A Clash of Kings is the second installment of George R. R. Martin’s saga, A Song of Ice and Fire.

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, 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 dragons.

A Clash of Kings is a novel about love, loyalty, and betrayal, about the power of unbridled ambition, and about the human capacity both for nobility and cruelty.