Reviews with content warning for Child death - Királyok csatája

I truly enjoy the Song of Fire and Ice story but I just can’t click with Martin's writing (especially its portrayal of women and their sexuality). For this reason I have a hard time fully enjoying the books.

However, putting that aside. I loved how the story has more form than its predecessor and introduces more characters to us, as well as making previous characters more rounded and robust. I do have to say that its pacing was kind of troublesome to me as I feel that a lot did happen in the book but it was pretty droll throughout the major events

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ronanmcd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's a civil war. It's messy. There are more sides to every side and those sides swap sides. It's often impossible to tell who is who, as new houses and factions emerge. But somehow it all comes together.
And it's a great, if harrowing read.
Ps, presumably Daenerys will eventually feature as something more than a wanderer.

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batmayne_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

the 2nd book in the series
definitely a lot slower and more about war plans and fighting
with king robert and lord ned dead, the north and south has been split between multiple kings
Daenerys fights for ships and the saftey of her clansmen against rich men and lords
theres so much to go into but if you watched the show first you wont be disappointed with extra information( so much talking!)

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alexanderthesmall's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As the war begins we are forced to watch from every side how people feel. From indifference, unbridled rage, indescribable grief and the awful things war causes and allows to try to be justified. As well as how our many characters deal with their quickly changing lives.

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clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book has a bit of a slow start with lots of table setting as the world expands to more characters and more locales, but picks up a ton in the second half. So many things happen in this book that are pivotal for the whole series, and it was fun to read this knowing what it all leads to. An interesting thing I noticed and a nice touch is that we never get any of the kings’ experiences - Stannis, Renly, Joffrey, and Robb - so we stay focused on the effect the game of thrones has on others. We get Dany’s perspective, but obviously she doesn’t have much power yet, and her story doesn’t really progress much. This book starts to show the devastating effect of the wars on everyone - it’s a bleak one, but endlessly readable.

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