A Storm of Swords
George R.R. Martin, 2000
Fantasy HorrorContemporary fictionScience fiction
For the prologue alone: a frozen conspiracy, a migrating people, and a steward sharpening a grudge. A cold, slow-burning war story told in many voices, with gothic dread, sharp political turns, and grief running underneath.
Feels like dread and grief. About war and power.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy grim political fantasy with a large cast, cold landscapes, and a tone that mixes gothic dread with lyrical grief. Be prepared for a long book, many viewpoint characters, and steady war violence; the dread is unrelenting rather than relieved.
Why read it
Read it for the texture of a world under strain: frozen marches, grudges sharpened in close quarters, and the sense that power is always being traded.
A page from the book
What an army looks like when it brings its spinning wheels.
“Smallwood sent Bannen and me wide around the van to catch a peek at the main body,” Kedge went on. “There was no end of them. They’re moving slow as a frozen river, four, five miles a day, but they don’t look like they mean to go back to their villages neither. More’n half were women and children, and they were driving their animals before them, goats, sheep, even aurochs dragging sledges. They’d loaded up with bales of fur and sides of meat, cages of chickens, butter chums and spinning wheels, every damn thing they own. The mules and garrons was so heavy laden you’d think their backs would break. The women as well.” George R.R. Martin.George R.R. Martin was a chess tournament director and journalism teacher before Hollywood; he wrote for The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast.
Books that feel like this
The Hunger Games Trilogy (Hunger Games / Catching Fire / Mockingjay)
Suzanne Collins, 2008
Also dread and power.
More by George R.R. Martin
A Feast for Crows
George R. R. Martin, 2005
After a war of kings, the survivors divide the wreckage—and queens, outlaws and broken men get their turn.
A Clash of Kings
George R. R. Martin, 1998
Five kings claim one throne. In the capital, the cleverest man alive has been handed the job of defending it.
A Dance with Dragons
George R.R. Martin, 2011
Exiled and out of gold, Tyrion Lannister crosses the narrow sea into a merchant's manse, where his wit is the only thing he still owns.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is A Storm of Swords for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy grim political fantasy with a large cast, cold landscapes, and a tone that mixes gothic dread with lyrical grief. Be prepared for a long book, many viewpoint characters, and steady war violence; the dread is unrelenting rather than relieved.
- What is A Storm of Swords like?
- A cold, slow-burning war story told in many voices, with gothic dread, sharp political turns, and grief running underneath. Feels like dread and grief. About war and power.
- What should I read after A Storm of Swords?
- If you liked A Storm of Swords, try The Hunger Games Trilogy (Hunger Games / Catching Fire / Mockingjay) (Suzanne Collins), Midnight Sun (Stephenie Meyer) and Hunting Adeline (H.D. Carlton).
A taste of the feed
One old gesture, rarely used, that means three things at once.
Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don’t expect it because I don’t think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim’s place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.
The Hunger Games Trilogy (Hunger Games / Catching Fire / Mockingjay) · Suzanne Collins
The old story that turns a lover into a god of the underworld.
For just a second, I saw Persephone, pomegranate in hand. Dooming herself to the underworld. Is that who I was? Hades himself, coveting springtime, stealing it, condemning it to endless night.
Midnight Sun · Stephenie Meyer
The difference between owning someone and being owned by them.
I may own every breath in your body, but make no mistake, Adeline, you own mine, too. I am yours to command. To bend and break. To mold and manipulate. Do you think that makes me weak? Or do you think I’m strong enough to admit that even though my body can physically live on without you, I would never get my fucking soul back?
Hunting Adeline · H.D. Carlton
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