A Song of Ice and Fire Series Review Part 2: When Kings Clash, the Land Trembles
A Song of Ice and Fire Book Two: A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Spoiler Warning
Introduction
A Clash of Kings is the second installment in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, and it is the follow-up to the first novel in the series, A Game of Thrones. Book two of the Song picks up shortly after the major cliffhangers from book one including the death of Ned Stark, the birth of Daenerys' Targaryen's dragons, and the coronation of Robb Stark as the King in the North.
While the first book introduced the primary characters of the series and only took small steps in building up the Song to its full epic scale, A Clash of Kings widens the series' horizons. It brings forth new major characters, explores the world of ice and fire after the return of old magic to the universe, and it follows one of the most politically intriguing plots in the entire series, which is the War of the Five Kings.
Summary & Review
The five vying kings in the aforementioned war include three characters that readers were already familiar with from the previous novel: Joffrey Baratheon: the king sitting on the Iron Throne, who does not actually have a claim to it; Robb Stark: the son of Ned Stark, who was named king by his own people after declaring independence for the North; and Renly Baratheon: the youngest brother of the old king, who is seeking to play the game of thrones himself now. The other two kings are newcomers to the game: Stannis Baratheon, the older brother of Renly: and Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, who has also sought to claim independence for his people. There are also other political monarchs present in Kings who are not primarily fighting in Westeros, including Daenerys Targaryen, who is still rallying support across the Narrow Sea, and the self-styled King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder. Though Mance never makes a formal appearance in Kings, his character is mentioned and built up quite a bit, which keeps in line with the novel's primary thematic focus, which is the power and influence of kings (and queens).
The new coming kings, Stannis and Balon, introduce two of the biggest plotlines of the novel, with Balon's declaration of kingship and independence of the Ironborn offsetting the Ironborn conquest of the North, as Robb has left the North with the bulk of his forces to fight their war against the Lannisters in the south of Westeros. I'll be the first to admit, the Iron Islands storyline was a bit more intriguing in the HBO television adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, titled after the first novel. This is due mostly to Alfie Allen's performance as Theon Greyjoy, as he conveyed the emotions of his character strongly enough that his betrayal of the Starks and the chaotic, rather unhinged actions he takes in this story feel genuine and believable. In the novels, Theon was, perhaps, not a strong enough defined character in the first novel to really feel the weight of his betrayal of Robb. It is also a bit more difficult to navigate Theon's emotional development in this novel because of "Reek" (actually the bastard son of Roose Bolton, Ramsay Snow in disguise) constantly hovering around Theon, egging him on, helping push him towards some of the worst decisions he makes. While this decision to have Ramsay essentially be the devil sitting on Theon's shoulder certainly makes book-Theon a more redeemable character, but it does take a certain degree of emotional complexity out of it. The television adaption chose to omit Ramsay from this storyline and introduce him in the aftermath, when Theon is captured, allowing to all of Theon's actions to be done of his own volition, motivated by pure emotion, and the resulting character development is stronger. Yes, it makes Theon rather horrific, as he had two innocent children murdered and burnt their corpses beyond recognition, but we also get more of an understanding of just how much being taken away from his home by Ned Stark psychologically impacted Theon. The change also resulted in the show having a more emotionally satisfying and realistic death scene for Ser Rodrik Cassel, as in the novel, he ends up having his arm torn off by "Reek" during the sack of Winterfell, when "Reek" reveals himself as Ramsay Snow and turns on Theon.
One of the biggest strengths of the Ironborn storyline in A Clash of Kings, however, is its result and the impact it has on the Starks and Winterfell. With the Greyjoys' decision to seize the North and Winterfell, it follows suit with the first book's grounded focus on House Stark. A Clash of Kings expands the world of ice and fire narratively beyond that as the scope of the whole story seems to exponentially grow in vastness, however, Martin is not forgetting the thematic importance of the North, or that this story started as a story about the Stark family. That epicenter is still present, even if the reader has to try and little harder to find it. Theon's sack of Winterfell, and later Ramsay's, sees Bran and Rickon Stark displaced from their own home in exile. It sees Winterfell burnt to a crisp. It sees the Starks' most loyal companions, Ser Rodrik and Maester Luwin, dead. And, it breaks one of the oldest traditions of House Stark--there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. With Bran and Rickon's flight (for the sake of their own safety), for the first time in generations, there isn't a Stark in Winterfell, and their ancestral home is now ripe for the taking for their enemies.
It is also an interesting narrative choice for Martin to center the Ironborn storyline from the perspective of Theon instead of his father Balon. Balon Greyjoy may be the new King of the Iron Islands, but the heart of this story belongs to his son, with Balon making barely more than a few necessary appearances early on. The fifth king in the War of the Five Kings himself hardly makes much of a splash.
Martin makes this same choice with our other new king, Stannis Baratheon, who also never gets the luxury of telling his story through his own eyes. Martin decides to exclusively showcase Stannis' story through the perspective of his friend and second-in-command, Ser Davos Seaworth. This choice is important for many reasons, plot-based and thematically. For one, Davos was originally lowborn, and so introducing him into the story gives the reader their first glimpse of the game of thrones from the eyes of someone who was not born royal or noble, which opens the reader up to the idea of how petty and selfish most of these high lords or monarchs can truly be--allowing innocent people, soldiers and civilians alike, to die by the thousands, all because some person believes that they are the one true ruler of Westeros, or because they believe they have divine right to rule, or because their people chose them. No matter the intentions or the justifications of any of them (Robb, Stannis, Joffrey, and Daenerys alike), at the end of the day, thousands will all die at their commands for the sake of winning them a throne. Another thing that introducing Davos as the protagonist does is it helps build Stannis up as the savior that he supposedly is (and likely isn't). Stannis' red priestess, who worships the Lord of Light, believes that Stannis is their messiah--Azor Ahai reborn to save the world from the Long Night. Keeping Stannis' internal thoughts and feelings from the reader helps elevate him thematically to this mystical status. It leaves him mysterious, like one might expect a true messiah to be. And in turn, it keeps a more morally grounded character. Davos, more open to the reader.
Stannis' character is also vastly more interesting than his show counterpart, who was framed right from the start and continuously as nothing much more than a religious zealot. The novels, and Martin's superior skill in writing, showcase Stannis' potential as a decent leader more. He's far from perfect, and his dependence on Melisandre and her morally questionable pratices of her faith are certainly Stannis greatest fault. That being said, Martin also shows his political strength and intelligence, presenting Stannis as the most worthy candidate vying for the Iron Throne, certainly better than his more immature brother Renly, who was observed as mostly playing at war, not fighting it; or Joffrey, who is shown to be little more than child with tendencies towards cruelty.
It is because of the marked skill that Stannis posseses as a potential ruler, so much more so than Joffrey, that I'm actually stunned with Martin's ability to manipulate me into rooting against him when the final battle between Stannis' forces and the Lannister army backing Joffrey comes to pass in their ultimate clash for King's Landing and the Iron Throne. Though I strongly feel that Stannis is the superior prospective king, all throughout the battle sequences, I found myself cheering on Tryion Lannister, who was fighting on the opposing side. I found myself worried about what would happen to Cersei Lannister and her children if Stannis sacked the city, despite my moral dislike of both Cersei and her son Joffrey. Martin was a skilled enough writer that he evoked such an empathetic concern from me for characters I despise.
I also love the agency that Martin is giving in this novel to the two young Stark girls. In the television series, Sansa's early character arc lacked any defined agency in her situation and in trying to save herself. She was passed around from one person to another, one betrothal to another, essentially determining her path for her. In A Clash of Kings, however, we actually get to see Sansa take some steps on her own to try and find her own way out of King's Landing, through her friendship with Ser Dontos Hollard. Unlike the show, Dontos is actually a recurring character in the novels who befriends Sansa with his promise that he will help her escape King's Landing, as a favor of sorts because she convinced Joffrey not have Dontos executed at his nameday tournament. Obviously, Dontos' claims that he will help Sansa escape are weak, but at the time Sansa is only eleven and she buys into them more easily. It also helps fix the plothole that exists in the show, in which she refuses Tyrion's offer to get her out of her betrothal to Joffrey, and she chooses not to go with The Hound when he deserts King's Landing after the Battle of the Blackwater. In the show, it was likely frustrating to many viewers who can't understand her decision not to take the opportunity to flee. In the novels, however, we find that she's not turning down opportunities to escape. She's more or less weighing her options and determines that she trusts Dontos and her odds with him more than she trusts Tyrion or The Hound. There's also that little tidbit of Dontos giving Sansa a hairnet and promising her that it will be justice for her father. Though he never comes right out and says how or why, Sansa knows that something about the hairnet is going to be her way of seeking revenge for her father's death and takes it. Her loyalty to her family, here, is much clearer than in the past or in the show.
Sansa's sister Arya spends a large portion of her role in the book working in the kitchens at Harrenhal, which are some of the less interesting chapters in Kings. That being said, Martin gives Arya her time to shine as well by having her plan her escape, along with friends Gendry and Hot Pie, from Harrenhal, as well as arranging for the escape of all the Northern prisoners-of-war who had been held captive there by Tywin Lannister, men who had served her father and fought for her brother. It's a shame that a moment of Arya truly doing something to help aid her brother's fight didn't make it into the show, as it just creates another plothole: why didn't Arya use the three names Jaqen H'ghar offered her to take out someone important, like Tywin or Joffrey, and help with the war effort? In the novels, Arya (only nine and hardly liable to be blamed for not thinking that politically or strategically of war) comes to this same conclusion after the fact, so helping the Northern prisoners escape is her way of making amends for her mistake.
A special shoutout has to be made for Tyrion, who carried the most interesting parts of this novel on his back. Kings was truly Tyrion's chance to standout as a dynamic character and to position himself as one of the smartest, and therefore deadliest, players in the game of thrones. I would be willing to go so far as to say that Tyrion was every bit as cunning and clever as Varys or Petyr Baelish in this book, just perhaps without as much experience playing the game as them. It leaves me wondering what side of the hero-villain spectrum Tyrion will end up on in the end. Martin doesn't really write about traditional heroes and villains. It's more like every character in somewhere in between, leaning closely more to one side or the other, but never definitively at one firm end of the spectrum. While it seems now that Tyrion is still leaning towards the hero side, there's no doubt in my mind that he could play the villain later if he wanted to.
Out of the all the strengths of A Clash of Kings, there is one major, glaring weakness, and that's the Qarth storyline that Daenerys was stuck in. Her Dothraki storyline in book one was one of the most complex and layered plots of the entire series, and her upcoming storyline in book three in Slaver's Bay is as well, but Qarth just pales in comparison. It really feels like just a placeholder for Dany in this book because she had to be somewhere between books one and three while her dragons were still babies and couldn't really do anything exciting. Qarth and its characters become retroactively important in book five, when they start to reappear, but in A Clash of Kings, it's pretty dull in comparison to the rest of the book or in comparison to Daenerys' other storylines. The show tried to make it a bit more intriguing by inventing the dragon abduction storyline, offering more of a buildup to Daenerys' entry into the House of the Undying, but even that was largely inconsequential to the plot of the story at large. In fact, it weakens it because that book-to-show change led to the deaths of Xaro Xhoan Daxos and Pyat Pree in the show, who are still alive in the books to become relavent, if Martin so wishes.
Dany's visions in the House of the Undying are the only part of Qarth that has major substance to them, and even then, the show makes them a little more digestable by condensing them and including that emotional cameo of Khal Drogo in the afterlife with his and Daenerys' would-be child, Rhaego. Her visions in the books are all ways for Martin to cleverly foreshadow (likely) everything that is yet to come in future installments of the series, but in a mysterious enough ways that it isn't necessarily easy to determine the true meaning behind the visions. Some of the visions have come to pass, such as Dany's vision of a dead man with a wolf's head in place of a human head at a feast where all the guests had been slaughtered foreshadowing a major event of book three (of which she shan't speak yet, but if you know, you know), or the mhysa prediction. Then there are even more visions she has that have yet to pass, as well as several prophecies, speaking of three betrayals Dany will face, three fires she will light, and three steads she will mount. My understanding of the meaning of any of these prophecies is all conjecture based on the direction the show went and trying to link certain events to the words of the prophecy, but nothing of the sort is concrete and prophecies rarely mean exactly as they say in the world of Ice and Fire.
Without necessarily being able to decipher what all the prophecies and visions mean exactly, I do love theorizing about the interpretation that the prophecies aren't meant to encourage Dany, but rather they are meant to discourage her from her current path and plans to conquer Westeros; they aren't showing Daenerys the path to victory, it's a warning of the path leading to her downfall. I would like to see all the meanings of the visions and prophecies unfold in the last two Ice and Fire novels as sort of self-fulfilling prophecy of doom, some complex tale where Daenerys only realizes after it's too late that she didn't head the warning and played into instead, and we as the reader will watch her mistakes and realize, with a tragic sort of irony, before she does that she should have just stayed in Essos. That being said, it likely won't be that straightforward. Martin's work is more layered, and he will likely leave the true meaning of most the prophecies open-to-interpretation with each indivdual prophecy having multiple understandings that can be supported by the text. We'll all be able to debate until the White Walkers come whether the prophecies were a warning of defeat that Dany followed or a plannogram to victory that she didn't. Or did. I don't know what's going to happen at the end of A Dream of Spring, if it's ever published. This is all just my interpretation of an unfished story.
Comments
Post a Comment