A Clash of Kings

george r.r. martin

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Here is the second volume in George R.R. Martin magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R.R. Martin stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

Genres fantasyfictionepic fantasyhigh fantasyscience fiction fantasyaudiobookadultdragonsadventureepic

1009 pages, Paperback

First published November 16,1998

Series

A Song of Ice and Fire

Literary awards

nebula award, locus award, premio ignotus,

Places

the lands of ice and fire, kings landing, maegors holdfast, winterfell, riverrun, dragonstone, citadel of oldtown, shipbreaker bay westeros, storms end, the whispering wood, white harbor, seagard, iron islands, pyke, moat cailin, qohor, gulltown, isle of skagos, pentos, dorne, oldtown, great wyk, deepwood motte, vaes tolorro, castle stokeworth, the dreadfort, torrhens square, guildhall of the alchemists, sunspear, greywater watch, crasters keep, ibben, house of the undying, fist of the first men, frostfangs, milkwater, the giants stair, skirling pass, ashemark, oxcross, bitterbridge, asshai, summer isles scotland, braavos, the red keep, harrenhal, the vale of arryn, mountains of the moon, casterly rock, the twins, lorath, castle black, shadow tower, eastwatch, old valyria, horn hill, moles town, volantis, cape wrath sutherland, the eyrie, highgarden, blackwater rush, old wyk, castamere, nunns deep, pendric hills, temple of memory, hall of a thousand thrones, the arbor, crackclaw point, great sept of baelor, greyguard, long barrow, stonedoor, icemark, rosby, castle cerwyn, acorn water, meereen, duskendale, vaes dothrak, lordsport,

This edition

Format: 1009 pages, Paperback
Published: May 28, 2002 by Random House Worlds
ISBN: 9780553381696
ASIN: 0553381695
Language: English

Characters More characters

Brandon Stark

Catelyn and Eddards second son. Like his siblings, he is dutiful and tough-minded. He is named for his deceased uncle Brandon, elder brother of Eddard. He dreams of one day being a great knight. His direwolf companion is named Summer. more...
Catelyn Stark

Catelyn Tully Stark is the eldest child of the house of Hoster Tully and Minisa Tully and once his heir until the birth of her brother Edmure. She and her sister Lysa knew Peter "Littlefinger" Baelish as children because he was a ward at Riverrun, the Tul...
Tyrion Lannister

Tyrion Lannister is a character in George R.R. Martins fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire". He is the youngest child of Tywin and Joanna Lannister and the brother of twins Jamie and Cersei Lannister. Despite being highly intelligent, politically...
Daenerys Targaryen

She is stunningly beautiful, with silver hair and purple eyes. At the beginning of A Game of Thrones, she is a maid of thirteen years and one of the last members of the ancient Targaryen Dynasty. She is the daughter of King Aerys II and his wife Rhaella. ...
Eddard Stark

Eddard Stark, informally called "Ned", is Lord of Winterfell, Lord Paramount of the North, and Warden of the North. He and Catelyn Tully Stark have five children, and he claims a bastard son, Jon Snow. Eddard is known for his sense of honor and justice; h...
Theon Greyjoy

Theon Greyjoy was the ward of Lord Eddard Stark. At age 10, he was sent to live with the Starks after his father, Lord Balon Greyjoy, raised the Iron Islands in rebellion against King Robert. Theon resented this; in A Clash of Kings, when Robb Stark gave ...

About the author

george r.r. martin

George Raymond Richard "R.R." Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: The Hero, sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.

In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.

In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.

Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.

Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...