Given that this series is called “A Song of Ice and Fire”, it’s interesting that there are, basically, no songs at all in the first two books, and a veritable cornucopia in the third. (And as far as I can tell, precious few from there on out.)

The songs themselves are kind of interesting (particularly The Bear and the Maiden Fair, which is some not so subtle foreshadowing), but their usage all the more so: they have a tendency to play fairly pivotal roles in some of the more interesting plots and side-stories in the series, as for example everyone’s favorite song about bears and maidens, vis-a-vis Olenna Tyrell and her schemes. (And while the songs themselves will be muted, we’ll see more of singers in interesting plot roles in book 4.)

On that note, I’ll add that I enjoyed reading about Tom Sevenstrings, and think the plot twist he foreshadows in the epilogue is absolutely amazing-slash-terrifying.