Book Review – George R. R. Martin’s “A Clash of Kings”
Today I finished reading A Clash of Kings, the second book in A Song of Ice and Fire series written by George R. R. Martin.
A Clash of Kings correlates to season two of the HBO series A Game of Thrones.
This second installment immediately follows the action told in the previous book, A Game of Thrones.
As we remember in A Game of Thrones, after King Robert Baratheon died from the hunting accident, Prince Joffrey claimed the Iron Throne for himself. The only problem was that Joffrey was not Robert’s legitimate heir. Joffrey and the rest of the Lannisters have no right to the Iron Throne and ruling of Westeros.
This move would spark a civil war in Westeros as Robert’s two brothers, Renly Baratheon and Stannis Baratheon, both want the Iron Throne. Stannis is the rightful heir as he’s the older of the surviving brothers, but Renly has a larger army and thinks that the people respect him as the better leader. Both Renly and Stannis use the title of king.
Meanwhile, Robb Stark raised an army to fight against the Lannisters and avenge the death of his father, Ned Stark. Ned was ruled to be a traitor and King Joffrey ordered him to be executed. His head was mounted on a spike in King’s Landing. After Robb proved to be a successful military leader, he was hailed as the King of the North.
Introduced in A Clash of Kings is King Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, a group of islands off the western coast of Westeros. King Greyjoy decides to make things interesting by launching his own attack against the northern areas of Westeros.
It’s a state of constant warfare and treachery, a time when neighbors turn against neighbors as the five kings (Joffrey, Renly, Stennis, Robb and Balon) go to war. Some fight for vengeance, others for control of the Seven Kingdoms.
For this book review we’ll take a look at each of the main areas including the Seven Kingdoms, the Wall, and in the East.
SEVEN KINGDOMS:
A Clash of Kings begins with Lord Stannis Baratheon learning of his younger brother, Lord Renly Baratheon, raising an army and heading to King’s Landing to seize the Iron Throne for himself. Stannis had been living on the island of Dragonstone after his brother, Robert, won the Iron Throne years ago. In Dargonstone, one of Stannis’s key advisors is Melisandre of Asshai, a red priestess who follows the Lord of Light.
Stannis decides to use his massive fleet of ships and fight for the throne. It’s just a question of how he’s going to make his attack.
Meanwhile, Robb Stark’s army has been victorious with his war against the Lannisters. Robb’s mother, Catelyn Stark, knows the importance of having a powerful alliance during such times. Robb wants her to stay at Riverrun, but Catelyn chooses to ride south to find Lord Renly’s army.
Cate locates Renly’s army as he’s holding a tournament with his knights. The winner of the tournament is actually a female fighter — Brienne of Tarth. As the tournament’s winner, she asks to become part of Renly’s elite Kingsguard warriors. Cate has a brief meeting with Renly and asks him about a Stark-Baratheon alliance to fight against the Lannisters when they receive news that Stannis is attacking at Storm’s End, Renly’s stronghold.
Renly rides out with Cate to meet with Stannis and see if the battle between Renly and Stannis can be avoided. Neither of the brothers is willing to stand down and join the other’s forces. Stannis is the rightful heir while Renly has the bigger army. Stannis’s quest for the Iron Throne is going to begin right there at Storm’s End. Neither of them can reach an agreement, and the battle is set to begin the following morning.
The next morning, while King Renly is in his tent with Cate and Brienne and preparing himself for battle, he’s suddenly killed from behind. Nobody actually sees the assassin. Cate thinks that she sees a shadow suddenly rise behind Renly before he’s killed, but it disappears right after the attack. There’s just a bloody mess as the king dies in the middle of his army. His other guards quickly point the blame to Brienne, but Catelyn convinces them that the woman is innocent. She and Brienne escape back to Riverrun before others blame them for Renly’s sudden death.
Just because Renly is dead doesn’t mean that all of his army joins Stannis Baratheon. Cortnay Penrose, the castle’s leader, refuses to surrender to Stannis. Instead of launching a direct attack, Stannis sends his priestess, Melisandre, on a secret mission. She infiltrates the lower part of the stronghold and gives birth to another shadow creature. It’s later learned that the shadow creature successfully killed Cortnay, and the rest of Storm’s End surrendered to Stannis’s army.
After her father was executed, Arya Stark was grabbed by Yoren of the Night’s Watch. She’s being taken with other new recruits, including Gendry (a blacksmith and bastard son of King Robert) and a fat boy called Hot Pie. Arya’s hair is cut short and she goes by the name Arry to hide her gender and true identity. Yoren plans on letting Arya return to Winterfell when they pass by there, but they never make it that far.
At one point the caravan of recruits reaches a town that was recently destroyed by warfare. While they take shelter, Lannister men arrive and demand that they surrender. Yoren refuses and a battle takes place. Many people are killed but Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie all escape. Arya manages to free a group of criminals before they burn to death in a barn.
Arya and her companions are later captured by different soldiers, and they’re taken to Harrenhal, a notorious castle held by Lannisters. They’re all given jobs in the castle and treated like slaves. Jaqen H’ghar, one of the criminals that Arya saved from the fire, promises to kill three people on her behalf. All she has to do is whisper the names into his ear. Arya quickly has Jaqen kill two of the people at the castle, people that she greatly hated. Then the girl realized that those two chances were wasted when it was the whole Lannister army that was at war, and she should have picked more important targets.
Most of the Lannisters leave Harrenhal as Lord Tywin Lannister heads south to help with the defense of King’s Landing. Shortly later a batch of prisoners arrives. Arya asks Jaqen to help free the prisoners, but he refuses as that would require killing more than one person, and she only had one of his favors left. Instead, Arya tells Jaqen that he is the third person that needs to be killed. Jaqen is surprised and he has to kill himself and fulfill his obligation to the girl. However, if he helps free the prisoners, then Arya will take back his name and allow him to live. He does so and Arya helps Jaqen and his two companions kill the guards and free the prisoners.
The Stark supporters overtake the castle at Harrenhal. Later, Lord Roose Bolton would arrive and take command of the castle.
Before Jaqen H’ghar leaves, he reveals his true identity to the girl. He is a shapeshifter and used magic to conceal his identity. Arya wants to learn the magic, but doing so would require traveling to the far East across the Narrow Sea. Jaqen gives Arya a bronze coin and tells her to say the phrase, “Valar Morghulis,” to any man that she meets from Braavos.
After Lord Bolton arrives, Arya maintains her identity as an ordinary servant. She learns of distressing news back home in Winterfell. She also acquires a map and learns that she’s not too far from Riverrun. Arya convinces Gendry to leave with her. In the middle of the night, Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie all use stolen horses and weapons and escape into the wilderness.
In King’s Landing, Tyrion Lannister arrives and becomes the new Hand of the King as appointed by his father, Lord Tywin Lannister. Tyrion is there to help prevent his nephew, King Joffrey, from continually making bad decisions while being the king. Tyrion frequently bumps head with his sister, Queen Cersi, as they both suspect the other of treachery and deceit.
After arriving in King’s Landing and learning about both Renly and Stannis marching towards the governing city, Tyrion begins working on the city’s defenses. He orders all of the blacksmiths to begin working on chains. They’re confused as to why, but that’s what he commands. Tyrion also has the chemists creating a highly flammable substance known as “wildfire” (just like Greek Fire).
At first the news is joyous when King’s Landing learns of Stannis attacking his brother at Storm’s End. The Lannisters hope that the Baratheon brothers will have a bloody battle and destroy each other. Lord Tywin Lannister can then take his army and crush their remains. But that news turns to sorrow when they learn that Renly is killed before any battles take place. Stannis grows his army and then sets his sights on King’s Landing.
Tyrion learns that not all of Renly’s forces joined with Stannis. The Tyrell family at Highgarden, including Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, can be bought with Lannister wealth. Tyrion sends Petyr Baelish (also known as “Littlefinger“) on a mission to meet with the Tyrells and propose an alliance. To sweeten the deal, he instructs Littlefinger to offer King Joffrey to be married to one of the Tyrell ladies. Although King Joffrey is supposed to marry Sansa Stark, she’s the daughter of a traitor and presumed to be a traitor as well.
As King’s Landing is turned into a fortress, conditions for the people continue to deteriorate. Food begins to run scarce and the people start protesting. Instead of trying to find solutions for his people, King Joffrey pretty much ignores their pleas for help. They turn on him and try to attack him at one point. Several of Joffrey’s guards are killed when the mob turns violent.
King Stannis Baratheon uses his fleet of ships to launch a seaborne attack, coming up the river to attack King’s Landing, just as Tyrion Lannister was expecting. The ships are attacked with catapults and trebuchets. They’re pelted with rocks and then the wildfire. When the burning ships try to flee, chains are lifted across the entrance to the river, trapping them. It’s a slaughter as most of Stennis’s navy is destroyed. Tyrion Lannister leads knights to the shore to attack and kill the soldiers who make it to land.
Near the end of the battle Tyrion is attacked and almost killed by one of Joffrey’s Kingsguard. He’s saved by his squire, but Tyrion is badly scarred and injured.
The Lannisters successfully hold King’s Landing and defeat Stannis’s army. It turns out that Littlefinger was successful with negotiating with the Tyrells, and their army was able to attack Stannis from the rear, sealing his fate. It’s said though that the ghost of King Renly led his soldiers into battle, and that’s what helped turn the tide against King Stannis.
After the battle, Lord Tywin Lannister reclaims his position of Hand of the King at King’s Landing. King Joffrey agrees to the marriage pact with the Tyrells and announces that he will wed Lady Margaery, King Renly’s widowed, young wife. It’s mentioned that Margaery is still a maid and that Renly never commenced their marriage, so she’s still “pure” for Joffrey.
Sansa Stark is overjoyed at the news that King Joffrey is going to take a different wife. Up to this point she had been meeting in secret with a knight and plotting a way to finally escape from King’s Landing and King Joffrey. Sansa thinks that she’s in the clear until she’s informed that she’ll still be held captive there in King’s Landing. To make matters worse, she’s also told that King Joffrey may decide to still take Sansa to bed, and since she’s now officially a woman, she may end up bearing bastard children from him.
In Winterfell, Bran Stark is the ruler of the stronghold despite his youth. One day he’s entertaining people when he meets Jojen and Meera Reed of Greywater Watch, a group of people who live in a swamp area south of Winterfell. Jojen and Meera are in Winterfell to pledge allegiance on behalf of Greywater. Both of the Reed children take an interest in Bran’s dreams involving his direwolf, Summer. It’s learned that Bran and his half-brother, Jon Snow, both have an ability to have a mind link with their direwolves when they’re asleep.
Meanwhile, Theon Greyjoy is released by Robb Stark and allowed to return home to the Iron Islands. It turns out that Theon had actually been held captive by the Starks for the past ten years. Lord Balon Greyjoy led a rebellion against the Iron Throne, and Ned Stark and King Robert Baratheon put an end to it. Theon was then taken captive to make sure that his father would behave. Instead of keeping him in a dungeon, Ned Stark raised and treated Theon like one of his own sons, just like Jon Snow.
Now that Ned Stark and King Robert are dead and the region is in civil war, Theon is allowed to return home as a gesture of goodwill.
However, Lord Balon doesn’t really care that Theon is back home. He considers Theon to be more of a Stark than a Greyjoy. Although Theon is the eldest son and heir to the throne in the Iron Islands, Lord Balon is planning on having Theon’s sister, Asha, take the throne. Lord Balon declares himself to be a king and sets Asha and Theon out on a mission to attack the northern lands to get his revenge. While Asha is sent after important targets, Theon is assigned to raid the coast and draw away the enemy troops.
Theon wants to impress his father and sister, so he takes a small force of men and captures Winterfell, the home base of the Stark family. It’s a complete success and Theon names himself Prince Theon, and he rules Winterfell. His glory is short as one night Bran and his younger brother Rickon escape with the help of Jojen and Meera Reed along with Hodor and Osha. Theon rides into the wilderness and follows the trails left by the boys’ direwolves, but there aren’t any traces of the fugitives.
Knowing that he cannot return to Winterfell without the escapees, Theon murders two young boys, mutilates their faces, and makes their bodies look like Bran and Rickon. He has their heads mounted above the castle. Asha visits him and isn’t impressed. It would have been better if Theon took the boys hostage and then burned Winterfell to the ground.
Theon’s decision comes back to bite him as a large force of Stark supporters and House Bolton surround Winterfell. They’re not about to let him leave there alive. Just as Theon is about to make a deal to exchange himself for a position at the Night’s Watch, Ramsay Snow arrives and takes command of the Bolton army. Ramsay is one of Bolton’s bastard sons. Ramsay also helped Theon conquer Winterfell. Theon then sent him out to gather an army to help defend the castle from future attack, all for the promise of giving Ramsay one of the women in the castle. The plan worked as the Bolton army turned on the Stark supporters.
After the Stark supporters are defeated, Theon opens the gates and welcomes Bolton’s army into Winterfell. Ramsay just as quickly turns on Theon and attacks Winterfell. It’s implied that Theon Greyjoy is killed as the castle is attacked and burned around him.
After Winterfell is destroyed and the Bolton army has left, Bran and Rickon emerge along with their companions. They had been hiding underground in the family’s vault the whole time. Bran had their two direwolves run away and leave behind a false trail. After encountering a dying Maester Luwin and learning what really happened, it’s decided that the two Stark boys should head in different directions. Osha takes Rickon in one direction while Meera, Jojen and Hodor take Bran to the north.
THE WALL:
At the end of A Game of Thrones a scouting party of rangers of the Night Watch head north of the Wall in search of missing rangers Benjen Stark and Mance Rayder. This scouting party includes Jon Snow, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, and Samwell Tarly.
Using old and barely adequate maps of the mostly unknown northern region, the party continues north and notices that wildlings‘ camps are mysteriously empty. It’s as if the people suddenly vanished. When the rangers visit a wildling known as Craster at Crasker’s Keep, they learn that the wildlings, the wild people who choose to live on their own and without an authoritative figure, King-beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder.
While the rangers are visiting with Craster, they’re warned not to touch or talk to Caster’s many wives. One of the young wives approaches Jon Snow and pleads for him to rescue her and take her away from Craster. Jon cannot do so right now as they’re still headed north and towards danger. The woman asks for Jon and the rangers to rescue her when they return and head back to the Wall.
The rangers continue north into the snowy mountains and reach the Fist of the First Men, an ancient fortress constructed by the first men who explored the area hundreds of years ago. Lord Commander Mormont then sends experienced ranger Qhorin Halfhand and Jon Snow further north to do more reconnaissance of the area. The two of them head further into the mountains to a place called Skirling Pass.
At the Skirling Pass the two rangers discover a small camp of wildlings. It’s a wildling scout party. Qhorin and Jon ambush them and kill the two men at the camp. The female wildling, Ygritte, surrenders herself to Jon. Qhorin informs him that they cannot take any prisoners, and the woman will just lie when she’s interrogated. He leaves her in Jon’s hands and tells him that he knows what he has to do, implying that she’s to be executed. Jon draws his sword but he cannot kill the woman. He tells her to flee, and she does so.
That night in Skirling Pass, Jon Snow falls asleep and dreams of direwolves. He has a mind link and sees the world through the eyes of his direwolf, Ghost. He’s able to run through the mountains and forest and find the other wildlings. He discovers that a massive wildling army is advancing south towards the Wall. Jon wakes from his dream when an eagle attacks Ghost.
The next morning Jon tells Lord Commander Mormont about his dream. It seems like just a fantasy until they discover Ghost cowering behind a rock and injured from a bird attack. Off in the distance is an eagle carefully watching them. The eagle is a scout for the wildlings, and it cries into the air, alerting the wildlings of the rangers.
They’ve been discovered. Mormont quickly decides that it’s time to head back to the Wall and prepare themselves for the attack. There’s little that their small force can do here in the mountains against the advancing army.
Qhorin and Jon Snow use a pair of horses to ride around and try to delay the wildling army, buying time for the rest of the rangers to return to the wall. Eagles in the sky watch Qhorin and Jon, and soon they’re surrounded by wildings including Ygritte. Qhorin has expected this to occur, and he already warned Jon Snow that in order to survive, Jon has to switch sides and join the wildlings. Jon does so. To prove that he’s really switched sides, the wildlings order Jon to kill Qhorin Halfhand. Jon attacks him and successfully kills the veteran ranger with the help of Ghost.
After defeating Qhorin, the wildlings are convinced that Jon Snow is a traitor to the Night’s Watch. Ygritte informs him that King-beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder and his army are well on their way of advancing to the Wall.
THE EAST:
Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, is alive after walking into the funeral pyre for her deceased husband, Dothraki leader Khal Drogo. She was not harmed by the flames (proof that she has dragon blood), and the three dragon eggs hatched.
What few people who stayed with her after the rest of the Dothrakis left are convinced that she is their true leader. When Daenerys sees the comet in the night sky, she’s convinced that it’s a sign from above. She gathers her people and leads them across a barren waste land towards the comet. Unfortunately, the red waste is a brutal environment and many of her followers die from dehydration. Just as it’s looking bleak, scouts find a path to the trading city of Qarth.
The people of Qarth are fascinated with the Mother of Dragons. Two people in particular, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, a merchant prince, and Pyat Pree, a warlock, take particular interest in the young lady and her three dragons. Xaro tries to woo the lady and convince her to marry him and use his wealth to purchase a fleet of ships and an army. When Daenerys learns that Xaro really wants one of the dragons, she refuses his offer. He then tries to purchase a dragon, but Daenerys also refuses his further attempts.
After dealing with Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Daenerys agrees to meet with Pyat Pree and the warlocks. Pyat offers to give Daenerys council, but it can only happen inside of the House of the Undying, a magical structure that can easily kill the woman if she gives in to its temptations. Before she enters the building, Pyat warns her to always take the door on the right and to always climb up stairs, never descend them. Failure to take the correct passage will result in her becoming lost and trapped inside of the house.
Daenerys takes one of her dragons and enters the House of the Undying. She follows Pyat’s instructions though some of the rooms are designed to trick her. Along the way she sees people who have been dead for years. Other rooms try to entice the young woman and fool her. There’s even a version of Pyat who tries to trick the woman. Daenerys finally reaches the true room with the Undying Ones and receives a cryptic message and terrifying visuals. When the Undying Ones attack Daenerys, her dragon fights back by breathing fire. The room burns and Daenerys flees outside with her dragon.
Later, when Daenerys and Ser Jorah Mormont are walking along the harbor of the port city, they notice that they’re being followed by two men. They think it’s a trap as Pyat Pree was known to be organizing the other warlocks to retaliate against Daenerys after her dragon burned the House of the Undying.
Suddenly a man steps forward and hands Daenerys a box. She opens it and sees a deadly insect that’s about to strike. The two men who were following her jump into action and kill the insect, saving her life from the assassin. The two men are revealed to be Strong Belwas and Arstan Whitebeard. They tell her that they were sent to Qarth by Magister Illyrio to find Daenerys and return her to Pentos. Word has reached the Free Cities that King Robert is dead and four kings were fighting for the Iron Throne.
It’s time for the Targaryens to return to Westeros and rule the Seven Kingdoms.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A Clash of Kings is a fantastic book and a worthy sequel of the story that began with A Game of Thrones.
Spanning 969 pages, A Clash of Kings is merely another chapter in the epic tale of A Song of Ice and Fire. But it’s a great chapter full of treachery, evil ways and some battlefield action, and once finished you’ll be craving for more of the story.
The first half of A Clash of Kings is fairly slow and mainly focuses on Tyrion Lannister’s actions as Hand of the King, and Arya Stark’s journey north with the boys and men heading to the Wall. It’s her actions and brief fight scenes that drive most of the action and suspense in this part of the book.
The second half of the book focuses on the tension between Renly and Stennis, and then the preparation and battle between King Stennis and the Lannisters at King’s Landing. The incredible build-up is worth the combat scenes and Tyrion’s brilliant defenses.
This time around we’re treated to more of the supernatural between the creepy shadow assassins that Melisandre creates along with Bran, Arya and Jon’s ability to go to sleep and have mind links with their direwolves. It’s fairly interesting and leaves you curious to learn more about these powers. It’s also a question of what supernatural powers and mythological creatures we’ll read about next in A Storm of Swords.
Fans of George R. R. Martin’s previous work will feel right at home with A Clash of Kings. The same goes true for those people who enjoy adventure stories with a medieval theme. Just be warned that you cannot jump into this series without reading the previous book, A Game of Thrones, first.
