The Summer of George R.R. Martin

After Game of Thrones, I quickly started tearing through A Clash of Kings, the second of the George R.R. Martin series.

When we last left Westeros, Dany had hatched some dragons, King Joffrey held the Iron Throne and everyone else was at war to take it from him. Clash of Kings picks up from there, with five different factions fighting for control of the realm: The Starks of Winterfell; the former King Robert’s two brothers, Renly and Stannis; King Joffrey and the Lannisters; and Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands. Oh, and Dany is planning to come back to Westeros with her dragons to reclaim the throne her father lost.

The biggest bombshells happening in this installment concern Stannis, who’s hooked up with a bizarre cult priestess and gotten religion. Problem is that the priestess’s god is a malevolent one, who’s given her the power to give birth to creepy shadow demons that can go out and kill people. And she kills three during the course of her travels, including Stannis’s own brother, Renly. Meanwhile, Theon Greyjoy, who’s been a foster child of the Starks since the age of 10 and a trusted friend to all of them, turns traitor, joins in his father’s bid for the realm and ultimately invades Winterfell.

Most of Clash of Kings is set up – everyone’s preparing for the ultimate throw down, recruiting alliances and getting armies in place. So, the bulk of the book wasn’t as exciting as Game of Thrones. But that all changes once the fighting starts, and the last 300 pages are a real roller coaster.

Not only does Theon take over Winterfell, but everyone’s under the impression that he’s killed Bran and Rickon. I say under the impression because the youngest Starks actually do get away and are hiding in the family crypt. But Theon can’t look like he’s been outsmarted by two kids aged 9 and 4, so he finds some villagers, kills them and covers them in tar and pretends they are the Stark children.

Later, after a shadow demon kills Renly, Stannis takes over his army, calls his fleet from Dragonstone, and launches a major invasion on King’s Landing to unseat Joffrey. And what a battle that turns out to be! Akin to the Helm’s Deep fight in the Two Towers, this is a fight of epic proportions.

Tyrion the dwarf and uncle to Joffrey has developed some interesting ways to protect a city with nominal armed forces, including raising a harbor chain across the bay to trap Stannis’ fleet, which they then destroy with wildfire, sort of a cross between Napalm and Jagermeister. The fire spooks The Hound, Joffrey’s vicious bodyguard, who takes off without a trace in the middle of the fighting. Tyrion has to take over The Hound’s command, and gets himself slashed and nearly killed in the fighting – not by Stannis’s men, but by one of his own. And finally, when the battle starts going poorly for Tyrion, his father shows up with a massive army to rout Stannis.

Similar to Game of Thrones, we’re left with a lot of questions by the end. Who ordered the hit on Tyrion? What’s going to happen to Stannis now that he’s been soundly beaten? How will the Starks retake Winterfell and get the Greyjoys back in line? Where’s The Hound and what will he do next? How freaking long is it going to take before Dany gets to Westeros?

Hopefully, we’ll get those answers soon, as I’m already 200 pages into A Storm of Swords. It truly is the summer of George R.R. Martin!