Last year was the year I really tried to get fully into the Game of Thrones series and honestly I'm pretty proud of having made my way through three of the volumes (two of the books - A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords) because these things are HEFTY. A Storm of Swords is split into two because together they'd come to over 1200 pages. This first book, although it has a fair amount of action in it, really sets up a lot of the big scenes for part two.
The book is told from the point of view of ten different narrators, switching between them as the story develops. We start off just before the Battle of Blackwater (which is where the previous book in the series finishes off). Tensions are increasing: Jamie Lannister is being held captive by Catelyn Stark and the Tullys, King's Landing is trying to rebuild itself in the midst of fractions in the Lannister family, the Red Lady has an ever-increasing hold over Stannis Baratheon, and Jon Snow is becoming truly a member of the Wildlings.
As the book develops, Catelyn sets Jaime free in the hope that it will help her see her children again, whilst things take a turn for the worse for the Starks when Robb reneges on a marriage alliance to a supporting faction and marries for love instead. Arya's recognised for being a Stark and loses her anonymity as a wild 'boy', instead gaining a hefty target on her back worth a lot of gold. Over the sea, Daenerys is building her army and meets the Unsullied.
This is such a massive tome that it's really hard to summarise quickly without either giving everything away or ranting on forever. However, just writing this post has made me remember just how much I loved reading the series - maybe 2020 will be the year I finally complete it? The book really delves into the heart the stories of some of my favourite characters: we see Tyrion recover from the battle of Blackwater and how this changes him, and some of the scenes between Daenerys and the owners of the Unsullied are incredible.
This is for sure a 5 star read for me. If you're a fan of high fantasy, or want to push the boat out with some big books this year, I'd really recommend this.
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