A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin {Character Analysis)

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Last night, I finished reading A Storm of Swords, the third book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. This won't be a review really, more just a collection of my initial thoughts after finishing the book. There will be spoilers, certainly for the first two books, and probably for this one as well, so be warned. If you're watching the TV series, this goes beyond what has aired so far, so there might be spoilers for that too, though I'll try to avoid them. If you are worried about spoilers, DON'T READ THIS.

My Review
I was really impressed by the character development in this series, but particularly in this book. For example, take Sansa. In the first book, I really didn't like her. I found her irritating, and a little flighty. In the second book, I started to feel sorry for her, but in this book, I really began to respect her. She went through incredible things for someone her age, and made very difficult choices, but stayed strong through it. By the end, I felt so, so sorry for her, but also really liked her. Another example is her sister Arya. I have always liked Arya, but in this book, I began to feel like she's gotten a little detached. By the end, I was almost a little afraid of what she would do. Her circumstances would have made her become that way, and George R. R. Martin created that change in her perfectly. Warning, possible spoilers in the following paragraph.

This book was a little shocking. With a number of major character deaths, a few weddings, and more shocking revelations, it was quite a page turner. There were a number of points where the thing that happened was the one thing that I was absolutely sure could not happen. Here are some of my opinions about characters as of the end of the book. My thoughts of them change all the time, so I think its interesting to record who I do and don't like at the end of each book. Warning: Spoilers may follow.

Arya and the Hound.

Some characters who I like now, but didn't before, or didn't expect to like, are Jaime Lannister (I love his relationship with Brienne), Sansa Stark, Ygritte (in a way, she was really a good thing), and sort of the Hound. I didn't really like him for sure, but my respect for him grew a lot during the last half of the book. Other favorites (but not new favorites), are Tyrion Lannister, Bran Stark, Samwell Tarly, and Jon Snow. Some that I am less sure about, but once liked (and don't really dislike), are Arya Stark (she's gone through a lot, and it's taken a tole), and Daenerys (she scares me. She's gone through unimaginable things, and she's kind of gone crazy.). I straight up don't like Cersei, Melisandre, Tywin Lannister, and Joffrey Baratheon.

The most interesting part of the series to me is the way the characters change, and how my thoughts on them change. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these people too (though please, no spoilers for anything beyond A Storm of Swords).

As usual, I should mention that while I personally love these books and would highly recommend them, they are NOT books intended for young readers. They include quite a bit of sex, swearing, and violence. Keep that in mind when choosing whether to read these books.