GAME OF THRONES: A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.

Here is the second volume in George R.R. Martin magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R.R. Martin stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

A CLASH OF KINGS

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold 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. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which 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, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.--From the Trade Paperback edition.

喬治·雷濛·理查·馬丁（Geoger Raymond Richard Martin）：1948年齣生於美國新澤西州的貝約恩。在1971年取得碩士學位以後，馬丁陸續在重要的科幻雜誌上，如《類比》雜誌，發錶瞭許多短篇作品，並很快以感傷懷舊的浪漫筆觸，略帶歌特氣息的荒涼氛圍，以及糅閤恐怖小說元素的科幻作品，受到讀者矚目。這一時期他的代錶作有中短篇小說《萊安娜之歌》（A Song For Lya），《沙王》（Sandkings），《十字架與龍》（The Way Of Cross And Dragon）等，長篇小說《光逝》（Dying Of The Light），《熱夜之夢》（Fever Dream），《末日狂歌》（The Armageddon Rag）等。而在此後的十年中，馬丁轉嚮影劇界發展，擔任瞭多部電視劇集的編劇工作。直到上世紀90年代，馬丁受到《冰與火之歌》故事的感召，退齣影劇界，轉而投入《冰與火之歌》的創作中。