George R. R. Martin, a writer of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination, has created a landmark of fantasy fiction. In his widely acclaimed A Game of Thrones, he introduced us to an extraordinary world of wonder, intrigue, and adventure. Now, in the eagerly awaited second volume in this epic saga, he once again proves himself a master myth-maker, setting a standard against which all other fantasy novels will be measured for years to come.

Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders--Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead...victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky--a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard's son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King's Landing. Robert's two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.

A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside.

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.

Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.

"Grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant."
-Robert Jordan

"Martin makes a triumphant return to high fantasy...[His] trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He's probably going to have to add another shelf, at least."
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Such a splendid tale and such a fantistorical! I read my eyes out."
-Anne McCaffrey

"The major fantasy of the decade...compulsively readable."
-The Denver Post

"It is perhaps the best of the epic fantasies--readable and realistic."
-Marion Zimmer Bradley

"We have been invited to a grand feast and pageant: George R. R. Martin has unveiled for us an intensely realized, romantic but realistic world....If the next two volumes are as good as this one, it will be a wonderful feast indeed."
-Chicago Sun-Times

"George R. R. Martin is one of our very best science fiction writers, and this is one of his very best books."
-Raymond E. Feist

"The major fantasy publishing event of 1996."
-Science Fiction Chronicle

"The second novel of Martin's titanic Ice and Fire Saga [is]...a truly epic fantasy set in a world bedecked with 8000 years of history, beset by an imminent winter that will last ten years and bedazzled by swords and spells wielded to devastating effect....Here, he provides a banquet for fantasy lovers with large appetites."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Praise for A Game Of Thrones:

"Grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant."—Robert Jordan

"Martin makes a triumphant return to high fantasy...[His] trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He's probably going to have to add another shelf, at least."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Such a splendid tale and such a fantistorical! I read my eyes out."—Anne McCaffrey

"The major fantasy of the decade...compulsively readable."—The Denver Post

"It is perhaps the best of the epic fantasies—readable and realistic."—Marion Zimmer Bradley

"We have been invited to a grand feast and pageant: George R. R. Martin has unveiled for us an intensely realized, romantic but realistic world....If the next two volumes are as good as this one, it will be a wonderful feast indeed."—Chicago Sun-Times

"George R. R. Martin is one of our very best science fiction writers, and this is one of his very best books."—Raymond E. Feist

"The major fantasy publishing event of 1996."—Science Fiction Chronicle

Transporting readers into a forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare, Martin weaves a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night.

George R.R. Martin sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally since then. He spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer-producer, working on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and television pilots that were never made. In the mid '90s he returned to prose, his first love, and began work on his epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. He has been in the Seven Kingdoms ever since. Whenever he's allowed to leave, he returns to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with the lovely Parris, a big white dog called Mischa, and two cats named Augustus and Caligula, who think they run the place.