A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Two (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2)

by George R.R. Martin

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO.
 
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK TWO
 
In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced.
 
A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

• ISBN10: 0345535421
• ISBN13: 9780345535429
• Publish Date: 6 March 2012 (first published 16 November 1998)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Edition: HBO Tie-In Edition
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 1040
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780345535429

Reviews

[abookishblether]

A Game of Thrones ★★★★☆
A Clash of Kings ★★★★★


This is the furthest I have made it through the series so far, and I enjoyed this book so much. I genuinely don't have any complaints. We got deeper into the plot, and explored deeper into the world and it was all great to read. I flew through the book.

One small note, I finished the book using my library because I could login and read from work (it's dead in the evenings). I have been putting off finishing the book because I was at 93% which would have left around 60 pages to go and I wanted to read it all in one sitting. Turns out the appendix and acknowledgements start at 94% and I could have finished it in work a week ago....

[sa090]

Have you ever heard of the concept of "fillers"? Where the creator has no idea how to fill a gap with amazing substance that they just put something there? This book felt exactly like that.

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This is a huge book, the edition I have is 800+ pages and it's disheartening that I couldn't enjoy it much. The majority of it honestly felt pointless most of the time, I don't know how to explain it but there are a lot of events in the book and it still makes me feel like nothing at all was accomplished. Kind of like there are 9 people here who are aiming to do something but this books tells their journey to do that thing without any of them actually getting to do it, any idea how incredibly frustrating that is? Insanely so. The journey is a big part of any fantasy series, I understand and love that about the genre but with 800+ pages, I at the very least, want to reach the final page feeling like a destination of sorts was reached which obviously didn't happen here for me.

The main reason for that is easily the POVs, as mentioned earlier there are 9 POVs here that if I take some of them out nothing would change. Oh no correction, maybe if I actually switched some of them out with someone else I would get some sort of result that I can feel is a little worth my own very long journey in this book. For me personally the two POVs that were boring, felt useless and honestly shouldn't have been here in abundance because they're currently not that relevant are Arya's and Jon's, out of the 69 chapters that made up this book, these two get 18 chapters. That's almost a quarter of the book for two POVs that don't feel worth all of this attention, these two are CLEARLY going somewhere but why all this focus? To get me to sympathize or connect with the characters? That obviously failed because these two are a chore to read about and are currently my least favourite characters, really, if they die in the next book all they're getting out of me is "Good riddance." Bran and Sansa aren't that great either, but at least with them their chapters were tolerable to an extent.

I heard that the upcoming books have even more than 9 POVs and that's completely fine but it really baffles me why other character couldn't have had their own chapters when they were literally more relevant to the happenings of the book, namely Robb Stark. If Martin gave 5-7 chapters of the 18 he gave his two before mentioned siblings (or 5-7 chapters out of the 33 he gave the Stark Children), there would've been a noticeable difference to my perception of the book just for the sole reason that in the book you "hear" that Robb is actually accomplishing things but you can't see any of them in real time because no one that actually had a POV is with him to show that. Another that should've gotten a POV was Stannis, I'm definitely not mentioning spoilers here but he's just the same as Robb, clearly accomplishing things and doing others without me seeing a thing but hearing about it, why Martin took this approach is beyond me but I honestly hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

One more thing I really disliked in the book were the descriptions of things, some were long winded, stretched and kind of unnecessary but I did hear previously and see in GoT of this particular thing about his writing style so while it's kind of a complaint, it's not something I didn't expect at some point. The thing I didn't expect is how he handled rape in the series, I understand that the world he's painting is dark and bloody with terrible characters and good ones but I didn't expect that he'd make some characters treat rape like a favourite past time or rather I didn't expect him to actually mention it enough for me for it to become relevant, there are things that can be implied without being said and to me this was one of them, yes he mentioned it in GoT but it feels like he took it up a notch in this one. The sex scenes remain largely in passing but because there is a visible increase in their number I'm hoping it remains in passing so yeah.

Tyrion is kind of the saving grace of the book, his wit, somewhat sarcastic nature and his actions really make me thankful that he gets that many chapters to himself. Unlike the other characters he's more of a thinker so the fun lies in seeing what he can come up with and he thankfully wasn't idle so while some chapters dragged on a bit I'm still really glad. I did wish that Daeneyrs got more than 5 chapters since she's by far my favourite character but more importantly because she's the only one so far who's not in Westross, you know completely different unknown continent, however the interesting things about her chapters were where it led her and what she saw in that place, so many things seem like they can be taken further than this and I really hope that they will be expanded on in the upcoming books.

The comet in itself was another thing I found to be really interesting, especially how the interpretations differed from one religion to another or from one individual to another but unfortunately it seems to be a plot device more than anything at the moment since after a while it wasn't mentioned anymore which is kind of a bummer because I really wanted to hear more interpretations. The Red one brings an interesting thing to the series as well and I'm not talking about the Lord but rather the new contender for being the Azor Ahai, by far the most interesting thing ever in the series so far and I really hope to see more soon.

In the last two paragraphs I made my intention of continuing with the series very clear but I'm going to be taking a break from it for some time, I hear that the third book is by far the best one for some so I really hope it is for me too since this was just a disappointing experience.

Final rating: 1.5/5

[KitsuneBae]

Would you believe that I enjoyed this more than A Game of Thrones? Of course, I can always blame it to Tyrion who never ceased to amaze me with what he's doing as the King's Hand. Not to mention that Jon Snow is finally getting a taste of what's happening Beyond-the-wall and that it was so interesting to see how he struggled between being an honorable man and doing his duty as a member of the Night's Watch. And yay, Arya finally interested me. OMG, that girl can seriously kick some ass. And of course, what Theon did and what happened to him afterward really upped the ante.

Honestly, I would have loved to give this book a solid 4 star rating but then, Catelyn, Daenyrys and Sansa's POVs really bored me to tears. T_T I wish their POVs in book 3 would improve.

[Kim Deister]

A Clash of Kings This second book in the A Song of Fire and Ice series is even more action packed than A Game of Thrones.  Chaos reigns in the seven kingdoms with now five kings fighting for the Iron Throne.  I love the format of these books, chapters that alternate between characters.  The chapters tell the stories of A Clash of Kings from their different perspectives, allowing us to see the war from within the minds of people from all sides.  
 
The military girl in me really enjoyed the battle tactics that were so much a part of this book, especially for Tyrion Lannister.  His character is continually undervalued and dismissed by the others in the series, simply because of his size.  In reality, he is extremely intelligent and an excellent strategist and I loved his chapters the most!  At first, he began to set things in motion that led me to wonder what exactly he was up to, wondering how it would all come together.  But he is brilliant and cunning in his plans, showing those traits that I think are most important in a battle strategist/commander... knowing the abilities/limitations of not just your enemy, but your own men and using those to advantage.
 
My Recommendation
 
Such a great novel!  This not a read for the faint of heart.  The battles, the betrayals, the violence, the seediness.  The only thing I truly wanted more of was Jon Snow and the Wall!

[inlibrisveritas]

I'm finally finished! 4.5 Stars!! (Theon and Catelyn tried their best to make it four)

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Oh George what have you done to me?! You have made me fall in love with new characters and wish horrible (intensely painful) deaths on other characters…you have me forming attachments to people I know are going to die. Not to mention the fact that you have me committed to a series that has books big enough to render a man unconscious if wielded as a weapon.

This would have been a perfect five like the first book but there were two problems with this one and their names are: Catelyn Stark and Theon Greyjoy. Their chapters were torture on my poor eyes. Mind you it wasn’t because it was poorly written, if anything it was written better than other chapters because of how much I hated these two. Catelyn says awful stuff and feels she justified because her family is broken. Theon can’t keep it in his pants. If it didn’t have the names of the characters at the top of the chapter I’d be able to point his chapters out without having to read more than a few lines because he always seems to be having sex with someone.

Those two aside this was just as good, if not better than the first book. Everything is brewing at a quick pace and things are almost always heated, but believe it or not if I literal clash of kings isn’t enough for you then you’ll be happy to know things are getting even worse. Tyrion, Dany, and Arya remain my favorite characters and chapters to read. Jon’s chapters are pretty good too, but Jon has a knack for being foolish. This does have a slow build toward the middle as the different Kings start their advances for the throne, but once things get started it becomes hard to put down. The chapters that offered insight on Stannis were really good too…and that Red Lady is the stuff of nightmares.

I’m so ready to see what happens in book three. Does Dany finally get to cross the Narrow Sea? Does Tyrion get to slap Joffery again? Does anyone get to slap Joffery again? Do the dragons get to eat people? I must know!

[celinenyx]

I read A Clash of Kings for about seven months. And this was not my usual one week of reading, leaving it for six months, then read the rest in three weeks. This was seven intense months of reading a few chapters a week, while I read other books in the mean time.

Where I was still rather confused in Game of Thrones what Martin was aiming for, I feel a lot more confident reading A Clash of Kings. The point of the A Song of Ice and Fire series is not some overarching plot that goes somewhere, but the journey itself. In the first book I was still looking for some kind of point. Some kind of direction. It's almost impossible not to get bored with the story if you're looking for some deeper plot, because so far there is none. Except maybe for the fact that winter's coming. But I heard winter is still coming in book five, so there is that.

So instead of focussing on the plot, I got into A Clash of Kings with an open mind, ready to be entertained with the world Martin created. And entertained I was. All of the hidden agendas, the four kings all claiming their superiority, the cool battles, but also the smaller stories of Jon and Arya... Martin's world is super intricate, and there is so much to do and to see. And all that is wrapped in simple, to the point prose. All of the points of view kind of sound the same, but I couldn't make myself care about that.

The Song of Ice and Fire books are pure fantasy brain candy, and I can't wait to slow-read my way through A Storm of Swords.

[Chelsea]

Initial Thoughts

My expectations were pretty high going into this book. I loved the first one plus I had already watched season two for the tv show. I know, I know, that's terrible. But I really didn't know if I was going to like this series. It's not something I usually read but it is amazing. It was a slow paced book. That's why it took me so long to finish it. It's very interesting but there's just not a lot of action. The exciting things happen behind the scenes but it was still really interesting.

My New Best Friend

I love Tyrion. I'm sad he's a Lannister but I just love him. I love that instead of being a fighter like just about every character, he fights with his mind. He's just so smart! I hate that everyone kind of just writes him off because he's a dwarf. I don't care. I'd marry him.

My Crush

Robb Stark. We didn't see a lot of him in this book because he was away fighting wars. I still love him though. He's awesome and so young and naive. It makes him kind of cute. Also I really like John Snow minus how stupid he can be sometimes. He is a smart man.

Writing Style

The writing style in this book was intense. It's not Lord of the Rings English but it can still be tough to understand sometimes. Martin is a fantastic writer though, easily. The plot was slow building and not very action packed but it still worked in this book. I love it! He's a clever writer too because you don't know who is going to die and you don't even know who you're rooting for until you get closer to the end of the book. It's confusing but in a good way.

Closing Thoughts

This definitely isn't a happy book. If you want a happily ever after go find something else because this isn't it. It's a sad book filled with war and death. The plot expands a lot in this book too. There's a lot of things happening now and it can be hard to keep up. Just a warning! I still enjoyed it though. Once you start to remember who all the characters are, you're good to go. This is definitely an epic fantasy because it is in fact epic. It's quite beautiful actually. George R.R. Martin should be given lots of credit for having such a huge vision and actually being able to pull it off. It's great! I loved this book and can't wait to move onto the next one.

Bonus

The dragons are getting bigger! I'm excited to see what happens with them!

Quote

“People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up.”

[clementine]

A Clash of Kings is considerably less exciting than A Game of Thrones, and it meanders in some places. It very heavily features expository conversations. This is generally pretty unavoidable, but it still made the text drag at certain points. There also weren't any majorly devastating deaths, so it definitely provided a false sense of security.

My favourite storyline this time around was probably Sansa's. I know a lot of people dislike her, but I think she's so kickass in a really unassuming way. I loved seeing how she's developing and coping with such a traumatic situation. I was also super into Arya, but, I mean, who isn't? Tyrion's also awesome; he has so much depth as a character. I wish there was more from Daenerys this time around; I definitely preferred her storyline in A Game of Thrones.

Overall, I enjoyed it. The worldbuilding and characters have such a depth that it makes even a slower book engrossing. I could tell that this was more of a transition book, and I've heard that A Storm of Swords is excellent, so I'm really looking forward to diving in tonight.

[clq]

Fortunately I never really expected to enjoy A Clash of Kings as much as I enjoyed Game of Thrones, and therefore I wasn't that disappointed when I didn't. I found the story to be a bit more clunky, a little more predictable, and less immersive. It is more political than the previous book, something I don't necessarily mind, but large parts of it seemed to exist with the purpose of being a set-up for future books.
Now, with all the negativity out of the way, I'll hasten to add that Clash of Kings is still a highly enjoyable book, and I'm eager to see how the story continues from the end of it.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

How does Martin do it? Amazing.