Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Clash of Kings / George R.R. Martin / 728 p.


Since I hate spoiling information about the second book in a series when most readers of this blog haven’t read the first, see below for my review of the first book in the series, A Game of Thrones (which is going to be a series on HBO in April!); my thoughts on the second book are listed after it.

***
Don't mistake the two 'R.R.'s in this author's name for someone similar to Tolkien. While Tolkien's fantasy is about beauty and yearning and the desire for the restoration of a broken world, Martin's is about exploring the depths of (in)humanity. Don't expect the beautifully bittersweet Lorien, prepare for the gutters and sewers of King's Landing. This book is very gritty and dark.

Martin creates a host of realistic characters, warts and all. (Literally. You'll find boils, and open sores, and all other kinds of nastiness.)There are certainly characters who live by honor, or duty, or family, but they are just as likely to come to a bad end as those who are petty, selfish, or cruel. The world is brutal, justice is unfair, and prophecies exist but are just as likely to fail as come true. . .

And yet, this world is so compelling that it's impossible to look away. The characters defy categorization; you have many of the typical characters of fantasy: the noble lord who seeks justice, the bastard with no place, exiled royalty, the plucky tomboy, the cunning dwarf, the sinister queen, but if you think that means you can predict what will happen, think again.

And while nobles play their game of thrones, darkness creeps back at the edges of the world. . .

****Spoilers****
                At the end of A Game of Thrones, surprising deaths and political backstabbing has left Westeros with a power vacuum that many noble houses are anxious to fill. The Lannisters control the Iron Throne, but Robb Stark has sworn vengeance for his father’s death and rides as King in the North.  Both of King Robert’s brothers have claimed the right to rule, and raised armies to back them. The sea raiders of Pyke have decided to use this opportunity to carve out a kingdom for themselves.  But the series is not called A Song of Ice and Fire for nothing; two of the characters we care about the most are Jon Snow, whose duties take him beyond the Wall, as more disturbing truths about the undead wights glimmer at the edge of knowledge, and Daenerys Targaryen, the queen in exile who has awoken the first dragons to appear in hundreds of years.  

                With the addition of two new points of view, Davos Seaworth and Theon Greyjoy, the number of different characters we follow hovers at just below ten, with chapters alternating between their stories.  Sometimes it feels like characters are moved around just so we can get live journalists, as it were, on the scene to let us see all the events that are taking place, but as always, Martin’s masterful storytelling ability makes all the plot lines compelling.  The series is truly epic in scope, but the characters are flawed and fallible people with a depth of character development not often found in fantasy.  Your sympathies might be with the Starks and you might hate the Lannisters, but Tyrion Lannister remains one of the most interesting and sympathetic characters in the series.  Martin refuses to let you take sides completely, always shading the characters or the situation so that there is no obvious way out. This is one fantasy series that you won’t be able to put down with an “eh” after the first book, and the second leaves you desperate to start the third.         

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