I'm not doing full-fledged book reviews like
theferrett, but I'll generally say a bit about what I thought of the book. That said...#1: A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
This is the third book of the series. So even mentioning anything from the beginning of the book would vastly spoil the first two books. I'm enjoying the hell out of the series, though. And understanding that GRRM's reputation for wantonly killing off characters is well-deserved. It took a little while to get it through my head that, yes, anybody can die in these books; I'm used to slightly more "traditional" narratives where the viewpoint character is all but assured of surviving intact to the end of the book, and accomplishing most of his goals. But this universe doesn't work like that. The author switches viewpoint characters every chapter, so narrative convenience need not get in the way of killing off anyone the story requires.
I also really like that the speed at and manner in which news travels is such an important component of the story. Characters often don't learn of vital plot twists until well after they've occurred, and as likely as not that's when the reader learns of them as well. It was very briefly frustrating to me at the beginning of the series to see so much of the action happening "off-screen", but it's a wonderful device for heightening the tension of the book, as there is often no reason to think that something has happened until you hear the news.
My only complaint is a variation on the standard one: I've only got one more book to go until I run out of what he's written so far. So do I wait for a publication date for book 5 before I read book 4? I'm not picking up A Feast for Crows immediately, but we'll see.
Next up: Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice for All Creation by Olivia Judson this morning. It was a gift from
xaandria, and it's a lot of fun so far.