A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

Possible spoilers for book one but not this book, but they will be highlighted such that one can avoid them!

4
This book two in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and is an extremely long read (though I hear A Dance With Dragons is longer still). It is continuation of every and all events from book one and is just as hard-hitting and, in some ways, wonderfully deplorable. In my opinion, it is the better of the two since I was much more interested in events than in book one.

The plot in this series, for anyone who hasn't read the books, is a sprawling mess of utter chaos. The best analogy is to imagine a plate of spaghetti, and each string of spaghetti is a plot line and reading it is like trying to find the other end of the spaghetti WITHOUT yanking it out. It is utter madness sometimes. You seem to have your main plot and about 4 other sub-plots, per viewpoint. And then there are around 6 view points. So you have a grand total of around 30 plots which you have to try, in vain to keep straight. Early on in the book, it's even worse. I commend Martin for not just tying off the old plots and moving on, but the start of the book holds onto about half of the plots for about a third of the book, but still insists on bringing in more. What I'm saying is that these are highly confusing books a lot of the time, and sometimes you'd be reading something and only realise about 3 pages in which plot it pertains to.

This same issue is with the characters, though it is less pronounced. The back of the book lists every major and minor character of the major factions on the book, and I seriously believe that every one of them is important in some way. Finishing the book, I astounded myself with how many characters I managed to keep straight in my head. Admittedly, I just had to keep reading blind sometimes and hope this character wasn't too important.

It's a credit to Martin, I have to say, that despite being occasionally muddled I managed to know what was going on. How I think he does it is by defining everything with certain events of names. Practically all the characters have a defining a feature- some are "the Knight of X", they may be named "The [noun]" or they were involved in some conquest- and they will be the only ones associated with this. It's fantastically done when I think about it.

Anyway, down to specifics.

Once again, one of the things is disliked was the wanton brutality of the books, and the banalisation of rape and prostitution. I read some response Martin gave on these fronts (I'm not the only one who is disturbed by it) and he defends it by saying that it is historical and medieval England was like this. He doesn't like it any more than we do, but he has to right a realistic, truthful story. If that means it must be gritty and disturbing, so be it. I can accept that since he's right to be honest in his story, but I'm retaining the right to dislike it. It is too often brought up, in my opinion, and hate that the men are often so flippant about it. It doesn't usually detract from the story, but I think that if anyone has particular sensibilities or particular revulsion to these things, stop while you're ahead; since I expect it to get worse as the book continues and fighting grows. I wonder if I would have ever opted to read these books had I known they were so....so like this.

**** SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE IN NEXT PARAGRAPHS UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE!!! ****

I actually got more invested in various stories this time around. Last time, stories such as Jon Snow's, Sansa's or Arya's were just not at all interesting. However, at the end of book one, Arya has fled the castle, Sansa dislikes Joffrey (and, forgive me, has finally gotten some sense) while Jon has learnt that the Night's Watch are to go beyond the wall. In book one, I could read Jon's chapters easily enough for the same reasons I could read Catelyn's and Bran's: because despite not being terribly interesting, they were written and I liked the voice's. Also, they both had points were they were actually interesting. With Jon, I felt his story had so much potential to be interesting, but it just wasn't. I understand they had to train, set up loyalties and what not but there was wasted opportunity, in my opinion. There was always the feeling of a growing threat and it infuriated me that it was never realised story-wise.

Tyrion and Daenerys are both just as good though, if not better. Tyrion is whimsical and despite being a Lannister, I'm actually going to accuse him of having a great deal of sense and even a few morals. In some ways, he often strikes me as the most human of the characters and even though he has his weaknesses and short-comings (no pun intended), he is probably the only Lannister I would want to be King. I think he has the good sense to look past his own life and desires and do what is right for the kingdom as a whole.

Daenerys disappointed me a little since very little happened in her story besides a lot of wandering around, hopeless, and sitting about dreaming about her future. I think she had fewer chapters than last time as well so we didn't see her as much. But the dragons....man, do I love them! I squirm with happiness whenever they do anything and, at one point, it says how she was reclining in cushions with her dragons around her. Bliss, utter bliss.

There are two new views as well: Ser Davos, a Knight of Stannis, and Theon Greyjoy. Davos had a nice voice, and I did like him, but I was more interested in him because Melisandre and the magic (?) she suggested she had.  Theon is more interesting, but only because I hate him from the bottom of my heart. I feel sorry for him since he feels abandoned by his own family, but does he need to be such a debased and detestable individual? He has no value for women or anyone less than himself. In so many ways, he is just like a Lannister in his overwhelming idea of self worth and importance. And the things he does- the way he is- just disgusts me. The bit with Bran and Rickon...I just had to stop reading for a short while. I felt my heart stop; I stopped breathing in shock. I was just blown away at how much I could hate a character.

**** SPOILERS OVER ****


Overall, I was impressed with this book. If you read book one and were a bit dubious, I think this book will set your mind at ease that this is likely to be an enjoyable series and that you should definitely keep reading. I only warn you to expect to be reading this for a while; my copy was around 900 pages.

Dark Lady's Chosen by Gail Z. Martin

Though there are no spoilers for this book, this book contains spoilers from books one, two and three. You have been warned!!! (It's also early on in the review.)


4
The next book in this (seeming interminable) series is the continuation and arguable conclusion of what occurred in book 3, Dark Haven. We see the end of the plot to kill Kiara, the result of the War with Curane, the fate of Cam of Cairnrach as well as the fate of Dark Haven itself- an ending wound up with the lives of Jonmarc and Carina.

This a well structured book, in my opinion. It seemed that Martin had accepted that, by the end of Dark Haven, everything was coming to its end; for better or for worse. So the majority of the book actually only takes place over 5 days, and the chapters in those days are split between the multiple story lines. I get that some people would rather dislike this (arguable) mess, but it worked for the book. On her site, she says this book was about the aftermath of events that are the settling down of chaos and order into some sort of balance: something I'm going to venture in saying is represented through the written style. It is a bit hectic and indiscernible at times, but there is a clear order and structure that is adhered to.

All the plots seem to figure themselves out in the expected manner: people survive, at a cost or they survive only to find a greater challenge. I don't think anyone would be blown away by the outcome of events since you you've probably been expecting it and though you're obviously happy with the result, you won't be overflowing with excitement after having read it. On the other hand though, you'll never be inconsolable. So if you want a book which isn't going to stress you out to much as a reader, but you can still enjoy reading, this is an excellent choice.

Getting more into specifics...

I felt that Kiara's plot and storyline got slowly more repetitive as time went on. She'd make the mistake of feeling safe or powerful, and then a threat would rear its ugly head. She would survive it, but it underlines the precariousness of her position as well as risking something concerning her unborn child. I am being somewhat cynical, but it has to be said that for an interesting character who could have a had a much more interesting story (in my opinion) it was annoying that it descended into repeating itself. The most interesting bit was the end of her plot. I'm not saying that it was great because it was over (though that lingers at the back of my mind) but because the possible repercussions are interesting. I believe her child will be a mage and that the excess of wormroot (a magic inhibiting drug) in her system from the dart will give the baby an unusual tolerance for it.

I'm of the same sort of opinion of Cam's story too. I feel like his was only used to remind us of the divisionists and the widespread chaos in the kingdoms; otherwise it wasn't too important.

Tris' story was when he was still at war with Curane. His story was also a tad dull, but the ever-looming battle and the mystery surrounding what to do and what new horrors would be encountered kept be reading quickly through these pages. Give whatever meaning to it what you will, I really enjoy reading about battles that involve magic and average soldiers. Part of it is my inbuilt love of magic, but I think I just like the idea of combat magic since it is the most instinctive side of magic and can have interesting consequences. What I disliked about this portion was that Tris seemed to be constantly at the edge of his power, but still managing to hold on. His comments on his growing fatigue and loss of power got a bit dull.

For me though, the Dark Haven story of Jonmarc and Carina was much more interesting. I think that might have been because it was the one story that wasn't so clear cut. The others ones needed their players to survive in order to continue. This story only needed one and, in Carina's case, that one didn't need to come about completely unscathed. If I look back on their story now, the same cynicism takes over that they were hardly the most interesting and that the story was hardly unique. There were conflicts with the revolting (as in revolution) Vampires and Jonmarc's fear of loosing Carina. Carina had her own problems in trying to avoid the taint of Vampirism that warred with her healing magic for dominance. I guess their story was also interesting because it was a chance to learn more about the flow: the river of magical energy in these lands.

So I was impressed with this book. Maybe Dark Haven was a book to set up this one which, in so many ways, was much better. It's actually the end of the Chronicle's of the Necromancer Series, since the following books are a separate series which (I suspect) have a more active focus on Jonmarc. Though maybe it instead focuses on the children of the people on these books: the series being the symbol for the next generation.

Also, bonus points if anyone know who is on the front of this book. Is it Carina???