What is more important to you? Wealth? Peace? Freedom? With her powers finally under control, the Oncoming Storm returns to Pernula. But not everything is as she left it. There is a new King of the Underworld and he is out for blood. And submission. The Oncoming Storm has no intention of bending the knee to anyone but she is still reluctant to enter yet another power struggle. However, not getting involved turns out to be impossible when her enemy can turn every single underworlder against her. Staying on the sidelines has always been the way she survives, but now the Oncoming Storm might have to step out of the shadows and become something else. A leader. In this fight, the Oncoming Storm will have to draw on everything she has. Skills, wits, friends, and old contacts. And maybe a wicked knife or two. She is determined to win this battle by herself, but her enemy has the Underworld in an iron grip and breaking it on her own sounds more like a desperate dream. Maybe it is time to accept that sometimes, even an arrogant selfish thief must bow to someone?

HBO’s hit series A GAME OF THRONES is based on George R R Martin’s internationally bestselling series A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age. A STORM OF SWORDS: BLOOD AND GOLD is the SECOND part of the third volume in the series. ‘Colossal, staggering . . . one of the greats’ SFX

Some are born to power. Some seize it. And some have the wisdom never to wield it. The Red Knight has stood against soldiers, armies and the might of an empire without flinching. He's fought on real and magical battlefields alike, and now he's facing one of the greatest challenges yet. A tournament. A joyous spring event, the flower of the nobility will ride against each other for royal favor and acclaim. It's a political contest -- one which the Red Knight has the skill to win. But the stakes may be higher than he thinks. The court of Alba has been infiltrated by a dangerous faction of warlike knights, led by the greatest knight in the world: Jean de Vrailly -- and the prize he's fighting for isn't royal favor, but the throne of Alba itself... This is the third book in the Traitor Son Cycle, following on The Red Knight and The Fell Sword.

The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud. In the northern wastes a savage horde is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. Throughout Westeros, the war for the Iron Throne rages more fiercely than ever, but if the Wall is breached, no king will live to claim it.

What would you do to protect everyone you love? Anything. Everything. Whatever it takes. The final battle is here. With the star elves marching on Pernula, the Oncoming Storm and her friends must gather their allies and make one last stand. But it won't be easy. Their enemies have legions of soldiers, chemical weapons, and a powerful magic spell on their side. Not to mention a dragon. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat will be costly, and should they fail, everyone they love will suffer. For most of her life, the Oncoming Storm has only opened her cold black heart to very few people. But now, after all her adventures and everything she has been through, she has found friends and family all across the world whom she would do anything to protect. The only problem is that in war, people are bound to die and get hurt. Fear gnaws at her soul, because even with her considerable powers, the Oncoming Storm knows that she might not be enough to protect everyone she loves. Every weapon will count, every ally will be vital, every skill will be used, and every single card will be played before the end. But will it be enough? And who will be left standing when the streets are running red with blood? Because the war will end. One way or another. But not everyone will be there to see a new world born...

THE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO. Here is the third volume in George R. R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin’s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction. A STORM OF SWORDS Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King’s Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. . . . But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others--a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords. . . .