Book Review: A Song of Ice and Fire book 2: A Clash of Kings

"People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up".



 A Clash of Kings, is the second book to George R.R. Martin's masterpiece fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. This tome is even bigger than the first book (A Game of Thrones), counting in excess of 850 pages. In this book, new characters are introduced, while some characters met their demise. The story development is just as unpredictable as the first book.

Synopsis:

Lord Eddard Stark was made the Hand of the King, the second most powerful men in the kingdom of Westeros. He discovered, the king's son, Joffery Baratheon, was in fact a product of incest between the Queen, Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime Lannister. Following the death of the King, Lord Eddard Stark was betrayed and killed for trying to pass the throne to the king's brother, Stannis Baratheon, the rightful heir to the throne.


Following Eddard Stark's death, his son, Rob Stark gathered his men and marched South, seeking to

avenge his father's death. In the meantime, both of Robert's brothers, Stannis and Renly, gathered their forces and seek to take the throne with armed forces, while proclaiming themselves Kings of Westero. Rob Stark proves to be a cunning and fearsome leader, at the age of 16, he won every battle he fought against the army of the house Lannister. Eventually, Rob's banner men proclaimed him King of the North. From that moment onward, the kingdom of Westeros is torn apart by wars and conflicts. Meanwhile, winter is coming. Outside The Wall, old legends are coming back to life, threatening to engulf the seven kingdoms with icing death. On the other hand, Daenery Targaryen, the last survivor of the house Targaryen, ventures into the city of Quarth with her new born dragons, seeking a way to return to Westeros and reclaim her father's throne.


What I think about the book:

In A Clash of Kings, new characters are introduced, including some of my favorite characters in the series such as Brienne of Tarth. Existing characters are also explored in depth. For example, readers will get to understand Sandor Clegane (the hound) a bit more as he shows his emotions in chapters where he made appearances. The other character I grew very fond of, is Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf born in a powerful house, the brother to the queen, yet despised by his own father and sister due to his physical disability, and is forced to survive in this gigantic whirlpool of conflict, by matching strength with his wits.



This book is longer than A Game of Thrones, but just as gripping as its predecessor. As usual, George R.R. Martin continued to spin tales for this epic saga through POV characters, with a great sense of realism blended with elements from fantasy. There are lots of characters developments, and the story progressed with many twists and turns totally unexpected. In this installment, your favorite characters will meet dangers, but you will never know if they should prevail or perish in the next chapter.

 The story reflects the best and the worst of human nature, and humans' internal struggle of choosing between good and evil. In these great conflicts and power struggles, a brother fought against a brother, a friend betrays a friend, people die, lives are destroyed, and relationships are broken. At the end of the book, our favorite characters are still in danger with only glimpses of hope for the future.

So what do I think about A Clash of Kings? Brilliant! Truly this is one of the best fantasy series I've read. The vividness of the characters and the world, is supported by a great sense of realism, with flavors of magic from fantasy. Not only did Martin forge the story with inspirations from historical events, but at the core, these stories explore the human nature and struggle between good and evil, in a world that doesn't always make sense.

I had an interesting conversation with my friend at church last Sunday. Our conversation revolved around A Song of Ice and Fire. I told him, this series can be seen as "dystopian literature". After I explained to him that dystopian, is the opposite of utopian. My friend made a very interesting comment. He asked me, if the world in A Song of Ice and Fire is moving from dystopia to utopia? I was taken aback, because it was the moment when I pondered, amid all human induced tragedies, chaos and mess, why do we wish to head towards utopia? Why do we have a standard where we judge between good and evil, proclaiming utopia is "better" than dystopia? Can naturalism really explain the full extent of this standard and human hope? I leave this question to you.



A word of discretion, A Clash of Kings contains explicit contents.