I was hesitant to read this third book in George R. R. Martin's series - not only because it was 1200 pages long and well, that's daunting, but also because it's almost like marathon reading. It can be quite exhaustive to want to continue reading something at every turn because the writing is so good, the characters are so well imagined, and I become so damn involved in the whole thing. Sean, that illustrious fellow who gave me the first book as a gift, recieved near-daily texts from me of sheer shock at the turns in the plot -

"She's DEAD?!"
"Why do I like Jamie Lannister now?!"
"Horrible, disgusting scene - loved it."
"Just finished the book. WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED. Craziest ending ever. Changes everything. AHHHHHH."

It's worth it to continue on Martin's epic, however, because the characters live so vividly in my mind - I have my favourites, my hated villains, and Martin knows how to play them. He knows how to sentence a favourite character to a worser fate (sometimes even death) and make me stare in shock at the pages, and also surprise me with another side of a villain - which I start to like? Honestly, there are SO many plot turns and revelations I was constantly in shock throughout the book - I opened the paperback so wide at one point as my jaw dropped that I accidentally ripped out a page. Yes, I'm that involved in this series.

And I'll say it here: so far, this third book is the BEST of the series. It's long and daunting, but it's a page-turner. I was always excited to continue in the saga - and now I want to take a breather before starting the fourth book, because the fifth book isn't even out yet! I know others have been waiting for the fifth book for years, but there's no word on when the notoriously slow-writing George R. R. Martin will have it complete and ready to distribute. The only reason I'm okay with this is because I know to produce such detailed and great writing, it must take a lot of arduous time.