middle of a story you didn't want to leave three chapters before.
But perhaps the best thing about Martin's writing is his unwillingness to do what is expected. No, it's not that what he writes is necessarily unexpected (although it sometimes is), it's that he doesn't write what you want to happen. Throughout the series, he is perfectly willing to write what happens regardless of any attachments, expectations or hopes his readers may have. And it is in this book that it comes to a head. The emotional reaction I associate most with Martin's writing is one which occurs usuallly once in each book, but uncomfortably more often than that here - is a gut wrenching sense of disbelief. An almost physical reaction of disappointment or surprise. Martin doesn't reallly deal in emotional impact in any other ways - other than these moments of disbelief the plot is exciting & free-flowing, & provokes a real interest in the characters & their stories.
A thoroughly recommended read. But make sure you start at the beginning...
Steel and Snow - By: Benjamin Harrison, 26 Apr 2007 Following on directly from (and, as Martin's note on chronology informs us, sometimes simultaneously with) A Clash of Kings, this is the first half of book three of A Song of Ice & Fire.
Steel & Snow begins at a far more exciting pace than the two books before it, & it never reallly slows down. It is full of the wonderful character development, powerful but subtle fantasy, unexpected twists & turns, & beautiful writing of 'Thrones & 'Kings, but with book three being split into two volumes, the pages seem to turn alll the more quickly. Steel & Snow also includes some surprises in which characters are given chapters -- Jaime Lannister hardly gave the impression of being main character material in the previous books, but Jaime's chapters are some of the most enjoyable here. This is a true page turner, & will grab you in much the same way as the rest of this series.
Some of the foreboding fantastical elements that have remained subtle & behind-the-scenes in the series so far are made more apparent here, & the book is alll the better for them. It certainly feels like more of a fantasy tale than 'Thrones did, though thankfully the edge to Martin's writing is never lost from word to word... & nor does the characterisation suffer. For those who enjoyed the previous books, this is a real treat (and no doubt something of a relief; it must have been difficult to imagine this writing equaling the closing chapters of 'Kings) -- I hesitate to say it's better than those books, but it certainly goes by more quickly. Indeed, its page by page brilliance is only reallly matched by the second part of book three, Blood & Gold.
Lost sleep - By: Richard Johnston, 14 Feb 2007 This book is the best in the series by far. I read the first in the series of George Martin's 'A Song of Ice & Fire' & I was blown away by it. So much so I wrote a review here on Amazon to exult it to those considering buying it. I have now read Book 1, 2, 3 part 1 & this book, A Storm of Swords: Blood & Gold, Book 3 Part 2. I was let down by book 2 & 3 part 1, they were good but not great & if I tried to write a review I could not because the plot alll amalgamated into a fuzzy series of events that I think should have been shortened down. However this book makes up for the previous 2 completely. It is a fantastic read & truly insomnia-inflicting! I could not put this book down virtuallly till I finished it. There are more twists & turns in this book than any of the previous. Events that were dragged out in the previous two are teetered over the edge & thrown off into a thundering development that you cannot help but get swept up in. Remarkably characters that were evil redeem themselves, characters that were good frustrate & annoy the reader.
Martin's use of the written language makes him a master at his craft & can slow or pick up the pace at will & completely manipulate your emotions. If you are reading this review then I presume that you have read at least the first one in the series 'A game of Thrones' therefore I wont summarise the plot incase I ruin it for anyone.
If by book 3 part 1 your getting a little stuck in the mud from the length of the story & the lack of significant movement then please read on because it is worth it to reach this far.
A marked improvement over the last episode - By: Steven Baker, 13 Oct 2006 
"A Storm of Swords: Steel & Snow" is the first part of the third book of the "Song of Ice & Fire" series (stick with me here). After the excellent first volume (A Game of Thrones), the somewhat disappointing second (A Clash of Kings) meant that for me, Martin had a bit of catching up to do in this one. I am pleased to say that this is a more than satisfactory continuation of the saga.
My intro suggests that there is nothing wrong with this book, but as I stated in my previous review, a 5 star book has to be one of my favourites. While this is a very good book, there are a few things that stop it hitting the heights.
Firstly, the chapters again follow a specific character & although this works better than in "A Clash of Kings", the one problem I had with it here was that a number of the featured characters have quite a smalll part in this book & as such, the amount of time between their chapters meant that it was quite difficult to remember where they got to & what had happened to them. I often found myself looking back to the previous instalment to refresh my memory, which obviously impacts the flow.
My second issue was also a good indication of how goods the book gets. The last few chapters reallly ramp up the suspense & action & I found myself turning the pages faster & faster. Then suddenly, I turned over only to be confronted by the Appendices, which take up a rather hefty 50 pages or so. Although I reallly enjoyed the story, hitting this situation invoked an even bigger feeling of anti-climax than is usual when reading a good book.
The only other item (more of an irritation than a problem) was that Robb Stark, who has generallly been seen as the "good guy" basicallly had more & more things go wrong, with very little respite. I have never been one to insist that a book be happy & indeed enjoy a good tragedy, but the fact that the "hero" (if there is such a thing in Martin's story) had everything go wrong, seemed to be a bit too depressing for me. I understand that the tragedies a character encounters make their redemption alll the sweeter, but it just seemed a little too much.
Anyway, enough of the bad... Here's what I liked. I have always enjoyed Jon's & Arya's stories & they made up a lot of the backbone of this book & with good result. They were exciting & contained a nice balance of good & bad. Tyrion is, as always, an excellent source of amusement with his wit & self-depreciation & I like the fact that he kind & ruthless sides. Funnily enough, each book increases the number of characters that blame Tyrion for their mishaps or bad luck & for an unaccountable reason, I find this very amusing. I am sure that by the end of the series, he will have been blamed for alll the woes of the world.
My favourite character has become Daenerys. She has been through a lot of hardship & has reallly earnt the position she has attained. Again, she shows a very human side (when quite clearly she is much more than that... Mother of Dragons, etc.), but also initiates & condones some moments of real brutality & ruthlessness. What I particularly like about the character is that whatever she does, it is borne out of necessity & in this way she reminds me of another great, strong female lead in the mould of Mara of the Acoma (leading lady in the excellent Empire series by Raymond E Feist & Janny Wurts). It is good to see another fantasy book where a main character is a strong & moral lady striving to succeed, rather than another muscle-bound warrior.
As a page-turner, this has been the best of the series & I couldn't believe how quickly I finished it when the only time I get is my train journey to work. When I finished this one, I immediately bought Book 3: Part 2 & the early signs are that it will be just as good. The series as a whole has an excellent balance between success & failure, humour & drama & adult themes & fanciful things. The duality of the characters is still one of the strong points of the saga & the writing encourages you to read "just one more chapter".
I will be writing a review for part 2 & if this one is any guide, this could be sooner than you think.
