Bloodthirsty, treacherous, and cunning, the Lannisters rule in the name of the boy king Tommen from the Iron Throne. But fear and deceit hang in the air: their enemies are ready to strike. The Martells from Dorne seek revenge for their dead, and the heir of King Balon of the Iron Islands, Euron Crow's Eye, is as black a pirate as has ever existed. Across the war-torn landscape of the Seven Kingdoms, Brienne the Beautiful (so named in mockery of her great size and strength) searches for Sansa Stark, having sworn to protect Sansa from the wrath of Queen Cersei, Tommen's power-hungry mother. Meanwhile, the apprentice Maester Samwell Tarly brings a mysterious baby south to the Citadel from the cruel, frozen North, where the dark Others threaten the Wall.