A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin

This was – and still is – a big book. The problem for me with reading big books is that there’re that little bit more difficult to carry around and they can take ages to finish, especially if you’re a slow reader, like me. Nevertheless, this book was worth it. Without a doubt.
A Clash of Kings is the second book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire, of which A Game of Thrones is the first. It basically picks up where A Game of Thrones left off, and is called A Clash of Kings because there are so many people at this time in the series who think they should be king. It’s quite a complicated story with many complex characters, but that’s the basic jist of it.
I definately prefer this book to the previous one in the series. Where A Game of Thrones didn’t start to feel properly exciting until it reached its climax near the end, I felt that A Clash of Kings got into the drama and action much more quickly. Apart from the first few chapters where nothing much actually happened (which I’m fine with, to be honest, since the chapters were still well written and necessary in order to develop each character’s backstory) almost every chapter was impossible to stop reading, with the exception of a few slightly less interesting chapters here and there.
There were times when I thought, “This book is blowing my mind.” For example, one night, I stayed up til nearly one in the morning reading it, thinking I would just read up to the end of the battle that was taking place, before realising that the battle went on for four more chapters. (By the way, I liked how here the book swings back and forth between Sansa’s point of view and Tyrion’s point of view, rather than simply giving each character an incredibly long chapter.) After finally putting the book down, I remained a little stunned. So much happened in the book that it would have been impossible to foresee the ending of the second book from the ending of the first. I feel that each of the characters travelled a long way, taking me with them as they went.
This book also had a much larger element of fantasy compared to the first one. It was still for the most part a fictional historical drama, but I enjoyed the introduction of “green dreams” and “wargs”, although I know things like that aren’t to everyone’s taste.
Part of what I love about this series is that each character has their own unique and complex personality and backstory, rather than in some books or movies where characters exist only to hold the plot together and have only a vague personality at best.
For example, I loving getting a better look-in at who Theon was as a person. And although I strongly disliked him, I also felt incredibly sorry for him. He’s unpleasant enough to those around him, but he’s also kind of lost. He doesn’t know whose side he should be on, or where he belongs. He feels he doesn’t belong anywhere, and he’s right, to an extent. And that isn’t his fault, although it doesn’t excuse his later actions. He actually reminded me a little of Macbeth towards the end, as his guilt and regret consumed him, and he realised he was alone and hated by those who were once his friends, with nothing remaining to him but an empty title he’d given himself.
I also think I’m beginning to like Sansa a lot more, despite the fact that I used to hate her. She really loses a lot of her naivety, as she realises the harsh reality of her situation. Nevertheless, she still spends a lot of time waiting around for some knight in shining armour – literally – to rescue her. But then again, what else can she do?
Whilst reading this book, I also began watching the TV series Game of Thrones. I’ve only watched the first four episodes of the show so far, and I think it’s very good, but doesn’t compare to the book. The book is much easier to understand, and explores the characters’ personalities a lot more deeply. However, that may be due to the fact that I’ve only just started watching it, and I definitely plan to continue with it.
This book, like I said, blew my mind. It’s very much character driven, which I love and is incredibly exciting and climatic. I recommend it to fans of fantasy and/or historical dramas. It may take a while to read, but trust me, it’s worth it.

Mort by Terry Pratchett

I was really looking forward to reading this. In previous Discworld novels, I had loved the character of Death, and the idea of his having an apprentice was one that intrigued me incredibly. It’s something that is at the same time completely original and something surprisingly natural. After all, why not?
Mort is about a young boy who is instructed by his father to get an apprenticeship, but the only person who will take him on is Death. The only real trouble is that Mort, struck by the frequent injustice of his profession, attempts to save the life of a princess, thus upsetting the entire future of history.
I loved the way the book explains the ridiculousness of the Disc (a flat disc on the backs of four elephants, on the back of a giant turtle that swims through space) by saying that “A million to one chances crop up nine times out of ten”. And, in fact, the existence of something so mind-bogglingly random is possible, and once you have accepted that, it’s easy to believe that everything that occurs on the Disc is entirely rational and realistic.
The way the book ended was not at all what I expected at the beginning of the book, but I think I liked the way it did end better. It was a slightly less conventional ending to a fairytale and it suited the characters all much better.
Mort also had some brilliant lines. One of my favourites is when a man says to Mort, “Look, I’ll be frank, I can direct you to a great brothel” and Mort replies with all of his affable innocence, “I’ve already had lunch.” Another was when the book was was explaining Ankh-Morpork’s voting system of “One man, one vote”: “The Patrician was the man; he had the vote.” And a third was the line that I feel sums up the Discworld novels entirely: “When you’re a god, you don’t have to have a reason.”
I have to say, I was thrilled to see the unexpected reappearance of Rincewind. I especially liked that when he reappears, he is desperately and futilely apologising for some unknown drunken obscenity he had performed against a statue. Also, for some reason, I always forget that the head librarian at Unseen University is an orang-outang, so the reminder of that always makes me smile.
What slightly confused me was the certain amount of incongruity between Mort and the glimpse of the house of Death seen in The Light Fantastic. It’s a small thing, but I don’t understand why Mort speaksin block capitals in The Light Fantastic, whereas in Mort, he rarely does. Also, why do Deaths friends from The Light Fantastic not feature in Mort? And I found Ysabel to be a much saner and more likeable character in Mort, but that may be due to a more thourough development of her character. I suppose none of these things really matter, but they were confusing for me.
This is quite possibly the best and funniest Discworld novels I have read so far, and i recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy or humour, and anyone who can believe in the possibility of anything, however random.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Reading this book, I was reminded of the year I dressed up as a wizard for Halloween. For the past few years, I’d been a pumpkin and I was desperate to be a pumpkin no longer, as I didn’t see what could possibly be scary about a piece of fruit. But I didn’t want to be a witch either, as all the other little girls invariably dressed up as witches. So, in an effort to be a little bit different, I dressed up as a wizard, complete with starry cloak, pointy hat and an orange t-shirt with a picture of a planet on it. However, much to my dismay, no one understood what I was. Even when I told them. The whole night, everyone I met asked me if I didn’t mean I was a witch, since, according to them, girls couldn’t be wizards. And now, years later, I wish I had read Equal Rites to shove it in everyone’s questioning faces.
As can be deduced from my hopefully-not-too-boring antidote, Equal Rites is about a young girl trying to become a wizard. In truth, she actually is a wizard, but one in desperate need of training. With some training as a witch under her belt, Esk sets off to join Unseen University, where wizards go to study. There, she has to overcome not only the chauvinistic leaders in wizardry, but the “unimaginable terrors” that feed off magic.
I found the plot of Equal Rites somewhat simpler than other Discworld novels I’ve read, despite retaining the same illogical logic and clever humour. I suppose the main difference was that it was considerably less random than the other books. I flew through this book, and am even now laughing in retrospect at Terry Pratchett’s wit.
The main theme of equal opportunities for men and women is very well dealt with in this book. Although the reader is put in no doubt that Esk was destined to be a wizard from birth, the book doesn’t simply consist of women fighting against men. I liked that, because the idea of female versus male seems to me unrealistic and unhelpful when struggling to achieve equal opportunities. Even Granny Weatherwax, the one who decides that Esk needs to go to Unseen University, agrees with everyone else that wizardry should be for men and witchcraft should be for women.
I particularly liked the character of Simon. He seems like a nice guy, and someone who genuinely wants to help Esk. He is also the first person besides Esk to wonder why women can’t be wizards, rather than simply saying that they can’t, and that’s that. For some reason, I was surprised that he was actually very good at magic. I’m not sure if it was the earlier observation that he “did everything inexpertly” or his own self-deprecating manner, but I was (wrongly) convinced that he would be no good as a wizard.
I also really liked the no-nonsense character of Granny and the way she manages to get everything to listen to her. I love how she charges into Unseen University despite “lore” in order to sort everything out, and how she manages to fly a broomstick so close to the ground that she’s actually lower down than if she was simply walking.
I loved this book, and recommend it to anyone who can understand the frustration of being told a women can’t be a wizard, just because.

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I had heard of this book for a long time before reading it, without ever actually knowing what it was, or what it was about. However, I recently heard that it was very, very funny, and so I read it hoping for a laugh and a good story.
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the story of what happened to the last remaining inhabitants of Earth after it was demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. More specifically, it is the story of Arthur Dent, who is just an ordinary guy, really, and his friend Ford Prefect, who is an alien hitch hiker who had been stranded on Earth for the past fifteen years. It is the story of a few other things as well, but I don’t want to give too much away.
I’ve said I read it hoping for a laugh, and I have to say that there were definately some laugh-out-loud moments. I particularly liked the bit about the Vogon poetry. I love the idea of using poetry as an instrument of torture and of Ford screaming in agony while Arthur says that he quite liked it, actually. And, in future, I will definately take the Guide’s advice of counting aggressively at computers, because it is the equivalent of saying “blood” over and over to a human being.
Someone told me they had thought The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was written by Terry Pratchett, and there were in fact times when I thought the only difference between this book and something Terry Pratchett would write was that Douglas Adams had written it first. It has the same humour as a Terry Pratchett book, the same occasional randomness, and the same logic that shouldn’t make sense and yet does, against all reason.
Overall, I liked this book, and plan to read the rest of the books in this Trilogy of Five. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy or sci-fi and anyone who enjoys a little bit of random humour.