A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2)

The sweetness of Bitburger alleviates the bitterness of Blackwater Bay…

After months of working through A Clash of Kings, “It is finished!” is my cry! I think a quasi-biblical pronouncement is acceptable as this book extends the epic begun in A Game of Thrones.

There are several reasons it took me months to finish this novel, none of which had anything to do with it being boring or difficult to digest (as my dog will attest, ha!).

As a Special Education teacher, I often come home exhausted, too tired to read more than a few pages each night.

That’s why I simply adore summer vacation — gobs of hours I can devote wholly to reading! So it should be no surprise that first thing in June A Clash of Kings was finished.

My inability to finish it during the school year should not make you think that the second book was any less riveting as the first. As I was finishing A Game of Thrones, I was warned that the rest of his books were boring in comparison. It’s my greatest pleasure to rub this onto the noses of those naysayers:

Another reason it took so long for me to read is that I read it through the eyes of someone who’s seen all the seasons. I literally read each and every word, looking for clues (or spoilers) and trying to solve mysteries that may (or may not!) have been revealed by the season six finale. Since I typically speed read, this drastically reduced my read time, but enhanced my reading pleasure ten fold.

I won’t go in too much detail, as I want you to read it and watch the second season with fresh eyes, but this book was excellent. Even though I knew what was coming, I still was thrilled at every reveal and relished looking for details that were not present in the show. This season diverted more overtly from the book (as compared with season one) but I forgave that, as I am very magnanimous.

The three scenes that really stood out:

1. Maester Cressen confronts Melissandre
2. Renly’s Assassination
3. The Battle of Blackwater Bay

The show does an excellent job portraying these scenes, but there’s just nothing compared with the power of the written word combined with a vivid imagination!