Out of the entire "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, this one is by far my personal favorite novel. I know many other readers disliked parts of the book, and I can understand the criticism and definitely share portions of them. But none of the other books managed to entertain me in such a way ACoK did. One of the reasons probably was the fact that I haven't been spoiled before reading this book, as was the case with the three following novels, and I read it very slowly in order to be able to fully absorb the most intriguing aspects of the plot and the writing style and to relate with the characters. Arya's and Tyrion's chapters were my absolute favorites, closely followed by Davos and Catelyn. The climax - superb! No other story has ever managed to make my heart rush like this. Dany's storyline was a little bit frustrating to follow and more impact by Tywin, as was seen in the show in his converging storyline with Arya, would have been awesome, but those are minor nit-picks. Amazing book!