clash of kings

George R. R Martin is a wordy guy. I'm not complaining, mind you at least, I don't think I am. yet. That's just a fact I think we can all agree on, whether we like The Song of Fire and Ice saga or not, and so far I do. Its just--there's a lot of it, brother.

So I just pounded thru A Clash of Kings. Its been about 42 years since I started reading it, but it did keep my attention all the way through. Its just, so... soap opera-y. There's, like, a hundred and seven major characters, and another hundred and seven (thousand) minor characters, and they all have four names,  are related to just about everyone else, at least by marriage. At least half of them are missing fingers, and the other half has either lost an eye, or something else. Multiple POV writing does make for some interesting character development however, but I guess just about any character is bound to develop a little bit after a few thousand pages. how many more of these books are there?

I just re-read my review of the first book, and it looks like I thought it was great. Its been a little while, so I don't remember, but its pretty clear from the review. I enjoyed this book, no question, and I found myself reading more during the day and on the weekends, but all in all, I can't say that I loved it, only that it was good. And there is a bunch more to read. I often find that the first book in a series is good, and the follow up volumes not quite as exciting, and then the final volume really does the job. Leaving me feeling like the middle books are bridge between the two good parts of the story.* I hope this isn't the case here (there are a lot of middle books, I certainly hope not.) Martin has set himself up more like the Harry Potter books however, in that each of these first two at least have a story arc of there own, albeit not as distinct a separate storyline as the Harry Potter book.

The long drawn out story arc is where the soap opera feel comes from. We move from character to character, learning a bit more of the story as a whole as we move forward, but the overall storyline arc is so vast I can't see a way clear to the end yet.

Well, I guess I'll be there. But just like the first one, I'll let it sit for a while before jumping back into this fray. Onward, to another tome!


* I think this more often the case with trilogies.