I believe A Clash of Kings is a slight step up from A Game of Thrones (lowered to 3.75), the first half of the book being great. But I would be lying if I didn't say my time with ASOIAF has remained somewhat underwhelming thus far. 

Though this is certainly a good book, same as the first one, I still had the same struggles, but to a bit of a lesser extent. To me, the way POV's are structured still presents this sense of disconnect throughout most of the narrative. I felt this was improved in the first half of the book, but became prevalent again in the second half. I also continued to feel a lack of tension and suspense due to knowing the fates of many of these characters and their general archs. However, I did manage to get over this with a few characters, likely due to their chapters simply being the most engaging to me. Those would be Tyrion, Jon, and Arya. At times Catelyn as well. These were by far the most captivating character perspectives to read from. I think Martin's strongest character is Tyrion as of right now. His inner monologue is fantastic, and most of the intriguing politicking happens through his perspective as he takes charge in King's Landing. His perspective is one of the few where I did actually feel the intended tension because it's so well written. As for Jon and Arya, I loved Jon in book one so no surprise I love him here and everything about the looming threat in the North. And it was nice to watch Arya come into her own and navigate her perilous situation while keeping her identity hidden. I quite enjoyed her relationship with Jaqen H'ghar as well. Qhorin Halfhand was another side character I loved too, and his relationship with Jon.

Unfortunate that this review probably feels mostly negative again, but I did enjoy most of the book. Especially the first half like I mentioned previously. My own mental health and mood also played a part in my enjoyment of this book. There were many days where I really struggled to pick this up, mostly because I simply didn't have the energy to read. And sadly that bleeds into the overall reading experience. 

Rating this at 4 stars (might be a 3.75—now is after a couple days)...I guess I really just set my expectations that high for these books based on the way everyone gushes about them. I should've known better by now. Not as excited for A Storm of Swords now, but still looking forward to it.