#Review: A Storm of Swords II

A Storm of Swords II by George R R Martin

After starting on the set in September last year, I’m getting through the Game of Thrones series at quite a clip now. This is no doubt due to their intriguing nature and Martin’s writing style which makes reading this collection of books so easy.

So far, my favourite character in every one of the books in this series is Tyrion Lannister. I find myself rooting for him at every step on his life journey.  He works so hard to be a better man despite people’s preconceptions. When he was made The Hand in the previous book I was not at all surprised that he did a good job of it. Tyrion reminds me of some of the talented yet underrated children I’ve taught in the past. Once they were given a task which excited and involved them they relished the challenge and surpassed all expectations. Unlike my students though, Tyrion receives no praise for his efforts and achievements.

Perhaps I like him so much because he almost always has his now severely damaged nose stuck in a book. I can identify with this side of his character completely. But I also cannot bear it when someone is wrongly accused of deeds heinous or otherwise and poor Tyrion is accused by several people on various occasions. Of course, he doesn’t help his situation because he can’t stop his smart mouth.

I am enjoying the writing in Martin’s set of books as much as I do the interpretation for the small screen. I find myself hankering to move ahead on the reading as I want to be ahead of what I’ve seen on the screen. I’ve been give the box set of seasons 1-6 by Sheffield BF but am reluctant to watch any of it till I’ve read more. Of course, I could watch earlier episodes and stop before I find out too much. But I know too well that once I slip one of those discs into the DVD a binge of monumental proportions will occur. So instead I’m going to save the binge fest for a rainy day or when I’m feeling the particular need of a Fantasy boost.

REVIEW

This second Storm of Swords book contains a great deal of tissue requiring moments such as when Dany banished Ser Jorah and when Tyrion valiantly tried to be a good husband to Sansa. I was most angered by the injustice of the accusation made against Tyrion when Joffrey was poisoned.

When I was about 40% through the book I found myself impatient to move on to the next book as most of the events I was reading about I knew from the television series. I wanted to know about that which I had not seen as yet.  I did however very much like the more detailed insight I gained into each individual character’s thoughts and feelings. This is the one aspect which a film will always find difficult to portray to its full extent and why I love reading so much.

There were so very many cliff-hanger moments in this book that if I didn’t already know certain outcomes I’d have bitten my finger nails down to the quick regularly and ended up with bloody stumps as a result. It is why I believe the story lends itself so well to the TV series format.

I read the dramatic end of this book on the bus and was suitably impressed as it was something I was not expecting in the slightest. I can’t wait to read what comes next. My excitement levels are building now as I know without a doubt that the next book in the series, is one in which many of the details will be unknown to me. Game on!