#2 in A Song of Ice and Fire saga
Paperback, Bantam Books Trade Paperback, 761 pages
Published
May 28th 2002
by Bantam
(first published November 1998)
ISBN: 0553381695
Find on Goodreads Synopsis:
Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over and 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, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.
As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.
A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, 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, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.
Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget
My Thoughts:
[highlight for spoilers]
It's hard to talk about this one in any detail because I've been reading since February on and off til June (it's long, people!) and it's gotten meddled in my memory with the show too.
I still love reading Arya, Tyrion, and Daenarys chapters. They are my favorite characters.
Big events in this book included:
and not in chronological order...
[- Maester Cressen (Stannis' maester) trying to poison Lady Melisandre and accidentally killing himself.
- Arya ending up in Harrenhall, "working" with Jaqen, and escaping from Harenhall
- Tyrion testing the waters to see who was trustworthy of Grand Maester Pycelle, Varys, and Littlefinger - and seeing what his sister had been schemeing, not to mention nearly dying at the battle with Stannis
- Bran being the head of Winterfell and then escaping (with Rickon, Hodor, Osha, Jojen and Meera) when Theon took Winterfell for the Greyjoys. He finds out he is a Warg.
- Jon going on a scouting trip with Thoren Smallwood and falling in the hands of the wildlings led by Mance Rayder (we meet Ygritte in this book!) - to prove himself he kills Smallwood. Oh and Jon is a Warg.
- Theon returns to the Iron Islands and then to prove himself to his father, he takes Winterfell, kills 2 boys from a mill nearby, but then Roose Bolton's bastard attacks and kills/captures whomever was inhabiting Winterfell
- Daenerys makes her way to Qarth. However, it's a very dangerous place for her to be. Everyone tries to trick her because they want her dragons.
- Sansa thinks she will be saved by Ser Dontos and be taken home to Winterfell and curiously enough she feels that even though The Hound is scary, he might be someone she can trust.
- Catelyn meets up with Stannis and Renly in hopes of peace talk to band together against the Lannisters. Catelyn is speaking with Renly (with Brienne of Tarth at his side) when a shadow kills him. Brienne returns with Catelyn to serve her.
- The Crows pass through Craster's Keep (obviously before Jon leaves on the scouting trip)
- Ned's bones are returned to his wife
- Ser Loras Tyrell swears himself to King Joffrey and his sister and window of Renly, Margaery, wishes to wed King Joffrey, "freeing Sansa" of having to marry him; although not freeing her from the hands of the Lannisters.]
Correct me if I'm wrong of any of this, I tried to remember as much as I could :)
Previous Review:
Spartan Frost by Jennifer Estep [here]
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