A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

I've got to admit, I still harbor a slight resentment against this series because so many people have compared it to Lord of the Rings, even though I stand by my statement that they're completely different animals. My resentment is only heightened by the fact that I couldn't help but immensely enjoy and admire this second installment of the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Overview
The Game of Thrones has come to and end, and now the land is in the midst of an all-out war. Four different kings struggle for dominance when the book opens, we pick up another as we go along, and that doesn't even include the exiled princess/queen who's roaming the far corners of the earth but eventually plans to make a comeback. There's two different ways I could summarize the plot: outline the different warring factions or trace the movements of the Stark family, which by this point is spread to all corners of the land. The Starks are the more interesting, charismatic group--but their comings and goings are also more convoluted, so it'd be simpler to stick with the kings.

First we have Prince Joffrey, who's the apparently legitimate heir, being the son of Queen Cersei. He's not only currently sitting on the Iron Throne, but his mother's family is the richest in the land. Problem is, he's not only a inbred bastard (literally), he's also a sociopathic monster. So the real legitimate heir is Stannis Baratheon, younger brother of Robert, the previous king. Stannis is fair and stern, but extremely bitter about perceived slights and so blinded by the righteousness of his claim that he's well on the way to losing both honor and sanity. Stannis has a powerful navy, but not much strength on land. Third is Renly, the youngest of the old king's brothers, who has no legitimate claim. But he's charismatic, a bit of a dandy and extremely popular, so he decided to elbow in on the fun. Renly probably has the largest force, but no-one in his camp is granted POV in the story, which means he's got no chance whatsoever. These first three are all clamoring for the Iron Throne, which rules over the Seven Kingdoms. King number 4 is our own Rob Stark, who has re-claimed his ancestor's title of King in the North. He's not technically fighting for the same prize as the others, but only trying to carve out a nice chunk that used to be independent way back when. The latecomer to the party is Balon Greyjoy, who staged a rebellion ten years ago and is giving it another try while everyone else is all confused and looking the other way. Balon's ace in the hole is his son Theon, who was a fosterling/hostage to the Stark family for a decade. Rob Stark trusts Theon as a brother, which turns out to be a big mistake since Theon is one disgusting piece of work and even more megalomaniacal than his father.

* Deep breath * get all that? There will be a quiz later--just be glad I didn't include the other three story lines.

Recommended for: Fans of fantasy, history or historical fiction, but start with the first book in the series: A Game of Thrones.

Parental Worries: Just as many as the last book >_< Brutal violence and lots of sex.

Audiobook Comments: Read by Roy Dotrice, who does an excellent job.

Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Moderate)
Clash of Kings has more fantastic elements than the first book in the series, and it makes good use of them. But this isn't a series where the magic is a big selling point--the plot and characters carry it all.

I think I've finally figured out how I want the power struggle to turn out: Rob Stark gets to keep his family's old lands as King in the North, and Daenerys Targaryen (the exiled princess, daugher of a long line of kings whose father was overthrown by Robert Baratheon) will come back to claim her birthright but be content with the southern lands. That's not so much because I'm overly fond of Daenerys, but because at this point the other contestants for the throne have less to offer. Plus, Daenerys has dragons ^_^ Odds of this actually happening are extremely slim, but meh :-p at least I've got something to cheer for. My actual prediction is that John Snow (who is supposedly Ned Stark's bastard son and was raised as a full brother with all the other Starks), after defeating whatever ominous threat is looming in the far north, will discover his true birthright, which is really complicated but basically turns out with him being the best suited to take the throne and re-unite the land. Yay!

P.S. Okay, so I lied about the quiz :-p Or maybe, if you could follow that last paragraph at all, you passed the quiz.