A Clash of Kings: The Illustrated Edition: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Two | 
pickI am so excited to keep going with the #GOTchapteraday group! We finished a few days ago and I am in awe at the scope of plot and characters GRRM has created. I am looking forward to continuing the series and how these plot points will come together. 4/5
pickMost of the characters are moving on from their role or physical location in this book… except Catelyn who was about to do something crazy & 1 character who might be dead. I‘m the most excited for what Cat is doing next in A Storm of Swords.
Thank you to those reading along #ReadingWesteros
I am really debating posting the #readingschedule because it‘s spoilers, but we are starting 1/22 with the prologue & continuing on til 4/12.
pickFinished this for the second time. Great book. So much better reading a chapter a day with #readingwesteros ❤️ come join us for book 3! Just let @5feet.of.fury know :)
pickAn amazing read from beginning to end. George R. R. Martin continues to deliver the most beautiful story with the most emotionally harrowing events.
pickNot very often do I read a chunkster like this and then want to immediately follow it up with another one. This was wonderful! I am really enjoying this buddyread @5feet.of.fury Thank you so much!❤️
#ReadingWesteros
Bran dreams through his third eye & sees Winterfell burning, everyone dead. Meera &Jojen caution him against staying wolf too long. They emerge from their hiding spot to see Winterfell burned just as he said. Dying, Luwin tells Rickon & Bran to separate. As they leave Bran thinks “Winterfell‘s not dead, it‘s just broken like me”
& we‘re done #ReadingWesteros will return with A Storm of Swords ⚔️ 1/22/24
@5feet.of.fury
#Reading Westeros #GOTChapteraDay
Just finished a day early. This is a re-read for me, so I'm noticing all the differences between the TV series, and the books. It's been a long time since I read the book the first time, so the TV series was most fresh in my mind.
Wonderful book, but brutal in the telling.
Since hiding is futile, they‘ve decided to make a fire. Stonesnake is sent on the arduous trek back to the Fist to tell of Jon‘s vision. Qhorin tells Jon that if they are caught by wildlings, Jon is to yield & join them…. & spy. After a night, they are approached. Jon yields, Ygritte vouches for him, but the others make him prove it by opposing Qhorin.
Mance is already marching on the Wall.
Tyrion is in the infirmary in severe pain. The milk of poppy knocks him out. He dreams of Jaime making him a knight, he dreams of Tysha. Tyrion awakes again, says no more milk of poppy. He asks the Maester to removed his bandages, fearing that Cersei is keeping him sedated. He thinks that she sent Ser Mandon to make sure he didn‘t return from battle. He finds out his father has arrived & taken role of Hand. He asks for his own guard & maester.
I'm just getting started but I don't think Oak-cakes would taste very good 🤭
Maester Luwin counsels Theon; he cannot hold Winterfell. Rodrik & Theon parlay, it goes poorly, he still wants to put his 17 men agains Rodriks 2000. He has Rodrik‘s daughter. A hostage will die ever dusk &dawn if the host doesn‘t retreat, starting with her. He knows they will attack, Luwin tries again, tells him to take the Black. As he considers, Reek returns with Bolton men. Reek reveals himself to be more powerful & crazy than he can handle.
I am officially caught up on the chapters from all the holiday chaos. Thankfully I went to bed early the other day so I managed to get enough sleep to finish the Sansa chapter.
there are 4 chapters left in the book which is bizarre to me! but I am so happy
Almost caught up but I can't help but make parallels between this sentence and House of the Dragon
Lord Tywin is proclaimed “savior of the city”, he will assume governance.Ser Loras will serve in the Kingsguard. Tyrells betroth Margaery to Joff, her marriage was not consummated with Renly -who “went off to war”. She‘s a better wife than a traitor‘s daughter. Sansa will be kept as a ward. She‘s glad she won‘t have to give him her maidenhood.Dontos tells Sansa she is still in danger but they will escape the on the wedding night &gives her a gift.
Gendry blames Arya for the deaths in Harrenhal, & that they traded 1 Devil for another.
While bringing water to Lord Bolton, she overhears the men talking about Tywin‘s strategy …& then of Winterfell. That Winterfell has fallen & her brothers are dead. She refuses to believe even as she despairs that she may be stuck in this life. She asks Gendry for a sword, asks him to run with her. She secures horses & she escapes with Gendry & Hot Pie.
I'm the slowest most tired reader in the world but lord I'm trying. (orange are the chapters I've fallen behind on) 😭
Will be reading the Tyrion chapter in a little bit
Dany earns her 1st braid from her victory over the maegi. The remaining Warlocks plot against her. They have worn out their welcome anyway as Xaro turned bitter after failing to coerce a dragon from her.
She thinks again of the prophecy, her brother Rhaegar‘s baby “the prince that was promised”.
Dany &Jorah are attacked & 2 men, Arstan &Strong Belwas assist them, they were sent by Illyrio to bring her (& her dragons &khalasar) to Pentos.
With all the holiday nonsense over, I can start my arduous journey of catching up to ACoK. I feel bad I've fallen so far behind, but it couldn't really be helped.
Happy reading to us all!
The goldcloaks turned when Cersei called Joff back to the castle, mobs are fighting to get out.Cersei goes to get Joff, Sansa tries to soothe the people. Resigned to her fate,she goes to her bedchamber. The Hound waits for her, his drunken behavior is erratic, she doesn‘t go when he says they could escape.He leaves her &she sleeps, awakens for victory bells. The men Stannis took from Renly betrayed him. Dontos says Renly himself lead the vanguard
They take out the men with battering ram & head for the mud gate. Tyrion feels the “battle fever” Jaime had explained before, dancing through swords. Cutting through Stannis‘s forces but men still cross the Blackwater from 3 small ships. There; Tyrion‘s men are overwhelmed, he nearly drowns. Ser Mandon appears &tells Tyrion to take his left hand. As Tyrion reaches for his hand, Ser Mandon‘s sword slices into his face. Tyrion is saved by Podrick.
#Bookreport
📚Currently reading:
📕A Clash of Kings - A chapter a day.
📕The Goblin Emperor - A chapter a day.
📙Lord of The Necropolis - Reading before bed.
🎧Night of the Hunter - From time to time.
Progress:
I got to read 2 days out of the 7 this week. An absolutely atrocious week for reading, but to be fair, the last week of the end of the year is a very hectic time for me. I hope in the New Year I will do better.
Sansa overhears the status of the ongoing battle, & watches on nervously at the frightened people around her. Cersei expresses her disdain for being on the sidelines due to queenly/womanly obligations. & how her upbringing split from Jaime‘s because of gender. She tells Sansa the disgusting truth of what may happen to the women if the castle falls. …& that Ser Ilyn is there for them. Cersei will not fall to Stannis alive.
Tyrion is watching the carnage. He sacrificed Joff‘s fleet to draw Stannis in. 8 ships landed, Joff is going to catapult traitors at them. They are also being attacked from the Gate. The Hound is refusing to continue fighting in the bursting wildfire, he says to open the gate & they‘ll kill the enemy as they come in. Tyrion realizes the Hound is not fit to continue, so he leads. “If I fight they must do the same, or they are less than a dwarf”
pick5✨ Had to finish this early since I didn‘t want to put it down. Just wow! So much happens in this book with 9 POV (I believe I counted correctly). It picks up right where it left off in the first book where everyone in a different region is going for the iron throne. We have 2 new POV in this book that we didn‘t previous have. One was a detestable character, the other wasn‘t the bad. ⬇️
Davos is in his element in the war fleet on Blackwater Bay, he recalls his smuggling days. Their enemy lures them close. Davos smells a trap. But their archers take out Joff‘s army. Ships ram eachother. Then they are assaulted by wildfire. Lannisters planted a ship full &when it is struck by The Swordfish it erupts. Davos‘s ship goes up &he‘s in the water. Lannisters have raised the chain & trapped the ships & any survivors behind a wall of flame.
Sansa sees Joffrey off to battle. She goads him a bit on how Robb always commands his men from the frontlines. Sansa goes to pray for her family but leaves as the septon starts the prayer for Joff. All the highborn women are held in the Queen‘s ballroom, she sees Ser Ilyn, the King‘s Justice, carrying Ice. He‘s there to protect them if the sellswords change sides. Cersei again points out what a silly girl Sansa is, believing in “true knights”
“I hope I don't cry this chapter“ I foolishly said to myself
so-soI think these books are very much Not For Me™ I feel like this was a bunch of horrible people making horrible decisions and if I ended up feeling anything good towards a character they get killed off or something terrible happens to them. Reading this a chapter at a time with #ReadingWesteros was a good way to get through this until I ended up getting behind and accidentally finished the whole thing when I tried to catch up.
Asha arrives. The deeds he does to keep the castle are getting to Theon, Ironborn are struggling with living with their enemies& Asha has only brought 10 men for him to hold Winterfell. She mocks him for killing the boys, encourages him to come to Deepwood Motte. he recalls how he stopped Maester Luwin from taking the bodies to the crypts. Theon dreams of the dead & wishes he left was Asha, revealing what he & Reek did to the miller‘s sons.
Riverrun celebrates victories but Cat can only think of Bran & Rickon. She received word that the boys tried to escape &were taken at the mill &Theon mounted their at Winterfell.
At midnight Brienne comes &they go to Jaime in his cell. She asks him questions, which he answers truthfully. Denies that he sent the man to kill Bran &implicates Robert. Jaime taunts her with stories of the past &of Ned. As the chapter ends, she calls for Brienne‘s sword
They get news of the youngest Starks. Tyrion implies if Cat thinks Lannisters are working with Greyjoy, Cat will kill Jaime.
As dinner ends, Cersei reveals that she has Tyrion‘s whore. She accuses him of plotting against her, stealing her children, &plotting to get Joff killed. She has the wrong woman, but instead of gloating, Tyrion swears vengeance.
Shae is waiting in his room, but he is more concerned with the hidden door & the woman captured.
Because everyone left me alone early tonight I‘ll do tonight and tomorrow‘s chapter seeing as we have two events tomorrow 🤦♀️calm before the storm 😂 #readingwesteros #gotchapteraday #wintergames #gingerbreadgems
Qhorin guesses easily that Jon let Ygritte go.
Jon dreams of direwolves, of the weirwood, &his brother with 3 eyes. A vision of an ice river, giants, beasts, an army of thousands. Ghost is attacked by an eagle.
He tries to dismiss it as just a dream, but Qhorin makes him tell it.
They walk on & find Ghost, attacked as Jon had said, but alive. Qhorin has them head back, knowing that the eagle has seen them. &Leaves Dalbridge to hold off wildlings.
Ser Dontos is still drunk, Sansa is still stuck &Traumatized from the townspeople‘s riot. Tyrion has closed off the City with Stannis‘s host approaching. She watches the city prepare as she sneaks back,caught by the Hound again. Sansa is getting used to his viciousness. She has her first period, knowing she‘ll now be considered a woman, tries to hide the evidence but the maids see. She meets with Cersei who gives advice as Sansa continues her act
Often I find myself reading novels by male authors and 9 times out of 10 it's either women who are tomboys and afraid of anything girly or pink or just soft and aetherial women that float from scene to scene.
Either of those can be written well, but I can confidently say that GRRM gets the duality of women, their plights and relationships with themselves as well as men. He just *gets it*
Jon & Stonesnake separate from the other rangers & hike a perilous trail after a camp of wildlings. There were only supposed to be 2, but there‘s an extra - a girl. Unwilling to kill her, Jon takes her captive. Stonesnake, does not like this, she is a spearwife & would gladly kill them. Her name is Ygritte. She tells them to burn the bodies of the dead. Stonesnake throws the bodies off a cliff where they are eaten by Shadowcats.
Theon awakes suddenly ¬ices the direwolves are silent. They are gone, along with Bran &Rickon;Jojen, Meera, Osha &Hoddor also escaped. Theon opts to wait til the morning to try to hunt them. But he doesn‘t want his sister Asha, currently sieging Deepwood Motte, to find he has lost the Starks. They follow the trail through wolfswood, finding evidence of the wolves but not the people. Reek offers another theory of where they may stop.
Tyrion sends the Mountainmen into battle. He plots of how to fortify the city against Stannis. The Starks have taken Harrenhal but lost Winterfell, Tyrion knows Robb will have to turn North to defend his home. Shae &Tommen are both safe in disguise. The Alchemists say the spells are working better now than before. The magic had begun to fade when the last dragon died. Asks Tyrion if he‘s seen any dragons. Varys brings a list of traitors.
Every time there's a Theon chapter. I swear. That man makes my blood boil
Went down hard with the stomach flu at 230 am. Slept on and off all day, hoping to get my chapter in tonight. While (god please 🤦♀️) the worst is over, I feel like I‘ve been hit by a bud. The body aches are horrifyingly sucktastic.
Dany explores an ancient ruin with the help of a warlock & sees visions of the past & future. She gets lost in the maze of doors & goes on her own path instead of that shown by the warlock & she meets the Undying Ones. They claim to have sent to comet to guide her. They show themselves as blue faced & cold before the ruin is engulfed in flames. The warlock tries to attack Dany but the bloodriders intervene.
Arya is with Hot Pie when the warhorn sounds. Northmen are brought in as prisoners, she goes to Gendry& asks for his help to free them.He declines.Jaqen finds Arya in the godswood, she speaks the 3rd name as his own &will not rescind unless he helps. With Biter & Rorge, they free the Northmen. Jaqen changes his face, Arya begs to learn from him but she won‘t travel with him.The Northmen take Harrenhal, banners are raised& Arya serves Roose Bolton.
#Bookreport
📚Currently reading:
📕A Clash of Kings - A chapter a day.
📕The Goblin Emperor - A chapter a day.
📙Lord of The Necropolis - Reading before bed.
🎧Night of the Hunter - From time to time.
Progress:
Another mediocre reading week, this time I even forgot to post on Sunday. Still haven't found a solution to the focusing problem other than “don't be tired.“ Hoping for this week to be kinder.
Through Summer‘s eyes, Bran climbs a tree in wolf form & falls. He awakes in his tower &believes now what Jojen told him. He recalls the prophecy “The sea has come.” He calls for Hodor or Osha & is stunned when Theon comes instead. Theon has taken Winterfell but the people are still Bran‘s. it falls to the young prince to decide to yield or fight. Theon surveys the people, including prisoner Reek who pledges himself to Theon. As does Osha.
cat‘s brother rides to Battle. She reflects on her relationship with Ned, their sudden betrothal &the secret of Jon‘s mother.
Brienne shares her thoughts on Tywins likely strategy. Edmure was successful at stopping Tywin‘s crossing of the river.
She visits Ser Cleos &hears the “peace terms”. intrigued that they would trade the girls for Jaime, but concerned he only saw Sansa.
Edmure wins another battle, but she is still apprehensive to celebrate.
Cersei is sending Tommen away. Tyrion goes to visit Shae, forgoing the secret tunnel. He is recognized. Fearing for Shae‘s safety he plans to disguise her as a worker in the kitchens.She declines & they fight, he tells her about Tysha. In the end Shae agrees so Tyrion goes to Varys to arrange it. Varys proposes Shae can attend to Lady Tanda‘s daughter.
Stannis has taken Storm‘s End & Dorne can not intervene before Stannis marches on KingsLanding.
Tensions are rising between the black brothers over the threat of Mance Rayder &the wildlings. Reinforcements lead by Qhorin arrive from Shadow Tower, but many are wounded, attacked by Mance‘s men.
Jon makes daggers from the dragon glass. He hopes Qhorin will have insight as to why the artifacts were buried. He finds out Mance plans to breach the Wall, this camp stands in his way. Qhorin pick Jon to help scout the mountains.
Stannis meets Ser Cortnay to get him to surrender Storm‘s End &Edric Storm (Robert‘s bastard)Stannis‘s men spread rumors that Brienne killed Renly. Stannis tells Davos he dreamt of Renly‘s death,says Renly brought it about by his treason. Davos tries to direct Stannis to KingsLanding where their true enemies are. Stannis worries it will look like defeat. Davos is sent with Melisandre to set Cortnay‘s fate, where she gives birth to Stannis‘s shadow
Today has been an extremely stressful mess so I didn't get any reading done, so I will have to double my reading for tomorrow. Sometimes you're just having one of those days when everything goes wrong, and that *really* has been today.
