Crows will fight over a dead man's flesh, and kill each other for his eyes. Bloodthirsty, treacherous, and cunning, the Lannisters hold power on the Iron Throne under the young king Tommen. While the war in the Seven Kingdoms may have ceased, its bitter end ignites new conflicts. The Martells of Dorne and the Starks of Winterfell are driven by a desire for vengeance for their fallen. Euron Crow's Eye, a pirate of the darkest reputation, returns from the ruins of Valyria to claim the Iron Isles. In the cold north, beyond the Wall where the Others loom, apprentice Maester Samwell Tarly carries a mysterious child to the Citadel. In a world rife with incest, fratricide, alchemy, and murder, only those with the sharpest steel and coldest hearts can hope to prevail.