cas_voogt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Incest, Abortion, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia
avazee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Violence, War, Incest, Pedophilia, Cursing, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Death, Child death, Blood, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Infidelity
Moderate: Rape and Slavery
Minor: Rape
sav_22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Grief, Incest, Torture, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Police brutality, Child abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, War, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, Slavery, Cursing, Violence, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Trafficking, Alcoholism, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body horror, Sexism, Body shaming, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Blood, and Bullying
Minor: Abortion
atalea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Blood, War, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Sexual violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Rape, and Torture
Minor: Sexism, Mental illness, Infidelity, Incest, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Child death, and Ableism
lectoranovel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Cursing, and Torture
narodiangelo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Torture, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and War
helenastinks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Cursing, Gore, Alcohol, Grief, Slavery, War, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Incest, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Torture, Child death, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
samflowerv6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Excrement, Incest, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and War
amir_hamza's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
12.06.2022
The review is here!
"A good act does not wash away the bad, nor a bad the good. Each should have its own rewards."
When I started this book, AGOT was still not my favourite book of all time. Hell, I didn't even give that a perfect score. But this book, this, this has to be the first book ever to make like another book more without making itself look bad. Now do I think this was better than its predecessor? Based on my rating, I think you might come to the (correct) guess of: no, but let me elaborate. Although AGOT had the very important job of setting up the world, it still had a mostly linear narrative. ACOK however, truly makes the story blast off in its width, and...the strain shows.
Although it has a really good start with tension already having built up thanks to AGOT's absolute magnificence of an ending, ACOK soon begins to slog in my opinion. Sure, we get random bursts of epicness every now and then, yet sometimes it really felt like I was pushing myself to read the story than the story pushing me to read itself. The book loses its footing about 20% in and really didn't regain it till halfway through. But when it did...oh boy.
I'll be honest, just before the midpoint, I would've given this book a 7.5/10 max. But then Martin pressed the gas pedal so bloody hard that the story didn't just push me to finish it, but gripped the back of my neck with a steel grip and dragged me through it at a relentless pace. The budding tension, the ensuing climax, the big battle, the cooldown, everything was just done so masterfully that it just lifted the book's overall rating up by a notch and a half for me. Not to mention, the characters were far better written here than in AGOT. Don't get me wrong, AGOT has phenomenal character work, but here I liked the likes of Sansa and Catelyn way more, whom I despised in AGOT. And Tyrion.
My. God.
His chapters are just...chef's kiss. He's by far the best part of the book. Not only was he the saving grace of the first half, but he also took centre stage in the second half and made it so much better.
Now let’s talk spoilers a bit.
Spoiler
This is the book where The War of the Five Kings truly commences, right after the heart-wrenching execution sparked it to hell. Robb Stark is easily the king Martin wants you to root for, and it’s clear why. Not only do we highly, highly sympathise with his cause, but he’s also just plain heroic. But it’s the other king that truly makes you think instead of going, “Yeah, you go Robb!” Stannis really isn’t the best character in this book yet we know that his claim is the true one (even Ned Stark agrees, and one does not simply disagree with Ned). However, although Joffrey is the absolute villain whom we all want to see die miserably also has Tyrion by his side, who’s the Ned of this book in more than one way. Martin here does a masterful work of making you really doubt who to support since even Robb’s claim is nowhere near as strong as Stannis’. And Renly…is Renly, damn that stupid ambitious self-centered usurper.Speaking of usurpers, Dany is out there in Essos and she is more disconnected from the central events of the story than ever. Her chapters were mostly quite the chore to read, similar to Jon’s ones in many ways (but at least Jon picks up serious pace later on along with everyone else) which made her chapters somehow even less likable than Theon’s, who meant to be dislikeable. Martin once again makes us hate the ones he wants us to, and this time, from a POV! Theon is a smug, egotistical, narcissistic, selfish, rude, overconfident, lustful teen; if anyone knows me at all, they know that I hate literally every single thing mentioned there, so no wonder I hated Theon as much as Martin wanted me to hate him, if not more. Despite all he has done, his downfall at the end, right before he was going to make amends, did hurt a bit, but the sheer grandeur of the Battle of Blackwater made up for it.
Blackwater! Oh my God! That has to be one of the best things I have ever read in my entire lifetime. The fact that we have POVs from both sides of battle from characters we absolutely don’t want to die was just such a deviously genius decision by Martin which made every beat of the battle stomach-churning and every blow to cheer for and lament at the same time. Fortunately, our precious POV characters do survive, yet in typical ASOIAF style, not without serious repercussions which leave the door open for the next book.
Overall, I think the book's first half was kind of a letdown and also significantly worse than AGOT but the latter half turns the table on its head. But since the first book has a much tighter and more consistent quality and pacing, I'll give this one a point less than AGOT. Still a really, really good book
VERDICT
Positives: Amazing character work and crucial and masterfully executed POV work (in Westeros). Great dialogue in political situations along with great political intrigue itself, Vast feeling of the world. Amazing last half and bombastic ending.
Negatives: Lackluster second quarter. POVs sometimes feel too disconnected if they are outside Westeros. Unnecessarily overkill horniness in Theon’s chapters. Inconsistent pacing.
OVERALL RATING: 9.5/10 (Bumped from 9)
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual content
joey1914's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Rape, Grief, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Incest, Misogyny, Blood, and Death