Reviews

A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin

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pasithee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

rxka_tj's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

blearywitch's review against another edition

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5.0

Book 2 of the Game of Thrones series completed. There are a few things I would note.

The writing is superb - the vocabulary, style, descriptions, and dialogues are incredible. It takes a grand master to do all that AND keep all the characters and storyline straight. It is probably the reason he takes so long to write each one and have not finished the 6th & 7th book.

This book is dark. There's death, and more death. Then there's fallen castles - if you've felt some love for Winterfell, you will suffer here. You will feel helpless, angry, very angry, disgusted, sad, and annoyed. Towards the end you will see a glimmer of light but you'll have to go on to the third book to discover fate. Somewhere in between this book there will be newfound hope for Sansa, and Arya, but don't trust it. Someone will be there to dash the hopes on the rocks.

You read the first book to enjoy it, and get to know the characters. You go halfway through the second book realizing this is no joke, you will have to pick your side. There's absolutely no way you can remain a neutral party at this point in a war. Is it going to be:

The rising Queen from Across the Waters - Daenerys Targaryen with her born-again dragons, but without any gold, army, and fleet?

Is it the very young, fresh to the art of war but noble, wise, and brave northman, Robb Stark of Winterfell, now proclaimed King of the North? He is well-loved, has a good number of men, but doesn't seem as powerful when compared to darker, bolder powers.

Will you side with the cold, distant, and hard Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone, proclaimed King of the Narrow Seas, King Robert's older brother, and rightful heir to the throne since Robert's children aren't his own? Stannis has sorcery on his side, a grand fleet, and men. However, these men were once Robert's, and then Renly's, and only after he killed Renly, his own younger brother, proclaimed King of Highgarden, did they become his. The loyalty of his knights are questionable here.

Or will it be House of Lannister, with child King Joffrey currently King of the Iron Throne (there's no evidence other than Cersei's verbal admission in private to Tyrion that her children aren't Robert's) - with their grand fleet, grand host of armed men, their master at war Lord Tywin Lannister, the cunning and witty Imp - Tyrion Lannister, the cold-hearted Queen Cersei, their assortment of hard and cruel strange looking killer men, powerful and brave knights, savage sellswords, never ending troseau of gold, and most delightful play at politics?

I found myself a Lannister. This is war, and war requires all that the Lannister has got, especially wit and cunning at the game of politics, and to deal with hostage bargaining, capturing strategic castles, putting forth traps, and extracting information. War is cruel, but you're in it to win it. Otherwise, tuck your tails and go home.

Marching onwards to Book 3: A Storm of Swords!

ashleighbeanxo's review against another edition

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5.0

**SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1 - A GAME OF THRONES**

A Clash of Kings, the second book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, continues the story of the Kingdoms of Westeros, and the war that is currently ongoing throughout them. King Robert Baratheon is dead. His son Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne. The last two Hands of the King, Jon Arryn and Ned Stark, are also dead. Robert's brothers, Renly and Stannis, have both declared themselves King after it was revealed that Robert's children were a product of incest between Queen Cersei Lannister, and her twin brother Jaime. Ned Stark's son Robb has declared himself King of the North, and is fighting to get revenge for his father's death. Oh, and Balon Greyjoy has declared himself King of the Iron Islands and is set on taking the North for himself. So all in all, we have 5 Kings and a hell of a lot of political bickering, backstabbing and fighting!

I didn't quite enjoy this book as much as the first one, but it's still a great book. I love this world and the complex story. A little niggle I had was, the point of having so many POVs is you get a sense of what's happening where and explore the story more, but I feel like some POVs didn't add much to the story. If you're gonna have the story from the point of view of, say 20 characters, I feel like every chapter needs to further the main plot, but some I was left feeling like 'this is a waste, this could have been cut out'.

Despite that, I believe you're not supposed to like every single character so not every single chapter is gonna appeal to everyone. Obviously you're gonna pick favourites and enjoy certain characters more than others.

Overall, a great book set in a richly developed world. Can't wait to re-read book 3!