A Storm of Swords-Weakest book in the Series?

[King Slayer]

So far, I've read AGOT, ACOK, ASOS, and AFFC. I've enjoyed every single one, but I found that ASOS was a little disappointing and slow, especially compared to the first two books. ASOS has some of the best scenes in the series, i.e. the red wedding, but I found for the most part that not a whole lot went on. The Lannisters were just hanging out in Kings Landing and Robb was just chillin in Riverrun. Daenerys only has about 3-4 chapters to herself, which was disappointing. And finally, I felt that there was too much Jon Snow. His stories are interesting, but a little goes a long way, especially when you care more about whats going on down south.

On the bright side however, I thought that Jaime's and Arya's chapters were superb.

[Leuf]

The majority of people seem to rate ASOS as the best book of the 5 so far, and I would be in that camp.

[Winterfell is Burning]

NOTHING HAPPENED?

Seriously, one can have any criticism for ASOS, but in this book we had:

• The Red Wedding, one of the most shocking moments I have ever read. Causes the death of two of the most important characters, dozens of minor ones, virtually kills the Northern rebellion;
  
• Joffrey is finally murdered;
  
• Tyrion is unfairly blamed for it, is forced to become a fugitive, finds out he was part of the rape of the only woman that ever loved him, kills his father;
  
• Balon Greyjoy dies too, so 3 of the 5 kings die in this book;
  
• Jaime loses his hand, undergoes through some major changes, questioning his own value and his life, reunites with his family;
  
• Varys himself is forced to hide, and will have to operate (even more) in the shadows;
  
• Jon joins the wildlings, finds love, a new way of live, but is forced to leave it all. Rejoins the Watch and becomes Lord Commander after the Old Bear dies;
  
• Littlefinger makes a very sucessful power play, obtains control of two of the 7 kingdoms, kills Lysa, has Sansa with him;
  
• Davos rises to Hand of the King, but sees Melissandre power over Stannis increase;
  
• Stannis goes to the Wall to stop the Wilding invasion;
  
• Dany has an army over her control, frees slaves, takes control of a major city.
  
• Jorah's secret is revealed to Dany and he is forced to leave;
  
• Roose Bolton tries a coup to become the most powerful man in the North;
  
• Bran...well, I give you that, nothing much happens to him.
  

[WillWork4NinjaPowers]

Seriously?

[Tormund the Hornblower]

Wow this guy is talking craziness!

[Spidey]

Heretic!!

[BrosBeforeSnows]

To each his own, but this is how I rank them:

#1. ASOS

#2. ADWD

#3. ACOK

#4. AFFC

#5. AGOT

[ZacharyB]

NOTHING HAPPENED?

Seriously, one can have any criticism for ASOS, but in this book we had:

• The Red Wedding, one of the most shocking moments I have ever read. Causes the death of two of the most important characters, dozens of minor ones, virtually kills the Northern rebellion;
  
• Joffrey is finally murdered;
  
• Tyrion is unfairly blamed for it, is forced to become a fugitive, finds out he was part of the rape of the only woman that ever loved him, kills his father;
  
• Balon Greyjoy dies too, so 3 of the 5 kings die in this book;
  
• Jaime loses his hand, undergoes through some major changes, questioning his own value and his life, reunites with his family;
  
• Varys himself is forced to hide, and will have to operate (even more) in the shadows;
  
• Jon joins the wildlings, finds love, a new way of live, but is forced to leave it all. Rejoins the Watch and becomes Lord Commander after the Old Bear dies;
  
• Littlefinger makes a very sucessful power play, obtains control of two of the 7 kingdoms, kills Lysa, has Sansa with him;
  
• Davos rises to Hand of the King, but sees Melissandre power over Stannis increase;
  
• Stannis goes to the Wall to stop the Wilding invasion;
  
• Dany has an army over her control, frees slaves, takes control of a major city.
  
• Jorah's secret is revealed to Dany and he is forced to leave;
  
• Roose Bolton tries a coup to become the most powerful man in the North;
  
• Bran...well, I give you that, nothing much happens to him.
  

I don't think he ever said nothing happened...

Reread his post. He's saying that besides all that OMGWTFBBQPLOTTWISTOMGSOEXCITINGREDWEDDINGPURPLEWEDDINGTYRIONFUGITIVEDANYTAKESOVERCITIES stuff, the book was rather dull, and I have to agree. It was rather boring until the Red Wedding forward.

And he said Jamie and Arya's chapters were superb, so I'm sure he knows what happened to Jamie.

[H.T. Lannister]

I think ACOK was the more dull of the books. After AGOT, it was slow. It only picked up at the battle on the Blackwater; whereas, ASOS picked up at the Red Wedding, which was earlier in the book than that battle had been.

[-jelena-]

So far, I've read AGOT, ACOK, ASOS, and AFFC. I've enjoyed every single one, but I found that ASOS was a little disappointing and slow, especially compared to the first two books. ASOS has some of the best scenes in the series, i.e. the red wedding, but I found for the most part that not a whole lot went on. The Lannisters were just hanging out in Kings Landing and Robb was just chillin in Riverrun. Daenerys only has about 3-4 chapters to herself, which was disappointing. And finally, I felt that there was too much Jon Snow. His stories are interesting, but a little goes a long way, especially when you care more about whats going on down south.

On the bright side however, I thought that Jaime's and Arya's chapters were superb.

Compared to ACOK and especially AFFC a whole lot did go on. Winterfell is Burning has already mentioned some of the happenings. I’ll just add:

Dany has 6 chapters; 4 of them dedicated to conquering 3 cities. Jon Snow has many chapters, true, but his arc in ASOS includes: spying on the wildlings, running from the wildlings, battles at the Wall, Stannis’s arrival and choosing Jon as the Lord Commander. But, you mentioned Arya who has 13 (!) chapters just wandering around and adding nothing to any of the main stories (unlike the other POV characters). Cat and Tyrion’s chapters may be a little slow in the beginning of ASOS, I agree.

Enjoy ASOS or not, but I can not really see how can anyone say that not a whole lot went on :dunno:

[ICE CROW]

Everyone has their opinions, you know the saying different strokes for different folks. I don't hear to many people say that they felt ASOS was the least interesting though, especially when compared with AFFC. Don't get me wrong i love every book for it's own reasons including AFFC, in my opinion though this was the slower and even hardest book to get into in the series for me at least. Some great things happen in a AFFC but i definitely can't say ASOS is a slower or less interesting read.

In ASOS we havre

all hell breaking out at the wall, Jon beginning to fulfill what seems to be the start of a larger destiny. We have bran tracking through the North, on his way north of the wall to a fate he doesn't know. We have what so far is the most tragic scene in the whole series, the Red Wedding. We have Arya's tragic and troubled journey to find her way home, which evolves into one of the most interesting storylines in the whole book. We have Jaime and Brienne's distrust and eventual mutual respect relationship form. We see everything that happens in Kings Landing from a wedding of royalty to a scene we have all been waiting and praying for since AGOT. We see the Hound trying to find a place for himself, also see a side of him near the end that shows he's more than a heartless murderer.

There are even more great things i could go on about, ASOS has many hidden moments that need to be reread to truly appreciate them. I tried to leave what i did write about as vague as possible, as to not give anything away to some who is still reading, who gets too curious.

I would recommend using more spoiler tags when discussing in great detail specific scenes, or even as some posts here have done pretty much an exact breakdown of all the good stuff. This is the Still Reading Forum, anyone who enters risks spoilers obviously but as the name implies, some people reading this might not have finished the book yet.

[Hear Me Roar!]

I don't think he ever said nothing happened...

Reread his post. He's saying that besides all that OMGWTFBBQPLOTTWISTOMGSOEXCITINGREDWEDDINGPURPLEWEDDINGTYRIONFUGITIVEDANYTAKESOVERCITIES stuff, the book was rather dull, and I have to agree. It was rather boring until the Red Wedding forward.

And he said Jamie and Arya's chapters were superb, so I'm sure he knows what happened to Jamie.

He said not much happened besides the Red Wedding.

And the poster you quoted proved him wrong.

I'm all about having criticism and an opinion, but there comes a point when some opinions are just out there. But hey, everyone's got one ....

[Ile de Le Fleur]

to each his own, I don't disagree with your opinion, but to me all the books run together as one. I haven't taken a single break since starting GOT, so sometimes its hard to distinguish minor events from whichever book they came from. That said, I think SOS is my favorite simply because it is SO F'NG LONG. And, I suppose, it served as an "empire strikes back" sort of deal with the first huge story arc.

As far as single most exciting scene, I'd have to give that to the fight on the Blackwater, my eyes were reading faster than my brain could handle. But I think overall SOS contains the most important events that take place in the series (so far)

[ZacharyB]

He said not much happened besides the Red Wedding.

And the poster you quoted proved him wrong.

I'm all about having criticism and an opinion, but there comes a point when some opinions are just out there. But hey, everyone's got one ....

He also said that the book had some of the best scenes in the book. I'm assuming the Red Wedding was just an example of one of those scenes, and he's also acknowledging all the other big plot twists that happened but that, other than the big twists, the book was just boring. That's how I took it anyway, you all are just taking him literally.

But hey, he hasn't posted back, so we can't know for sure.

[Brucolac]

I like ASoS second best because it does have a bunch going on, but it is also where GRRM started to go out of control with POVs that led to the massive delays and inferior product he is putting out now.

[Ile de Le Fleur]

I like ASoS second best because it does have a bunch going on, but it is also where GRRM started to go out of control with POVs that led to the massive delays and inferior product he is putting out now.

I have only just started ffc so I can't really comment on the 'inferior product he's putting out now' but why do you say that?

I'm guessing you don't like the wights/others, the ressurection storylines, and maybe you're pissed off Robb's dead?

Again, I'm all for opinions, just curious why it went downhill for you.

[ZacharyB]

I have only just started ffc so I can't really comment on the 'inferior product he's putting out now' but why do you say that?

I'm guessing you don't like the wights/others, the ressurection storylines, and maybe you're pissed off Robb's dead?

Again, I'm all for opinions, just curious why it went downhill for you.

Lots of POVs, slower pace, less action, lots of travelogue, pointless POVs.

I don't mind so much, but those seem to be the popular reasons.

[Brucolac]

ZacharyB sums it up pretty well. He actually introduces POVs that are complete dead ends that have more chapters then original POVs once you get to ADwD. AFoC, which I think is a better book then ADwD, is comprised of almost entirely new POVs creating new story arcs to muddle the overall plot progression; with one of them being a character who's only purpose is to wander around and show the state of the Riverlands while they are on a fool's errand. I don't dislike all of the additions, but everyone he adds means less chapters and less progression of the established POVs that caught our interest in the first place.

I like ASoS, but it opened the doors to what I consider to be a mess now.

[Frozen Soul]

For me ASOS is certainly a turning point for the series a lot changes regarding the amount of POVs, narrative pace and even westeros itself, when you throw magic into the ecuation once more after so long that its people believe its all myths and legends, not to mention the shifts of power. Who knows maybe its the calm before the storm and everything will come together somehow... :dunno:

[Tyrion Hand of the King]

So far, I've read AGOT, ACOK, ASOS, and AFFC. I've enjoyed every single one, but I found that ASOS was a little disappointing and slow, especially compared to the first two books. ASOS has some of the best scenes in the series, i.e. the red wedding, but I found for the most part that not a whole lot went on. The Lannisters were just hanging out in Kings Landing and Robb was just chillin in Riverrun. Daenerys only has about 3-4 chapters to herself, which was disappointing. And finally, I felt that there was too much Jon Snow. His stories are interesting, but a little goes a long way, especially when you care more about whats going on down south.

On the bright side however, I thought that Jaime's and Arya's chapters were superb.

I almost can't tell if this is a joke or not... You are certainly in the vast minority.