Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - A Clash of Kings

I love GRRM more than words. The battle on the black water seemed to go on forever. I loved Tyrion in the show but in the book… I honestly hate his POV. But I love these books and will be thinking about them forever!!

“People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up.”

“I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid.”

“When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”

“He who hurries through life hurries to his grave.”

I want to weep, she thought. I want to be comforted. I’m so tired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, that’s all …a day … an hour ...
...One day, she promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong.
But not today. It could not be today.”

Content Warnings

dayloniia's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

amir_hamza's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Review coming in...idk, might be two weeks or two months. But a review will come!

12.06.2022
The review is here!

"A good act does not wash away the bad, nor a bad the good. Each should have its own rewards."

When I started this book, AGOT was still not my favourite book of all time. Hell, I didn't even give that a perfect score. But this book, this, this has to be the first book ever to make like another book more without making itself look bad. Now do I think this was better than its predecessor? Based on my rating, I think you might come to the (correct) guess of: no, but let me elaborate. Although AGOT had the very important job of setting up the world, it still had a mostly linear narrative. ACOK however, truly makes the story blast off in its width, and...the strain shows.
Although it has a really good start with tension already having built up thanks to AGOT's absolute magnificence of an ending, ACOK soon begins to slog in my opinion. Sure, we get random bursts of epicness every now and then, yet sometimes it really felt like I was pushing myself to read the story than the story pushing me to read itself. The book loses its footing about 20% in and really didn't regain it till halfway through. But when it did...oh boy.

I'll be honest, just before the midpoint, I would've given this book a 7.5/10 max. But then Martin pressed the gas pedal so bloody hard that the story didn't just push me to finish it, but gripped the back of my neck with a steel grip and dragged me through it at a relentless pace. The budding tension, the ensuing climax, the big battle, the cooldown, everything was just done so masterfully that it just lifted the book's overall rating up by a notch and a half for me. Not to mention, the characters were far better written here than in AGOT. Don't get me wrong, AGOT has phenomenal character work, but here I liked the likes of Sansa and Catelyn way more, whom I despised in AGOT. And Tyrion.
My. God.
His chapters are just...chef's kiss. He's by far the best part of the book. Not only was he the saving grace of the first half, but he also took centre stage in the second half and made it so much better.

Now let’s talk spoilers a bit.

This is the book where The War of the Five Kings truly commences, right after the heart-wrenching execution sparked it to hell. Robb Stark is easily the king Martin wants you to root for, and it’s clear why. Not only do we highly, highly sympathise with his cause, but he’s also just plain heroic. But it’s the other king that truly makes you think instead of going, “Yeah, you go Robb!” Stannis really isn’t the best character in this book yet we know that his claim is the true one (even Ned Stark agrees, and one does not simply disagree with Ned). However, although Joffrey is the absolute villain whom we all want to see die miserably also has Tyrion by his side, who’s the Ned of this book in more than one way. Martin here does a masterful work of making you really doubt who to support since even Robb’s claim is nowhere near as strong as Stannis’. And Renly…is Renly, damn that stupid ambitious self-centered usurper.
Speaking of usurpers, Dany is out there in Essos and she is more disconnected from the central events of the story than ever. Her chapters were mostly quite the chore to read, similar to Jon’s ones in many ways (but at least Jon picks up serious pace later on along with everyone else) which made her chapters somehow even less likable than Theon’s, who meant to be dislikeable. Martin once again makes us hate the ones he wants us to, and this time, from a POV! Theon is a smug, egotistical, narcissistic, selfish, rude, overconfident, lustful teen; if anyone knows me at all, they know that I hate literally every single thing mentioned there, so no wonder I hated Theon as much as Martin wanted me to hate him, if not more. Despite all he has done, his downfall at the end, right before he was going to make amends, did hurt a bit, but the sheer grandeur of the Battle of Blackwater made up for it.
Blackwater! Oh my God! That has to be one of the best things I have ever read in my entire lifetime. The fact that we have POVs from both sides of battle from characters we absolutely don’t want to die was just such a deviously genius decision by Martin which made every beat of the battle stomach-churning and every blow to cheer for and lament at the same time. Fortunately, our precious POV characters do survive, yet in typical ASOIAF style, not without serious repercussions which leave the door open for the next book.

Overall, I think the book's first half was kind of a letdown and also significantly worse than AGOT but the latter half turns the table on its head. But since the first book has a much tighter and more consistent quality and pacing, I'll give this one a point less than AGOT. Still a really, really good book

VERDICT
Positives: Amazing character work and crucial and masterfully executed POV work (in Westeros). Great dialogue in political situations along with great political intrigue itself, Vast feeling of the world. Amazing last half and bombastic ending.
Negatives: Lackluster second quarter. POVs sometimes feel too disconnected if they are outside Westeros. Unnecessarily overkill horniness in Theon’s chapters. Inconsistent pacing.

OVERALL RATING: 9.5/10 (Bumped from 9)

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sophia2203's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

daneyyy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sharlie's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

George R. R. Martin's dialogue is amazing, makes the books really enjoyable to read.

Content Warnings

cepbreed's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

“A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic, you'll learn that soon enough...and the parts that look like magic turn out to be the messiest of all.”

Oh my god. I loved this book in all of its 1000 page glory. Martin continue to surprise me, even after watching the show I am so engaged in a plot I already know about because of the way he writes. The end of each chapter is masterful. Every cliffhanger still hits home, disregarding all my previous knowledge. I loved the foreshadowing as well.

Hearing the story of Bael the bard, only for his tale to come back in the form of Bran and co's method of escape was a detail I thoroughly enjoyed. I was shocked to see that Arya isn't cupbearer for Tywin in the book, but Roose Bolton. Still this tidbit of information had a much larger purpose, foreshadowing the Boltan's betrayal. To think Roose was most definitely plotting the red wedding in Arya Stark's midst. Even Bran and Rickon's death was heart wrenching to me, no matter how secure I was in the fact that they lived. I know it's stupid because currently he is less than scum, but I have so much sympathy for Theon. I know fully well that my feelings are highly exaggerated at this point because of his actions in the show, yet his desperation for validation is really tugging at my heartstrings. "I am your only protection against the likes of him, he wanted to scream." In no way am I justifying his actions, he is wholly unlikeable here, but at this point in time Martin is so obviously laying out his confusion surrounding his identity for us to understand. Like him or hate him, objectively Theon is an amazing character. Another dynamic I didn't expect to be so changed was that between the Hound and Sansa. It feels almost much more intimate from her perspective, teh romantic ideals of a young impressionable girl. Her head is filled with the ideals of 'true knights' and without any in existence she must project onto the closest match. I find the Hounds protective nature quite sweet, but that doesn't change his violence towards her when he was leaving after the Battle of the Blackwater.

I didn't like this book as much as the first, most likely my fault due to the amount of time it was taking me to get through ( 36 days total...), but the second half picked up dramatically and I become fully immersed.

Content Warnings

shiveryteacup's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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