A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Just in case you can't tell by the length of time it took me to read A Clash of Kings, this book is quite an epic! It's the second book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and picks up where A Game of Thrones left off. I read A Game of Thrones last year and believe it or not, I actually got through this one faster. That's by no means attributed to it being a dull read, it's not a dull read in the least bit...but it's mighty involved.

This series is certainly considered high fantasy, but as I said in my review of A Game of Thrones, it broke the barriers of what I thought high fantasy to be. I've always seen high fantasy as focusing mainly on the quest or the war and not so much on the characters. Martin balances these aspects of the stories perfectly and creates an amazing cast of characters that are all intricately carved. He's created some of my favorite characters in modern fantasy, Daenerys, mother of dragons, Bran, a young heir to a king who is disabled and unable to walk, Jon Snow, a bastard child of a king removed from his siblings and serving with others who have been stripped from their families, and Arya, the daughter of a king who defies gender boundaries and seeks to make a name for herself. For those who have read this, can you tell I like the Starks?

A Clash of Kings picks up as a war between four kings is beginning. The war will decide who is the one true ruler of the Seven kingdoms. There are tensions between the many families involved and even tighter tensions within some of the families involved. There is treachery, betrayal, sorcery, jealousy. It really is a thrilling ride. Each family is willing to stop at nothing to claim what they think is their right to the throne and no family is willing to form a truce or share a throne. Whatever chance there was a peace is slowing being destroyed by the atrocities committed out of spite and anger for past crimes.

Each chapter begins with a characters name and the chapter focuses on that characters story line, though other characters' storylines' interweave within the chapters. I love this way of telling the story and it works perfectly for this series. His characters are created so well that there really wasn't a single character whose chapters I didn't look forward to. Though there were some that I would be more excited about than others.

I also loved the scenery, the battle scenes, the cultures, the history, the castles, the food, the palaces...all of this stuff that he created. He put so much detail, description and effort into this series. Really an excellent job.

Martin's writing just amazes me. As I read this book I just remained amazed by the enormous task of putting something of this scale together. He's a genius writer and this is really becoming one of my favorite series out there. And there's dragons in it now :) If you're a fan of fantasy books and haven't read these books, I highly recommend that you pick these up. I'd consider them a must read even if you don't think you like high fantasy...I certainly didn't think I would. I'll be reading book 3, A Storm of Swords soon, though not right away. I need a break from these massive books.

Life And Other Things

I feel like I'm finally making a little bit of progress in life! I was contacted by a friend of a friend of my mom's who is a private practice counselor who was kind enough to offer me a little bit of advice on the job hunt, etc. The friend of my mom's sent him a copy of my resume and he said that he was very impressed by it...but where I may be running into a road block with not finding a job is that I don't mention anything about licensure on my resume. So after back and forth emails, I've now begun the licensure process for my LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)! So I can now put on my resume that I'm "license eligible" which will hopefully open up some more doors for me since employers will see that I am indeed working my way towards becoming licensed. He said that he would think that people could figure that out since I have clinical experience and a Masters in counseling, but you never know. He was also kind enough to offer me a little bit of work! It's not much and I'm still very much on the lookout for a job....and nothing's definite yet, but he said that he does see some adolescents and if I'm interested, we can get together for lunch when I get back from Texas and talk about me maybe seeing a couple of his clients on a very part time basis. This would probably be just 2 or 3 clients a month, but it would give me some practice and some supervision which would be great! Very nice man!

In other news, I'm trying to cut back on my coffee drinking....ok, trying to cut back on my coffee BUYING. Here's the deal: I worked at a coffee shop for 5 years which caused a very bad coffee addiction. The result is that I now only drink coffee shop coffee, which is expensive. I've got it down to two a day, and now I'm trying to get it down to one a day. I usually have an iced coffee in the morning from one coffee shop and an iced latte in the afternoon from another coffee shop. Cutting out the iced latte as it's a little more expensive. So for the second night in a row, I successfully turned my car around as I was headed towards the coffee shop and instead came home and drank a Coke Blak...which is really good by the way...it's a strangely delicious mix of Coke and Black Coffee....trust me on this one, it works.

Currently reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger on Carl's and many others recommendations and it really is a wonderful book. I was hooked immediately....like on page 1 immediately. What a fascinating book. I don't know if this is the best book in the world for me to read right now as it made me desperately miss Megan even more than I already do, but I can't resist it. I think it actually shows how wonderful of an author Niffenegger is that I could find Megan and myself in her pages. She captures the essence of love perfectly...that comfortableness in memories and that pain of being away from the person you love. But I'll be traveling to Megan in two weeks and I can't wait to just have some us time....so instead of wallowing in my own self pity while reading this book, I'm enjoying it for the wonderful story that it is :)

Speaking of wonderful stories (don't you love the random flow of this post) Orson Scott Card has published the latest issue of his online magazine Intergalactic Medicine Show. For those who have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I'm slightly obsessed with this man. This is his online magazine of fiction...and it's only $2.50 an issue!! This issue is amazing! There is a brand new short story by Peter Beagle in it, a brand new interview with Peter Beagle, A new Ender short story by Orson Scott Card, and essay on Snape from Harry Potter by Orson Scott Card, and numerous other short stories by other great authors. I've bought every issue so far, and they are all amazing...worth so much more than $2.50...I guess that's the beauty of an online magazine...no printing costs!

I would also like to point you to Orson Scott Card's latest weekly review column. He reviews The Prestige and The Illusionist and I enjoyed his comments on both.

And one final thing and I swear I'll shut up for the night...this was just too cool. So, I'm at Border's last night looking for the new Stardust hardcover (which still isn't out) and I come across the coolest art book. It's The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire! This book is incredible! No, I didn't buy it because the only copy they had was beat up, but they have all these great drawings by incredible artist and quite a few drawings by Charles Vess!!! I had no idea that Vess did any Song of Ice and Fire art. It was great to see some of the characters translated by an artist. There was a wonderful picture of Daenerys and a great one of Jon as well among so many others. 192 pages of art. I'll definitely be picking this one up soon.

A Few Thoughts On Books, Movies, And Vacation

I knew it had to come sooner or later...the first book of the year that I couldn't stand. It was Grendel by John Gardner. I really wanted to like this book. I read it for the Banned Books Challenge and I'm not going to do a review of it because I really couldn't do it justice. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what half of the book was about because it couldn't hold my attention. My mind would wander and I couldn't be bothered to go back and see what I missed. The writing came off as pretentious to me and I should've known I wouldn't like it when I saw that the New York Times said that it was an "Extraordinary Achievement." Not that I always disagree with the New York Times, but I picture rich literary people at snobby parties talking about the "cleverness" of this book. Just not my cup of tea. It grabbed me during a couple of passages, particularly at the end, but it wasn't enough to save the whole experience. Ah well, it happens.

I've found myself craving more George R.R. Martin the past couple of days which is a really good sign. I really enjoyed A Game of Thrones, and the more it sinks in, the better it was. So last night I ordered A Clash of Kings (alongwithsevenotherbooks), the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and I just can't wait to read it! I'm so glad that I decided to start this series and I was so very pleasantly surprised by it. Highly recommend that one to anyone who's a fan of fantasy or really just a fan of a good character driven story.

Movies...I watched Sin City with my little brother for the first time today and it was incredible! I don't know why I waited so long to see this one. Definitely a one of a kind experience. It's filmed like no movie I've ever seen before and it's a treat for the eyes...but then again, isn't any movie with Jessica Alba. OK...that was lame. But seriously, the use (or lack of use) of color in the movie was great and Frank Miller's story was just incredible. I'm going to have to pick up the graphic novels. According to IMDB, Sin City 2 is in pre-production and Johnny Depp is rumored to be in this one. Can't wait. They even have Sin City 3 listed on IMDB, so fans of the original may have quite a few treats coming.

I also rented The Queen which I may start tonight, but seeing as it's already 12:30 in the morning, I may just save that one for tomorrow. I've heard that Helen Mirren did an outstanding job in this movie and I've been wanting to see this one, so I'll let you know how it was.

I'm also a big fan of horror movies and this usually includes the really bad ones as well, but Pulse was just too bad...even for me. I rented this one last week and it was just so stupid. It was the one where a computer virus kills people. So stupid, don't waste your time. Not a single part that even remotely creeped me out, the story had so many holes that it wasn't funny, and the acting was God awful. Just no.

And finally, the next vacation of the year is being planned. Since Katrina, I've been going to see Megan about 4 or 5 times a year. This year, I haven't been to see her once yet! I was there for New Years Eve, so that kinda counts and we went to Mexico together, but I haven't been to Texas. So I think I'm making the trip up there on July 16th or 17th and am coming back on the 22nd. I always have such a great time when I'm up there with her and it'll be nice to spend the time together doing the things we love to do...the little things I miss like getting coffee, shopping at Target, going to the bookstore, going to dinner...all that jazz. And I get to see Buddy and the rest of her family. I miss everyone there! Can't wait!

A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

How do I describe A Game of Thrones? Simply put, it is a journey - and a remarkable one at that. This is my first adventure into high fantasy aside from Tolkien, whom I consider to be almost a genre of his own. I was so very pleasantly surprised with Martin's writing and story telling ability.

To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book at first and it almost became a "did not finish" about 200 pages into it. But when it picks up, it really picks up. I can see how this is almost expected with the beginning of a high fantasy tale. There's so much to set up! A Game of Thrones is the story of exactly what the title is. It is the story of numerous families playing "a game" or battling for the throne. But the story is so much more than just that. Martin's strong point is his character development.

The chapters are each titled after a character in the book and center around that character while drawing in other characters and connecting story lines. Martin tackles epic scenes, beautiful landscapes, fierce battles, politics and relationships all with a mastery of storytelling. The further I got into the book, the more I attached myself to the individual characters. Where at the beginning I was invested in two or three character, I was invested in nearly all of them by the end of the book. My favorite of his characters may be Jon, the bastard child of Lord Eddard Stark and Daenerys, the wife of Khal Drogo. Quite remarkable characters and a beautiful story.

So much more than just a fantasy tale. What we get here is true human drama and everything involved with it - death, pain, happiness, sorrow, betrayal, love, lust, jealousy and all of those other emotions. I will definitely be picking up book number two in the series, A Clash of Kings.

While not really related to the story line, I enjoyed Martin's description of how dragons came to be and I'd like to share it with you:

"Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand-thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return."