Review of A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings is the second installment of A song of ice and fire. I've read and reviewed the first one (A Game of Thrones).
The story continues following the thoughts and movements of certain characters in the novel. The Stark family still shares their moments of joy and grief, along with key figures elsewhere in this world.
The story begins grimly with the head of Ned Stark begin removed from his body. This forces Robb, his eldest son and now Lord of Winterfell to declare war on the Lannisters and the boy King Joffrey.
Meanwhile Renly Baratheon and Stannis Baratheon, both brothers of the deceased King fight each other, both crowning themselves.
In King's Landing Joffrey sits the throne and Tyrion, The Imp, Lannister serves as Hand of the King, trying to deflect the worst of what is to come.

This novel feels like a long preparation for the battle to come. You experience the excitement, the dread, the sorrow and even joy in awaiting the inevitable war.

I loved this novel, although it took me some time longer to finish than the first one. The first 200 pages were a bit of a slow start, but after it took on the speed of a racecar. I love (and hate)  the cliffhanger endings of each chapter. You follow Jon or Arya or Sansa and at the end of the chapter you want to know what happens next, but then you're reading up on someone else's thoughts and by the end of that chapter, you feel the same all over again. Even the most bland characters leave you wanting for more.
This novel changed a lot for me. As the first novel mainly introduced the settings, the people and the atmosphere, I got to like and dislike certain characters. On the cover of my edition is a quote "Characters so venomous they could eat the Borgias" (Guardian). That rang true of some persons in the novel, in particular the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister and his sister, Cersei. But even so, reading further in this magnificent scope of a novel, even those characters get you feeling sympathetic. And on a sidenote: The Borgias were a Italians papal family known for its corrupt manner of ruling.

But more on this novel. As the first was an introduction, this one delves deeper into the thoughts and actions that go behind making war. From one united kingdom, there are suddenly four kings and one queen each wanting that crown and to have everyone yield to their power.
You follow each party from a different point of view. Sometimes right by the king or queen's side, sometimes from a vantage point of view and other times you get only word from ravens flying in. This makes you root for a different team each time you change perspective. Because there are no black and white characters in this novel, it's difficult to choose a side. You want Tyrion to be recognised by his father, you want Robb to defeat the Lannisters, you want the inside scoop of the 'Flowered crown' of Renly, you want Sansa being freed and you want the Hound to do it. The most despicable persons often show the most character and they end up the ones you feel sorry for.

In the end whether a novel is good or great comes down to one thing in my humble opinion, whether it can move me. And as the first novel made me cry over Sansa's wolf, this one got me blubbering all over again when I heard the news about Bran and Rickon.
So for me this deserves a whole 5 stars out of 5.

Personal rating: 5 stars

Review of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. 

The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. (www.goodreads.com)



I was intrigued by the title when I purchased this book. The Particular sadness of lemon cake..  it has a nice ring to it. Much like 'The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' which is one of my favourite movies.

However the story is quite a different tale. Not the dysfunctionality of Eternal Sunshine, but a girl telling us about a gift she has, being able to discern other people's mood by eating the food they've made. How we would all love to have that gift once in a while when we aren't sure how someone else is feeling, but in truth to be stuck with it day in day out must be just frustrating.
Which is exactly how our main character, Rose, is feeling. Coming home, trying a piece of cake and not tasting butter, eggs and sugar but a vast emptiness that sticks to the tongue. I would freak out for less.
We follow Rose as she comes to grips on this new found ability all the way through childhood, puberty, up until young adulthood. We stand by her side when her brother disappears, when she finds out her mother is having an affair, when her father tells her a mindblowing story. In the end she does learn to live with her ability, because it could have been worse.

I read this story quite slowly, one chapter at a time before I went to sleep. It's made up of a lot of small chapters so for a tired and worn out mother of a rapidly growing 10month young girl, I wasn't complaining. Not all chapters were equally interesting, some even a bit sluggish, but it felt like a diary and not every day is a day filled with interesting events, so even the more tepid chapters had their purpose.

All in all I liked this story. It didn't blow me away, made me cry or laugh, but it just shone a little ray of sunshine and sometimes that's enough for me.

Personal rating: 3,5 stars