Nearly half through A Storm of Swords

This is NOT a world I love to visit.  It is a terrifying world full of evil and greed.  But, like The Lord of the Rings, it has great characters struggling against enormous odds, and I love to visit them.  This book is even better than the last two, though, for the most part we are still in the deteriorating action.  Terrible things are happening and are going to happen, and I've got to get back to it right now!