So as I discussed in yesterday's post, I've been reading monstrous books. Huge hardcovers worthy of being called tomes, really. Last night I finished A Storm of Swords, the third A Song of Ice and Fire novel (tome!) by George R.R. Martin.
As with the previous two novels, it keeps getting better with each re-read, aided in part by the fact that I now have a degree in English Literature and plenty of experience analyzing tomes like these. Character development that I hadn't noticed before is now coming to life. With the aid of Tower of the Hand (a sort-of ASoIaF wiki), I'm noticing comments and major, overarching plots that I hadn't noticed or considered before. It helps that Jeff's read the novels, too, and apparently picks up on this stuff way more than I did the first time I read the novels (I was 15 or 16 when Storm of Swords came out, gimme a break!).
Anyway, so as not to spoil it for friends who have gotten the books but not yet read them, I won't go into plot detail. Suffice to say that this is an amazing third novel - or, in my case, three novels (the books are actually published as multiple volumes in some places, so I feel justified making this choice!). Characters that used to be my favorites no longer are, in favor of others who are proving more cunning and sophisticated. In the words of Petyr Baelish ("Littlefinger," master of coin, in the novels), some people are much better at playing the Game of Thrones than others are.
And that's what the whole thing is about, really.
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