A Clash of Kings

GRRM is one hell of a good storyteller. I read the first ASOIAF book and loved it before the show began years ago, but never continued with the rest of the volumes. I've always thought the second season is the slowest-moving, but was necessary to approach it like that so that the rest of the series could move along briskly. I feel the same way about A Clash of Kings. The character development is first rate. I disagree with any reviewer who bitches that GRRM isn't a good writer. His style may not be that of James Joyce, but it's clear, crisp, natural, and contains some of the best dialog a reader can encounter (more impressive since it's written in Old World parlance while the author is American). I highly appreciate the way GRRM is able show more to take on drastically different viewpoints and view his world and events through the eyes of different characters. There's something of To Kill a Mockingbird's Scout in Arya, albeit grittier and more fantastic.

Despite the fact that I highly recommend it, I do feel that I need to mention my annoyance with GRRM's handling of medieval religion. I'm a religious guy myself (a liberal, Obama-type rather than a conservative fire-and-brimstone type), and I've become sensitive over the years to misrepresentations or sloppy and stereotyped presentation of religion and religious people. GRRM does a good job of presenting analogs of true medieval religious life to his world. The Faith of the Seven and the Great Sept capture Thomist theology and Vatican City, the religion surrounding the Lord of Light captures Christian witch-burning (while simultaneously reflecting the so-called witchcraft itself), the Night's Watch takes on the role that monasteries played in medieval Europe, and the divide between the Old Gods of the North and the New Gods of the South captures both the Presbyterian-Anglican divide on the isle of Britain and the Lutheran-Catholic divide on the continent. The North's rebellion has analogs in Reformation politics.

What GRRM doesn't do well is capture the character of the religious mindset of medieval times. Every single point-of view character expresses nothing but pure doubt when it comes to religion. Every single point-of view character seems to witness some awful tragedy, and then reflect by suggesting that no gods actually exist. This is at odds with the reality of medieval records, and I'm going to go on to say that it's at odds with the reality of humankind. People who more often face tragedy and atrocity (such as medieval Europeans) are more likely to believe in deities because it helps them digest the shit-smelling reality of the nasty world we live in. It's modern society, with its air-conditioning and 24-hour entertainment and 40-hour workweeks and cheap clothing and dishwashers and universal literacy and long-distance communication, that is more likely to turn from religion. Modern, spoiled mankind doesn't deal with tragedy in the quantities that it used to, and therefore doesn't do as well handling it as ancient or medieval mankind. Therefore, when GRRM goes off on his tangents having his characters denounce gods, he is placing a contemporary mindset on medieval peoples. There are other anachronisms as well (most children appear to survive childhood, people live into old age, venereal disease doesn't seem to exist), but these don't recklessly contribute to irresponsible public perceptions of a subgroup of society. I am in every way a religious individual, but I also have the right to demand that I not be categorized along with the Mike Pences and Jerry Falwells of the world. The only character whose religious dimension GRRM presents responsibly is Ned Stark, but that guy's dead in this volume.

Aside from this one concern, I highly recommend this book and this series. I'm looking forward to starting Book 3. show less

The big question I found myself asking after reading A Game of Thrones was could George Martin back it up? I’m not the first person to read a series enjoy the opening book, but feel badly let down by the subsequent volumes.

A Clash of Kings answered my question with a resounding yes.

A Clash of Kings concentrates, as the title may imply, on the war that erupts in Westeros for the Iron Throne following the death of King Robert Baratheon in A Game of Thrones. There are five claimants for the throne on Westeros; the boy king Joffrey Baratheon. Robert’s two younger brothers; Stannis and Renly, who both contend that Joffrey is the result of an incestuous relationship between Cersei and her twin brother Jaime Lannister, and therefore has no show more claim to the throne. Robb Stark, the King in the North, and Balon Greyjoy, the King of the Iron Islands. There’s also Danaerys ‘Stormborn’ Targaryen across the sea, you could contend that even the leader of the wildlings; Mance Rayder considers himself a king of sorts.

To give readers an insight into the plans of Stannis Baratheon and Balon Greyjoy, Martin had to add two new PoV (Point of View) characters. Davos Seaworth, the former smuggler known as the Onion Knight, was Stannis’ right hand man and provided readers with a warts and all look at Robert Baratheon’s younger brother, who had grown up in the older one’s shadow and was none too happy about it. The other new PoV was a character that was familiar to readers from A Game of Thrones; Ned Stark’s ward Theon Greyjoy. Theon was not a particularly well liked character in the first book and no opportunity to describe him as sly or cunning was ever missed. In an effort to gain his father’s admiration it is Theon who attacks and takes control of Winterfell in Robb’s absence.

The game that George Martin set in motion in his first book continues in the second and it grows ever more deadly as it unfolds. Readers know that not everyone will get out of this alive. His willingness to kill off key characters allows Martin to create shocks for the readers. In A Clash of Kings there are two characters who are believed to be dead and because George isn’t afraid to do this everyone believes that they are only to have the rug pulled out from under them when they are presented as still alive.

The characters started to move apart in A Clash of Kings even more so than they had in A Game of Thrones. Catelyn is travelling between her son’s camp at her family’s home of Riverrun to the Frey’s stronghold and Renly’s moving court of followers. Jon has gone ranging with his brothers from the Wall in an effort to find out what became of his uncle Benjen. Sansa is being held as a prisoner at Joffrey’s court and going through her own personal hell at the hands of her psychopathic betrothed. Arya has left Kings Landing and is travelling across a war torn countryside trying to make her way back home. Bran is still at Winterfell attempting to hold what is left of his family together. Tyrion has come to Kings Landing and is given the task of preparing the city for attack from either one or both of the Baratheon brothers’ forces. Dany is leading her khal through the east trying to find a way onto the continent.

The narrative skilfully builds to a slam bang finale with the spectacular Battle of the Blackwater and leaves readers desperately waiting for the 3rd instalment of this awesome epic. show less

A strong expansion of the saga, Clash of Kings features increasing cross-talk between the storylines, both literal, via the reliable raven-messenger system, and figurative, through dreams, dramatic irony, and parallel symbolism. Martin creates interesting devices to help track the expanding cast of characters (e.g., Arya's repeated-name-revenge-list-prayer). Unlike the Game of Thrones, Martin telegraphs the death that will occur, but this makes them no less shocking. Tyrion's chapters are particularly compelling as his schemes are revealed as-you-go. Inversely, Theon seems to be pulled along by the plot and out of control (Martin really shows his range in these chapters). Above all, the story shows that the consolidation of power show more (indeed, power itself) often lies beneath the king. I thought the level of nautical description in the battle scene could have been edited down a bit (I imagine Martin was playing with hundreds of boat figurines on a map), but overall the story drives forward in a very compelling way. show less

If you're considering this book, then you've obviously read the first book in the series, A Game of Thrones. If not, don't even try beginning with this book. Martin constructs an elaborately detailed civilization with richly developed characters. Attempting to begin with Book 2, would only lead to confusion and disappointment.

If anything, I believe this book was even more enjoyable than Book 1. Any time an author creates a new world with numerous characters, it takes 200-300 pages just to become familiar with it and them. At least when starting Clash of Kings, the reader is well familiar with the landscape, and what a landscape!

What I enjoy most about Martin is the realism in his work. People die, and it's not always the bad guys. show more There is brutality, murder and rape, just as there certainly was in the medieval style culture on which this series is modeled. There is also honor, loyalty and heroism, and conversely, not always displayed just by the good guys. It's not as simple as good vs. evil, there is some of each in most of the characters.

While there is magic, it is not the kind of "over the top" magic that requires a reader to suspend belief. If the "good guy" has his back against the wall, he is more likely to die than be rescued by a magician's spell.

Again, this is a more than worthy successor to the original book in the series and a great springboard into Book 3. If you liked Book 1, you might as well fill out your dancecard for all the remaining installments. show less

This is my second time reading this book: once several years ago in hardcopy and a second digitally checked out from my library using Overdrive. It was even better the second time. These books make use of POV to devastating effect. It is impossible to figure out who the hero is - when you think you have, Martin kills the character off - which means the suspense is ridiculously intense. If you are rereading the book, you will notice even more dry humor and irony that are't immediately apparent until you know what is coming next. Westeros continues to spiral down into disaster, and Martin continues to find fates worse than death for his characters. Impossible to tell how it will end!

Con la segunda entrega de ‘Canción de Hielo y Fuego’, Martin se desata completamente y da vía libre a todo su arsenal en un despliegue magistral de cómo se escribe una obra de fantasía medieval del más alto nivel. Pero esta saga trasciende cualquier tipo de género, es el medio del que se sirve Martin para mostrarnos una sociedad donde lo salvaje y lo primitivo conviven con elementos más honorables y leales, y donde las supersticiones y la religión tienen un papel preponderante. De esta manera, asistimos a un retrato de la condición humana en su máxima expresión, aplicable a cualquier tiempo y lugar.

Como sucede en 'Juego de Tronos', lo más sobresaliente en ‘Choque de Reyes’ son los personajes, absolutos protagonistas show more de la novela. Los Siete Reinos empiezan a desmembrarse tras la muerte del rey Robert, y la corona se convierte en el bien más codiciado: por una parte los hermanos Baratheon reclaman el trono para sí; Robb Stark se ha proclamado Rey en el Norte, buscando justicia tras la muerte de su padre; Daenerys Targaryen busca financiación y aliados para poder hacerse con su legítimo derecho al trono; y Jeffrey Lannister, el actual rey, busca mantener su corona el mayor tiempo posible. Además, el resurgimiento de los dragones parece haber despertado poderes sobrenaturales y oscuros que se creían desaparecidos. A todo esto, en el Norte, más allá del Muro, la amenaza se hace cada vez más evidente. Se avecina el invierno.

No podían faltar también los personajes más carismáticos: Tyrion el Gnomo, ingenioso y antipático, pero leal a su manera, y Arya Stark, que no deja de meterse en problemas en su valiente afán por hacerse valer por sí misma.

De nuevo es todo un acierto por parte de Martin el hacernos vivir la acción a través de diversos personajes, con lo que se obtienen más puntos de vista sobre lo que está acaeciendo, pero sin que esto signifique que Martin repita escenas.

La acción en ‘Choque de Reyes’ es más brutal, así como el lenguaje, que se vuelve más crudo en algunas escenas. Y es que la moral de los personajes es bastante ambigua. Este tipo de elementos hacen que la novela sea más real y hace que vivas lo que les sucede a los protagonistas de una manera más emocionante. En resumen, esta segunda entrega de la saga no solo sigue la línea de la primera, sino que la supera, resultando adictiva y apasionante como pocas. show less

As Series Three of 'Game of Thrones' is building up on my Sky Plus recorder I need to start to watch series one and two. Of course I can't do that until I'm up to date with the books, hence reading reading this - volume two.

I read Book One in the series as a bit of a gamble. At few people had recommended it to me and fairly disparate friends they were, there must be something if an unpleasant holiday companion, a multi-pierced computer fiend and a straight-laced teacher all rave about the same books. I started book one and was hooked.

Martin has produced something incredibly special, it's a multi-layered sword and sorcery epic, a fantasy and yet politically sophisticated. The plot rolls along at a pace and yet never seems to reach a show more climax. There are hundreds of characters with back-stories, alliances and suspect morals. Imagine Lord of the Rings with less elvish names and poetry or John le Carre rewritten as fantasy and you're somewhere there.

In A Clash of Kings the same families are plotting, politicking and occasionally fighting. Some come to the fore e.g.. the Greyjohns and the Baratheon brothers and the Stark children tie the narrative together. The multiple narrators keep the interest and the plot swings and turns through 900 pages.

I'll take a bit of a break to watch the first two series and then read book three - I could devour it in one fell swoop but a like a short intense burst of pleasure! show less