I began reading this book the day after reading Game of Thrones, because I obviously fell in love with the plot & characters and so wanted more of the feisty & complex characters, and was so excited to begin reading this.
From goodreads:
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.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed Game Of Thrones, I thought that this book would provide me with the same gripping plots and characters. However I found the plots to be too complex and I found myself forgetting who was who, what was happening and why, but I kept on reading in the hopes that it would all come clear. It didn't. I ended up watching Season 2 of the Game of Thrones tv series which is literally this book, and that helped me understand what happened in the book. I think a major player in this issue was the book being so long, and there seemed to be alot of descriptive text going on. Which I skipped most of the descriptive parts which probably made me miss important parts of the story?
I did however enjoy the characters development and getting a better understanding of their backgrounds and their personalities; Arya, Sansa & Tyroin are my favourite characters, and Daenerys of course with her dragons! This is one of the best parts of this series, the fact that you get to know the characters and you end up knowing what might happen and the politics involved between the families who want the throne.
Tomorrow I will review A Storm Of Swords by George R.R. Martin.
It follows Jessica Blackwood who was once a really good magician before she became an FBI agent, a case crops up which she is roped in due to her background. A serial killer who uses illusions/magician skills to create murders that seem impossible; we are first introduced to the first impossible murder of a girl who was apparently dead for a year crawling out of her grave. Its very spooky. Jessica is able to figure out using her magician knowledge how these murders are possible, and it becomes a cat and mouse type game with her and the killer.