#45 in Fantasy
A Clash of Kings
- 761
- Pages
- about 14 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 9 weeks on the list, peaked at #8
- Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
- Ignotus Award for Best Foreign Novel
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Our view
The second volume widens the war into a contest of several kings, seen from many viewpoints at once. Its strength is that every character acts sensibly from where they stand while the realm still slides toward disaster. Tyrion’s political manoeuvring in the capital is the highlight. Readers should be ready for more than seven hundred pages and for frequent sexual violence, which some find excessive. It cannot be read without the first book.
Worth knowing The second book of A Song of Ice and Fire, published in 1998, picks up straight after A Game of Thrones as five kings claim the throne. Its climax is a single battle seen from several viewpoints, which Martin later scripted himself as an episode of the HBO series. The second season of Game of Thrones (2012) adapts this book with more changes than the first season made.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A Clash of Kings is the second of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire by American author George R. R. Martin, an epic fantasy series. It was first published in the United Kingdom on November 16, 1998; the first United States edition followed on February 2, 1999. Like its predecessor, A Game of Thrones, it won the Locus Award for Best Novel and was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. In May 2005, Meisha Merlin released a limited edition of the novel, fully illustrated by John Howe.
Reading order · A Song of Ice and Fire
Full order & progress →- A Game of ThronesStart here
8.78.7 / 10 - A Clash of KingsThis book
8.78.7 / 10 - A Storm of Swords
9.09.0 / 10 - A Feast for Crows
8.18.1 / 10 - A Dance with Dragons
8.58.5 / 10 - The Winds of Winter
–Not ranked yet - A Dream of SpringA Dream of Spring–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.7 across 3,592 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 96% of the weight and the score stays at 8.7 — the Fantasy average of 8.0 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 191 | 5% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 65 | 2% |
| Hardcover | 8.7 | 3.3K | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is A Clash of Kings?
It has 761 pages — longer than 78% of the ranked books in Fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Fantasy — with scores between 8.6 and 8.7, closest to this book.
