George R.R. Martin - A Storm of Swords - Part 1 Steel and Snow

BOOK THREE OF

A Song of Ice and Fire

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpervoyagerbooks.com

Previously published in paperback by Voyager in 2001, 2003, 2011

First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2000

Copyright © George R.R. Martin 2000

Cover illustration © Larry Rostant. Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Game of Thrones™ The Original Series based on A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin © 2011 Home Box Office, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. HBO and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

George R.R. Martin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780006479901

Ebook Edition © April 2012 ISBN: 9780007447756

Version: 2019-03-14

‘This is one of those rare and effortless reads.’

ROBIN HOBB

‘George R. R. Martin is one of our very best writers, and this is one of his very best books.’

RAYMOND E. FEIST

‘Such a splendid tale. I read my eyes out – I couldn’t stop till I’d finished and it was dawn.’

ANNE MCCAFFREY

‘George Martin is assuredly a new master craftsman in the guild of heroic fantasy.’

KATHARINE KERR

‘Few created worlds are as imaginative and diverse.’

JANNY WURTS

For Phyllis

who made me put the dragons in

Cover

Title Page A STORM OF SWORDS PART ONE: STEEL AND SNOW BOOK THREE OF A Song of Ice and Fire

Copyright Copyright HarperVoyager An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpervoyagerbooks.com Previously published in paperback by Voyager in 2001, 2003, 2011 First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2000 Copyright © George R.R. Martin 2000 Cover illustration © Larry Rostant. Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019 Game of Thrones™ The Original Series based on A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin © 2011 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. HBO and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. George R.R. Martin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780006479901 Ebook Edition © April 2012 ISBN: 9780007447756 Version: 2019-03-14

Praise for A Song of Ice and Fire Praise for A Song of Ice and Fire: ‘This is one of those rare and effortless reads.’ ROBIN HOBB ‘George R. R. Martin is one of our very best writers, and this is one of his very best books.’ RAYMOND E. FEIST ‘Such a splendid tale. I read my eyes out – I couldn’t stop till I’d finished and it was dawn.’ ANNE MCCAFFREY ‘George Martin is assuredly a new master craftsman in the guild of heroic fantasy.’ KATHARINE KERR ‘Few created worlds are as imaginative and diverse.’ JANNY WURTS

Dedication For Phyllis who made me put the dragons in

A Note on Chronology A NOTE ON CHRONOLOGY A Song of Ice and Fire is told through the eyes of characters who are sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles apart from one another. Some chapters cover a day, some only an hour; others might span a fortnight, a month, half a year. With such a structure, the narrative cannot be strictly sequential; sometimes important things are happening simultaneously, a thousand leagues apart. In the case of the volume now in hand, the reader should realize that the opening chapters of A Storm of Swords do not follow the closing chapters of A Clash of Kings so much as overlap them. I open with a look at some of the things that were happening on the Fist of the First Men, at Riverrun, Harrenhal, and on the Trident while the Battle of the Blackwater was being fought at King’s Landing, and during its aftermath ... George R.R. Martin

Maps

Prologue

Jaime

Catelyn

Arya

Tyrion

Davos

Sansa

Jon

Daenerys

Bran

Davos

Jaime

Tyrion

Arya

Catelyn

Jon

Sansa

Arya

Samwell

Tyrion

Catelyn

Jaime

Arya

Daenerys

Bran

Davos

Jon

Daenerys

Sansa

Arya

Jon

Jaime

Tyrion

Samwell

Arya

Catelyn

Davos

Jaime

Tyrion

Arya

Bran

Jon

Appendix: The Kings and their Courts

The King on the Iron Throne

The King in the North the King of the Trident

The King in the Narrow Sea

The Queen Across the Water

King of the Isles and the North

Other Houses Great and Small

House Arryn

House Florent

House Frey

House Lannister

House Martell

House Tully

House Tyrell

Rebels, Rogues, and Sworn Brothers

The Sworn Brothers of the Night’s Watch

The Brotherhood Without Banners an Outlaw Fellowship

The Wildlings, or the Free Folk

Acknowledgments

About the Author

By George R.R. Martin

About the Publisher

A Song of Ice and Fire is told through the eyes of characters who are sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles apart from one another. Some chapters cover a day, some only an hour; others might span a fortnight, a month, half a year. With such a structure, the narrative cannot be strictly sequential; sometimes important things are happening simultaneously, a thousand leagues apart.

In the case of the volume now in hand, the reader should realize that the opening chapters of A Storm of Swords do not follow the closing chapters of A Clash of Kings so much as overlap them. I open with a look at some of the things that were happening on the Fist of the First Men, at Riverrun, Harrenhal, and on the Trident while the Battle of the Blackwater was being fought at King’s Landing, and during its aftermath ...