By George RR Martin
Read by Roy Dotrice
Reviewed by Gabby
A Clash of Kings ( A song of Ice and Fire Book 2)
A Clash of Kings Overview:
As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.
Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel…and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.
A Clash of Kings Audiobook Review:
STORY
The Good:
Review: The Good
I really enjoyed a clash of kings, we hear from 9 different characters perspectives:
- Tyrion Lannister
- Catelyn Stark
- Davos Seaworth
- Sansa Stark
- Arya Stark
- Bran Stark
- Jon Snow
- Theon Greyjoy
- Daenerys
Even though there are quite a few characters each one is developed superbly, they each intertwine with each other very intricately, we see how each character reacts to situations and we see how they all have good and bad in them.
Clash of Kings also really demonstrates how great it is to listen to the books in conjunction with the TV series. There are some really interesting back stories in the book that don’t make it to the series and it just gives you a better understanding of the characters in general.
Here’s the characters point of view in one sentence or less.
Tyrion: Cersei is a bitch and i’m the cleverest in the room.
Catelyn: Rob is too young.
Arya: I’ll kill everyone
Davos: God’s I hate that Red bitch
Sansa: how am I still miraculously alive?
Daenerys: just give me the iron throne already.
Theon: I am a dick that everyone should suck.
Bran: what’s up with the dreams?
Jon: Goddamn it’s getting cold.
Anyway
The character development is spot on in this audiobook, you see the cause and effect of every characters actions and the tiny ripples they make. We get to see the characters change as events unfold, understanding their reactions and that ultimately, all the characters are motived by one thing: survival of their lineage.
The Bad:
The plot and pacing drops off in this audiobook, on the one hand we have some characters in extremely intense situations. One posing as a boy with the very real possibility of being tortured and killed, then there’s Jon who has ventured to the other side of the wall. While we could be hearing about these interesting plots we instead have to listen to other characters doing the most pointless things (like sneaking into whorehouses) which don’t add to the plot in any way. Martin must have been desperate to bulk out the book because he randomly stuck in a Theon chapter where all that really happens is he gets a blowjob. Good job Martin, that’s exactly what the story was missing.
A Game of Thrones had so many promises, so many cliff hangers. But so little is resolved. The plot rolls along at a sluggish pace which Martin attempts to revive by sticking in scenes of increasingly graphic violence. Personally it didn’t really bother me, but I know it was an issue for a lot of people, mostly because it seems like Martin is trying to shock his readers/listeners by being as gruesome as possible and the story doesn’t really need that. There is so much more sexual abuse and rape in this audiobook as well. I found that disturbing because it’s already been established that women are worth pretty much nothing in Westeros, that they’re toys for men to use. I didn’t need this shoved down my throat again and again in the form of rape and abuse. There is a fine line between using sex to add depth/horror to a story and using it just to fulfil a dirty old man’s fantasy.
Martin has also fallen into the trap of repeatedly using the same phrase to describe things. “Broken Bran” came up all too frequently along with other phrases to describe surroundings. All the stuff about Houses and banners probably took up a good 100 pages and seemed there mostly as fillers. I’ll be honest though, it’s part of the history of the characters in the story. If you’re going to embark on the quest that is listening to ASOIAF you should already know that it’s a long and complicated story, but totally worth it once you’ve waded through a bit of muck.
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CHARACTERS
The Good:
Tyrion really gets to shine in Clash of Kings. We get to see the true genius of the Imp. He knows he underestimated and overlooked, but uses it to his advantage- ensuring his success in his new role in King’s Landing. Tyrion is not the witty drunkard we assumed him to be, but is actually highly intelligent, of great compassion, but completely willing to be ruthless when he needs to be.
“When you tear out a man’s tongue you are not proving him a liar, you are only telling the world you fear what he might say”
I also don’t mind Sansa as much as some other fans do. I understand why some people hate her, she’s feminine, courteous and the complete opposite of Arya- but she’s also only 13. Her character develops realistically, she does what she needs to in order to survive in King’s Landing, which is to do what she’s told and not complain. Despite all the crap she’s been put through, Sansa still has a kind heart and still tries to do the right thing. I don’t think that her kindness should be mistaken for weakness, but almost something to fear. It takes a certain kind of strength to remain loving and kind when you’re being constantly abused.
“love was a surer route to peoples loyalty than fear”.
The Bad:
I found Daenerys story to be a little dull in this book. Even though some of the events will be very significant in the later audiobooks, not a lot happens. Most of the story is about how Daenerys has no army or ships/ Jorha’s obsession with her. Her dealings with the Warlocks are probably the most interesting part of the story, but other than that her dragons just seem to get larger and she spends a lot of time in the desert.
NARRATOR
The Good:
Roy Dotrice does a great job of most of the voices in the series. Standouts being Sansa and Daenerys. He also does a good job of making all of the many characters distinguishable from each other.
The Bad:
Hmm. If you’re going to listen to Roy using the audible app, I would recommend speeding the narration by 1.25 because he is veeery slow and also has a few weird pauses in between sentences.
You may struggle with is weird accents, but I promise that it is perfectly possible to ignore them. Tywin Lannister is overly posh. Tyrion is randomly Welsh whilst his siblings have completely different accents. Suffice to say his accents are all over the place, but just try and focus on what the characters are saying- rather than how they’re saying it!
I hope you enjoyed our ‘A Clash of Kings’ Audiobook Review, come back soon!