Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

20 reviews

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

5.0

Insane. I can’t believe I ever put off finishing this book. George R. R. Martin never disappoints. I began reading this book at an inopportune time. University is stressful and took up all my time which took my focus away from enjoying A Storm of Swords. Now that’s it’s summer and I had the time to dedicate to a thorough read I mended my ways and dived head first. 

Even after watching Game of Thrones the shock and entertainment value of the events of this book never changes. This has to be my favorite of the series so far. So many terrible things happened in such quick succession I was constantly thrown from storyline to storyline at breakneck pace. In some books that would’ve been a fault but Martin has mastered a cohesive narrative despite all the separate elements happening at once. 

I will never recover from the red wedding. Never in a million year. I loved Robb so much, ever since I was introduced to Game of Thrones and then the books. He deserved at least one point of view chapter. I mourn for him but also for the lost potential of his life. I wish we could’ve seen his thoughts and understood him truly. 

On the same note I mourn for Catelyn. Not only because who she originally was is lost, but also because the fanbase villainizes her to an obscene degree. She will always be justified in my eyes. Speaking of her, the epilogue had me going absolutely insane with excitement. FINALLY we are introduced to the infamous Lady Stoneheart! The TikTok fanbase promises so much about her so I am excited to see how she plays into the narrative in the future. Like all other A Song of Ice and Fire fans I desperately wish she was a part of the tv series. They hate to see a scorned woman winning. Catelyn deserves her revenge and I will be supporting her the whole way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

samflowerv6's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

the best book I’ve ever read. A masterpiece. I will never forget this story. Out of ASOIAF, this is the best one so far!

“Every man must die, Jon Snow. But first he must live.”

“Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time.”

“Woman?” She chuckled. “Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man.” Dany met his stare. “I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, khaleesi to Drogo’s riders, and queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.”

I am the blood of the dragon. I must be strong. I must have fire in my eyes when I face them, not tears.
 

“It hurts so much, she thought. Our children, Ned, all our sweet babes. Rickon, Bran, Arya, Sansa, Robb… Robb… please, Ned, please, make it stop, make it stop hurting… The white tears and the red ones ran together until her face was torn and tattered, the face that Ned had loved. Catelyn Stark raised her hands and watched the blood run down her long fingers, over her wrists, beneath the sleeves of her gown. Slow red worms crawled along her arms and under her clothes. It tickles. That made her laugh until she screamed. “Mad,” someone said, “she’s lost her wits,” and someone else said, “Make an end,” and a hand grabbed her scalp just as she’d done with Jinglebell, and she thought, No, don’t, don’t cut my hair, Ned loves my hair. Then the steel was at her throat, and its bite was red and cold.— Catelyn Stark”

“Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game.”
“What . . . what game?”
“The only game. The game of thrones.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kkalicky94's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ellieah456's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

This is quite possibly the best fantasy novel of all time. Not a lot compares. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ten_telegrams's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

vigil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

linnylionheart's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Cannibalism, and Abortion

Further content warning: bestiality (moderate)

kingcrookback's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

It took me...so long to finally finish this, mostly due to the sheer length. Super excited to finally be able to move on to AFFC (though I probably should take a break in order to avoid burnout). Though I do have some complicated feelings about some of GRRM's writing choices, I ultimately think he created one hell of an interesting sandbox to play in--especially since I like picking things apart and the intertwining POVs and massive world give me a lot to work with. Even when I found certain POVs somewhat dull or grating, I still found their journeys interesting. For example,

it didn't take very long at all for Tyrion to get on my nerves, but his character journey from AGOT up until this point is pretty heartbreaking--slowly coming to the belief that no one will ever love him, no matter what what he does to try and earn it. Even Jaime, the one person in the world he's absolutely sure loves him, Tyrion learns has betrayed him. Devastating.

I am begging GRRM to finish this fucking series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Alcohol, and Classism

river24's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

5/5
This is a beast of a book!
It’s won its place as my favourite book in the series so far (this is the third) because it was so incredibly captivating from start to finish.
The writing is always so detailed and beautiful, I’m in awe of it !! I think it’s my absolute favourite writing style. The world is so rich and plentiful and I love discovering more and more of it.
There were so many twists and turns, every time you thought things would settle down again another twist struck you in the back of the head (in the best way possible)!!
I discovered a new all-time favourite fight scene in this book, it was written perfectly and was very emotive and powerful, too.
One of my favourite characters finally got a POV ! The characters are always so complex and fleshed out, with ever-changing morals and motivations. One of my favourite aspects of this book was the unexpected friendships and unlikely alliances of certain characters, seeing those unique dynamics was incredible.
I also loved learning more world and family history (I’m a big nerd for all aspects of world-building)
Every inch of this story was jam-packed with action and intrigue and I adored it!! It was very hefty (weighing in at almost 1200 pages!) but 100% worth it :))
Some of my favourite quotes were; ‘We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our steads.’ ‘We look up at the same stars and see such different things.’
As a disclaimer, I do want to say that there’s obviously a lot you have to overlook in order to enjoy game of thrones and I completely understand that some people just aren’t able to do that. Please check trigger warnings before you read !! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abortion, and Pregnancy

christik's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Incest, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury