aituriar

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What also makes A Storm of Swords so powerful is that the always-fascinating events at the Wall and beyond the Wall are unfolding at an accelerating pace as we follow them not only from Jon’s perspective, but also from Sam Tarly’s, and even a third character’s. In King’s Landing, which was a relatively dull place in A Clash of Kings, more exciting things happen for a change, thanks to Tyrion and Sansa.

This book comes very close to being a perfect fantasy novel. I have to nitpick, though, not so much about the page count (~1,200) as about the rambling. The story branches off in every compass direction, and it’s questionable whether all the scenes are necessary, whether each scene contains something essential to the whole. As compelling as A Storm of Swords is, a bolder editor might have pushed Martin to kill a few of his darlings for the sake of the story’s integrity.

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So, why not full marks? Slipped with the mouse?

It took me a few months to trudge through the book, which already says something. Especially the verb trudge, which describes my reading experience with unnerving accuracy. Most of the more than 1,100 pages went by at a snail’s pace.

Most, but not all. There were some truly fascinating moments along the way; their relative share was just so small that the overall effect was like sipping water faintly flavored with a single mint leaf. In fact, the story only seemed to really pick up speed at the very end. The best spices were stuck at the bottom of the glass!

Rewarding? Sure.

But I’m evaluating the whole book here, and it left me covered in cold sweat. A bit of streamlining might have done the trick… Anyway, Words of Radiance is apparently even longer, so you can probably guess the rest.