Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - A Clash of Kings

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A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

18 reviews

sophia2203's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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cepbreed's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

“A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic, you'll learn that soon enough...and the parts that look like magic turn out to be the messiest of all.”

Oh my god. I loved this book in all of its 1000 page glory. Martin continue to surprise me, even after watching the show I am so engaged in a plot I already know about because of the way he writes. The end of each chapter is masterful. Every cliffhanger still hits home, disregarding all my previous knowledge. I loved the foreshadowing as well.

Hearing the story of Bael the bard, only for his tale to come back in the form of Bran and co's method of escape was a detail I thoroughly enjoyed. I was shocked to see that Arya isn't cupbearer for Tywin in the book, but Roose Bolton. Still this tidbit of information had a much larger purpose, foreshadowing the Boltan's betrayal. To think Roose was most definitely plotting the red wedding in Arya Stark's midst. Even Bran and Rickon's death was heart wrenching to me, no matter how secure I was in the fact that they lived. I know it's stupid because currently he is less than scum, but I have so much sympathy for Theon. I know fully well that my feelings are highly exaggerated at this point because of his actions in the show, yet his desperation for validation is really tugging at my heartstrings. "I am your only protection against the likes of him, he wanted to scream." In no way am I justifying his actions, he is wholly unlikeable here, but at this point in time Martin is so obviously laying out his confusion surrounding his identity for us to understand. Like him or hate him, objectively Theon is an amazing character. Another dynamic I didn't expect to be so changed was that between the Hound and Sansa. It feels almost much more intimate from her perspective, teh romantic ideals of a young impressionable girl. Her head is filled with the ideals of 'true knights' and without any in existence she must project onto the closest match. I find the Hounds protective nature quite sweet, but that doesn't change his violence towards her when he was leaving after the Battle of the Blackwater.

I didn't like this book as much as the first, most likely my fault due to the amount of time it was taking me to get through ( 36 days total...), but the second half picked up dramatically and I become fully immersed.

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jenny_librarian's review against another edition

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I can’t finish this.

It’s been 2 weeks since I put it on hold because it was too violently misogynistic and I can’t bring myself to pick it back up.

I liked the show, but the book is just way too much. And too long.

Also, have of the characters are literal children, which makes what happens to them downright horrific. Sansa is like 12, I think Arya is 10…? So the things happening to them are even more disgusting than in the show where they were aged up. I can’t believe how people can read this and not bat an eye at the horrors these kids go through.

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