I'm a little torn on this series. On one hand, it's epic and awesome, and I've really enjoyed it, so far. It has strong characters, with compelling stories. On the other hand, although it has some of the best female characters I've seen in high fantasy--a huge point in its favor--it also contains a staggering amount of rape. While it is not especially graphic--sometimes the reader is merely told that it happened, without any details, while, other times, it is described in maybe a sentence or two--and does, clearly, fit within the setting, it still seems over-emphasized. There's a lot of violence, in general, and it makes sense that some of it would be against women. It's a story of a dark time: things should be bad. But I guess what I'm saying is, rape is a heinous enough act that mentioning it once or twice should really be sufficient, I'd think.

But if you can get past that--and, by and large, I manage to--it is definitely a great series, so far. ( )

Mantiene e incluso supera el nivel de la entrega anterior. ( )

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2) continues George R.R. Martin’s epic series. It practically starts off where the first book left off — I can’t imagine anyone reading the second book without reading the first. I was hoping that some of the conflicts would be resolved in this book, but they weren’t. It’s like watching an episode of Lost: you think you’re getting answers, but you’re just getting more and more questions. But that’s not a bad thing at all.

A few new characters are introduced in A Clash of Kings, but I was really just interested in the fate of the Starks. I changed favorites as I went through the book because a few characters finally had their motives revealed. I got a little bored of all the lords and knights and the minor politics in the middle, but kept reading nonetheless.

Reading these books reminds me of watching a long-running television series because so much is going on. Almost every chapter has some sort of “aha!” moment or at least a cliffhanger. And the end of the A Clash of Kings? Unsatisfying, which compelled me to immediately start the next book in the series. ( )

Another excellent installment in this series; quite a page-turner. The characters are interesting and have real depth. A medium fantasy where sorcery exists but is rare and dangerous.

My only reason for holding back on a star is that --with the interesting exception of the erratic weather cycle -- I still find the world of Westeros and co. to be a bit of a fantasy blandscape, like a role-playing game world. No worse or better than many fantasy novels in this regard. ( )

Book 2 of the Song of Ice and Fire is just as sweeping and compelling as book one.

Winter is coming but men don't seem to notice. Instead of preparing for not only the brutal winter that will last years and for the mysterious threats from beyond the Wall that winter will bring, the Southrons fight amongst themselves. Four kings vie for the Iron Throne at the Red Keep. Or are there more yet? Everyone seems to think they can dislodge the hated Lannisters.

No one, except the dwindling numbers of the Night Watch, seems to realize the threat is from without. And they don't even know about the Dragons who've risen and are on their way back to Westeros.

Highly recommended! ( )