A Clash of Kings (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.

George R. R. Martin, a writer of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination, has created a landmark of fantasy fiction. In his widely acclaimed A Game of Thrones, he introduced us to an extraordinary world of wonder, intrigue, and adventure. Now, in the eagerly awaited second volume in this epic saga, he once again proves himself a master myth-maker, setting a standard against which all other fantasy novels will be measured for years to come.

Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead . . . victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.

A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, 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, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.

Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.

• ISBN10: 0553108034
• ISBN13: 9780553108033
• Publish Date: 2 February 1999 (first published 16 November 1998)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Div of Random House, Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 768
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553108033

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....

[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)

---
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.

[boghunden]

Nogen bøger hygger man sig med og nogen bøger sluger man råt. Denne bog tilhører sidstnævnte kategori. Jeg startede med at læse de, fordi det var lidt hyggeligt, men endte snart med at ligge og læse afternerne væk. Det univers Martin har skabt er virkelig fantastisk.

Karaktergalleriet er enormt. Det er næsten ikke til at holde styr på alle de personer der er med. Og ikke én eneste af dem er uden betydning. Nogen er mere interessante end andre, men overordnet set er de alle rigtig gode og spændende karakterer at følge. Personligt har jeg svært ved at kunne lide Daenerys, hun fanger mig slet ikke, jeg synes hendes kapitler føles dobbelt så lange som alle de andre. Til gengæld er jeg vild med Bran og Tyrion. I denne bog fangede Sansa mig også virkelig meget. Jeg får lyst til at knuge hende ind til mig og hviske hende lidt sandheder. Jeg er forundret over Martins evne til at holde styr på så mange karakterer. Jeg mener, som læser er det forvirrende i starten, hvordan må forfatteren så ikke have det? Han skal endda kende dem endnu bedre end os. Det kræver sin mand at kunne.

Hans skrivestil er helt unik. Hver eneste side er spækket med info, historier, dialoger som er så relevant, at det ikke kan springes over. I de fleste bøger kan man godt skimme hen over siderne og få det meste ud af det, men det kan man bare ikke her. Der er ikke ét ord, der er overflødigt. Man er nød til at få det hele med, hvis man vil gøre sig noget håb om at forstå de efterfølgende linjer. Derfor tog det mig også længere tid at læse denne bog end de fleste andre, men selvom det var lidt frustrerende i starten, så vænnede jeg mig hurtigt til det. Jeg prøvede det der med at glide hurtigt henover teksten, men det viste sig bare at være ris til egen røv; jeg måtte læse de samme linjer igen, for at få det fulde udbytte af det.

Normalt er denne type bog slet ikke noget for mig. Der er alt for mange beskrivelser. Alligevel gør det mig ikke noget, når det kommer fra Martins hånd. Måden han formår at gøre alting levende og spændende på har holdt mig fanget. Det er ikke så meget handlingen, som det er alle de herlige karakterer. Det er ikke bare sort og hvidt. Det er grånuancer. Der er ikke nogen, der bare er gode eller onde. Vi ser det fra flere sider. Man kan holde med den ene, men så hører man lige noget om en anden og så skifter man pludselig holdning. Det er ét stort net af løgne der spredes ud og ingen er mere hellige end andre. Jeg elsker det. Jeg glæder mig virkelig meget til næste bog i serien, men der går nok lidt tid, før jeg igen er frisk på så tung en bog.