A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) – George R.R. Martin

Title: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin
Publishing Info: November 16, 1998 by Random House Publishing Group
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: June 30, 2013
Related Posts: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1), A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3), A Feast For Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4), A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5)

    Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon;who held 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, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.
As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky, a comet the color of blood and flame, six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard's son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King's Landing. Robert's two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.
A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, 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, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.
Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment;a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.

Phew! A CLASH OF KINGS was a little bit heftier than A GAME OF THRONES and I have to admit, I felt it just a bit. Not a lot, because let’s be honest… I did read over 400 pages on the train to and from CT/NY during BEA week so clearly things were going well! I just found a couple more lulls in A CLASH OF KINGS as we delve into a few more political and war-themed aspects. I was mostly interested in all of the character development, the way all of the characters end up tied in to each other, and all of the crazy mysteries to be uncovered.

I loved seeing more of my favorite characters like Jon Snow, Dany, and Arya, specifically. It was really great to see more character development from them and how they’re changing not only from book to book, but really chapter to chapter. I actually really started to find myself sympathizing with Sansa for as much as I disliked her in most of the first novel. Her predicament was not a good one by far and I really enjoyed seeing how much she’s changing and acting more like an adult little by little. Even the villains were incredibly interesting. There are so many villains that are multi-layered and as much as I hate their guts, I do see certain reasons as to why they’re so hardened and vicious. I’m starting to almost like some of the bad guys… I think Alyssa would be proud.

I think A CLASH OF KINGS didn’t have as many “HOLY CRAP” moments as A GAME OF THRONES did and in a way, that both upsets me and makes me feel at ease. There was one specific moment in GoT that really upset me and there was a total fake out moment that really upset me in this book, but nothing TOO traumatizing (although I’ve heard that all goes out the window in book three). I was hoping for just a few more exciting moments because I had mentioned, I did find quite a few more lulls. There were a few chapters that I felt could have been summed up a little neater and didn’t need to go into that much detail, but it all helps build that world!

There was a sense of relief when I finished. You know… 970 pages will do that to you! But really once I finished, I almost immediately wanted to grab book three because I’ve heard so many (vaguely) incredible things about it, thankfully no spoilers! I’m excited to read book three just to see what everyone’s talking about from watching the TV show (and thank you for not spoiling it for me since I’m reading the book before watching the show)!!!

Updates on A Song of Ice and Fire Read Along: The SOIFRA read along is going well! I’m loving how we’re doing this with one book every two months. I’m still able to read other books and then designate time to read these books each week. I don’t always follow the schedule chapter by chapter… More a general sense of not falling TOO far behind. All of my reading on the train really helped me get ahead so I didn’t have to worry about it for a while, but that also hurt me a bit because then I spent so much time away from the book and forgot a few things here and there. Hopefully book three will be unputdownable (Really? Spellcheck didn’t question that. I think that’s a win) and that I’ll love it even more!

Buy it!

These books are just so enjoyable. Hefty, complicated, but enjoyable. Excited for the rest of the series!

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