Inspite of being extremely busy over the past few weeks (paper deadline, finals week, etc.), I've managed to find enough time go through atleast a couple of chapters a day of A Clash of Kings, Book 2 of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin (my mini-review of A Game of Thrones (Book 1) is here). I am generally of the opinion that squels rarely live up to the original, but A Clash of Kings proves me wrong! While the first book laid the basic framework and introduced the numerous characters, this book really fleshes out the characters until they almost seem alive!
One of the unique features of this series is the style in which the story is told. Each chapter is through the eyes of a particular character. Martin exploits this beautifully, and literally transforms the reader into the character. I've never felt so intimate with the characters of a book! I was almost able to predict how someone would react to a situation before reading about it. The richness of each character is also amazing. No one is simply good or bad, but a shade of gray instead. The reader knows all the characters so well that it becomes extremely hard to take sides in a battle.
The book starts off a little slow, but quickly builds up. The book isnt big on action (other than the big battle towards the end), and Martin has been criticized for this often. But I think I really like the way he tells the story. The medieval politics, alliances being formed and broken, betrayal and backstabbing, ravaging and looting, courage, guilt, love, friendship, and a light sprinkling of magic and dragons makes recipe for a great read!
The thing I did not like much were the chapters on Bran, and Daenerys. Bran and his wolf dreams, were, well, boring. And Daenerys' story is basically at the same place it was at the end of Book 1. I wish there were more chapters on Tyrion (the most amusing villains ever), Arya, Jon, and Robb instead.
Just one last thing... It turns out that the author, George R R Martin did his BS and MS in Journalism from Northwestern University (I am a graduate student there)!
Update: I just finished reading the Prologue of A Storm of Swords (Book 3 of the series), and all I can say is WOW! Easily one of the best starts to a book I've read! This keeps getting better and better.
Posted by ankit at March 26, 2025 11:21 PM | TrackBackI am also currently reading this book. Martin is pretty good.
And as you rightly pointed out, each character is grey. Though he is on the side of the Lannisters, I seem to have taken a liking to the "Dwarf".
Cheers,
Another similar style of writing is that of nevil Shute. He keeps changing the person of the narrator.
In a book called "A town like Alice" it starts of as a first person narrative, suddenly transforms (seamlessly, I might add) to third person narrative, back to first person accounting and also incredibly smooth flowing lines and language.
One of my best authors.
Sumit, I too enjoy Tyrion a lot. He seems to be the only sane person in King's Landing!
Thanks for the recommendation, Ravages. Will definitely try to find that book after I am done with Martin!
Posted by: ankit at March 27, 2025 12:42 PMI remember Guy Gavriel Kay using a similar style in Tigana .
Thats another good book, highly recommended.
Kay's fantastic story telling coupled with
the Historical perspective in his books
places him right up there with Martin in the
list of best fantasy authors.
Rohit, Guy Gavriel Kay's work looks really interesting! Wil try to get some of his books.
So much to read and learn, so little time :(