A clash of kings / George R.R. Martin.

By:

Martin, George R. R

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Martin, George R. R. Song of ice and fire ; Publication details: London : HarperVoyager, 2011.Edition: Pbk. edDescription: 913 p. ; 20 cmISBN:

9780007447831

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Fantasy fiction.

DDC classification:

813 MAR

Fiction notes: Click to open in new window

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	Moylish Library Fiction Collection	813 MAR (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		39002100671107

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

HBO's hit series A GAME OF THRONES is based on George R R Martin's internationally bestselling series A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, the greatest fantasy epic of the modern age. A CLASH OF KINGS is the second volume in the series.

'Nobody does fantasy quite like Martin' Sunday Times

Throughout Westeros, the cold winds are rising.

From the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding lands of Winterfell, chaos reigns as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms stake their claims through tempest, turmoil and war.

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky - a comet the colour of blood and flame - five factions struggle for control of a divided land. Brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night.

Against a backdrop of incest, fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory is measured in blood.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

ARYA At Winterfell they had called her "Arya Horseface" and she'd thought nothing could be worse, but that was before the orphan boy Lommy Greenhands had named her "Lumpyhead." Her head felt lumpy when she touched it. When Yoren had dragged her into that alley she'd thought he meant to kill her, but the sour old man had only held her tight, sawing through her mats and tangles with his dagger. She remembered how the breeze sent the fistfuls of dirty brown hair skittering across the paving stones, toward the sept where her father had died. "I'm taking men and boys from the city," Yoren growled as the sharp steel scraped at her head. "Now you hold still, boy." By the time he had finished, her scalp was nothing but tufts and stubble. Afterward he told her that from there to Winterfell she'd be Arry the orphan boy. "Gate shouldn't be hard, but the road's another matter. You got a long way to go in bad company. I got thirty this time, men and boys all bound for the Wall, and don't be thinking they're like that bastard brother o' yours." He shook her. "Lord Eddard gave me pick o' the dungeons, and I didn't find no little lordlings down there. This lot, half o' them would turn you over to the queen quick as spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half'd do the same, only they'd rape you first. So you keep to yourself and make your water in the woods,alone. That'll be the hardest part, the pissing, so don't drink no more'n you need." Leaving King's Landing was easy, just like he'd said. The Lannister guardsmen on the gate were stopping everyone, but Yoren called one by name and their wagons were waved through. No one spared Arya a glance. They were looking for a highborn girl, daughter of the King's Hand, not for a skinny boy with his hair chopped off. Arya never looked back. She wished the Rush would rise and wash the whole city away, Flea Bottom and the Red Keep and the Great Sept and everything, and everyone too, especially Prince Joffrey and his mother. But she knew it wouldn't, and anyhow Sansa was still in the city and would wash away too. When she remembered that, Arya decided to wish for Winterfell instead. Yoren was wrong about the pissing, though. That wasn't the hardest part at all; Lommy Greenhands and Hot Pie were the hardest part. Orphan boys. Yoren had plucked some from the streets with promises of food for their bellies and shoes for their feet. The rest he'd found in chains. "The Watch needs good men," he told them as they set out, "but you lot will have to do." Yoren had taken grown men from the dungeons as well, thieves and poachers and rapers and the like. The worst were the three he'd found in the black cells who must have scared even him, because he kept them fettered hand and foot in the back of a wagon, and vowed they'd stay in irons all the way to the Wall. One had no nose, only the hole in his face where it had been cut off, and the gross fat bald one with the pointed teeth and theweeping sores on his cheeks had eyes like nothing human. They took five wagons out of King's Landing, laden with supplies for the Wall: hides and bolts of cloth, bars of pig iron, a cage of ravens, books and paper and ink, a bale of sourleaf, jars of oil, and chests of medicine and spices. Teams of plow horses pulled the wagons, and Yoren had bought two coursers and a half-dozen donkeys for the boys. Arya would have preferred a real horse, but the donkey was better than riding on a wagon. The men paid her no mind, but she was not so lucky with the boys. She was two years younger than the youngest orphan, not to mention smaller and skinnier, and Lommy and Hot Pie took her silence to mean she was scared, or stupid, or deaf. "Look at that sword Lumpyhead's got there," Lommy said one morning as they made their plodding way past orchards and wheat fields. He'd been a dyer's apprentice before he was caught stealing, and his arms were mottled green to the elbow. When he laughed he brayed like the donkeys they were riding. "Where's a gutter rat like Lumpyhead get him a sword?" Arya chewed her lip sullenly. She could see the back of Yoren's faded black cloak up ahead of the wagons, but she was determined not to go crying to him for help. "Maybe he's a little squire," Hot Pie put in. His mother had been a baker before she died, and he'd pushed her cart through the streets all day, shouting "Hot pies! Hot pies!" "Some lordy lord's little squire boy, that's it." "He ain't no squire, look at him. I bet that's not even areal sword. I bet it's just some play sword made of tin." Arya hated them making fun of Needle. "It's castle-forged steel, you stupid," she snapped, turning in the saddle to glare at them, "and you better shut your mouth." The orphan boys hooted. "Where'd you get a blade like that, Lumpyface?" Hot Pie wanted to know. "Lumpyhead," corrected Lommy. "He prob'ly stole it." "I did not!" she shouted. Jon Snow had given her Needle. Maybe she had to let them call her Lumpyhead, but she wasn't going to let them call Jon a thief. "If he stole it, we could take it off him," said Hot Pie. "It's not his anyhow. I could use me a sword like that." Lommy egged him on. "Go on, take it off him, I dare you." Hot Pie kicked his donkey, riding closer. "Hey, Lumpyface, you gimme that sword." His hair was the color of straw, his fat face all sunburnt and peeling. "You don't know how to use it." Yes I do, Arya could have said. I killed a boy, a fat boy like you, I stabbed him in the belly and he died, and I'll kill you too if you don't let me alone. Only she did not dare. Yoren didn't know about the stableboy, but she was afraid of what he might do if he found out. Arya was pretty sure that some of the other men were killers too, the three in the manacles for sure, but the queen wasn't looking for them, so it wasn't the same. "Look at him," brayed Lommy Greenhands. "I bet he's going to cry now. You want to cry, Lumpyhead?" She had cried in her sleep the night before, dreaming of herfather. Come morning, she'd woken red-eyed and dry, and could not have shed another tear if her life had hung on it. From the Paperback edition. Excerpted from A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

George R. R. Martin was born on September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing at an early age, selling monster stories for pennies to neighborhood children. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University. In 1986, he worked as a story editor for the CBS series The Twilight Zone. He was also an executive story consultant, producer and co-supervising producer for CBS's Beauty and the Beast.

In 1970, he sold the story The Hero to Galaxy magazine. Since becoming a full-time writer in 1979, he has written many novels, stories, and series including A Song for Lya, Portraits of His Children, The Pear-Shaped Man, and the Song of Ice and Fire series. He has won numerous awards including five Locus Awards, three Hugo Awards and two Nebula awards. In 2013 he made The New York Times Best Seller List with his titles A Dance with Dragons and A Game of Thrones: a Clash of Kings, a Storm of Swords, a Feast for Crows. His title's Rogues and The Ice Dragon made the New York Times List in 2014. Martin's title, A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, A Song of Fire and Ice novel, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. He is number 4 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list.

(Bowker Author Biography)