A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

Title: A Clash of Kings
Author: George R. R. Martin
Mass Market Paperback:  969 pages (actual story)
Publisher: Bamtam Books (Random House)
Year Published: 1996
Rating: ++++

Don’t read past here if you don’t want spoilers from the first book!

Summary from goodreads:

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night.

Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel…and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Review:

Well I loved A Game of Thrones and was very excited to read this before season two of the TV show starts. This book did not disappoint at all. In fact, I think it was even better than the first.

My opinions of characters are changing already and I have heard that this will continue. Sansa grew up. She was so much stronger and smarter than before. Her innocence is still there, but she is seeing the world as it is, not as the songs made her believe. She was my least favorite character in the first book. She is no where near my favorite now, but she has moved up quite a bit.

Daenerys was actually a disappointment this book. I looked forward to her chapters in the first, but (except for once chapter) I was bored and didn’t really care when her story was told. It didn’t have the strength and wonder of the first book. I am hoping this will change in the future since she was such a strong character in the first book.

My favorites are still Jon and Arya though. They still rocked and I love how they are developing. Actually, I love how everyone is developing. I never felt like certain characters were getting shortchanged in this book. I odn’t know how Martin does it, but it is brilliant.

There wasn’t quite as much over-describing in this book (though there was still some). Even more, I still had no idea what was happening in the huge battle scenes. I read them a couple times, then just figured I would figure it all out when the battle was over.

This was still fantastic. I am going to take an Ice and Fire break though because I would like to read more than one book not for work this month! I look forward to watching the first season when it comes out on DVD in March then watching Season Two in April.

Scene from Clash of Kings I am most excited to see: How they do the huge battle. It was massively awesome. I worry that they won’t show it because it seems like it would also be massively expensive. Yet I want to see that  chain!