Two words: HOLY. COW. 
 Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: HAHA, um, wow. So how do I review A STORM OF SWORDS??? Okay, I guess let's go back to the beginning... I first started this two months ago for A Song of Ice and Fire Read Along, book number three! Unlike books one and two, I was actually immediately hooked and ended up breezing through over 100 pages in one sitting. 
 I feel like each book is going deeper and deeper into the political plots of the world of Westeros (and beyond) and there are some characters' chapters who solely exist to show a different side of that political conflict (like Davos... *eye roll*... Davos.) because otherwise we'd be completely clueless as to what people like Stannis Baratheon are doing. As a person who doesn't usually get into political conflicts, I've actually been pretty engaged with most of it. It's incredibly interesting to see the battle for the Iron Throne and who really will become the true king. There are several people battling for it let's face it... This is George R.R. Martin. ANYTHING can happen. 
 There's one thing I noticed, particularly while reading A STORM OF SWORDS, and that's that Martin has a way of very slowly unrolling a chapter and then BAM! It ends on some kind of wild and crazy note or line or event. I love the surprise but it kiiiiind of drives me nuts. I'll be a bit bored throughout the chapter and then it ends with something that totally catches me off guard in a bit of AWESOME and I'm left waiting for that character's chapter to roll around again. Then again, those are the kinds of things that make the Davos chapters bearable. (Can you tell I'm not quite a Davos fan?) 
 So, guys. I've seen all of two episodes of the TV show so far which I only watched after I finished those chapters in the book. And I watched this clip of Dany because Alyssa told me I had to watch after I finished that part in the book (okay, obvs don't watch it if you need to avoid spoilers!) and once more confirmed... Dany is BADASS. 
 Anyway... the point that I was making is that I had heard about The Red Wedding but somehow managed to avoid spoilers of what actually happened until I read it in the book. This was both good and bad. I was so happy & proud that I managed to avoid ALL of the spoilers floating out there (it was not easy...) but I was also just WAITING for it to happen the. whole. book. I was basically reading so I could get to The Red Wedding because I HAD to know what happened. The suspense was incredible but at the same time, I almost hyped it up for myself too much because I imagined every possible and terrible situation that could happen and I was so scared as to what it could possibly be. When I finally got there.... Yes, it was insanity FOR SURE, but I think I imagined way too many things and the shock factor was lost on me a bit. I was waiting for it and I knew it was coming so although I was surprised by what actually happened, I wasn't caught off guard by it... Although I will say that imagining watching that will probably be WAY WAY worse than reading it. Okay, I'll stop. No spoilers, I promise. 
 A STORM OF SWORDS had the most shocking moments for me, I think, with maybe a few exceptions that totally knocked me off my feet in A GAME OF THRONES. It was definitely my favorite of the series so far and folks... if you've only watched the show and haven't read the books, I have it on good authority that the show stopped before several surprises at the end of book three were revealed... Be prepared for some more good twists in season four!