A Storm of Swords

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3

By: George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Roy Dotrice

Length: 47 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King's Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world....

But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others, a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords....

©2000 George R.R. Martin (P)2004 Books On Tape, Inc., published in arrangement with Random House Audio Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Locus Award, 2001

"A riveting continuation of a series whose brilliance continues to dazzle." (The Patriot News)

"I always expect the best from George R. R. Martin, and he always delivers." (Robert Jordan)

Dear Ice and Fire Junkie

This review contains comments on Books 3 and 4 of the Ice and FIre series.

Dear Ice and Fire Junkie

The popularity of the HBO series, Game of Thrones has enticed many folks to pick up and start plowing through the entire series of tomes from which the TV shows derive their inspiration. And, once you’re sucked in, it’s pretty much like quicksand. The brilliant acting of most, if not all, of the characters along with the masterful writing of their roles and place in this Tolkienesque saga makes us easy prey for this quagmire. But beware good reader, there is much more to this sticky wicket than a mere addiction.

Before you get too heavily invested in this series, if you haven’t already, you owe it to yourself to pay attention to the negative reviews of Books 4 and 5. Among those reviews, the breakdown in narration after Book 3 is particularly egregious. I am generally a fan of Roy Dotrice. He is not my favorite narrator / performer but he is unquestionably a very good one but mostly for playing the roles of older men. The characters of young men seem to present Mr. Dotrice with something of a challenge and that of female characters, especially young ones, a challenge that is unsurmountable. That being said, Mr. Dotrice’s contribution to the powerful and stunningly produced first three books in this series was not insignificant. There were parts in the writing of those that seemed to drag on and on too long but they were still made entertaining by the narrator. In Books 4 and 5 there were many more dull, uninspired passages that were also made less entertaining by the narrator.

And, that being said, what in the heck is up with the changes in pronunciation of names and the voices of their owners? Was anyone paying attention to the editing and production of these last two books? I don’t know if it was Random House Audio or Audible who dropped the ball here but it all starts with Roy Dotrice. He’s the common denominator here and has to be aware of this huge distracting shift that took place between books and has to have the most responsibility for better quality control.

As far as the story goes, I will repeat here some of what I wrote in a review of Book 1. While I loved a lot about the writing in the first installment, I cared so much about the characters, to have so many of these good and honorable protagonists tortured and killed, I thought that I did not need to continue beyond Book 1. But, continue I did and was not sorry after Book 2. I enjoyed the third installment but things slid downhill in all respects after that. There are characters that I am still interested in and wish to know about their fates, even a couple of the villains. But, will I invest 2 more credits in this series? Me thinks not, at least not at this time. It is not That great.

Oh, and lest I not forget, the ending. Book 4 contains the very worst ending of any book I have ever picked up. If an author lacks so much imagination that s/he cannot satisfyingly end a book even if it is not the last in a series then me thinks the author's imagination needs work. I believe that authors owe it to their readers to finish a book and not just entice their readers to buy the next installment. Shame on you GRRM. Book 3 was an excellent book. It left many unanswered questions but at least had a decent conclusion. And, dear reader, you may wish to just end your addiction with Book 3. It's all downhill from there.

Better and Better.

I just finished this book, the third in the series and it was the best 40+ hours of audio book I've ever listened to. I have listens to well over a hundred audio books and all 3 of these books stand out as the very best. 110 hours and I could do it all over again. I will wait and check each day until the next book to ready. Powerful fantasy written for adults.

Excellent story with the wrong reader

Storm of Swords is the third in George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I strongly suggest reading or listening to Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings before attempting to read this book. George R.R. Martin writes extremely complex characters and storylines, and the background from the previous books is required to understand the motivations in this book. That being said, if you are a fan of the series, or enjoy Arthurian fantasy, this is the series to read. It's extremely immersive, and the characters are wonderfully human and flawed. There are good guys and bad guys, but the good guys aren't always so good, and the bad guys aren't always so bad. If you want a story where you can guess what will happen next, this may not be the proper book, because the good guys don't always win.

The major failing of this audiobook, however, is in the performance. Roy Dotrice's narration leaves much to be desired. This book is very heavily character-driven, but all of his characters sound the same in spoken dialogue. I had to go back and re-listen to a part of the story, because I had confused two of his characters. Mr. Dotrice's command of the accents of the British Isles is commendable, and if you listen for long enough, you may find yourself thinking or even speaking in a British accent, which raises the immersion of the book. However, Mr. Dotrice is a low, slightly gravelly-voiced British man, and, unfortunately, even the women he performs have low, slightly gravelly voices.

Dispite my prior paragraph, I do highly recommend this book to anyone who loves good fantasy.

Great Story

If you could sum up A Storm of Swords in three words, what would they be?

Wonderfully expansive story

What other book might you compare A Storm of Swords to and why?

don't know

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I would have preferred a straight up reading. His voice would have been fine, but his attempt at voices for specific characters fell short. He had 2 voices and one of them sounded too much like Donald Duck. It really took away from the book. My girlfriend stopped listening because of it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no

Phenomenal

The best in the series, this book is one of the best written/read audio books I?ve even encountered. It kept me riveted until the last word; I was as rapt at the end of hour one as I was at the end of hour 50. This is definitely not your typical fantasy novel. It is, in a word, amazing.

Outstanding!

In this third volume of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy, familiar voices (and new ones) once again greet the listener as Mr. Dotrice redoubles his efforts in tackling such a mammoth tome. At around 46 hours of audio, A Storm of Swords follows the continuing conflict between the Stark and Lannister families and the ensuing war that has erupted across the kingdom.

The listener will be left on the edge of their seat and waiting for the next volume of the series as A Storm of Swords is brought to its dramatic close. True to his prior readings, Mr. Dotrice breathes a life into the characters so well that it is all too easy to forget that it is but a single man doing the reading.

I recommend it!

Great with flaws

I can relate to all the five star reviews, but there are quite a number of things which really, really bug me like; "Hogar, Hogar, Hogar, Hogar ..." and "Corn, Corn, Corn, Corn..." not having read this this book you wouldn't what the fiddles I'm talking about, but confident that you will actually listen to the book at some stage you will find out......

Story is absolutely fine, a trifle long at times, but I like that in a book...

Where can I buy a sword!

This series is the most powerfully written fantasy I have ever experienced. The characters seem to live in your mind, they are so richly crafted. I swear you can almost hear the horses and smell the blood!

As good as the first!

I read the first two books in this series on my Kindle, but vowed (because of the length!) to listen to the rest. It took about 20 minutes to get used to the narrator's accent in the very beginning, but then I was hooked! Roy Dotrice does an excellent job, and the book itself is as good as the first. I can't wait to start the next one.

Bubblemush shlurrrrrr HIGH PITCH

I'm Varieeeeeesh.
I'm Bry-eeeeene
Lord Pay-tire Baelish

There are times when I have to turn it off because some random character slurs in a high pitched, unintelligible stream for minutes at a time. All of the small folk have speech impediments, and Varys is for some reason unable to not chew on his own tongue while he talks. I love the story, and I hate that I can't find a different narrator.