A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin

Publisher: Voyager

Pages: 752 (Paperback 2011)

Main Characters:

Davos, Sansa, Araya, Jon, Catelyn, Tyrion, Daenerys,

A Clash of Kings is the second book in George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. It follows the hugely popular book A Game of Thrones and is set in the seven kingdoms of Westeros.  Like the first book, A Clash of Kings follows three story lines. The first is the story of the civil war that breaks Westeros into five kingdoms. It tells the tales of the five different kings, Robb, Stannis, Renly, Balon and Joffrey and their struggles to gain the Iron Throne. The second story is that of Jon Snow and his story at the Wall. It follows him as he marches north of the Wall to find the reason why all the Wildlings have disappeared. As well as having to make a difficult decision when the Wildlings are found. The final tale in the book is that of Daenerys, as we follow her East after her husband Khal Drogo’s death and the birth of her three dragons.

As usual, A Clash of Kings was a good book. However I did feel that it was slow to get started, especially after the ending of A Game of Thrones. Nevertheless Martin turned out good. The story is filled with battles, love, betrayal and murder which made it a very entertaining book. Again it was extremely well written and Martins detail was amazing which only made the book that much better to read. I would say that I did not find it as good as A Game of Thrones, but I think that is because a lot of the less entertaining parts of the book, such as the council meetings, needed to be put in otherwise the plot for the next few books would not have worked. All in all it was still a good read and really sets you up for the next book, A Storm of Swords.

Link to George R. R. Martin’s Official site:

http://georgerrmartin.com/