*Contains major spoilers.*
The third volume of Martins' fantasy epic lives up to the promises of "A Game of Thrones" and "A Clash of Kings" and takes it to a higher level of spectacular fantasy. Filled with violence, raw humor and brutal cliffhangers, this book wants you to keep reading forever. Sadly, that is not possible since the book is only 1128 pages long. Good thing that the series is continued with "A Feast for Crows" and "A Dance with Dragons"!
What I like about this book is the splendid mix of epic fantasy, in a land where winters last decades, and the wide array of characters for you to love and hate. What separates this book from other classic fantasy books such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy is simple yet very interesting. Martin decided to not use the common darkness versus light theme, and instead he gave every character (or most of them at least,) a bit of good and an even bigger bit of bad. This is very interesting since you never know who is going to kill who, and so on. You can be reading a very peaceful part and in the next page someone brutally kills someone else.
The story picks up from where it's predecessor left off... Kind of. Some events in the book happen simultaneously as an event in the previous book. So, to sum it up; Joffrey Baratheon (Lannister in reality, he is the child of the queen and her.. Brother..) sits on the throne, still ruling the country which is ripped apart between four power-hungry forces. Stannis Baratheon has been defeated by his nephew Joffrey, the very not loved king, Renly Baratheon (yes, another Baratheon) is dead, supposedly murdered by black magic, Robb Stark rules the north from the fortress of riverrun, and Daenerys Targaryen takes over one city after another in the slavers bay of the free cities.
But the peaceful-ish war break is soon shattered when the young wolf Robb Stark is killed at his uncles wedding, through a secret alliance between the Freys and the Lannisters and everything takes a dark turn. How will this end? Well, what if someone poisons King Joffrey at HIS own wedding? And then Tyrion Lannister is accused of it? Well that is what happens, the king dies of poisoning at his wedding, and his uncle Tyrion is accused for the murder. He is held in the dungeons until he demands a trial by combat. The Prince of Dorne, Oberyn Martell volunteers as Tyrions champion to avenge his sister, who was killed by the Queens champion, Gregor Clegane. (Yes, this is all very very weird and hard to understand.) Oberyn is killed by the Mountain (Gregor) and Tyrion is therefore found guilty. But he is saved by his brother Jaime and the Spymaster Varys, who help him to a ship bound for the free cities. But first of all, Tyrion actually kills his father Tywin Lannister with a crossbow. While he is taking a shit. Dramatic.
Then he sails for the free cities along with Varys the Spider.
George Martin has a fantastic way of writing which is very well suited for this kind of book. It made me turn page after page, reading sometimes for hours straight. I often make up my own plot twists and ideas of how the story will unfold. I recommend this book to anyone who can stand a lot of violence, a lot of cursing and a lot of sex. Even if they normally don't read fantasy, they would surely find this book very satisfying.
