WINTERFELLLLLLL!!

obey your nerds. is what i am learning.srsly - i was never going to read this series, but once i started... it is like a drug. and - yes - i watched season two before i read this book, but i am not going to wait for seasons 3-4 to read the next one, no way, because i am hooked and I MUST KNOW! and if any one of you people spoils the third book for me, i am going to make one of those torture devices with the bucket, the rat, and the torch, and it is bye-bye stomach for you!

i see More...

This isn’t going to be a cutesy review. I am well into the third book. I fear that if I don’t blurt out my thoughts about this one soon, then all the books in the series are going to meld together in my memory. Here are my three main impressions:

1. Bleak, dreary, and dismal

Don’t expect any happiness in this book. Martin is merciless with his characters. And if you do see a bright light, don’t trust it. One character learned she won’t have to marry an abusive, horrible guy. She and I were elated. More...

It was right about at the beginning of George R. R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings, the second book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, that I admitted to myself that I wanted to quit my job and everything else in my life so I could stay home and read all day. I resisted the urge. I’m still not quite sure if I made the right decision.

You think you know someone, and then you read the second book about her. (Or him. Though, for the most part, the changes of the hers were more exciting for me in this More...

If long Fantasy stories have fundamental rules, they probably go like this: 1) create a rich world, 2) put interesting characters in it, and 3) mix up some sequence of interesting things happening around them, happening to them, and being done by them. Martin’s first novel in this series, A Game of Thrones, fulfilled all three swimmingly. He forged one of the deepest Fantasy realms since Tolkien, with a mythology, culture and history. He spun characters of a few key families and then scattering More...

N.B.: When it comes to spoilers, I'm going to be talking rather liberally about the events of A Game of Thrones, so if you have not read the first book and want to remain spoiler free, stop reading now. I have avoided major spoilers for this book.

Suddenly everyone and his butler wants to be king!

In A Game of Thrones, we had the distinct pleasure of watching a kingdom fall apart as various individuals and their families jockeyed for positions of power. With A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin mo More...

I know what you're thinking... "Only 4 stars??!" Yeah. I shall tell you why.

First, because getting to the halfway mark of this book took me 11 days. In my edition, which was 807 pages of book, that's about 400 pages. I read more than half that just today, so 11 days is a LONG time for me to get into a story.

Secondly, because so much of this book felt like set up and maneuverings and I was ready for stuff to happen! A Game of Thrones had me on the edge of my seat almost from the word "go", and More...

While reading A Clash of Kings for the second time, it struck me that George R.R. Martin makes writing fantasy seem insultingly effortless. At first glance, Martin hardly bothers to do more than sketch his characters, yet they become legends so quickly.

For example, Quorin Halfhand is a brother in the Night's Watch. He eats an egg and has perhaps five lines, but he is a character that readers will find difficult to forget. Why is he called "halfhand?" Well, he lost all but the thumb and an index More...

Everyone seems to agree that George R.R. Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire are titans in the genre of Epic Fantasy. True, true.

Everyone also seems to agree that the best characters are Tyrion, Arya, and Jon Snow. They are indeed wondrous characters. They are heroes. They fail many times, but in a way they are infallible: they are so incredibly sympathetic, they are always trying to do the right thing, they have kindness & empathy & bravery & loyalty. In fact nearly every voice in th More...

"Kill your darlings" is a popular piece of advice given in creative writing classes - it's the concept that you shouldn't ever be afraid to take drastic and destructive action on your precious baby of a novel in order to move the plot forward or improve the story. George RR Martin should be held up as the gold standard of this rule, since his books might as well come labeled with a giant "Don't Get Too Attached" warning. It isn't just major and beloved characters (Eddard Stark, you will be aveng More...

I.NEED.MORE.NOW.

Why is this series so good? I mean seriously, why? It started off kind of dry and a little dense at parts, but once I start reading it BAM. My mind is completely enthralled into this world. There is so much character growth and development for all these characters who we have gotten to know in the last book. Some have died, some have been tortured and those who are alive may not be there for very long. I think that's why I love about these books. Once I think I know where it's go More...

Isn’t it frequently the case that the sequel is never as good as the first? The first album is always followed by the prolonged wait for the “difficult second album”, a film sequel is often just a money-spinning lack lustre version of the first (don’t even get me started on the pitfalls of the cinematic trilogy) and frequently the second part of a promising story is just a lumpen, ill formed thing forever doomed to skulk in the shadow of its bigger, bolder and better formed older sibling.

Good th More...

I'm re-band wagon jumping.

Back a bunch of years ago, I guess in 2005 when Feast for Crows finally came out I picked up a specially priced copy, $3.99 copy of Game of Thrones to find out what it was about George RRRRRRRRR Martin (this is how I sometimes say his name in real life, and always say it in my head, lots of ARE's) that caused so many people to crave his books and get so disappointed each time the publication date for Feast for Crows came and went without a book being released* I don't More...

Dedicated to all the authors out there. Without you, any of these wouldn’t have been possible!

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Acknowledgements

They say that reading is a lonely business. They lie. And this book was no different. A lot of people helped me while reading this novel which took me almost 2 months to complete. For that I would like to thank the editor who found it appropriate to print this book as it was and didn’t dare to edit out anything. Secondly, More...

After finding the first book in this series entertaining (if unnecessarily bloated with needless gratuity) I was a little disappointed with this second book and really couldn't ever get into it. I've been reading bits and pieces alongside my other novels and the act that this is not the type of fantasy that I like.

I'm one of the few individuals who read fantasy who think these books are slightly overrated. I personally cannot find the things in these books that I like in fantasy. Instead they se More...

Color filled each hall. Rainbow owns each character. Mr. Martin's writing style is rich with hue. And yet some words are meant to kill, sharp as a Valyrian steel.

People's game of thrones is finish but it came with a price. Shit rained in Westeros. Sudden "KINGS" had risen and all they want is to sit in the uncomfortable Iron Throne. Which is lame, as King Robert I said so, "pretty boring".

Tyrion Lannister the Imp became one of my fave character(after seeing his face in the site of GoT), not just More...

Remember when we thought a trilogy made up of three books maybe 600 0r even 800 pages was a long tale? It's getting to the point where an 800 page tome is simply a chapter of a tale that can run 10,000 pages or more.

This is the second in the Song of Ice and Fire. I found the first book interesting and like so many others moved on with the story. I started it later than some. Having been burned by Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time I hoped to get some sign that this series wouldn't bog down and never More...

EPIC!

A Clash of Kings started off slowly for me. The prologue was extremely long and included more new characters (to add to the cast of hundreds). The events of the previous book have led Stannis Baratheon to plot his quest for the crown.

In the sky, a red comet heralds things to come. Each side uses the sighting of the comet to predict their ascent to the throne. You can be assured that there are way too many kings and that situation can’t last long. There will be blood. There will be war. The More...

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a series of books. When I was a kid, my dad read The Hardy Boys before my brother and I went to sleep. That was a nice bedtime ritual; so nice we never had the heart to tell him The Hardy Boys sucked. A little bit later on, I worked my way through The Berenstain Bears, which taught me not to watch too much T.V., get greedy, or talk to strangers. Oddly enough, it taught me to trust bears, which is probably not the best message to impart to an impressionable c More...

If you are looking for:

(A) Entertainment... this book is a topnotch (5 stars).

(B) Some good writing... this book is just okay (2 stars).

(C) Some life's meanings for you to grow as a person... there is just nothing in here (1 star).

Those are the three reasons why I read. I am a bookworm so I don't get easily bored. The last thing I look for in a book is entertainment.

I am normally amazed by books with different or innovative formats and as long as they are good and still readable, the book will More...

Those of you who remember my review of A Game of Thrones will remember that I recommended it with misgivings, mostly having to due with some personal issues and especially because of the way women were portrayed in the book.

Many MANY people, not the least of which is the guy I'm married to, asked me to give the second book a shot, that Martin's portrayal of women has a purpose, and that I would understand *WHY* if I got through the second book.

Unfortunately, about 10 or so chapters in the book. More...

The second installment in this series gets off to a slow start. There are 4 kings in the kingdom and it takes quite a while before the story gets to the eventual battles as they fight to be the last man standing. As with the previous book, we don’t really have a conclusion to the story – some die and others live to fight another day.

This is a great epic story, really it is, but some things about George Martin’s writing style really bothered me this time around. I don’t like how women are portray More...

Sigh. I'm not sure what to say. I have the worst trouble trying to figure out what to write for longer (epic/high) fantasy book reviews. Will think upon this and hopefully have more to say at a later date.

Loving the series!

*fast forward to December* Later came and I still am stumped for what to write but I'm back for an ending re-skim so I can queue up book 3 before season 3 starts.

Woo-freakin-hoo!

Yep, I'm loving this series I think I liked "A Clash of Kings" more then AGoT. It was so exciting and everyones got an agenda and everyone is fucking everyone else over, it is unreal! How have I never read these books? I read Twilight before these? How can this happen? What is this world?
Two quick points that have come to my attention,we need some Old God / Godswoods cause those sound awsome. Also it seems to me that there is an abundance of wine(this has Jessi written all over it)

So my least fa More...

Compared to the first novel, this one seems to drag on and on a bit. It wasn’t as exciting as book one, and all it did was left too many things unanswered and made me feel dirty with the way the sex scenes in it were written. The reset of the writing is good, the characters are great and it really set itself up for the next book but this felt more like padding than a progression of the story. I really like the shifting prospective in these books but with Clash of Kings I felt as if it was missin More...

Sequel to the sublime Game of Thrones. The epic fantasy continues and underlines my suspicion that this series could be the finest addition to the genre of the decade. The original book threw so many twists, shocks and surprises at the reader that Martin has given himself a hard act to follow. Clash of Kings still compares very well. Its huge cast of brutally realistic characters soon draw the reader back into the war and intrigue that characterizes the series. Publishers and reviewers could eve More...

Rating: 4.5
(Only because everything I dreaded happened.)

I don't even....

My relationship towards this book can only be describe as: love-hate. Mr. Martin is an evil man, even when horrible things were happening he made me enjoyed the book & keep on reading. His writing goes on so smoothly making you cherish each line. He is an evil mastermind.

I can honestly say he created a great sequel. There are the same characters with new revelations and new ones with secrets of their own, but the essenc More...

Well, this book was quite a ride. I do not often have a book that really lets me forget everything while I read it, but when I finished it, I was shocked to find I was in bed and not in Westeros. The only other books I remember that did this to me were The Name of the Wind,The Wise Man's Fear and Rumo: And His Miraculous Adventures (Yes, I know it's probably considered a child book, but it's good nontheless).

I can't really pin down why I liked this book so much, but I found every one of the main More...

I really liked the premise of A Clash of Kings, which features several self-anointed kings scrabbling for victory at any cost. This is warfare as a long, slow drudge through political quicksand. It’s all posturing, strategy and paper-thin alliances – groups gain ground only to lose it elsewhere. The novel’s best moments come as a result of game-changing manoeuvres on the (political and literal) battlefield.

Kings also boasts several enjoyable new characters (Asha! Asha is my new favourite!). Alas More...

This book is just such a ride: wars are made, people are slain and hearts are broken. For all that, it is written well enough and has enough subtle humour here and there to not make this feel like a complete tragedy. Even though the end makes me rather sad, I must say I really enjoyed reading this book and it felt a lot shorter than its 1010 pages.

I'm amazed at how well all the storylines seem to come together. I love how all the different perspectives help build up this one big, epic story. I'm More...