Now, thirteen years later, I have just re-read A Clash of Kings as part of my epic re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire corresponding with both the HBO television adaptation of Game of Thrones, and the imminent release of Dance With Dragons. Clash of Kings is still an immensely great book, which like the first, centers on the arrival of a new king’s Hand — in this case, the unlikely Hand, Tyrion Lannister — in King’s Landing. Unlike Ned Stark, however, Tyrion is much better equipped to deal with court politics, but a different set of personal weaknesses endanger his reign.  Meanwhile, war engulfs the river lands, Robert’s brothers Renly and Stannis both vie for the Iron Throne, Dany continues her journey to the east, and the Night’s Watch strikes out to discover where all the Wildings have vanished to.  Theon Greyjoy is added as POV character, and along with Tyrion, offers one of the most interesting arcs in the book.

It’s somewhat easy for Clash of Kings to be overshadowed by Storm of Swords (the best in the series thus far) and Game of Thrones, but there is still much to recommend about it. The ending is both sad and hopeful at the same time, a true Empire Strikes Back style ending, and Martin begins to turn the screws on his characters in ways that not even Game of Thrones could anticipate.

In many ways, A Game of Thrones represents a tremendous paradigm shift in fantasy.  Characters are flawed, and central figures — even protagonists — can die horribly. We may take this for granted now, but in the late 1990′s, fantasy was still largely wed to the Tolkien model. Not so after A Game of Thrones. Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Terry Brooks, et al, all seemed adolescent in comparison to Martin.

I have since gone back and read it six times over the past 14 years — whenever a firm date is announced for a new volume of a Song of Ice and Fire, I go back and re-read all the books in the series. The recent announcement of A Dance With Dragons for July 2011 is no different — except this time, I’m reading the series on my Kindle and not in print. Fortunately, the typography and art translates well on the platform, and reading it on Kindle is very similar to reading it in print. Even knowing the story as well as I do, including through a recent screening of the first six episodes of the HBO television adaptation, I find there’s still much to enjoy. The tragedy that befalls Ned Stark and his children is still as great as it was on first reading — and the hindsight of the later books only helps to underline this.

For many years, I have tried to find fantasy series that can compare, and though some come close, none have been able to match A Game of Thrones. And as good as the television series is, the source material is still better.  If you’re still on the fence, you really have no excuse.  Read it. And don’t complain about the Kindle price — it’s worth the $9.