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.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

5
This a YA fantasy novel that begins on the wedding day of sixteen year-old Princess Elisa. Being the chosen one, the one every century born with the Godstone in her navel, a lot is expected from her as a conduit for God's will in the world. Yet this stone, a priceless blue jewel, is unique enough to cause a host of problems.

I have to say that the reason I gave this book a five rating is because it's has been a while since I've been unable to put a book down and I've had this need to know what happens next: that insatiable urge to keep reading. It's probably courtesy of it being a YA fantasy that it was as fast-paced as it was, but it's still slower than other YA books thanks to the fantasy elements. The other reason I loved this book so was that at the end, when she confronts the Animages (which isn't a spoiler), I was just buzzing. Had I been a cat, I would have purred uncontrollably since I was experiencing a high like no other: where I just wanted to read as fast as I could and ascertain what happened, yet restricting myself to understand fully what would transpire (and also to extend the feeling).

One of the things that hit me early on as a pleasant surprise was that are heroine was fat. Not average sized, and definitely not thin, but undeniably fat and a lover of all things edible. I mean, I got hungry reading sometimes! But no, I like that books don't shy away from these things, especially in a protagonist. Too often they're the athletic type, or if not they are rarely fat: the general description is someone who couldn't be described as thin, but is healthy and fit. There is nothing wrong with that, but figures show that most people think of themselves as fat and obesity is a problem in the Western World.

I felt the story was a tad clichéd at times: a mix of princess in a new country/city, the chosen one and the less loved sibling. But Elisa's character- her voice, wit and attitude- made everything seem shiny and new and made me love the book so much. It underlined how no one judged her for her weight (mass!), but valued the quality of her mind or personality. Her strength of character. But again, this is a small part. Weight doesn't define who we are, though it is a huge anxiety in our society. As such, it never defined Elisa as a protagonist, as a princess or as the chosen one.

Other characters in the book were fine, but less interesting than Elisa and, on occasion, less fleshed out. It makes sense though in that because Elisa was such a good character, there was a good chance one would feel like this. Cosmé, Alejandro or Alodia all seemed to fall into a set character type for fantasy novels- yet in fairness they had some more exceptional qualities. Personally though, I felt they were mostly plot-orientated. They developed somewhat and were relatively interesting, but they were there to fill a function mostly: and their development wasn't entirely unique or unprecedented.

One thing I didn't think I'd be saying when I started was that I loved the religion element in this book. I'm not religious, and I didn't see why it was important early on: I found it distracting and in some ways unnecessary. But you slowly realise how important it is and, rather than being solely about religious zeal, it becomes apparent how important it is as part of this world; both as a motivation for characters (good and evil) and the impact this has on the world. Part of me says this is merely their interpretation of events and that there needn't be a God, but it doesn't matter. Part of me expects a sequel to have an atheist character who argues exactly this.

The God element is also fantastic in that my favourite bit involved the words Elisa uses whilst...optimising the Godstone. I always think the archaic sound of the Bible or ancient texts sounds powerful in some way: probably because it is, A, unusual to our ears and, B, writers had a certain way (with a certain tempo and use of stresses) to write. It really made that scene for me.

If you like fantasy, it is incredibly easy to recommend this, I think. It doesn't complicated the simple and well written characters with a well-formulated plot means that anyone who doesn't have a vendetta against fantasy will has a good chance of seriously liking this book. I rank this up there with Night Circus, so I hope you can understand my love for it.

The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin

There are minor spoilers in this review, but they are discovered in the first book either early on, or are predictable in the course of things for any seasoned reader (particularly fantasy).


4
This is fantasy novel set in the fictional land of the Winter Kingdoms where there are Mages, Empowered Kings, and spirits more than able to affect there environment. Tris (Martris) is trying to recapture his old Kingdom from his murderous, treacherous brother Jared and his Evil Blood Mage advisor (when are they ever good?) Foor Arontala. Also, Tris is the Mage heir to his Grandmother Bava K'aa, one of the strongest spirit mages in memory.

As with most Fantasy, the plot is like a labyrinth, and you find yourself thrown into so many different plots, subplots, relationships and characters that it can be hard to keep it all straight. Thankfully, none of them have overly similar names and I didn't find myself too confused. Yet since I started this months after the first one (I got it at Christmas last year), I didn't remember the details which did have a negative effect at the start. I was interested enough not to just give up, but I was a bit confused at the start.

Another thing with the plot is that, despite only being the second book in this series, it was the conclusion from the last book. "Er- what? This is book two right?" were the words in my head since I'm not used to this kind of thing. Again, it didn't draw away from the book, only left me mildly confused.

I'm of two minds of the romance in this book. Part of me says that it is quite a realistic love, since it is neither too obvious nor the only thing in the minds. The characters kind of feel that romance is a dangerous thing to pursue with the current predicaments and their quest. I like that reluctance and the threat to the romance. Yet I dislike the tendency in high fantasy for characters to pair off with one another in much to obvious combinations. It doesn't make them bad match-ups, but it questions whether or not it was meant to happen, or is just sticking to norms.

The world of this book, and the different states and factions in the story make for interesting reading. We're always told a faction's history and it (thankfully) doesn't feel like a lecture from the author. The knowledge is given in a way the character would need to give it to react and work with the people present. Of course, the downside is that sometimes we can forget who works for who and who used to work for who. Fantasy characters (particularly the 'guide' character) always seems to have many fingers in many pies and there is always someone to recognise the new character introduced.

Magic is fine, but hardly special- besides the spirit mages. There are different types of mages- the Elements and then Spirit as well, I think (I'm not sure if healer is a sub-division or a separate branch)- and the elementals (Fire, Land, Air, Water) are mostly unexplained and just go about their business. It makes sense, since even though it matters a little, we don't need to know every mechanic of magic. The only real thing we know is that all magic is powered by the Flow, and magical ability depends on closeness to it. Also, the flow is usually in balance (giving light mages power) but dark magic upsets it. The Light/Dark element is another thing: basically summed up in saying that Dark mages do what they want, while the Light ones ask for permission or avoid death. Nicely black and white, not grey.

As I said, Spirit is the most interesting. Tris is a spirit mage, meaning he can bind, harness and release spirits. He has the basic magic abilities as well (like energy strikes, telekinesis) but his unique ability is converse with spirits and give them the power to be free to go to the afterlife, or finish their business. It sounds dull, but reading it and seeing its effect is quite powerful. I'm quite fascinated by death (as Humans are wont to be considering its the final major event of life) so I guess an idea that one can make oneself remain for any reasons or that one person could access the dead for power if amazing. Since everyone dies, the power is limitless and is a true force to be reckoned with. But of course a light mage only accesses this power should the spirits allow it.

A final thing is the religion in fantasy. I adore how, in fantasy, the gods are present and can be seen and interacted with in some ways. Here, there is one god who takes 9 forms, each with a dark and light side, giving a total of 18. There is also a relinquished 19th form: the formless one. Tris interacts with the Lady more than others since he is so close the world of spirits, and I like seeing that these powerful elements are present but never intervening. It just adds a certain something.

So this was a perfectly fine book. If you're not a fantasy reader, it probably isn't worth getting because it's not the jaw-dropping fantasy that will leave a good impression, it's just a satisfying read. If you are a fantasy reader though, there's no harm in picking up book one and just enjoying an entertaining but unremarkable fantasy.