A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire #2
Published by Bantam on November 16, 1998
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Adult, Dragons!
Pages: 1009 : Paperback edition
Source: Inherited from my late Uncle
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In this eagerly awaited sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any you have ever experienced.

A comet the colour of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And 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 at 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.

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.

This is a spoiler free review

Wow, this was a tumultuous ride from start to finish! This took me nearly 3 months to finish (life kind of got in the way sometimes) and at times I got much more addicted to watching the show, because I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. All that being said, this was a fantastic sequel to the first book in the series.

A Clash of Kings, picks up at high speed, right where A Game of Thrones left off and I really liked that I didn’t have to drag through 50 or so pages of stuff that had already happened in the first novel. I was immediately immersed right back into where my favorite (and least favorite) characters had left off. It was as if I were visiting an old friend, and I fell right back into scanning through the rest of the book at top speed.

Yes, there were times where I felt it dragged a little long, and George R.R. Martin is an extensive writer (to put it lightly) but that’s what I love about his books. I really feel like I’m there, running with wolves, feeling the rain on my skin or the beat of the sun on my back, water trickling through my fingers, or being dries up in a red desert (those of you who’ve read the books know exactly which desert I’m talking about). Really, he’s just a fantastic writer, and I’m often envious of his mind and that I could think of such worlds in a way that would awe and inspire so many people.

I was surprised by how much my perceptions of my favorite and least favorite characters changed (I still heart the Starks though). Some of my least favorite characters shot up to being my favorite characters (Jon Snow), while some of my favorite characters I’m starting to like less (Catelyn Stark is really getting on my nerves) and some people that I had originally been very wary of (Tyrion Lannister) I now find myself looking forward to his humor and cunning wit (though I thought he had more of that in the first book, and kind of miss that side of him). Also, Arya is just great all around.

This is going to sound redundant at this point, but I CAN NOT wait to read the next book! I already have a faint idea of what’s coming since I’m all caught up on the show, but I know they’ve probably left out a bunch of good stuff. Nevertheless, it’s amazing in its own right!

(For those who’ve read the novel, did you feel like the whole comet thing was just…disregarded? Nothing really came of that and I thought it was built up a lot)

One Reply to “A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin”

  1. […] Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (REVIEW): 5/5 stars! I can’t wait for the next […]

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