Bantam Books published A Storm of Swords in a single volume in the United States in November 2000, [16] whereas some other-language editions were divided into two, three, or even four volumes. On the continent of Essos, east of Westeros across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys is married off by her elder brother Viserys Targaryen to a powerful warlord, but slowly becomes an independent and intelligent ruler in her own right. Meanwhile, HBO acquired the rights to turn A Song of Ice and Fire into a fantasy drama series in 2007 [54] and aired the first of ten episodes covering A Game of Thrones in April 2011.

Attracted to gray characters, [122] Martin instead endorses William Faulkner's view that only the human heart in conflict with itself was worth writing about. The First Men's attempts to chop down forests and cultivate the land led to a millennia-long war with the Children of the Forest, that eventually was settled by an agreement known as "The Pact". S 16] [S 26] The sea has worn away much of the rock on which Pyke originally stood, so the castle now consists mostly of a main keep on the main island and smaller towers perched on rocks surrounded by sea. The storylines are to converge again, but finding the turning point in this complex series has been difficult for Martin and has slowed down his writing. Main characters are killed off so that the reader will not rely on the hero to come through unscathed and will instead feel the character's fear with each page turn.His descriptive prose is immediate and atmospheric, especially when it comes to building a sense of deliciously dark foreboding [of the long impending winter].

At the novel's beginning, the majority of Westeros is united under the rule of a single king, whose seat is the "Iron Throne" in the city of King's Landing. In the third volume, A Storm of Swords, the Night's Watch storyline becomes increasingly entangled with the War of the Five Kings.His imagined backstory remains subject to change until published, and only the novels count as canon.