A Storm of Swords

A Storm of Swords: Book Three of A Song of Ice and Fire; George R.R. Martin, 973 pages

This book is a beast. It is a miracle I finished it at all, really, given that I just don't have that much time to read these days, and there's always a request list on this series. However, the story is engaging enough that I kept on through the seemingly endless chapters, and I really really enjoyed it. Martin isn't the greatest writer ever, sometimes the dialogue seems a little too modern for a medieval fantasy world, but the characters and the worldbuilding are excellent. By this point in the series, the plot is pretty damn grim, and yes, the storm of swords is very...stormy. Lots of people die. Or are maimed, and gain ridiculous amounts of character development and reader sympathy as a result! Who knew! The plot takes a little while to get going, and I think that's probably a holdover from the previous book, which was sloooooow and mostly uneventful. But once the storm starts it doesn't really let up, and the end is a very satisfying read.
That said, I'm going to take a bit of a break before starting A Feast For Crows, because, wow, I was worn out by the end. Also by many reports book 4 is kind of the weak link in the series, so I think I might start reading something a little less huge and dense, since I'd like to maybe get more than one book blogged per month.