I finished the second book, A Clash of Kings, in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire epic a couple of nights ago. In my estimation, it was a better story than its predecessor with a more satisfying conclusion.
Martin continues to tell the story through many eyes. The interesting thing is how the timelines overlap between these varying viewpoints. Martin’s attention to detail here certainly seems pretty good on a first reading, though I’d venture there are discrepancies that can be teased out with enough research. In addition to the characters he started with, notably those of the Stark family, new character viewpoints are added to fully tell the story Martin wants.
The hugeness of the story cannot be overstated either. Clearly, the unifying story is that of Westeros and what will become of it after all of the conflict has resolved itself. But the smaller story arcs could also be stories unto themselves, such as the tale of King’s Landing, or The Wall, or Daenerys. This story easily could have been a series of 20 or 30 (much shorter) books.
The pacing of the story is consistently good. Even when Martin goes into pages of dialog describing past events he manages to keep things interesting. Perhaps most telling is that the story continues to not feel bloated. He takes his time and seems to go to great length to avoid any “deus ex machina” entanglements. Towards that end, all of his characters are interesting in their own way, annoying as some may be (Sansa and Theon come to mind). Even the ones whom are most capable are not infallible and do not become pseudo-omnipotent in their ability to anticipate the counter schemes of their adversaries (most notably, Tyrion and Catelyn).
One thing I’ve wondered about crafting stories on this scale is, how does an author begin to write such a tale? Does he have a general idea of a story and just start to write it, filling in as necessary? Does he know how the story is to end and works backwards from there? Has he already written the story in, say, a couple hundred pages and began filling it in to add richness and detail? Or is it just an evolving process where he writes, and that writing opens up other potentially interesting story arcs that he chooses to explore?
Given all the above praise, is there anything not so good? I continue to worry that the end will be unsatisfying, whatever that may be. Though I’m also beginning to think the end may be largely irrelevant. With a story this vast, the telling is what’s important and to be able to hook as many readers as this story has and then keep them committed through the many large books that comprise the story may be the entire point. After all, it’s the story itself that makes it worth getting to the end.
From a micro standpoint, I think some of Martin’s attempts at detailing battles are difficult to read. It’s difficult to relate battle details in words and it doesn’t seem to be a stronger point of Martins, as opposed to, say, Tom Clancy who basically created a whole genre on that ability. While fighting and warring is unavoidable in the story, I think Martin’s battle description could be worked on better. I’d also say that Martin’s use of magic and mysticism is inconsistent. While I’m perfectly willing to buy off on the shapeshifting, zombies and dragons, the other magic users (most notably Melisandre) seem a bit forced and as close to a form of “deus ex machina” as Martin comes to. Perhaps better stated, I think the overall story would suffer little and events would be largely unchanged if other, more believable, plot devices had been used in their stead.
But, the most important part Martin gets right: I want to see what happens next. I’ve already started A Storm of Swords. In fact, I’m confident I’ll want to read this series right to the end. Arguably, that’s the only thing that matters about a story like this.