Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire 2)

From the saga that inspired the filming of HBO's acclaimed television series: Game of Thrones

"Now there are more kings in the realm than rats in a castle," says one of the characters in A Clash of Kings . And indeed, after the suspicious death of Robert Baratheon, the monarch of the Seven Kingdoms, his son Joffrey has been imposed upon the throne by force, though "those who truly rule are his mother, a eunuch, and a dwarf," as the common folk say. Four nobles simultaneously proclaim themselves legitimate kings, and the lands of Westeros tremble amidst wars and betrayals. And all this horror is presided over by the most ominous of signs: an immense blood-red comet suspended in the sky.

In this prodigious novel, nothing is truly what it seems. The protagonists, drawn with astonishing complexity, are capable of inspiring hatred or love from the very first pages. George R.R. Martin, with a firm and energetic hand, once again offers us a brilliant array of characters in a rich, dense, and surprising plot. He makes us witnesses to fratricidal struggles, intrigues, and palace betrayals in a land cursed by war, where hidden forces rise again and lurk, ready to reign in the nights of the long winter to come.