A Clash of Kings is the second installment of George R. R. Martin’s monumental saga, A Song of Ice and Fire. It is, if anything, richer, deeper, and more formidably complex than its distinguished predecessor.

A Game of Thrones concluded with the deaths of Robert Baratheon, ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, and Lord Eddard Stark, the embattled Hand of the King. As A Clash of Kings opens, war has broken out on a number of fronts and a bloody battle for possession of the Iron Throne has begun. In King’s Landing, the seat of royal power, Joffrey, Robert’s sixteen-year-old heir apparent, rules the realm under the guidance of his mother, the beautiful—and ruthless—Queen Cersei. Stannis and Renly Baratheon, Robert’s brothers, have each established competing claims to the throne. And Robb Stark, Lord Eddard’s oldest son, has assumed the title of King of the North. Outside of the Seven Kingdoms, potent, often mysterious forces are gathering. In the far north, Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall, is marshaling his armies. To the east, Daenerys Targaryen, sole surviving descendent of an ancient dynastic line, is struggling to assemble an army of her own, an army supplemented by three impossible—but very real—dragons.

These are just a few of the players who populate this vast, wholly absorbing narrative. A Clash of Kings is a novel about love, loyalty, and betrayal, about the power of unbridled ambition, about the limitless human capacity both for nobility and cruelty. Whether viewed on its own independent terms or as part of a larger, ongoing epic, it is—and will remain—one of the cornerstones of modern fantasy, the sort of book that raises the stakes—and sets the standards—for an entire genre.