I HATE THIS BOOK (A Storm of Swords spoiler review) 

i can't believe they cut Catelyn's hair, did they know that Ned loved it?

I read a blogger on Tumblr who said that when she was reading the Red Wedding, she realized it was about to go down, by the food. Now in Westeros, throwing feasts and doing it right is important among the nobility, and a poorly done feast is almost as bad for your social standing as your daughter being caught naked before she's married. According to her, from the description of the food being served, it was very plain that the Freys did not care about what the meal would do to their reputation (because no one would be around to tell), and they did not want to waste good food on people who were about to die. Martin does not miss a trick.

I think the best part about why Robb marries Jayne is that he's not just doing it because it's the honorable thing. More specifically, it's the one thing his father's ever done that Robb sees as dishonorable, having a bastard. He marries her to avoid the specific mistake Ned made. I think that makes it much more tragic, in the classical sense.

In Book 2, Dany has a vision in the House of the Undying in which she sees “a dead man with the head of a wolf” surrounded by corpses strewn about a feast. He literally describes the red wedding a book earlier!

"Unfortunately I really like Jaime, which is personally devastating" - Everyone who's ever read A Storm of Swords.

Creepy tidbit of foreshadowing: before the wedding, when the northerners are being welcomed to the twins, Ser Ryman Frey says to Robb, ‘If you would follow me, my father awaits.’ Ryman’s father has already died in one of the battles at this point. He’s telling Robb he’s going to die tonight.

Your analysis of Jaime as a victim of abuse at the hands of Cersei is spot on. Like, I think a lot of people overlook his abuse when they describe his "redemption arc", bc IMO his arc isn't about redemption, but instead about becoming his own person outside of his sister. There's that scene in SoS in the White Sword Tower where he looks at his page in the kings guard book and just thinks that he now can write what ever he chooses, demonstrating that he doesn't want to be controlled any more. Also, the bear pit chapter is also my favorite chapter and it contains two of my favorite quotes from basically any book, so it made me happy to see that you also enjoyed that one! First of all, "In this light, she could almost be a beauty. In this light, she could almost be a knight." INCREDIBLE. CHILLS. And then of course, "I dreamed of you."

Another heart breaking foreshadowing to the red wedding is at the end of Catlyn chapter in A clash of kings, the chapter with Stanis and Renly, Catlyn see's her face reflecting in Renly's armor, and she thinks to herself that it looks like "The face of a drowned woman" just gives me chills everytime I read

One of my favorite games to play with new readers (when they are like halfway through Book 1): "Who is your favorite character?" "Probably Ned, or Drogo." "Yeah, they're awesome characters." "Why, who is yours?" "Jaime" "WHAT?!?! The guy that sleeps with his sister and pushes little kids out of windows?" "Yup." "Dude, what is wrong with you?" "You'll see." Re the Red Wedding: The thing that really hooked me on that was not only the thriller-genre shift, but the fact that we hear all these plans Rob has to take back the North. Surely we wouldn't be hearing all these amazing plans if Rob wasn't going to be able to actually carry them out right? Right? :(

The way you describe how George manages to make you feel so intensely for the Red Wedding is my main reason for not wanting anyone else to finish ASOIAF. George's writing style and the way he weaves plot and characters together is such an important aspect of ASOIAF that I can't imagine another author replicating it

The line for me that’s so telling of Jaime and Cersei’s relationship in Jaime’s first chapter is when he has Cleos shave his head and looks at his reflection and thinks “I don’t look so much like her now. She’ll hate that”. Cersei views Jaime as her reflection. She has all this internalized misogyny so she views Jaime as a perfect version of herself, except “Jaime never thinks”. Cersei doesn’t really love Jaime, she wants to have him because he’s a reflection of her, even having him shave his facial hair and wear his hair long to look more like her. She sees him as an extension of herself yet she is still superior because she’s the older twin that does all the thinking (at least that’s how she sees it). Jaime thinks it’s love though, which is really sad.

I love grrm prose. There's a line that will always stick w/ me for its ability to vividly capture the moment w/ just a brief turn of phrase. In Jamie's pov when he faces off w/ Brienne and it's the 1st time he has a sword in hand since captivity,. Jamie either has the thought or maybe the omnipotent narrator interjects his pov to drop the gem "Time slept when swords awoke". In context, it was perfection.

"I dreamed of you." is the best line in the whole series.

This was the first book I read where I felt like I was gonna cry. And the surprising part for me was that it was Ygritte's death. The moment I read, "Jon Snow, is this a proper castle now? Not just a tower?" I got so choked up.

“I dreamt of you.” Is my favorite moment in the books. Feast is the book that on reread most people I know enjoy it MUCH better than the first time through. I think the fact that a lot of fan favorites are not in Feast AND it had to follow aSoS. Which in itself was a climax. So feast is much slower setting the stage for act two.

Your lack of love for Stannis The Mannis is truly upsetting 😂

If you’re able to, I would recommend watching the Red Wedding clips from the show because the performances from Richard Madden (Robb) and Michelle Fairley (Catelyn) are sooooo powerful. I’m still mad that Michelle especially never got an award for that. She utterly destroyed me. You would really love her as Catelyn. Also Richard Madden has a story that he was so emotionally distraught from filming that and it being his last day of filming that he didn’t even have the energy to wipe off the make up blood before getting on a plane just all bloodied up like a madman.

I would love to hear every chapter review honestly

Feast for Crows is also a really great book but can feel slower, a lot of great POV. Edit: Also watching Joffrey die on the show not having read the book at that time yet was one of the most cathartic moment in TV history. Ever.

You were kind enough to not actually read out the prose of the red wedding. Then you read out Ygritte’s last words and I’m crying on a Wednesday morning

Also I would say a lot of us ASOIAF super fans are able to admit at this point that in retrospect A Feast For Crows is probably the best, most theme heavy, most well paced and contained story of the series. I’m excited for you to get into all the unique oddities that book has in store!!

These videos are so good. I'm just catching up now, but it's so validating to hear that you love Catelyn too and that it does not bother you that there may never be an ending. I'm reading these books for like the fourth time now and hearing someone else's opinion as they go through it the first time is great. I am 100% with you about how the Wedding is not the most violent or gruesome thing I've ever read (Jack Ketchum I'm looking at you), but it's so upsetting in such a uniquely horrible way. It's so nice to hear Martin's prose get the respect it deserves, because you're right, he's an astonishing prose writer.

First, thanks so much for doing this. SoS is my absolute favorite book of all time and I've been waiting patiently for you to get here. I have this vision of GRRM writing the first 2.75 books and having all these storylines drifting all over the place and he just grabs them all, lays them on a cutting board and slams a clever down on them... that's what the last few chapters feel like with all the deaths and revelations. I'm sure other people have mentioned but the best part of this series is re-reading it. There's SO much foreshadowing in Book 1 and 2 about stuff that goes down in 3. There's so many mentions of Stannis, and Dorne, and Slaver's Bay that go right over your head until after you've met the people and been to the places. There are tons of the things in the next two books that you will miss on your first read through. It doesn't detract from anything, just makes re-reading it so satisfying. I've read the series at least 10 times, and there's still stuff I find out only after someone online mentions their theory.

Maybe it was because the actress does such an amazing job in the show but Ygritte was amazing to me and I feel like the impact she had on Jon is way more than initially thought here. Amazing reviews, love to see someone getting to all this for the first time

The last line in the epilogue is unforgettable. "And up, and up, and up".

Reading Jaime in feast for crows was coolest part of the books for me. I wish I could read it for the first time. So exited for you to read it.

I always loved how much you loved Cat because her chapters are my favourite chapters too, but I knew this video was coming and it was gonna hurtttt. Sorry for your losses. 😩 I'm so excited for the next book though, A Feast for Crows is my absolute favourite title in the series.

On reread or if you watch enough video analysis of these books, seeing how the Red Wedding is predicted like 5 separate times and we actually see Roose Bolton plan it. Arya watched him send the letter to Tywin. If I wasn't currently reading the Stormlight Archive series, I would be rereading A Song of Ice and Fire. There is a reason why Theory channels are still making original content and new ideas even 12 years after the last book came out.

Wow! I never read the books and just a show watcher, but your infectious energy and the way you eloquently express your opinions across on RU-vid give me all the reasons to subscribe!. I am sad that we won’t get another ASOIAF review video until Feb/March but we will be here waiting ❤

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Feast and Dance. They’re definitely a lot more drawn out, but the character arcs are really great. Just like Clash basically doubled the scope of the story from Game of Thrones, Feast and Dance take that even further.

Lot of authors/TV people take the wrong lessons from his work the "red wedding", "ned's execution" and other events hit so hard is not the "shock value" or the "defying of expectations". It is that the characters feel like REAL people which is why we care about them. The actions that they take make sense to their personaliity and motivations. The consequences of those actions make logical sense too (ned & rob's being honorable being their death sentence. when doing the dishonorable thing would of been the safer/better way to go). Things don't happen out of nowhere in Martin's work there is also alot of foreshadowing for most of the major events in the books (on re-reads it is shocking how much there is).

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." Sorry you were so traumatized. If you do watch some other scenes, watch the trial and the Mountain/Viper fight (maybe close your eyes at the end). Tyrion's speach is so good, and Oberyn was so charismatic throughout all his scenes and i loved him. The fight was really well choreographed/ filmed

Honestly I really love feast! It’s so character focused and I think you’ll be surprised with how many of the characters are explored. I’m sure you will, but definitely give it a chance!

Lol, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The bravest, most shocking, and yet most foreshadowed moment in the history of literature (in my opinion). I remember first seeing it on the show, and I was shocked. But I wasn’t that invested in the characters involved so I wasn’t that affected, but when I read the books and fell in love with Catelyn, I cried. Glad you experienced it unspoiled. Now hopefully you enjoy AFFC, it’s personally my favorite book but is met with very mixed reviews.

What a fantastic intro to the video. That response from Kyle is completely on brand. I remember telling people that hadn't read the books when the show was going, 'if you think you've seen brutality or shocking moments you just wait'. It is very enjoyable to watch your recaps of these books, it makes me want to dig my books out of storage and read them. I read the first 4 books back to back so I get mixed up as to which book things happen in. I don't know how deep you want to get into the lore without having finished the existing books, but there's a channel "In Deep Geek" that has a lot of stuff there.

Also, I genuinely am excited for your reading of Feast. It is so different, yet I think that you'll be able to appreciate it for the hidden gem it is.

You could do a video of your top 10 or 20 chapters and just talk about them and why you liked them. I’d love to see something like that! This book has one of my favorite chapters which is a Bran chapter, the one about the knight of the laughing tree. I just love how that story is told and how it establishes important lore as well. Super cool!

Glad that you have gotten into ASOIAF. After all these years, i go back to these books and still discover something new!! George is an incredible writer.

It has been a few years since I read a storm of swords, it is astonishing hearing your thoughts/recap how much happens in this book.

You reading ASOIAF and getting all the emotions is the funniest thing on booktube this year 🤣

I couldn't pick up the book for a month after reading the red wedding. I think the way GRR Martin writes, is just so matter of fact, each line still hits hard. It's an amazing talent to be able to do that.

not being spoiled on the red wedding is incredible, wish i could've had that first reading experience too :(

It was July 2012, I was visiting family in Scotland. I was up reading at 2am when the red wedding struck me. The book went flying across the room many curse words were screamed and I was hooked on George's writing from that moment on. Also, keeping that secret and others for years for show only watchers was insanely difficult

I’m actually jealous of you because you get to experience the books for the first time. I look forward to future reviews.

Stannis showed up because of Davos, because he made Davos Hand. Stannis took Davos from a lowborn criminal, and made him a knight, he placed his trust in Davos, he recognized his quality where no other noble would have. When he scorns advice of the lords and knights outside Storms End, he asks Davos' opinion and it clearly matters to him. When his uncle-in-law and castellan brings him a proposal he knows is wrong, but is lacking the heart to argue against, he brings forth Davos to give his opinion. And when Davos ignores the credible threats against his life out of loyalty to Stannis, it is Stannis that rewards him with a lordship and the position of Hand. I too am ride or die for House Stark, but no moment in the series made me want to swear fealty to a king more than when Davos says that Stannis' lords will not obey him, and Stannis says "Then we will make new lords," and takes his hand to pull him to his feet. This is how Martin does rewards for virtue in the series. His thesis is not that virtue is stupid or useless, and only strength and cunning matter, rather the series argues that virtue is worth it all on its own, from the first prologue, where a, scared, inexperienced and out of his depth young man stands up against the Others, however futilely, and the narration states how right then "he was a boy no longer, but a man of the Night's Watch". Stannis doing right, and appointing Davos not because of his power, his connections or his cunning, but because of his virtues of loyalty, honesty and morality, pays off, not with riches or power, but because Davos keeps doing the right thing, and saves Stannis from the illusory morality of sacrificing a child to save the world. Doing the right thing is good, even if you don't materially benefit from it, because it makes the world a little bit better, and makes it easier, even if only slightly, for someone else to do the right thing and to keep passing it on. Yes, Stannis came when Davos showed him the way, but Davos showed him the way, because Stannis gave him reason to believe he would listen and do the right thing. Davos helps Stannis, because Stannis proves that he is worth helping.

Damn seeing how much you are loving the series I am growing more and more excited to read it. I’ll come back to this after a I finish these books. Glad you are enjoying them, now I’m very hyped

I just discovered your channel a few days ago. I can totally relate to your reading experience:) Thank you for sharing, it was so sincere and even if I read the series years ago it all came back to me how it was to read it... listening to you at times I almost teared up, everything was so familiar and you articulated it so perfectly. While reading, years ago, the death of Ygritte brought tears to my eyes, it was so sad (I was prepared for the Red Wedding because of the show, but even having seen the show the books were never boring, and books are much more richer). By the way, probably my favourite character of all is Theon Greyjoy!:) P.S. And I'm also not troubled GRRM taking so much time writing the last books and that the series is not yet finished. Great art takes sometimes a lot of time.

I feel like the love for Jon/Ygritte was really amplified by the show's portrayal using Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie who obviously had amazing chemistry together as they are now married with children.

I think A Storm of Swords may be my favorite book in all of fiction, for so many of the reasons you've captured here. This is Martin at the height of his writing ability, giving us this absolutely tragic epic with a complete torrent of some of the most memorable scenes ever. It's such a phenomenally told story, even when you want to stop reading it.

I really liked that epilogue. I can't believe George made me feel so bad for that Frey before what happened happened.

What did I tell you? Reading spoilers for this series doesn't really matter! The way GRRM writes events is far more important than the the event itself.😂 He just has a way of eliciting emotion from the reader with his words. "She don't speak. You bastards cut her throat too deep for that. But she remembers....."

That's the best fantasy book I've ever read. When it was released in Portuguese, when I got the book I sat down and read it whole in one single day. Then I was sad it was over haha

Been waiting to see your reaction to this one. Glad I caught it so early. Hope you're doing well!

@Bookborn I just discovered this channel im also reading this series for the first time just finished 4 and so far your videos are so in line with my view of the story thus far. Can't wait to catch up.

Your love of Davos is so endearing, thank you.

Stannis is the King who Cares. Stop the Stannis the Mannis hate

These videos from you have been so fun to watch. The topic of why character deaths in ASOIAF is so interesting. One thing Martin does better than anyone is writing characters that are not free of consequences. As you pointed out, the deaths in this series aren't surprising in that they are always the result of a character making a bad decision. As fantasy readers, we aren't actually used to that lol. But also (and more importantly) Martin is great at making the reader understand the impact of a character's death. Ned dying isn't just tragic because he's likable. It's tragic because it puts the wrong person on the throne, it endangers Sansa, it makes Arya have to run, it pushes Rob into war, etc. Same with Tywin and Rob. It's not that they die, it's that their death has a ton of fallout. And wrt to the next books not being people's favorites because of the split, the thing to keep in mind is that many readers had to wait for the next installment. They waited 5 years for A Feast for Crows to come out to get a book that didn't even have any chapters for their favorite characters. And it was another 6 years before A Dance of Dragons (11 total). Being able to read them back to back is a much nicer experience lol

You brought me back to 2010 when I first read this book. I love and hate this video for bringing me back to that moment. It took me a year to get back to this series. lol

Great review. A Storm of Swords is definitely my favourite out of the whole series. The Red Wedding broke me and the way you described the feeling as a mounting horror was pretty spot on. It's the horror of reading details like Ned liking Catelyn's hair long, Robb's supporters being absent, the Rains of Castamere playing, the food of the feast being prepared carelesssly, that makes you suspect it might happen but deny it, like Martin's not gonna kill off 2 of the main characters, right? He's brutal. Jaime's arc was absolutely INCREDIBLE in this book, as was the expansion on Sandor Clegane's character as well (this was mainly in part two if i recall correctly so I hope I'm not spoiling anything.) Martin is so skilled at crafting layered, nuanced characters! It makes it even more crazy when you know that Martin actually originally planned for Jaime to be a pretty one-dimensional villain and he turned into this anti-hero with a whole redemption arc. Yeah Jaime was basically abused by Cersei. I don't think his redemption arc could even be properly classified as 'redemption' (apart from the fact that he literally pushed a little boy out of a window and crippled him for life) but rather as getting away from the abuse of his sister and being the man he could have been from the start if she hadn't gripped him with poison claws. Brienne didn't necessarily make him a better person but rather helped bring out the long-buried good in him and helped him be his own person. Cersei views him as a reflection of herself--there's even once paragraph where Jaime looks at his reflection once his hair has been shaven of and thinks Cersei won't sleep with him anymore because he doesn't look so much like her. Cersei is his poison, and the redemption arc is basically his arc of healing from it.

I remember reading the red weeding many years ago. Then I was like that's not what happened and I must have gotten something wrong. So I read it again. And then again. It's brilliant writing and so impactful. Also, it's the most effective way I've ever read the meaning of 'you can win every battle and still lose the war'.

I've always speculated that Jamie's sexual relationship with cersei was her idea initially and that's she's always been the shot caller out of the 2 manipulating seducing and lying to him to get what she wants out of him. I don't even think cersei truly loves Jamie or her children in the way we think of it I think she only loves then in the sense that's she sees them as an extention of herself

I remember when reading Storm twelve years ago reading the red wedding and throwing my book at the wall because i was so angry. "I'M DONE WITH THIS BOOK!" I cried. Not five minutes later i sauntered across the room, picked it up, and kept reading. 😂

I forgot just *HOW* *MUCH* there is in this book... so much they split it into two seasons of the show.... brilliant choice. I think the reason you hear so much love for Ygritte is because her and Jon have *so* much chemistry in the show. The actors literally got married. The actress that brought her to life did such an amazing job.

One of the things I remember most fondly are Jaime's internal thoughts and I vividly remember the dream he has when he slept on the stomp of the weirwood tree, where he and Brienne are naked in the depths of Casterly Rock fighting the dead with flaming swords...

I started reading A Song Of Ice And Fire 11 years ago after I watched the Red Wedding episode of the show. It left me so devastated, and I couldn't wait for season 4 to come out. And oh my, even though I knew what was gonna happen, the depiction of this scene from Katelyn's POV was just as emotionally crushing, as witnessing it in the show. At the same time the other half of Storm was about the events that didn't take place in the show yet at the time, so I got my fair share of surprises with Joffrey and Tywin dying, the very bright but sadly brief appearance of Oberyn, the battle at The Wall and Stannis saving the day were all worth it. After that I had my reasons to complain about every single season of Game Of Thrones that came out after, because I knew Martin has written this do much better, than it was depicted.

I was a watcher before I discovered the books. Watched and rewatched the first 7 seasons while waiting for the last one before I decided to read. Reading from their perspectives just hurts at random moments (like the early Arya chapters in AGoT when she feels like Sansa's perfect and she just isn't like that) but Red Wedding really hurt... A LOT. The "Ned loves my hair" just hit me like a tank and made me cry even more

Re: Tyrion. I’m almost done with my re-read of clash of kings, and there are actually multiple red flags in his relationship with Shae that foreshadow his violent murder of her later, so I’d actually disagree that it was a crime of passion. Jaime is my favorite character, probably in all of fiction, but I do think Tyrion is Martin’s best written. Such a fascinating combination of tropes that play with the readers’ expectations and blind spots. At his core I think he is a caring and passionate person, and he still has those instincts as evidenced by how he treats the stark children early in the series. This, along with his excellently sharp sense of humor and cynical outlook, make him supremely a likable “underdog”. However, he’s also been irreparably damaged by the Tysha incident, and now has a very well established and problematic pattern of behavior in terms of getting emotionally involved with prostitutes and then hating them for re-triggering past trauma. It’s such an interesting narrative choice by Martin to have his cathartic murder of his father happen in the same scene as the horrific murder of his “lover”. And then to drop the truth bomb that Tysha wasn’t actually paid off and he’s been lovable this whole time…Absolutely gut wrenching, oof

Just thinking about that chapter and scene in the show makes me want to tear up no joke. It's heart wrenching.

There are even more signs that Robb is going to get betrayed that I found on my second and third time through the series. Bolton had been betraying Robb for longer than people realize and Cat almost put all of the pieces together, which makes it all even more devastating

I love that in the screenshots it says “Read by Kyle”.

We're all emotionally scarred, trust me. I remember when I was reading the Storm of Swords for the first time (I refuse to watch the TV show). I was SO ANGRY at the author, that I boycotted the sequels for YEARS before I continued with the reading. And two or three years later, when I started to read Feast of Crows, I still remember that I threatened the author :) "Kill another child of Ned Stark and I'll officially boycott you for the rest of my life, no matter how great an author you are!" I know it's fiction and fantasy, I know it's not real, I KNOW that. But GRR Martin really has this unique talent of creating characters that literally become your best friends, your lovers and your family.

Just finished binging the audiobooks over the past few months. Need to start the books now. Good luck with with the next two books

I never understood the Catelyn hate. She's one of my favorite POVs from the entire series. Jaime, Tyrion, and so many other POV characters do WAY more disturbing and terrible things but they are much more beloved. Obviously she's held to a different standard being a female character but a lot of people aren't willing to admit that. She is so fascinating and I stand by that.

The scene in the show where cat lifts up Roose's sleeve to find out he is wearing chainmail underneath gives me the chills everytime

17:44 Technically, you're both correct...who's to say that if the Freys had ambushed Rob/Catelyn OUTSIDE somewhere else, that Thoros/Beric's "fire magic" would've worked? I think it's a combo of BOTH: the Frey's breaking guest's rights/Catelyn calling it out, the absolute rage/agony of Catelyn in that moment AND the "Lord of Light"/Fire magic...he only brings ppl back that have a part to play in the war against the darkness... I also think it had something to do w/the Frey's throwing Catelyn into the Trident, they mention "desecration of the Tully funeral tradition"...perhaps if they didnt do that either, it wouldnt have all "worked" to bring her back. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I think I've listened to the novels twice now. Restarted the series last week and I'm still dreading Ned's death and the Red Wedding.

I completely agree about the Cersei/Jamie abuse. I always thought about it in the way that girls mature earlier then boys and therefore it is possible. She surely gets over him quick when she lays with Lancel and later the other kingsguards (can't remember if it is the Kettelbacks?). But throughout the entire story Jamie is always blindly in love with Cercei. I do not quite agree with Jamie "holding everything back" as i actually think he might be the most honest and forthcoming character in the series, considering how he admits to Catlyn how he threw Bran and his incestious relationship with Cersei. Even the killing of king Aries the mad and his reasons to do so. I find him refreshingly honest in a would full of liers and think other characters just have this notion of him due to the general belief that everyone in kings landing is liers.

haha 😂can't believe you weren't spoiled that's insane! I have friends who didn't read or watch it that still know what the red wedding is haha. I'm glad you got the experience though, not to torture you, but because it makes all the other moments of the story better!

In the fandom they refer to joffreys wedding as the purple wedding....I'm not sure why though

This was actually my first ASOIAF book that I read after finishing seasons 1-2 of GoT and being too impatient to wait for season 3. I got both to the Red Wedding at like 3am and when I told my roommate the next morning (who had already read it), he just cackled and called me a sweet summer child because of everything else that happens in the rest of the book 😅And then I had the same thing with the end of the book and I had no one to talk to about it 😭

I started reading when season 2 was just coming out and so I wasn’t caught up by the time the Red Wedding happened in the show so I have a weird connection to it. Funny part, I accidentally got semi spoiled by something online because of something said about Rob having a wolf head but somehow I didn’t get that was what was happening in the moment so it was still surprising thankfully

on Rickon, keep in mind his Direwolf's name is literally Shaggydog... a storytelling term I didn't know until this series.

Yeah regarding Bran or Dany, nobody hated that they had that ending but that it came out of nowhere in the show

I love your ASOIAF videos. It makes me want to reread it so much but I'm waiting to see if next year we have some couraging news about Winds of Winter so I will start my reread with the hope of finishing close to the release

A Feast for Crows is my favorite of the 5 books 🤩

Man, I remember the first time I read the Red Wedding, over 10 years ago, sitting on my floor, back against my sofa, and my heart racing and my stomach turning. Just a brutal experience. I think what gutted me most about it was that, after all of the tragedy Catelyn and Robb had experienced to that point, it felt like they had some solid ground under them. Especially after Catelyn's previous chapter ending with Robb saying "We're going home"... It just felt like you could see the tide turning for them and this was when everything would start breaking their way. Then it all ends in catastrophe.

A Storm of Swords is quite possibly the best book I've ever read! I never really liked Catelyn that much, mostly because of how she treated Jon so I was delighted the red wedding happened and then the purple wedding happened not long after which are two fantastic book changing events. Tyrion's chapters are incredible and he's such an interesting character! I also loved Ygritte's death in the book, it was so beautifully written! 10/10 book

Great review as always!!! Best book ever if you ask me. Gotta copypaste what I wrote in your book 2 video about the character split from books 4 and 5: After book 3, Martin infamously chose to separate characters and plotlines geographically. That means book 4 focuses on some characters after the events of Storm, and book 5 focuses on the rest of the characters that you didn't see in book 4 (until the last third of the fifth book, where everyting unifies again). That's important to know, because there are different approaches you can take for your reading: A) go for the original release order. Both books 4 and 5 are great, although "incomplete" without the other half of characters and plotlines. It's also the way everyone first read them. B) find a guide that combines both books chronologically. They are great and even have different variations in the order of chapters depending of if you're new to the series, or just wanna re read it. I personally recommend mixing both books, because you get a much more cohesive and ambitious feeling of what GRRM is truly cooking with this series (and even comprehend why he might not finish it). Also, you don't stay away from amazing characters and stories for too long. And, you know, it just feels more natural.

Personally A Feast For Crows is my favourite book in the series. I think it could have been edited better... but I LOVE it... I can't wait to hear your review of it.

I remember reading this way back before the third season of the show aired (but after the first season had finished). And I recall needing to stop reading the book for a day or two. Like I remember that feeling the first time I read it. Dont think I've ever had that reaction to a book before. It was great (in a terrible way haha).

Congratulations! You're no longer a sweet summer child ❤

Sad we'll probably have to wait till the new year to see your thoughts on Feast, but yeah Sansa's final chapter in Storm is mayhaps my favorite in the series!

I feel like we’re reading these books at the same time! I’m about half way finished with A Dance With Dragons, can’t wait to see your review❤️

I also took a several month break after A Storm of Swords, I think it helps because Feast and Dance are a lot slower and denser than the first three books, and taking that time to mentally prepare for that helped to temper my expectations knowing that I wasn't gonna get another nail biter after Storm. Don't listen to the haters though, A Feast for Crows is my absolute favorite in the series and I think a lot of the reason it's not popular is just because fans wanted it to be something it wasn't. Take it at its own pace, drink in the characters and the themes and all those delicious food descriptions Martin loves so much, and I hope you enjoy! It's been really great to see a first-timer's perspective on a series that it seemed like everyone already knew so well.

I've been watching your channel for a few months now. In general, I'm horrible at subscribing. Your campfire sponsorship and reasons behind it was enough to make me subscribe. 🔥

I hated Sansa when I was younger. It's that thing where when you're closer to age with a character when you're young, you just think they should be way cooler and a real badass (even though I wasn't lol). Now that I'm older and a father, I'm just like "You poor little girl! Someone freaking save this child!"

That might be the best cold open I have seen in a long while 😂

Nice to hear a reader talk about the Red Wedding this way. I’ve spent years confused why people actually like it was surprising when Robb’s whole story leading to that moment is written as a tragedy.

I had a similar reaction to the show version of the Red Wedding. I watched seasons 1-6 after 6 came out, but before 7 did. I knew the term Red Wedding and I knew an Eddard died (but thought Ned was a different man😅). The show spent so long focusing on Joffrey's wedding build up that I figured it had to be the Red Wedding. I was super side lined by it partly because I knew it existed.

"Emotionally eviscerating emotionally devastating 5 stars" the perfect summary for this book