A review by ruthsic
A Clash of Kings #1 by Mel Rubi, Landry Q. Walker, George R.R. Martin
4.0
A Clash of Kings continues the story with the war of the five kings developing in Westeros. At the end of A Game of Thrones, Robb had declared himself King in the North, Stannis and Renly had fled to Dragonstone and Storm's End, respectively, Joffrey is just getting started with his sadistic rule, and the whole kingdom is holding its breath. The start of A Clash of Kings was slow, to be blunt, and I was so bored until like the first third of the book arrived - there is a lot of talking, and not much action going on. Considering A Game of Thrones managed to drop important backstory without boring me, I was kind of disappointed with A Clash of Kings for not being able to do so. After the first third, though, things improved and the plot developed to the main arc - the war of the five kings, with Greyjoy entering the fray.
This book, while technically mostly a battle book, is more about the subtle political maneuvers and blackmailing - shady stuff, basically. And also a lot of grey morality - there are characters who you think are all honorable and stuff, but their idea of morality and the contemporary idea of morality are distant cousins. For example, Stannis, who seemed like the least to bend to anything, is now embracing a new religion. By the way, religion is starting to gain a foothold in the politics of this saga. In the first, it was like - all religions, even those besides the Seven, are practiced in harmony with others. But now, it is developing into a free-for-all, with the religious ideologies also playing a part in the alliances.
Meanwhile, we still get a lot of character-centric arcs. The great thing about this series is that there are many individual stories (that are complete in their own way) threaded into this giant main arc, and they sometimes intersect but often they are also independent. Catelyn and House Tully feel independent from the main war, even though they are related to people in the main war. Arya's story also feels independent as she lives mostly with the peasants during this book, presenting a different view of the rivalry between the houses - the peasants don't care who is squabbling with whom, as long as they aren't caught up in the crossfire. We get new character POVs in Davos Seaworth and Theon Greyjoy, two diametrically opposite characters whose lives are running in different directions from their lords.
The plot is, for the most part, captivating with the exception of the start and the battle at King's Landing. Roy Doytrice is an excellent narrator but sometimes I can't guess the age of the character when he gives even a 14 year old the same bass in the voice like an elderly character. In any case, though, his voice acting is excellent and gives an emotional weight to the performance. Meanwhile, other problems still linger from the first, namely the blatant use of sexual violence as a plot device. I am tired of encountering a mention of rape in nearly every few pages, and it is getting too old now. Yes, we get it - the kingdom is horrible to women, and even though we have strong women characters, they are threatened by the possibility of sexual violence the most. I would like to mention a scene where Tyrion calls out Joeffrey for this - saying he would never treat a boy servant the same as he was treating Sansa.
Overall, an interesting addition to the series, but probably not as amazing as the first.
This book, while technically mostly a battle book, is more about the subtle political maneuvers and blackmailing - shady stuff, basically. And also a lot of grey morality - there are characters who you think are all honorable and stuff, but their idea of morality and the contemporary idea of morality are distant cousins. For example, Stannis, who seemed like the least to bend to anything, is now embracing a new religion. By the way, religion is starting to gain a foothold in the politics of this saga. In the first, it was like - all religions, even those besides the Seven, are practiced in harmony with others. But now, it is developing into a free-for-all, with the religious ideologies also playing a part in the alliances.
Meanwhile, we still get a lot of character-centric arcs. The great thing about this series is that there are many individual stories (that are complete in their own way) threaded into this giant main arc, and they sometimes intersect but often they are also independent. Catelyn and House Tully feel independent from the main war, even though they are related to people in the main war. Arya's story also feels independent as she lives mostly with the peasants during this book, presenting a different view of the rivalry between the houses - the peasants don't care who is squabbling with whom, as long as they aren't caught up in the crossfire. We get new character POVs in Davos Seaworth and Theon Greyjoy, two diametrically opposite characters whose lives are running in different directions from their lords.
The plot is, for the most part, captivating with the exception of the start and the battle at King's Landing. Roy Doytrice is an excellent narrator but sometimes I can't guess the age of the character when he gives even a 14 year old the same bass in the voice like an elderly character. In any case, though, his voice acting is excellent and gives an emotional weight to the performance. Meanwhile, other problems still linger from the first, namely the blatant use of sexual violence as a plot device. I am tired of encountering a mention of rape in nearly every few pages, and it is getting too old now. Yes, we get it - the kingdom is horrible to women, and even though we have strong women characters, they are threatened by the possibility of sexual violence the most. I would like to mention a scene where Tyrion calls out Joeffrey for this - saying he would never treat a boy servant the same as he was treating Sansa.
Overall, an interesting addition to the series, but probably not as amazing as the first.