A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Pages: 911pgs

The Story

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders--Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon--who hold sway over an 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. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which 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, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

The Review

I dove into this second installment of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series without too much of thought because really this series and I - not to mention my favourite TV show Game of Thrones which the series is based on - just cannot disappoint me no matter what happens to some of my favourite characters and it's almost like we are fated star-crossed lovers (as cliche as it sounds) who've only just come to meet. Really we're like that. And, once again, I was right about us being fated because yet again Martin has blown me away by his superb storytelling, his solid characterization, and his almost too realistic-like medieval world, and boy isn't he such a brilliant old chap for making me have all these 'feels' for his series!

So before I begin my actual review, it's very hard to lay out such a complicated storyline and introduce it to newer readers and to you all, but in case I confuse you with some of the details here and there, I'll just get straight down to the characters themselves. The one thing that turns me into such a fangal of the series and gets me into the mode of blabbermouth.

Introducing us to some new and old characters, I think what makes this series so special, so intriguing, and so very unique in every aspect, is how Martin manages to write his characters and how he makes each one of them play a certain part in his storyline. I mean, it is hard enough to write two or three characters in an already heavy-fantasy world let alone SO MANY more of them, but somehow and in some way Martin manages to write them all down and you can still keep track of every single one of them and remember each of their own stories (at least that's how it works for me) and I have to say that takes quite a lot of talent. Usually I would give up on a series such as this one that contains way too many characters because that can bore me from time to time, but Martin does not allow me to do so at any given time of the day when I'm reading one of his books because . . . I just HAVE to be there with his characters. To experience what they're experiencing. To feel what they're feeling in times of war and kingdom politics. It's just one of the quirks in Martin's writing that I cannot help but adore!

This now leads me another favourite thing of mine in this Martin super duper world of his - the different perspectives we get to see through. In each of the chapters going back and forth, we are also introduced to so many characters with their own stories to tell and much like with Martin's talent in writing so many lovable characters - some more ruthless than others - but what I've come to appreciate in Martin's writing alone - apart from its obvious brilliance - is how engaging he is with each character perspective and it only strengthens his world even more because of that. But I have to say there's a huge shout out coming from me when it comes to the perspectives of Ayra, Jon, Sansa and the brilliant but terribly witty Tyrion, whom for me are what keep this series alive. I adore all of the characters for sure, but those four characters I mentioned . . . I love seeing the world through their eyes alone and they are so entertaining too!

Overall, A CLASH OF KINGS was a such a perfect and flawless follow-up to the A Song of Fire and Ice series and offers up a very interesting sequel, making me shake in frustration for wanting the third book as well. It was needless to say so easy to get caught up in Martin's world - both beautiful and breathtaking in its own right - and boy I need more of it!

The Rating

5/5 stars

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: HarperVoyager

Pages: 864pgs

The Story

The first volume in the hugely popular and highly acclaimed epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. There is passion here, and misery and charm, grandeur and squalor, tragedy, nobility and courage. Now a major Sky Atlantic TV series from HBO, starring Sean Bean.

The Review

After watching HBO's adaptation of the first book in this planned seven book series, I've been so obsessed with it ever since. I'm in love people . . . in LOVE! I'm in love not only because I love the high fantasy genre and all the little vivid details in the setting, but mostly it was because the TV show was so freakin' EPIC and I just knew - just knew - I had to read this book series to fully comprehend and be captivated by this wonderful world of George R.R. Martin's! And in saying that, the A GAME OF THRONES book was equally incredible as the TV show itself and it's one of my favourite books of all time too!

I won't get into the plot of this book because if I explain it in greater detail I know many of you will probably go, "I don't speak your language" and for the most part, I'll probably fangal forever about this world so I'm just going to get down to the basics about what I loved about this book, so I can - hopefully - convince you to read this great piece of literature to find out for yourself just how awesome it really is. Because that's exactly what it is . . . awesome!

Okay, so one of the things I loved most about George R.R. Martin's work was his prose. He was able to pull off his writing with such confidence and never - if rarely - overloaded you with meaningless expressions just to add detail for the sake of it, you know? So it was finally great to find an author like Martin who knew what he was doing in this fantasy genre of his and knew what his readers wanted from his books, which was obviously more from him! In some ways, Martin has this amazing ability in giving you smaller pieces of the puzzle (some long and complicated ones) but he also manages to hold back on part of the mystery of A GAME OF THRONES which I love. I honestly think he does it on purpose to drive us fans crazy in figuring out what people are really up to in the story and to drive me nuts in the end. Yup, this man is a genius for doing that to me!

But the main thing I loved about this book, other than its pure brilliance in writing and even in the TV show, was all of the perspectives we get to witness from Martin's characters and all the ones we soon get to meet along the way. I mean literally every single character - young, old and some aged inbetween - have their own story to tell and somehow and in some way every one of those character stories has a crucial part to play in this mystery of the Game of Thrones world, and the fact that these characters are neither depicted as black or white (neither entirely good or entirely evil) only adds another unique element to the book series and is something many readers will come to appreciate overtime. But there's so much more to these characters than meets the eye and every one of them are my favourites - especially when it comes to Ayra, Tyrion and Jon Snow (I have a mega crush on Kit Harington who plays Jon in the TV show okay, so it was no real surprise that I loved book-Jon as well. He's one fine babe if I do say so myself. Oh and Robb Stark of course. Can't forget him!).

Overall, A GAME OF THRONES was EPIC and if not better than the TV show itself because we get so much more backstory and history from the characters than what you get in the actual show, so I really enjoyed that part of the book. And, on the plus side for the show's fans, the TV show stayed very true to the book and for the time that they have for the show . . . I think they had successfully gathered the most important stuff from the original book and put it into the show to get the gist of what's happening . . . so I'm really, really pleased about that too. So to everyone reading this review, please, PLEASE go buy this book ASAP because I already have book 2 waiting for me to read and I'm sure it's just going to get better and better if it continues down this wonderful path!

Also on a side note, for all those people who are thinking of reading the book before watching the TV show, I highly recommend that you watch the TV show first. Usually I'm the type of girl to read the fictional work before I actually watch the adaptation of that particular book, but there's a lot to take in when it comes to this series and I think, as a reader, you will truly benefit in watching the show before the books so you can understand who's who (trust me there's a lot of characters from a lot of different families and so on) and to also help understand the world of Game of Thrones and how everything works in general, so I'm truly thankful that I got to watch the show beforehand because I really appreciated this book far more as I knew the characters and what was going on.

The Rating

5/5 stars