The second volume in "The Song of Ice and Fire". Also not as good as the first one, though it follows faithfully the second season of the HBO show. It is surprising how young all the characters in the book are, Denaris being 13 years old. At least the HBO show aged them to the late teens or twenties, since otherwise it would have been even bigger scandal (than the open nudity and sex).
This is my gym-read audio book, as I only read it when I go to the gym, so it takes a while to finish. The book is quite large, having much more material than the show and showing different perspectives like the Meister from the beginning of the book trying to poison the Red Woman.
The rest of the book mainly concerns the battles for the throne, especially Renly and Stannis, and also the Lannister's - Tyrion fighting battles and becoming the Hand of the King, Jamie getting caught and the horrible conditions in which he's held (force to shit in the corner of his cell, eventually creating a small mountain of stench and rot), and Tywin winning battles and becoming the Hand towards the end of the book.
It delves much deeper into Theon Greyjoy's point of view and development - in the show we mostly see him as the castrated "Reek". Also Sir Davos Seaworth is quite developed, who, although well played in the show, was never given the enough screen time for his character climbing from a common smuggler to a nobleman. Still, the entire book feels much slower than the previous volume and some would say also weaker.
The Battle of Blackwater is the pinnacle of the book, though I was not that impressed, as I liked the social and cultural aspects of the show much more than its militaristic parts. The show actually downplayed and deemphasized the battle and military parts which was a smart move. Onward to A Storm of Swords now!
