rickl's review: "After looking forward to this, the fifth volume in the series, for so long, I was rather disappointed. I found that I had ceased caring about the characters who hadn't appeared for a thousand pages and several years. While complexity is good, and I'm still prepared to be surprised by the next two volumes tying things together, I agree with many reviewers that the whole saga seems to have gotten out of control. Even though Jon Snow and Arya appear, this has ceased to be about the Starks, and looking back I realize that earlier in the series it was chiefly Eddard, Rob, and Catelyn that kept me anchored and rooting for someone when things were getting confused, although Jaime Lannister was at one time a credible replacement.
Another recent and wildly popular seven-part fantasy series has taught us that the fifth volume of such series tends to be too long and a bit boring and that that doesn't have to have any bearing on the final two volumes. I do hope that health, age, and the pressure of other commitments allow GRRM to finish off the series."Bantam (2011), Hardcover, 1040 pages
小学館 (2008), 文庫, 456 pages