n 1996, George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones introduced Lord
Eddard Stark of Winterfell, head of a noble house and second in command to
the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Eddard was murdered in Thrones, as
was his king, Robert Baratheon. In the sequel, A Clash Of Kings,
Eddard's five trueborn children, Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon, and
his bastard son, Jon Snow, were scattered as chaos descended and five
kings rose to claim power.
A Storm of Swords finds nine-year-old Bran crippled and presumed
dead, as he and a few loyal remnants of the Stark household evade capture.
Wild little Arya, similarly presumed dead, flees across half the country,
looking for shelter, revenge and a family that no longer exists. Sansa
remains an abused hostage of Robert Baratheon's widow, Cersei, and her
sadistic son, Joffrey, whose claim to Robert's kingdom is solidifying with
each new battle. Only 16-year-old Robb Stark, "the King in the North,"
continues to successfully fight Joffrey's men, though an abrupt and
ill-conceived marriage seems likely to cost him his strongest allies.
Desperate to reunite the remnants of her family, Eddard's widow, Catelyn,
frees Cersei's twin and lover, Jamie, charging him to return to Cersei and
broker Sansa's release. Meanwhile, a world away, Daenerys, the last of the
Targaryen line deposed by Robert Baratheon, raises the last dragons in the
world and looks for an army capable of returning her to the throne. Jon
Snow, sent on an impossible mission to the far north to investigate the
upstart king of a demon-haunted realm, attempts to convince an army of
shapechangers, giants, rebels and wild folk that he can be trusted with
their secrets. Tyrion, Cersei's despised dwarf brother, struggles with a
world of intrigue that has suddenly betrayed and discarded him. And Ser
Davos Seaworth, a smuggler-turned-knight, attempts to balance his honor
with his duty to a king who is falling further and further under the
control of a terrifying fanatical sorceress.
Martin looks at the world through each of these characters in turn,
roving among their points of view as he continues to build his vastly
complex epic story of a kingdom in disarray.
Gods, dragons and cliffhangers
In person, George R.R. Martin is a self-contained, almost dour man whose
reserved bearing gives no hint of the vivid world hidden inside his mind.
The contrast can be striking, though to be fair, it's sometimes amazing
that any one person could contain a story as vast and vivid as the Song
of Ice and Fire series. The books bulge with the monumental weight and
detail of living history, and burn with passion, obsession, clamor and
furor. Storm of Swords is a remarkable accomplishment--a massive,
solid block of a book that can barely be lifted one-handed but can barely
be put down once begun. At 800 pages, it still serves only to
whet appetites for the rest of Martin's suspenseful saga.
At times, Martin's screenwriting roots seem obvious. He makes a point of
breaking off chapters at their most dramatic points, alternating between
characters to leave readers vibrating with tension on behalf of half a
dozen protagonists at once. His structure often seems consciously
manipulative, as he deliberately obscures whether certain characters are
alive or dead for chapter upon chapter, or places them under the Sword of
Damocles and then saws painstakingly at the suspending thread for hundreds
of pages at a time. But while his plotting techniques are reminiscent of
the familiar cliffhanger-to-cliffhanger style of old movie serials, his
character development is both more modern and more daring. Martin
specializes in what he calls "gray" characters, protagonists who blend good
and bad motives, actions and reactions so thoroughly that it's impossible
to pigeonhole them quickly as "heroes" and "villains." Instead, they're
forced to be "humans," which is far more compelling.
Like its predecessors, Storm of Swords is packed with personal
details--the sights and sounds and smells of real life in a retooled Middle
Ages setting. It's densely convoluted and sprawling in its attempts to
portray an entire world of events at once, but it never loses sight of the
mundane microcosms of individual lives. The resulting blend is a soaring
fantasy packed with wars, gods and dragons that still feels as tangible, as
comfortable, and as enveloping as a favorite pair of gloves. Martin's
magnum opus is a powerful and stunning achievement. Don't miss it.
