Storm of swords and death

"You have to get through half the book before people die," is what Face told me concerning book three of the Game of Thrones series.

And he was right. All the books are blurring together (which should happen in a series where the storyline is continuous), so I can't remember if it was this book or the second one where the beginning says HEY that last book ended with a battle and you want to know if Tyrion is dead but instead, we are going to BACK UP and tell you what other peeps were doing DURING the battle.

So I don't know if I should be annoyed at this book or still at the last one. Either way, once main characters start being killed off, the action really starts. The question is: why does it take such serious demolition of the character list to keep my attention? To be fair, I'm also all attention when the dragons are around. Who wouldn't be? They are dragons.

Regardless, I'm taking a break before book four. Because it's even bigger and the last time I waited 300 pages for something to get amazing it was Dickens and Bleak House and it got crazy amazing. Storm of Swords - in the second half - was entertaining enough to warrant reading it but I'm still mad about wasting my time on the first half.

That being said, in the second half I came to love a character I once disliked (losing a hand really changes you). A character I loathed gets poisoned (take that imaginary character!). Another characte I loathed gets pushed out a window by a man she loved (ouch). A character I root for finally gets recognized. Oh, and dragons. Always dragons.

In the end, I basically should have done what my students do and SparkNoted the first half of the book and started reading around page 400.

"I am the sword in the darkness, I am the watcher on the walls, I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men."
George R. R. Martin