George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings

In a Clash of Kings by George RR, Martin is the second book in his A Song of and Fire series. Renly Baratheon the late king Robert Baratheon‘s youngest brotheri declared himself king of the seven kingdoms, at the urging of his future wife at the time, Margaery Tyrell Later, Stannis Baratheon also the middle child in the Baratheon family declares himself the rightful king because Robert left no true heirs. When Robb Stark, the King in the North, sent Theon Greyjoy to negotiate with his father, Balon lord of the Iron Islands, his father revealed to him that he planned on declaring himself king of the Iron Islands.

These four, along with the incumbent King Joffrey, make up the War of the Five Kings that provides the setting for the titular “clash of kings Robb has been defeating the Lannisters—who support Joffrey’s claim— wherever he attacks, and even took their best swordfighter, Jaime Lannister, captive.

Robb realized he needs allies, and sent his mother as a negotiator to try and forge an alliance with Renly Baratheon, who has the most money and troops after.

Tywin Lannister due to his alliance with the Tyrells Meanwhile, Arya Stark has hidden as an orphan boy on his way to the wall to join the Night‘s Watch to escape King’s Landing, where her family‘s bitter enemies the Lannisters are in control. Yoren, the member of the watch who leads the expedition, did this as a favor to Arya’s uncle Benjen who is a part of the watch, and to honor Arya‘s honorable father Ned‘s last wishes.

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While heading north to the wall, Yoren plans to drop Arya off at her brother Robb’s war camp, or at Winterfell where Arya will be safe. But they encounter Lannister guards looking for her friend Gendry, who is unknowingly one of King Robert‘s bastards Yoren refuses to give up any spoils or people in this war because the watch is and always will be neutral and successfully fends off the dozen Lannister guards. When the group reaches the point where Lannister territory ends and Stark territory begins, they come across a river they cannot cross.

They take shelter in an abandoned keep when Lannister reinforcements catch up to them. They break into a fight in which many guards die, but the group is eventually overwhelmed and overrun due to the sheer numbers of the Lannistersr I find it strange that Renly declared himself king because in the first novel he offered to help. Ned in supporting Stannis’s claim to the throne immediately after Robert died, It shows that when Renly fled to Highgarden with his friend Loras Tyrell he must‘ve been convinced by certain power-hungry members of the Tyrell family to stake his claim. Overall, this book matches the previous one in its ability to turn pages at an alarming rate.

I didn’t intend for this to be my independent reading book, but it got me hooked to such an extent that I just had to keep reading. Martin manages to take all the good parts about politics, war, and morals and blend them together in a fantasy setting. The things people generally associate with fantasy, such as magic, don’t even appear in the novel more than mentioning people’s superstitious belief in them. As with the first novel, what makes it great is that there are no “bad guys” as in traditional novels, but only humans who have conflicting interests, Relative to each other, each seems like a bad guy. I recommend this book, and the entire series, wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys reading, and even to those who don’t.