The War of the Five Kings continues to rage, its devastation reaching almost every corner of the Seven Kingdoms. On the Iron Throne sits the cruel boy-king, Joffrey, while his grandfather, Lord Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King, maneuvers to secure Joffrey’s reign—and with it, the dominance of House Lannister. Tywin plots the downfall of King Stannis Baratheon, still reeling from his defeat at the Battle of the Blackwater, and the “Young Wolf,” Robb Stark, who continues his campaign in the West despite having lost his homeland in the North.

Meanwhile, the exiled queen Daenerys Targaryen carves a path through another blood-soaked continent, seeking to liberate hundreds of thousands of slaves and amass an army to reclaim her kingdom, accompanied by the world’s only three living dragons.

To the North, a massive army of Wildlings prepares to assault the Wall and invade the Seven Kingdoms—an army joined by Jon Snow of the Night’s Watch acting as a spy. Yet, something far worse advances from the Far North: the true enemy, whom almost everyone has ignored in their petty squabbles, and whom all the armies of the earth may not be able to deter.

_  George R.R. Martin

_  Hesham Fahmy