A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin

I would likely be quite disappointed if I had been a fan of the Game of Thrones books back when it was originally being published, rather than coming to it in the wake of the HBO series – part of a massive new audience that rather surreally sent the first book to the top of the New York Bestsellers’ chart fifteen years after it was published. This book feels doesn’t feel like a novel in its own right. It seems like the middle section of a larger book. Perhaps there’s a nod to Tolkien there, but it wasn’t at all what I had hoped for with the cliffhangers at the end of the first book.

Where we left off – beware of spoilers if you haven’t finished Game of Thrones – Danaerys had her dragons, with which she could change the world with ease. Ned Stark was dead and King’s Landing under the control of the Lannisters, with Joffrey as king. Sansa was their captive, but Arya was with Yoren, disguised as a boy and on her way to the Wall. Jon Snow was part of an expedition beyond that, to the North to investigate grim rumours. Robb was marshalling troops to declare the independence of the North and oppose the Lannisters. Renly and Stannis had both also declared themselves king of the Seven Kingdoms – which is where the clash of the title comes in.

I suppose what I really wanted was a time skip. I wanted to know what would happen with full-grown dragons, whether Bran would become a capable mystic and Arya would be a wild woman stalking the wilds with her wolf and her Needle. I wanted the wall to fall and all-out war between the factions. There is one large-scale battle, primarily between warships, but mostly the large clashes are averted through various magical means or happen outside the narrative to be referred to later. And ultimately, the book feels like stalling. It is quite interesting, what happens to Arya and how Sansa’s situation develops. It works well, how political intrigues continue to turn unexpectedly and by the end there are really only two opposing armies left. But it was not enough.

Perhaps that is a masterstroke. Perhaps it brings me extremely well to A Storm of Swords. But it doesn’t leave me in admiration, rather mildly disappointed – and yet I will read on, the next book and the next…