Several aspects of this book make me want to give it only one star, several push me to rate it closer to the opposite end of the spectrum. I give it just over three stars.

On the one-star end:

The writing style grates. Opening to a random page, I find "green as the summer grass" and "caught between the hammer and the anvil." Opening to any other page would provide similar cliches. The book could be shortened without removing substance: long lists of knights names and heraldry may mean something to the author, but to the casual reader with no interest in memorizing the hierarchy of a fictional chivalric system, such lists only delay reading as I skim past them. I suppose I should at least be pleased that Martin appears finally to have learned the word "crenel" so that I no longer need to suffer through his repeated mentions of "the gap between the merlons"....

Yet the writing style is nothing compared to the utter lack of subtlety and tact. What bothers me most about this book is Martin's repeated description of random murders and rapes, included for what I can only assume must be their presumed shock-and-awe value. Although I can appreciate Martin's ability to evoke such emotional responses as righteous anger, pity, and revulsion, I cannot help but think that the overall view of humanity he projects is far too negative. Epic works need sorrow, but they need joy as well, and A Song of Ice and Fire is far too long not to have some lasting joys. Any book of any worth carries with it a message; Martin's seems just to be "valar morghulis," Ancient Valyrian for "all men must die" and hardly a message worth sending.

On the four- or possibly five-star end:

Martin does a wonderful job of characterization by switching to a third-person limited focus upon a new character with each chapter. Just when a character seems most demonized, Martin zooms in upon that character to explain his history and motivation. The inherent flaw to this technique is that to humanize one character's actions yet another character must be demonized. In the end, some characters such as Gregor Clegane and the Mad King Aerys must be left demonized without the reader ever getting a glance at a human side to them.

Martin also creates several intriguing religions and passingly hints and a few philosophical quandaries. For example, he passingly touches upon the idea that fire is warmth and light, yet it destroys to create these, thus provoking questions about the goodness or evilness of its nature.

Despite its flaws, the book makes me want to keep reading the series. I hope to see the characters, religions, and budding quandaries developed in greater depth in the next book. I hope, perhaps, that one of the characters may even come to the realization that although "all men must die," it is equally true that all men must live. The fire may burn out, but first it burns.

A Storm of Swords - Likewise Book Reviews

21 Reviews