Author: George R. R. Martin
Publisher: Harper/Voyager
Publishing Date: 2003 (New Ed.)
Binding: Paperback
Cover Artist: Larry Rostant

A Clash of Kings is the second installment in the epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which George R.R. Martin began with the excellent A Game of Thrones. Martin is deeply inspired by English history in the late medieval period, more specifically the Wars of the Roses where the dynasties of Lancaster and York fought a long-drawn civil war about the throne of England. His historical inspiration was particularly conspicuous in A Game of Thrones, which in many respects reminded me of The Sunne in Splendour, Sharon K. Penman’s excellent historical novel about the Yorkist monarchs Edward IV and Richard III.

In Game of Thrones several of the main characters exhibit marked similarities with the historical figures depicted by Penman. Robert Baratheon, king of Westeros, thus strongly resembles Edward IV as he went to seed late in life, while his closest friend Eddard Stark, Hand of the King, shares many traits with Penman’s sympathetic portrait of Richard III. Furthermore, Robert’s queen, Cersei Lannister seems an amalgam of the Lancaster queen Margaret of Anjou and the Yorkist queen Elizabeth Wydeville. She shares the former’s aggressive ruthlessness and the latter’s beauty and avarice. Despite historical similarities of this kind, Martin’s series contains far more than a political conflict lifted from medieval history and transposed into fantasy-land, something which becomes abundantly clear with A Clash of Kings, where Martin sheds his obvious reliance on English history and instead develops the conflicts and characters he so admirably set in place in A Game of Thrones.

Following the events of A Game of Thrones, Westeros tethers on the brink of chaos and the fate of House Stark looks grim indeed. With Robert I Baratheon dead, the Iron Throne has passed to his teenage son Joffrey with his mother, the depraved Cersei as Queen Regent – her influence only tempered by her brother Tyrion’s position as Hand of the King. Other people, however, lay claim to the Iron Throne, arguing Joffrey’s bastardy. Robert’s brothers each claim kingship, while Robb, Eddard Stark’s eldest son, has been acclaimed King in the North, the ancient title of his House. With the spectre of civil war looming on the horizon, additional players eye a chance for power and glory. Thus old ambitions are revived and friendships betrayed when Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands claims kingship of his domain and embarks upon a war of conquest in the North.

Lady Catelyn Stark does not have the luxury of mourning the death of her husband as her children need her. She counsels her son Robb in his war against the Iron Throne while she searches for a way to recover her daughters. Sansa Stark is still in the hands of the Lannisters. Betrothed to King Joffrey, Sansa is in reality a hostage who struggles to remain alive in the face of Joffrey’s increasingly unpredictable and cruel behaviour. Her sister Arya has escaped King’s Landing and together with a band of ragged children she attempts to reach her home at Winterfell, a journey that takes her through a countryside where many dangers lurk for the young and vulnerable. Yet while Westeros descend into civil war and treacherous intrigue, other threats against the kingdom lurk upon the horizon. In the far North, Jon Snow and the men of the Night’s Watch venture out beyond the Wall to assess the Wildling threat, and on the other side of the world Daenerys, the last of the Targaryens, nurtures her newly hatched dragons with vengeance in her heart. Other forces might have designs on Westeros as well since Stannis Baratheon, claimant to the Iron Throne, forsakes the gods of Westeros for R’hllor Lord of Light at the behest of Melisandre of Asshai, the god’s priestess and a woman of sorcerous powers.

A Clash of Kings is structured like its predecessor where each chapter is titled after the POV of its character – a move that ensures that the narrative, in itself very surprising and suspenseful, is firmly grounded in the characters and their development. Whereas A Game of Thrones set the scene and introduced the principal characters, Martin uses the second instalment of his series to develop his characters further, often by placing them in situations where they are forced to abandon ideas and sentiments that until now has served as the foundation of their respective identities. This strategy is employed most successfully in the cases of Sansa and Arya Stark. These girls have grown up sheltered by their noble ancestry as well as loved and indulged by those around them. They lost the security that their station provided when their father was executed as a traitor and each must now struggle to survive in a hostile world, and each must admit that their interpretation of their world and their identity has turned out to be illusory.

Arya Stark, who was a stubborn and wilful tom-boy in A Game of Thrones, is now forced to adopt a disguise as a low-born boy when she, in the care of a man of the Night’s Watch, sets out for Winterfell in the North. Yet when her protector dies, she is left to fend for herself with a group of ragged boys in a hostile territory. When she and the boys cross paths with a company of brutal mercenaries, Arya learns a bitter lesson. She is, despite her fencing-lessons, vulnerable and powerless, and her only safety lies in the false identity she has assumed. Throughout the story, circumstances forces her to exchange one false identity for another and one cannot help to wonder what these bitter lessons in survival will do to her sense of self. Each change of identity strips something away from Arya of House Stark and this novel leaves her with a rather bleak-looking future.

Arya’s older sister Sansa also learns some very bitter lessons about the world and her place in it. The first book, A Game of Thrones, portrayed Sansa Stark as a romantically inclined and somewhat silly young girl who looked at the world through the rose-tinted glasses of courtly romance. For her the world was an endless pageant peopled with beautiful queens, handsome princes, fair maidens and true knights – and her almost wilful blindness towards the harsher aspects of the world frequently put her at odds with both her sister and her father. I have to admit that I didn’t much care for Sansa when I read A Game of Thrones. I found her incredibly shallow and naïve, and, frankly, very annoying – so it is really a testament to Martin’s talent that he in this novel puts her through such a thorough process of disillusionment that her chapters quickly became some of my favourite parts of A Clash of Kings. If Sansa’s eyes were firmly shut against the world during the previous book, they are now wide open – and she doesn’t like what she sees one bit. She can no longer explain away the cruelty and injustice she witnesses at Joffrey’s court and that she herself suffers at the behest of the golden-haired boy-king, who grows ever more violent and cruel. Joffrey is, in many respects, a textbook example of a sociopath with a penchant for sadism. Yet his social position is such that almost no one dares to speak against him. Instead, people jump to carry out his bizarre orders - even if it entails sworn knights beating up a defenceless young girl.

Sansa is ultimately too powerless to be a really compelling character in her own right – at least not yet – but what is very interesting is the use Martin makes of her. He very effectively uses her experiences as a device for critically examining the medieval ideals of chivalry and courtly romance, a critique that is most tellingly revealed in her interactions with Sandor Clegane:

 Sansa hugged herself, suddenly cold. “Why are you always so hateful? I was thanking you…”

“Just as if I was one of those true knights you love so well, yes. What do you think a knight is for, girl? You think it’s all taking favors from ladies and looking fine in gold plate? Knights are for killing.” He laid the edge of his longsword against her neck, just under her ear. Sansa could feel the sharpness of the steel. “I killed my first man at twelve. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve killed since then. High lords with old names, fat rich men dressed in velvet, knights puffed up like bladders with their honors, yes, and women and children too – they’re all meat, and I’m the butcher. Let them have their lands and their gods and their gold. Let them have their sers.” Sandor Clegane spat at her feet to show her what he thought of that. “So long as I have this,” he said, lifting the sword from her throat, “there’s no man on earth I need fear.”

Sandor Clegane, a minor but deeply intriguing character, serves as a counterpoint to Sansa’s wide-eyed innocence, to which he is oddly drawn. This angry, cynical and deeply wounded man continually dogs Sansa’s steps, forcing her to strip away the glamour of romance and fantasy, showing her instead the brutal reality of a feudal world where might more often than not equals right. This critique of the ideal of chivalry is a current theme throughout the entire novel as Martin juxtaposes pageantry and harsh reality. Westeros indeed is a rather bleak world where good intentions and lofty ideals seldom last, a notion that is perhaps most poignantly voiced by Catelyn Stark’s assessment of Renly Baratheon’s court of summer knights:

They are still unblooded, Catelyn thought as she watched Lord Bryce goad Ser Robar into juggling a brace of daggers. It is all a game to them still, a tourney writ large, and all they see is the chance for glory and honor and spoils. They are boys drunk on song and story, and like all boys, they think themselves immortal.

“War will make them old,” Catelyn said, “as it did us.” […] “I pity them.”

“Why?” Lord Rowan asked her. “Look at them. They’re young and strong, full of life and laughter. […] Why pity?”

“Because it will not last,” Catelyn answered, sadly. “Because they are the knights of summer, and winter is coming.”

“Lady Catelyn, you are wrong.” Brienne regarded her with eyes as blue as her armour. “Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it’s always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining.”

Winter comes for all of us, Catelyn thought.

In the end, however much they are cloaked in beautiful imagery and lofty ideals, knights serves their kings for the purpose of war, and the reality of war is neither gallant nor glorious.

Another prominent feature of Martin’s novel is the politicking and intrigues that flourishes at the court in King’s Landing, and one particular player in the game of thrones is a personal favourite of mine: the cunning dwarf Tyrion Lannister whose irreverent humour makes him hard not to dislike. Tyrion is an extremely well-written character and in this novel Martin adds some new facets to this already interesting and complex man. Tyrion not only displays a talent for politic intrigue, he also exhibits a certain sense of honour and justice that his sister, Queen Cersei, sorely lacks. He treats Sansa with kindness and he tries to restrain Joffrey in his increasingly insane behaviour. Though firmly committed to the Lannister cause, Tyrion isn’t completely self-serving when it comes to government, unlike his sister Cersei who can’t seem to grasp the bigger picture and see that there has be a certain amount of justice and security in order to keep the kingdom together in the long-term. However, Tyrion’s political visions are constantly foiled by either the state of war or the need to curb the excesses of Cersei’s regency – a thing that only exacerbates the already strained relationship between the two siblings.

Tyrion’s chapters are invariably very entertaining to read. Martin’s forte is most definitely characterization but even among his many fine portraits in the Westerosi gallery of characters, Tyrion takes the price as one of the most complex, contradictory and likeable figures. He is clever, ambitious and opportunistic, but it seems like he has a huge chip on his shoulder and feels that he has something to prove, both to himself and to his father, the coldly distant Lord Tywin who casts a long shadow on both Tyrion and Cersei (one can’t help to wonder what kind of man he is, when one of his children callously states that the only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain that they fear you more than they do the enemy, a little piece of “wisdom” that she passes on to her son, who misinterprets is as fear is better than love!). There’s a lot of bitterness to Tyrion’s character, which often manifests itself in a tendency towards a rather snarky sarcasm - especially towards his scheeming sister whom he seemingly enjoys to antagonize. Yet he also has a more tender side, which his siblings appear to lack. This is most clearly shown in his relationship with his young mistress Shae and in his kindness towards Sansa.

Martin’s novel is an epic mastodon in every sense of the word – he portrays a world that moves ever closer to the brink of complete chaos while at the same time juggling multiple storylines and a large gallery of characters. Apart from those already mentioned, Daenerys Targaryen was a character that really fascinated me in the previous book. Martin put this young exiled princess through an amazing character-development, where she was married into a nomadic tribe of warriors, was widowed and, in an intense narrative climax, had her hatch tree dragonets from her husband’s funeral pyre. However, she doesn’t have that many chapters in A Clash of Kings and though her storyline takes her further eastward – thus expanding Martin’s world with tantalizing glimpses of strange and exotic cultures – I felt that her character-development had stalled somewhat.

Martin also develops Bran Stark’s storyline in a very interesting manner as this young boy slowly begins to come to terms with his disability. Like his sisters, Bran is forced to re-evaluate not only his dreams and hopes, but also his very identity. Because of his disability he can no longer hope to become a knight. Bran’s story is, however, not wholly depressing as Martin introduces Jojen Green, a boy with prophetic dreams, into the storyline, which opens up some very interesting possibilities regarding Bran’s future development – something that is further supported by the unique manner in which Bran’s bond with his direwolf Summer develops.

Despite a character gallery that is already quite large, Martin adds two new POV in A Clash of Kings: Theon Greyjoy, son of Lord Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Isles and ward of Lord Eddard Stark, and Ser Davos Seaworth, a knight of Stannis Baratheon’s court at Dragonstone. Theon’s POV gives the reader a very interesting glimpse of the Viking-like culture of the Iron Isles and Davos’ POV not only gives a portrait of one of the major contenders for the Iron Throne (the harsh and stiff-necked Stannis), it adds a whole extra level of complexity to an already convoluted plot by introducing a new player in the game of thrones – the beautiful and sinister priestess Melisandra of Asshai, a woman whose motivations and powers remain cloaked in mystery throughout the novel.

Martin manages the multiple plotlines of A Clash of Kings quite expertly by carefully maintaining a continuing level of suspense throughout the different story-arcs. While intensely character-driven, the novel maintains a very high level of narrative tension that never falters – with some truly shocking plot twists along the way. I was completely hooked from the beginning and found it very difficult to put the book down, wreaking complete havoc with my sleeping patterns!

Martin is quite deservedly praised for his skills at characterization, but one of the most impressive aspects of A Song of Ice and Fire is, in my opinion, is his world-building. As stated in my introduction, Martin has created Westeros strongly inspired by the dynastic civil wars that plagued England during the late 15^th century and he has drawn on a truly impressive knowledge of the late medieval period to impart his world with texture and depth. When reading A Song of Ice and Fire it quickly becomes clear that Martin know quite a lot about not only medieval warfare but also the details of daily life in a feudal society – both in terms of the aristocracy and of the peasant population. What is even more impressive is the fact that he has taken great pains to re-create a distinctly medieval mindset for his characters, something that is rarely seen in the type of fantasy fiction that often utilizes a pseudo-medieval setting. In many respects, A Clash of Kings, reads like a historical novel because the wealth of historical detail imparts the story with a high degree of verisimilitude, and it is really quite impressive how “real” the imagined world of Westeros feels. With Westeros Martin has created a believable medieval secondary-world fantasy that incorporates both the glamorous and romantic imagery of feudal ideology and the harsh and brutal aspects of a low-tech world based primarily on agriculture and warfare - a world were family allegiance often takes priority over other bonds of loyalty, where marriage is a matter of politics and strategic alliance and where girls as young as twelve are considered marriageable. It is very important to keep these things in mind when reading these books, because Martin’s characters cannot be evaluated according to modern standards, and it is truly very impressive that Martin successfully manages to create riveting and emotionally appealing characters with a mindset that often is quite alien to modern readers.

On all accounts, A Clash of Kings offers an intense, enjoyable and hugely satisfying reading experience. It offers a number of finely wrought characters and a fully formed medieval world, whose historical “feel” is perfectly off-set by some rare touches of magic, which imparts the story with a certain aura of “enchantment” that often is very hard to find – it is for me, at least. Last but not least, the novel offers a deeply captivating story that made this book very hard to put down and sent me directly to the book store to get the next instalment. A Song of Ice and Fire is some of the best fantasy that I’ve read in years and I can only concur with the widespread opinion that George R.R. Martin is a modern master of the epic fantasy.

Trine D. Paulsen

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Topics: A Clash of Kings, A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, HarperCollins, Larry Rostant, Voyager