A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings – George R. R. Martin

 

The second Game of Thrones book. As I write this review, I’m a bit stumped as to what I can write that I didn’t already discuss in my review of Book One.  Hmmmm……let’s see…… Well, it continues the story that most people already know. How’s that?  Most are familiar with the HBO series.  There are masses that are fanatical about the show. I confess that I’m not that huge of a fan.  Oh I enjoy the series, but I don’t frequent internet communities discussing theories about who did what and why. I don’t even necessarily feel the urge to watch the episodes as soon as they become available. This can be damaging as the morning after, the internet is upchucking information about “what happened on last night’s episode”.  I guess I’m more of a casual fan.

The main appeal of the books for me is actually two-fold. First, I love to read. Second, reading the book helps plug some of the gaps. Unfortunately, there are times when I get a bit lost watching the series. I have a hard time keeping up with who is who and what is exactly going on.  The major characters I can handle, but the ones that are a bit more minor can get lost in my crowded mind.  So when I read one of the books after I’ve watched one of the seasons, I come to such revelations as “So that’s where Stannis came from.  He’s Robert’s brother. So that’s why he thinks he should be king.”  And so on. I’m sure many can follow along better than I can, but this is an area where I struggle.

Now that’s not to say that the books can be a bit challenging as well. Especially when it comes to characters.  Author George R.R. Martin seems to have some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder to list the name of every single minor character that he introduces. Even if they don’t stay in the story for very long.  Is there anyone out there reading these books that can keep track of all the different “maesters”?  It’s a bit of small sin, but a rather irritating one.  Sure, the author provides a “who’s who” in the back of the book, but who really wants to flip back and forth that frequently?  Especially when one is reading on an e-book.

Since the HBO series is so popular, I’m guessing that more have watched the series than have read the books. I would recommend all that have watched to read as well.  It really is a great story. I must also say that the casting of the characters for the series seems impeccable.  It’s really hard, for example, to read about Tyrian Lannister and not immediately see Peter Dinklage in the role.

From what I understand, the narrative in the books and the HBO series don’t exactly coincide, although after the second book, I would have to conclude that at this point the similarities are very strong, and I can’t see any real discrepancies. Perhaps this happens a bit later.  If I’m not mistaken, the author has been stuck on book six for several years as I write this review, and the producers of the show got tired of waiting, so they just went ahead and started continuing their own version of the story without him.  Probably a good thing.  There are still those that are hoping the author finishes what he started, however.  The books are still extremely rewarding, even if the story never gets officially “finished”.