The Iron Throne once united the Sunset Lands, but kind Robert is dead, his widow is a traitor to his memory, and his surviving brothers are set on a path of war amongst themselves. At King's Landing, the head of Lord Eddard Stark rots on a spike for all to see. His daughter Sansa is betrothed still to his killer's son Joffrey. Joffrey is now a boy-king, Queen Cersei is his regent, and war is inevitable.
In each of the seven kingdoms, from Dragonstone to Storm's End, former vassals of the Iron Throne declare themselves kings. And Eddard Stark's fifteen year old son Robb wears the crown of the north at Winterfell.
A comet in the night sky, red and malevolent, the colour of blood and flame, can only be an omen of murder and war. Princess Shireen, the pretender's child, dreams of dragons waking from stone. And a white raven has brought word from the Citadel itself, foretelling summer's end. It has been the longest summer in living memory, lasting ten years, and the smallfolk say it means an even longer winter to come…
The first rule of war is never give the enemy his wish. But winter will be the biggest enemy. From beyond the Wall the undead and Others clamour for freedom, and from beyond the sea the long-dead Dragon King's daughter hatches her revenge. Robb Stark will be exceedingly lucky to reach adulthood.
Rating: 5 Stars
Positives: This is a great sequel to A Game of Thrones. We return to many loved characters including the Starks and the Lannisters, but there are also some new characters present to charm us such as Davos Seaworth and Lady Melisandre.
The prologue once again had me hooked, this time by making me want to know what Lady Melisandre's secret is, as surely R'hallor the Lord of Light cannot protect her from everything. She has a menace about her, but is also fairly charming in her own way.
But out of all the new characters I have to say I am utterly entranced by Jaqen H'ghar. He is a Lorathi, but apart from that we know nothing of who he is. Yet despite being a seemingly dangerous man, there's something good in him, after all he has proved himself very useful. But who exactly is he? And will Arya discover his deepest secret? This is what I want to know besides much more, but I don't want to spoil things for those of you yet to read this novel.
In general this was a very good installment, and we see just how quickly Westeros is being torn apart with various claimants for the throne. This is a land at civil war, and at the moment I'm hard pressed to say who the victor will be. As Cersei said previously, "In the game of thrones you win or you die."
Negatives: The only thing I hate, and I mean really hate, is that George R. R. Martin has this habit of making you either sympathise or fall in love with a character, before promptly killing them off. I'm now afraid to like any character in the series as it will most likely mean their untimely demise. And with the rate that key characters are being killed off, although admittedly it is to be expected in a war, we sorely need the introduction of some new characters who may shift the balance of power.
Would I recommend this book? Yes I would. Obviously you need to read A Game of Thrones first, but then you really need to read this one afterwards. As for me, I'm going to scuttle off and immerse myself in the next installment of this epic saga.
No comments:
Post a Comment