Reviews with content warning for War - Il Trono di Spade

Definitely my favorite so far of the series. It is a well plotted story, and there are numerous successful elements: the world building, the characters, their relationships, the big plot twists. I am glad that I stuck with this series.

In terms of plot, this book is much more interesting than the last, in my opinion. On the crazy shit scale, this book is about a 7/10. If I hadn’t watched the show first, I would have been open-mouthed and wide-eyed the whole time.

On a smaller scale, I love learning details about each character’s history. How each character’s worldview shapes their justification of war, or alternatively, desire for peace. Or even who slept with who or caused some great insult. It’s all very interesting.

I still struggle with this series, sometimes, though. The sexualization of children is incredibly graphic and those moments are often written in first person. Deeply unpleasant and incredibly uncomfortable. For those who defend the author’s sexualization of children — fuck off. Why? Isn’t there another way to adequately convey exploitation or abuse without having the reader engage with it in first person, in such an explicit way? It’s graphic and unnecessary, and pretty disgusting. I think the readers are smart enough to understand the plot with or without those graphic depictions.

I also think some parts of this book are coded a little racist. Hm…

Annnnywayyyy…… in terms of content, I think the good outweighed the bad parts of this book. I probably will read the next one.

Content Warnings

vavocado's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

geminisoul's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

aseas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

specialbread's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so much better than the 2nd book. I was able to read this in a little under a month. The stories behind the book and the character development are very well done.

I was stunned by what went on a little past the middle of the book and how he killed off one of the main characters. I thought something like that would happen, but not in the middle.

This book is very well done, and I don’t know what he could have done to make it more interesting.

Content Warnings

sucordera1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

tieflingmom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

annaparente's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was long, and it took me a long time to read, so something about it needs to be short (that something being this review).

1. I could have done without the following lines (this book could have used a little more editing):

“It felt as good as sex.”

(I can’t remember what this referred to, but it might have been about Tyrion relieving his bladder. Not necessary, George. Not at all.)

“Wedded and bedded.”

(seriously??)

“The beds were stuffed with straw and not too many lice.”

(have you ever had lice, George? I have. Twice. If there is one, there will soon be many. There are either lice, or there are no lice. Nuisance, or lack thereof. There is no in-between.)

2. With that out of the way, here are some random thoughts with no context:

Holy crap, what a book!
The Red Wedding!
All the weddings, really. There were three, and they were all just… wow.
Tyrion is really the only redeeming character.
Petyr Baelish, who tf do you think you are?
I actually kind of like Jaime?? Not sure why I was expecting to hate him tbh.
Ok, but why is Bran’s storyline slowly becoming more and more useless?
Joffrey mwahahahahahaha!!!
(Sansa shouldn't have left her first husband)
Can Daenerys please get to Westeros soon?

3. Wonderful book, overall.
4. I’m getting a little impatient but that didn’t impede my enjoyment of the book.
5. A feast for crows indeed…

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