The short version
A long but unusually eventful midpoint packed with reversals, reckonings, and character transformations.
What it's about
A spoiler-light premise
The wars and bargains of the first two books reach a series of volatile conclusions while old alliances fracture and unexpected ones form. Beyond the immediate contests for power, threats at the edges of the realm continue to grow.
The reading experience
What to expect on the page
- Point of view
- Close third person rotating among a large cast
- Prose style
- Immersive, sharp, and rich in political detail
- Pacing
- Long but packed with escalating reversals
- Story focus
- War, betrayal, transformation, and consequence
- Reading commitment
- Very high — nearly one thousand pages and fully dependent on earlier volumes
You'll probably like it if
Readers who want major payoffs, morally complex transformations, and high political stakes.
Maybe skip it if
You are sensitive to brutal violence or want a gentle, restorative reading experience.
Story profile
Themes & familiar elements
Themes
- Revenge
- Mercy
- Identity
- Consequences of power
Tropes
- Broken alliance
- Trial by combat
- Political wedding
- Return from presumed death
Before you start
Content considerations
Spoiler-light subjects that may matter when choosing this book.
- Graphic violence and death
- Sexual violence
- Torture
- Severe grief and trauma
Editorial perspective
Often the trilogy's payoff volume, A Storm of Swords converts patient setup into sustained consequence. It is also one of the series' harshest books.
Ways to read
Formats & editions
Print edition
973 pages
- Publisher
- Bantam Spectra
- Published
- 2000
Page count and cover can differ between editions.
Audiobook
Narrated by Roy Dotrice
- Runtime
- 47 hrs 34 min
- Edition
- unabridged
- Language
- English
- Listed for
- US
Details verified Aug 10, 2026. Retailer availability and edition details can vary by country.
At a glance
Fantasy Index scorecard
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A Song of Ice and Fire
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