A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) 
Author: George R.R. Martin
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 1010
Genre: Adult, Epic Fantasy
Published: November 16, 1998
Rating: 4/5 stars
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Description

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.

My thoughts

This review contains spoilers of the first book A Game of Thrones.

I read A Game of Thrones earlier this year and liked it a lot. I’m also a big fan of the TV show, and so know the rough plotline of this book. This is something that helps me grasp the characters and the places in this book better because I know more of them from the TV show. And it helps with visualizing this complicated world that George R.R. Martin made. But it also made the first book predictable, because I knew what was coming. I was glad that there were more variations from the TV show in this book. While reading the parts that were changed, I could understand the changes. The book is sometimes difficult to understand because of the many characters. And by intertwining more characters in one you could still have all those storylines but with less characters.

One of the best parts of this series is definitely the well developed world and characters. My favorites are still Arya, Jon and Tyrion. I thought Daenery’s storyline was less exciting than the first book, but the other storylines got more exciting. Sansa was still not my favorite character, but I liked her a lot more than in the first book. She is learning how to play the game and how to hide her emotions, but she still has a lot to learn.

The pacing of the book is slow with a lot of details. Details that only later make sense. I love that this series keeps you on your toes. No one is safe in this book, same as the first book. But I think the loss of Eddard was more dramatic than all the losses in this book together. But if you are a fan of battles, than you will love this book. This book contains more battles, but the Battle of the Blackwater was the best. There were battles you hear about, but don’t experience them with the characters, which made them less exciting. Of course there is a lot of political intrigue and back stabbing, which makes this series the best.  

Amazing series, I recommend it to every fantasy lover!