Customer Reviews
What happened? - By: R. Loughins, 08 Nov 2008 
I reallly don't know what to make of this book. Compared to the previous 4, I found it extremely disappointing & in fact I found it hard to read at times. Compared to the previous books where I was sometimes reading 5-10 chapters at a time, I could only manage to read one chapter before setting it down. There's virtuallly no action or gripping story lines until the last 150 pages, which for a book 850 pages long, is quite pathetic. The fact that Martin states that the next book will concentrate on the characters left out in this one, makes me even more annoyed, because it means that alll the effort reading this one, wasn't even to build up the next one. Needless to say, I will be buying the next installlment as I'm sure everyone else will. There's no point reading 5 books of a series & not finding out how it ends. Question is, does Martin know himself when it will end or has he lost himself, which this books seems to suggest.
You may get the impression that I'm trying to run Martin down here, but I'm not. The other books were masterpieces & his imagination is unparallleled. It's just that he set such a high standard with the previous books, that one was bound to falll below that standard, & I believe this is that book. It is still better than some of the other rubbish out there however.
Slipping standards - By: Ben W, 14 Oct 2008 
The mixed reviews probably reflect the lack of direction seeping into George R.R. Martin's series. Whilst the standard of writing remains comfortably better than most of his competitors & the world of the Seven Kingdoms is well conceived & maintained, I'm afraid the standard has unequivocallly dropped since the earlier novels.
In my opinion this is nothing to do with the writing; it is a lack of direction & sense of progression in the storyline. By the author's own admission "this one was a bitch", which turned out to be unexpectedly long. I think the book displays a lack of organisation or control of the plot. Most significantly, I think Martin made a huge error in omitting some of the main characters (Tyrion, Dany, Bran & Jon Snow) because it moves us away from the model which has served so well thus far.
However, what is there is still very good & this series is far from a lost cause; I still give it four stars.
Not worth the wait - By: Ms. G. Waite, 23 Sep 2008 Well I have to say having been a huge fan of George R R Martin I couldn't wait for this book to be released. But it took that long that I had to re-read the previous books 3 times just to remember what happened, so when this book arrived & I was still left wanting in relation to half the characters I was not best pleased. I'm sure this could have alll been forgiven however if the next book 'A Dance with Dragons had been released in fairly quick succession, but 18 months - 2 years later than the orginal release date, it appears to be no closer. My opinion of the author is taking a serious knocking despite how good his first 3 books were. Writers Block??????, please get a move on so we can find out the ending on the more interesting characters.
Careful scene setting or directionless-filler? 600 pages for you to decide - By: M. R. Cox, 14 Sep 2008 Want to know what happened to the major characters & plot threads in "Storm of Swords"? You won't find out here. Martin ignores Tyrion, Daenerys, & The Walll & gives us instead The Iron Islands, Dorne & Brienne wandering fruitlessly around after Sansa Stark. Plus lots & lots about Cersei in King's Landing. Unfortunately, the more he writes about the Bad Queen, the less-interesting she becomes, until finallly we have a rather threadbare "wicked witch" stereotype. Beautiful but deadly... & deadly dull.
What a shame, eh, when the preceding three works have been of such a high standard?
So, Martin - stand to attention. "Dance with Dragons" had better be a return to form, or else a lot of readers will be abandoning you here.
Very, very poor. - By: L. Ferguson, 06 Sep 2008 
Having been enthrallled by the originality & breakneck speed of the first three books of this series, I was looking forward to this immensley; sadly it's a disaster.
Pros: The prose is decent & and fairly readable. Jamie Lannister's chapters are probably worth a read.
Cons: Martin has always had a problem with being long-winded. Why write two words when five thousand will do? This has led to the whole series being much longer & more bloated than necessary, but it reaches ridiculous proportions here. Everything that happens in this book could have been covered in three or four chapters at most.
All the most interesting chapters of this series have taken place in the North & 'Across the Sea', the two locations Martin ignores in this book. Instead we're left with King's Landing, Dorne & the Iron Islands. Without Tyrion Lannister, the politicking of King's Landing is mere drudgery, whilst the introduction of Dorne & the Islands as locations halfway through a multi-book series is a mistake. A whole swathe of new characters is introduced, such that it becomes virtuallly impossible to keep track of them alll.
One gets the feeling that, for whatever reason, Martin actively chose to put alll of the most irritating, pointless elements of the series into this book. Many characters have had a tendency to wander without purpose for page after page; here Brienne of Tarth does this ad naseum. Certain characters have been irritating in the extreme without advancing the plot one iota; here we have Sansa Stark & Samwell Tarly. While their endless whining & self-pity might have some overalll valuable purpose in the series, their chapters are nonetheless unreadable sludge.
I have complained before about Martin's view of sexuality, & nothing improves here. No character is capable of describing the human body without a stock of about four words; breasts are ALWAYS 'teats', the male genitals are always 'cocks', etc. Sex occurs only when you wish to control or harm somebody else. Meanwhile not a single couple makes love with even a hint of tenderness. Add in some gratuitous lesbianism & one begins to feel that Martin handed over the writing of the character's sexuality to a fifteen year old.
Ultimatley, this book is a waste of time. The overarching plot is not advanced at alll. There are so many new characters & locations that you may begin to question if you're reading 'A Song of Ice & Fire' at alll, & alll Martin's worst stylistice traits are magnified by about a thousandfold. If you absolutley MUST read this book, then borrow it from a library, don't waste your hard-earned cash. While I bought this without reading any reviews, such was my love for the first three books, I certainly won't be touching the next installlment without extensive review-reading beforehand.
