I was a bit disappointed with Martin's _A Clash of Kings_, which I found to be inferior to his incredible _A Game of Thrones_. _Storm of Swords_, though, is a masterpiece.Be prepared to feel hate, love, fear, pity, guilt, despair, and a myriad of other emotions towards these characters. Yes, you'll care about them. And be prepared to gasp in surprise when the unexpected suddenly hits the page you're on. Martin can do that with the turn of a phrase, having earlier slipped in unnociteable setups behind your back. _A Storm of Swords_ is that kind of book.It's not without its faults. Some of the POVs are dangerously dull in the first 450 pages of the book, and Martin's strataegy of ending almost every single chapter from a certain point of the book on with a huge cliffhanger can be exiting but also frustrating at the same time, since it could be 300 pages or so before you actually reach the same POV again.But those are small faults. _A Storm of Swords_ is just too good to be true.