A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by George R.R Martin
Harper Voyager (paperback), 2011
656 Pages
OPENING SENTENCE
Her Dothraki scouts told her how it was, but Dany wanted to see for herself.
REVIEW
Blood and Gold is the conclusion to A Storm of Swords, the third volume in Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire series. Catelyn and Robb Stark are still estranged from Arya and Sansa and unaware that Bran and Rickon are still alive. Robb needs to sweet-talk Walder Frey whose daughter he failed to marry to get the old tyrant on his side against the Lannister’s. It doesn’t turn out well for Robb or Catelyn or her brother Edmure. Poor Sansa is married off Tyrion Lannister (he’s not a great catch). Dany impressively kicks some ass with her dragons. Some other stuff happens and some of my favorite characters die.
I’ve wanted to read A Song of Ice & Fire for years. I’ve never seen the TV show Game of Thrones but I aim to buy the DVD’s soon. I don’t read a lot of Fantasy fiction but A Song of Ice & Fire is the king of high fantasy stuff I prefer. I really like Martin’s other work so knew I’d get round to this epic series at some point. I read the first volume, A Game of Thrones for my Popsugar Reading Challenge 2015 and have continued to read the series.
Blood and Gold has been my favorite book in the series so far. This book had more shocks, action and drama than the other books put together. I cried a lot while reading this conclusion to A Storm of Swords. Some of my favorite characters have been killed off in a very unpleasant way. One is not impressed George R.R Martin. Dany is also not in the book enough. When will I get to read a couple of hundred pages about her and her dragons? I’ve changed my option of two characters. I started off disking Tyrion but now sort of like him. He’s probably one of the most misunderstood characters in the series. He’s treated like nothing by his own family. He doesn’t force Sansa to sleep with him when he could have. Everyone turns against him when Joffrey is killed. My favorite scene is when Jaime helps him escape the dungeon and he goes after and kills his father. Well done, son. I’ve also (reluctantly) started to warn to Jaime. His sister and lover Cersei has used him, taken him for a ride and make a fool out of him. He’s more her victim than anything else. The epilogue had me reeling from shock. I cannot wait to see where A Song of Fire & Ice goes next.
RATING
