A Song Of Ice And Fire: Every Book Ranked Worst To Best
4. A Storm Of Swords: Steel And Snow
Picking up after A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow focuses on the closing stages of the War of the Five Kings, and moves at a noticeably slower pace than its two predecessors. Though there is a different feel to this installment, it is no bad thing.
Martin is an expert at not only the big battle pieces evident throughout the whole series, but also the slower, more character driven chapters that move the story forward. Without the events of A Storm of Swords Part One, the huge moments later in the saga would be nowhere near as effective.
One of the biggest examples of this is Brienne of Tarth, and her journey across the country with Jaime Lannister. At this point the reader knows relatively little about the former, and no doubt thinks of the latter as one of the most villainous characters of the entire saga. Steel and Snow is where all of this starts to change, with Brienne beginning to grow and evolve into a main character, and Jaime's hidden honour becoming more and more apparent.
There are few better examples of the genius of George R. R. Martin's talent for character development than Ser Jaime Lannister.