Editors Reads Verdict
Martin's second Westeros novel deepens the series' political complexity while introducing new viewpoint characters and building to the spectacular Battle of the Blackwater. If anything, it improves on the first.
What We Loved
- The War of the Five Kings is fantasy political intrigue at its finest
- Tyrion's King's Landing chapters are consistently the series' best
- The Battle of the Blackwater is one of fantasy's great setpieces
- New viewpoint characters like Davos Seaworth enrich the world enormously
Minor Drawbacks
- At 768 pages, the middle section can feel diffuse
- Some plot threads move slowly compared to the Blackwater climax
- Requires complete familiarity with the first novel
Key Takeaways
- → Legitimacy is a political construction that can be contested indefinitely
- → Intelligence without power is as dangerous as power without intelligence
- → In war, ordinary people pay the price for rulers' ambitions
- → Prophecy creates the conditions of its own fulfillment
- → Even the most loyal ally can be a threat given the right circumstances
| Author | George R.R. Martin |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Pages | 768 |
| Published | February 2, 1999 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Epic Fantasy |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Fantasy readers who loved A Game of Thrones; epic fantasy devotees. |
Five Kings, One Throne
The War of the Five Kings has begun. Joffrey Baratheon sits on the Iron Throne as its most malevolent occupant yet. Renly Baratheon raises the South’s armies in his own claim. Stannis Baratheon, supported by the red priestess Melisandre, claims divine right. In the North, Robb Stark fights not for the throne but for independence. And across the sea, Balon Greyjoy declares the Iron Islands free. Five kings, five armies, one devastated kingdom — and north of the Wall, something that cares nothing for any of it.
Tyrion in Ascendance
If “A Game of Thrones” belonged to no single character, “A Clash of Kings” comes closest to belonging to Tyrion Lannister. Sent by his father to serve as Hand of the King, Tyrion enters King’s Landing and immediately begins demonstrating that intelligence is its own form of power, even without armies or birthright. His chapters — threading through treachery, managing a psychotic king, preparing the city’s defenses — are the series at its most politically sophisticated, and the Battle of the Blackwater, which Tyrion largely engineers, is one of the finest battle sequences in fantasy literature.
The Expanding World
Martin introduces crucial new perspectives: Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight, gives readers a viewpoint into Stannis’s camp that is simultaneously sympathetic and clear-eyed. Theon Greyjoy, returning to his homeland, provides one of the series’ most psychologically complex arcs — a man caught between loyalties in ways that make his eventual catastrophic choice comprehensible. The scope of the world expands dramatically, from the Iron Islands to the edge of the desert, from the frozen North to the ancient cities of the east.
Building Toward Greatness
“A Clash of Kings” is the middle novel of Martin’s projected seven-volume series, and it functions as the most successful bridge novel in recent fantasy — simultaneously satisfying in its own right and building toward what many consider the series’ masterpiece. It ends in shock, as all Martin novels do, and immediately makes the next volume essential.
Our rating: 4.5/5 — A political fantasy masterpiece that deepens and complicates Martin’s world while delivering one of the genre’s great battle sequences.
Ready to Read A Clash of Kings?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: