A Storm of Swords : Blood and Gold - George R.R. Martin


A STORM OF SWORDS : BLOOD AND GOLD

Part 2 of Book 3 of 'A Song of Ice and Fire'

Read about the previous books HERE

ISBN - 978-0-00-744785-5
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2000
PAGES - 607
BINDING - Paperback
GENRE - Fantasy

AUTHOR - George R.R. Martin

BEST-SELLERS - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings

SYNOPSIS - The Starks are scattered. Robb Stark may be King in the North, but he must bow to the will of the old tyrant Walder Frey if he is to hold the crown. And while his younger sister, Arya, has escaped the clutches of the depraved Cersei Lannister and her son, the capricious boy-king Joffrey, Sansa Stark remains their captive, trapped in marriage with Joffrey's deformed uncle, the embittered dwarf Tyrion. Meanwhile, across the ocean, Daenerys Stormborn, the last heir of the Dragon king, delivers death to the slave-trading cities of Astapor and Yunkai as she approaches Westeros with vengeance in her heart.

EXCERPT - He could not have said which was sweeter; the instant of shocked silence , the gale of laughter that followed, or the look of blind rage on his nephew's face. The dwarf hopped back to the floor well satisfied, and by the time he looked back Ser Osmund and Ser Meryn were helping Joff climb down as well. When he noticed Cersei glaring at him, Tyrion blew her a kiss.

FL Speaks -
[This review contains spoilers. I am not going to recap the previous books. So if you haven't read them or the reviews, stop here. I will try not to reveal everything about the book, but most will be out considering this book has the maximum shock and surprises of your lives]

By then End of Book 1, 3 men named themselves the King of the Seven Kingdoms. Renly Baratheon, Joffrey and Robb Stark. By the end of this book,they are murdered, murdered and murdered. Yep, that's the equation right now. Chaos! One stands tall, but with hardly an army, Stannis Baratheon and one Queen is on her way to take the kingdoms by storm, Daeneryes. And not to forget, Mance Ryder rides with his wildlings to attack the Wall in the north.

The book starts sensationally. Whatever disappointments I had with the previous book, this one more than makes up to it. First things first, Jon Snow escapes from Mance Rider's company to keep his vows to the Night's Watch and prepare for the onslaught. The 200 odd rangers that were to fight the wildlings are mostly dead. A mutiny and then the Others strikes. Far away, Lady Catelyn Stark and her son King Robb Stark visit Walder Frey to offer his apologies for not marrying one of his daughters as he vowed. Now, Walder Frey wants Catelyn's brother and the ruler of Riverrun to marry one of his chosen. Robb needs the alliance and what begins with fun and merriment ends in cold blooded slaughter of Robb Stark and his mother Catelyn by the Freys.

By this time, i hope you have realized not to care about a character. Coz whoever you like, George R.R. Martin is sure to kill them off one by one. The Starks are almost gone. Ned Stark, dead. Robb Stark, dead. Catelyn Stark, dead. Arya Stark, missing. Bran and Rickon Stark, on the run. Sansa Stark, captive.

Yet again, Jon Snow and Tyrion stands apart in this book, followed by Arya. Arya is rescued by Lord Berric who refuses to die even after being mortally injured more than once. Though the Hound kidnaps Arya from them again, he wishes to see her off to her brother and mother for a nice ransom. And just before he reaches them, Robb and Catelyn are murdered. In King's Landing, a feast has been organised on the occassion of Joffrey's marriage and it is there that Joffrey dies. Apparently he was poisoned, which is awesome news to me personally since i wanted that rotten idiot to be dead from the beginning. Cersei immediately puts the blame on Tyrion and he is imprisoned while his wife, Sansa Stark is whisked away by Littlefinger in a ship to safety (I always knew Littlefinger was devious, but his greatest treachery come in the final pages of the book. Jaime Lannister finally reaches King's Landing, but the Kingslayer is a ghost of his former past after losing his hand.

The Lannisters are finally beginning to be noble. Though its a long shot, Tryion and Jaime finally manage not to make me curse. Jaime frees Tyrion from his cell and tells him to run. One good thing Tyrion does before fleeing is killing his father, Lord Tywin. Daeneyres is conquering city after city, but her role is getting uninteresting by the book. Up in the North, Jon manages to stop the wildlings for a few days from the wall and are finally saved by the timely arrival of Stannis Baratheon's army. Surprises in the end will make you gasp as Jon is now the Lord Commander of the Wall. Littlefinger takes Sansa to her aunt, Lady Lysa and there he commits the ultimate betrayal.

Oh this series is only getting more exciting. Up next is 'A FEAST FOR CROWS' and i can't wait to see the aftershocks of the series of events that are to follow.

My Rating - 4.5 stars. The most devastating book of the series so far

PRICE - INR 239/- [Flipkart Price]

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