A Clash of Kings
1998
- fantasy fiction
- fiction
- fantasy
- nyt:trade_fiction_paperback=2011-12-31
- fiction - fantasy
- fantasy - epic
- fantasy - series
- fiction / fantasy / epic
- fiction, fantasy, epic
- seven kingdoms (imaginary place), fiction
The story
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 Clash of Kings*** A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold 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. 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. Preceded by: [***A Game of Thrones***][1] Followed by: [***A Storm of Swords***][2] ([Source][3]) [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL257943W [2]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL257914W [3]: https://georgerrmartin.com/grrm_book/a-clash-of-kings-a-song-of-ice-and-fire-book-two/
What it’s like
Dense, unhurried prose that moves between many point-of-view chapters, each one a close window onto a different character, with the cold grey of the North, the sweaty stone of King's Landing, and the salt wind of Dragonstone rendered in plain, physical detail: mud, horse-sweat, smoke, damp wool, the reek of a sickroom. Its vibe is brooding and sprawling, a slow-burning political dread with flashes of wonder, the kind of book to sink into over several long evenings with a fire going or on a long train journey where the world can take over. The rhythm is uneven by design, with lingering domestic scenes and council-chamber scheming punctuated by sudden, sharp violence. Intensity is high: frequent battles and executions described with unflinching, sometimes graphic, detail, plus bloody murder, sexual violence and cruelty to children, and a constant undercurrent of threat, so this is not gentle reading. Arcs follow scheming siblings, a displaced girl hiding in plain sight, and a young lord thrust into command, with trust and loyalty tested at every turn. It suits readers who want immersive, morally grey epic fantasy with political intrigue and do not mind a bleak, violent tone.
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