Britain has played a major rule on the world stage for so long it is difficult to imagine what the modern world would look like if this little group of islands off the coast of Europe had not keen united trough many long centuries of war, bitter rivalry, uneasy compromise and occasional trickery.
This new English translation of the Faroe-Islander Saga (Faereyinga saga)–a great medieval Icelandic saga–tells the story of the first settlers on these wind-swept islands at the edge of the Scandinavian world. Written by an anonymous 13th-century Icelander, the saga centers on the enduring animosity between Sigmundur Brestirsson and Thrandur of Gota, rival chieftains whose bitter disagreements on the introduction of Christianity to the Faroe Islands set the stage for much violence and a feud which then unfolds over generations of their descendants.
This volume is dominated by the almost continual confrontation of great armies. For the fourth time, the Army of the Potomac (now under the control of Burnside) attempts to take Richmond, resulting in the bloodbath at Fredericksburg. Then Joe Hooker tries again, only to be repulsed at Chancellorsville as Stonewall Jackson turns his flank, a bitter victory for the South, paid for by the death of Lee's foremost lieutenant.
V.I. Warshawski is confronted with the mysterious death of a young woman at a local hospital and the preliminary investigation produces horrifying results.
A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III
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.