Book Review: A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin

A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin

My thoughts are swirling after reading this book. On the slim chance you don’t know already, this is the second book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first being A Game of Thrones. The first book, I rated 5 stars. This book, I feel I liked even more. Here is a synopsis from Goodreads, because I feel it gives the perfect amount of ‘oooh, ahhh’:

A comet the colour 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 at 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.

The following may be accidentally spoilery. I won’t directly spoil without warning, but some of my phrasing of events might hint at things you might not wanna know ahead of time, so tread with caution.

A Clash of Kings is a spectacular continuation of A Game of Thrones. The character development for each character has furthered, the plot has thickened, the writing and imagery is wonderful as always. I think what I like the most about this installment is that more places were explored than just Winterfell, King’s Landing, The Wall and Vaes Dothrak. It gave me a larger picture in my head of who is where and what is happening when. The land this story takes place in I want to run around in. …with like fifty guards, but whatever.

Another thing that I really liked was that I began to hate characters I previously liked. Not because they’re bad characters, no, but because they’re developing so well that I know for a fact that if I ever met them in real life I’d hate their guts. The characters in this book to me feel like they’re real people, both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’, but honestly, the lines between the two are starting to blur in this book and I love it. Some characters in the first book that I disliked I’m starting to feel sympathy for. Some I liked I know despise. Some I hated I still hate. *cough*Joffrey*cough*. Some I liked I now REALLY like.

The following in spoilery, I warn you! Skip to the next paragraph to get back to safe reading if you don’t wanna know! I wanted to mention these parts specifically, because they made me hate a particular character the most (and really like a couple others). Lemme start with this: Theon is a dickhole. Holy doody he’s an ass. I’m talking about two parts in particular: When he first meets his sister and when he ‘kills’ Bran and Rickon. The first, the fact that all he did was immediately see this woman as something to be gained made me sick. And when it turned out his sister was playing him, I laughed so hard and fell in love with his sister’s character. Asha is damn wonderful. At the end of the book, Theon’s fate is unknown, but I’m totally going to the store as soon as I’m done writing to get the third book, haha. So I’ll find out. I hope he’s alive so Asha can out-everything him more, haha. And for the second part… what a coward he is. I was in shock (I shouldn’t have been because of Martin’s rep, I know) but when it turns out he faked it, I was both happy and it made me dislike him all the more. If you’re gonna be evil, at least be good at it, goodness. That’s all for my spoilers.

And even if you didn’t read my spoiler, just know it actually made me like the book more. I loved hate-reading from that character’s perspective, it was fantastic. :”D

Overall, I loved this book. I want another book now. Lucky for me, it’s at the store and I can totally go get it.

Rating: 5/5 stars
There are so many punchable people.