Book #29: A Clash of Kings

I'm sure you thought I'd died or disappeared or just given up on reading, but no! No, I was just enjoying the 900+ page second book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I raved about A Game of Thrones on this blog back in August, so I was very excited to continue the journey in A Clash of Kings.

As always, it's really difficult for me to sum up the plot of books in a series without, you know, giving lots of things away. Not to mention, there's always so much going on that you may as well just read the freaking book if you want to know about it. (For real. Do it.) It's hard to believe that Westeros (the world in which the A Song of Ice and Fire series takes place) could get any more jacked up than it was in A Game of Thrones, but it does. King Robert is dead, and rumors are swirling that his son and the new king, Joffrey, isn't really Robert's son, thus having no real claim to the throne. That opens a lot of doors for others to begin vying to be ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Robert's brothers both believe they are the rightful heir, but Joffrey and his mother insist that Joffrey is a trueborn king. The Stark family is in on the battle as well, and the remaining members of the Targaryen family (who ruled before King Robert) believe that they should take back the throne that was rightfully theirs all along. Add a few more backstabbers and scandals, and what do you have? You have A Clash of Kings. 

I have to say that I enjoyed A Game of Thrones a bit more than this installment, but there are still three books to come. This book felt like the building block for greater things to come. Obviously, the point of a series is to build on the previous books, but I think this book was more of a transitional book than one that really grabbed you and pulled you in. There's a lot to be explained and set up for the books to come, so the book felt a little lacking. I'm not saying that it wasn't good, because it was -- parts of it were amazing. I'm just saying it builds up a lot of anticipation and then doesn't really deliver... But I'm sure the next book, A Storm of Swords, will deliver, because with a title like that, how could it not?

Really, though. Even with the bit of a lull, this is really an outstanding series. If you're not going to read it, at least watch it on HBO. (Because honestly, it's almost as good as the books. And I never say that.)

Read from September 29, 2011 to November 2, 2011

3.5/5 stars

--C