This effort was fully rewarded and I began to realise just why George RR Martin is held in such high esteem. I was determined not to let this confusion happen again and to use the glossary, maps and personae dramatis to ensure that I knew what was going on, where it was going on and to whom it was happening. Looking back I feel that I was a bit lazy when reading it, characters are thrown at you at a not inconsiderable rate of knots and you can either use the handy cast of characters at the beginning of the book to refresh your memory when you get lost or you can do what I did… carry on regardless hoping that everything will become clear in time.

I have to admit to not enjoying Clash of Kings overly, something I discovered placed me in a minority. The events in Storm of Swords overlap the ending of the second book, A Clash of Kings. Throughout Westeros the war for the Iron Throne rages more fiercely than ever, but if the Wall is breached, no king will live to claim it. And Robb’s defences are ranged against the South, the land of the cunning and cruel Lannisters, who have his young sisters in their power. In the northern wastes a horde of hungry, savage people steeped in the dark magic of the wilderness is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. 'Only you.The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud as winter approaches like an angry beast. 'I only.wanted to kiss you there, that's all. 'I don't think so.' No one had ever told Jon just what lords did with their ladies. 'Is that.is it what lordss do to their ladies, down in the south?' 'The thing you did,' she said, when they lay together on their piled clothes. OHHH.'Īfterward, she was almost shy, or as shy as Ygritte ever got. 'If you love me all so much, why are you still dressed?' she whispered. 'I love your skinny legs, and what's between them.' He knelt to kiss her there, lightly on her mound at first, but Ygritte moved her legs apart a little, and he saw the pink inside and kissed that as well, and tasted her. I love your teats.' He kissed them, one and then the other. I love your mouth, and the way you kiss me. Does that make it even luckier? He pulled her close.

Her legs were skinny and well muscled, the hair at the juncture of her thighs a brighter red than that on her head. He had never seeen how beautiful she was. He had been in her half a hundred times by now, but always beneath furs, with others all around them. She stood before him naked as her name day, and he was as hard as the rock around them. “I know I want you,' he heard himself say, all his vows and his honor all forgotten.

A storm of swords by george rr martin