Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

15 reviews

cas_voogt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • 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

Good book

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avazee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • 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


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sav_22's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • 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

This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is a very good read. Massive trigger warnings!! George RR Martin is fantastic at writing deeply flawed, disturbed, and fascinating characters. He does not shy away from ANY taboo subjects or content. If you loved the show, the books are insanely good at world-building and the balance of political drama vs fantasy themes. Very long, sometimes boring but overall deeply interesting and worth it for the character deep dives.  

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atalea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced
  • 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


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lectoranovel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • 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


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narodiangelo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced
  • 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


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helenastinks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • 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


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samflowerv6's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced
  • 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

I love GRRM more than words. The battle on the black water seemed to go on forever. I loved Tyrion in the show but in the book… I honestly hate his POV. But I love these books and will be thinking about them forever

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amir_hamza's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • 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

Review coming in...idk, might be two weeks or two months. But a review will come!

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)

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joey1914's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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


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