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Fantasy. Fiction. Thriller. HTML:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER �?� The thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work, the inspiration for HBO�??s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon �??The thrill of Fire & Blood is the thrill of all Martin�??s fantasy work: familiar myths debunked, the whole trope table flipped.�?��??Entertainment Weekly Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen�??the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria�??took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart. What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel�??s worst crimes? What was it like in Westeros when dragons ruled the skies? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley�??including five all-new illustrations exclusive to this edition. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed. With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon�??s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire & Blood is the the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros. Includes a bonus PDF of illustrations from the book Praise for Fire & Blood �??A masterpiece of popular historical fiction.�?��??The Sunday Times �??The saga is a rich and dark one, full of both the title�??s promised elements. . . . It�??s hard not to thrill to the descriptions of dragons engaging in airborne combat, or the dilemma of whether defeated rulers should �??bend the knee,�?? �??take the black�?? and join the Night�??s Watch, or si… (more)
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Of course it has lulls. Any real life history would, and this really reads as such (if, again, a heightened one). Of course there are a lot of names, but Martin's trademark ability to infuse even the briefest sketches of a figure with a distinct personality, agenda and (perhaps most important) humanity is all the more impressive for here being done entirely without the main series' usual tools of introspection and point of view-based storytelling.
If you're expecting a novel, with a novel's structure and drive, this is not for you. If you enjoy ancient biographies that just happen to be set in the invented world of Westeros and Essos, however, I don't see how this would disappoint anyone. If Martin's ever able to finish his main saga, I truly hope he finds the time to go back to write and finish the second volume of this. Based on the fictional author's supposed lifespan, that should take it up past the "Dunk and Egg" stories in the continuity, still leaving a few generations of unexplored territory before Robert's Rebellion -- but I'll happily take whatever I can get.
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That the author could create something of this magnitude is remarkable. His imagination and creativity are incredible. Yet, it makes for a dry read for much of the time. He has here
I found it hard to remember who was who on many occasions. So many names are thrown out it’s a challenge to keep up with what’s happening to whom.
Despite all this, though, the made-up history does have entertainment value. When episodes aren’t bogged down with multiple characters, certain events did keep me hooked.
The problem is that unlike
It feels a bit in places like 'notes for books George RR Martin knows he will never have
It also has a very strong flavour of 'highborn people are interesting, peasants and bastards are dull and more likely to betray you', which you could argue was a prejudice held by Westeros that it is exploring and sometimes deconstructing, but I think it gets trapped in its own mythos quite a bit.
But it was fun to go back to the world of Westeros, and see the backstories of the great houses. And I enjoyed the playing with telling the same stories from the different sources, the fool who likes sex and scandal, the religious septa, and the carefully researching maester.
That said, I loved this book. The history of the Targaryens is fascinating, on par with the Plantagenets except they have dragons. Martin has created such a rich and detailed world that he could write dozens of future books to expand on various people and events included as snippets here. Who wouldn't want to read more about the Red Kraken, the other sea voyages of Alyn Velaryon, Saera Targaryen, and so on?
I love the way Martin incorporates 'sources' into his writing. He's very careful to attribute certain incidents to previously written histories of maesters or the more dubious and bawdy memoir of Mushroom, the court fool. Like any historian, he must reconcile varying sources as he recounts various events.
Martin has always used bits of English history in his stories, and I had fun trying to decipher various characters and incidents from real history. He never copies directly (there are dragons after all) but sneaks little scenes into the story. I think I recognized the first and second battles of St Albans, Richard III's fatal charge at Bosworth, the Peasant's Rebellion, as well as more bits from the Wars of the Roses. The war called the Dance of Dragons could well be the Anarchy (the civil war between Stephen and Matilda). Aegon III's regency could be drawn from the minority of Richard II.
This is a 700 page book, and I could go on, but now, along with the Winds of Winter, I'm waiting for A Targaryen History #2.
Can't wait to read it. BUT - I have a huge series of A Song Of Ice and Fire to finish...
Can't wait to read it. BUT - I have a huge series of A Song Of Ice and Fire to finish...
But I wish that people would stop comparing Martin to Tolkien. Yes, they both write fantasy, and yes, they both have two middle names. But Tolkien's history of the Elves of Middle Earth is epic in scope, on the level of the old myths and sagas of Europe, while Fire and Blood is a history of a family. Tolkien starts with creation myth, and in his works we actually see little of the minutiae of internal character struggle that we see in A Song of Ice and Fire, and in Fire and Blood.
An apocalyptic battle between the
Martin, take it or leave it. Pay up on your way out please…
Martin himself compared this work to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, though that is not quite accurate as The Silmarillion is the history of a world where Fire & Blood is the history of a specific dynasty. Further, assuming the broad strokes of HBO’s Game of Thrones finale followed Martin’s plan, this may serve to explain why certain characters made the decisions they did. In that way, the book’s fatalist outlook mirrors The Silmarillion’s role in Tolkien’s legendarium, where patterns of behavior and events repeated down through the ages. Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire may enjoy how it expands upon events only Martin previously hinted at elsewhere, but it is not necessary to enjoy the main novels themselves.
Unlike the vast majority of the books concerning Westeros, Martin writes this one as a pure—yet fictional—history book, though with a clear narrative structure, detailing the lives of the Targaryens and the events that impacted their reigns from Aegon’s Conquest down to the Regency of his great-great-great-grandson Aegon III in the aftermath of The Dance of the Dragons. The book begins with a quick family history of the Targaryens with their flight from Valyria before the Doom and the century leading up to Aegon’s conquest of Westeros before delving into said conquest with his sister-wives. Then just a regular history book, the text goes into how the new realm was brought together and how the Targaryens attempted to bring Dorne into the realm during Aegon’s life. Next came the reigns of the Conqueror’s two sons showing how the new dynasty was tested once the founder was missing and the problems faith and cultures play when interacting with one another. Follow the death of Maegor the Cruel, the long reign of Jaehaerys I with considerable influence from his sister-wife queen Alysanne shows how dynasty’s rule was cemented even though seeds were planted for a crisis in the succession of the line that would explode in civil war after the death of their grandson Viserys I between his eldest daughter and her younger half-brother that would devastate the realm and basically kill off all the dragons—both human and creature—leaving a 10-year boy left to sit the Iron Throne.
Although around half the material in this book was a reprint from A World of Ice and Fire, “The Princess and the Queen, “The Rogue Prince”, and “Sons of the Dragon” it was all the new material and some retconned details of this 700 page book that is really interesting. The reign of Jaehaerys and Alysanne was essentially all new as was the details about how The Dance of the Dragons ended and the resulting multiple Regencies for Aegon III. Along with all this information, which fleshed out the backstory of Westeros even more, were parallels of characters from the main series—as well as the Dunk & Egg novels—with historical personages that appeared in this history that gives big fans thoughts to ponder about what might be in store with the former.
Overall Fire & Blood: From Aegon I to the Regency of Aegon III is a very good book for those fans of ASOIAF/GoT who look in-depth at their favorite series. Personally as fan of the series and being interested in the depth Martin gives his series, as well as big history read, this book was fantastic. Yet if you are a casual fan or simple a show fan that hasn’t read the books, this book isn’t for you.
Flatly, its not a good book. I understand the style, even the
I won't do the obvious comparison to Tolkien's Simiarillion, because I don't think its honestly apt. This is written ala textbook, whereas Simirilion was still a fictional work meant to be fictional, just universe and world building. This was world building under the guise of a poorly crafted textbook format and style.
Firstly, lets knock something out there that becomes apparent once you get to the Dance of Dragons segment and the aftermath with Aegon III -- this was meant to be part of a bigger series or a bigger book overall. The fact that it just ends with Aegon III and doesn't even go up to Robert's Rebellion and the Mad King Aerys, and that it ends with Aegon III rather than at the end of Dance of Dragons, I think is telling that this is "part I" or at least it was "George R.R. Martin got to this point, and we wanted him to publish something, so we made him stop here, and publish what he had!"
The final 2-3 chapters post-Dance of Dragons is so completely anti-climatic and just ends abruptly at Aegon III taking over from the regents (which is apparently an issue here, but isn't elsewhere?) that it just seems plainly obvious that the book was force-stopped here for whatever reason (time, budget, lack of writing done, too big, etc.). There is still 10 more Kings to go through til we have GOT and the 5-King War due to Robert's Rebellion and the aftermath. This book only covers 7 kings and covers years 1-135-ish. Where there is still then years 135(ish) to 283 left to cover.
It is written by an Archmaester as is "translated" by George R.R. Martin. And meant to be taken completely as factual writing in the same stance as that of a scholar writing down the history later on (think Herodotus or any number of medieval scholars and historians). And this is done "plausibly" (not WELL, but plausibly) for most of the work. The Dance of Dragons segment is where, it strains a lot of issues. The Dance of Dragons segment ... .... seems like Martin wanted to write possibilities, perhaps leaving everything loose-interpretative, in case of this mayhaps (possibility?) being the spinoff show after the GOT show is done and D&N&D do their HBO Spin-off GOT show. (I've heard a rumor/interview that DnD said it might be Dance of Dragons). The archmaester writing "this" scholarly work (Fire & Blood) is primarily using two sources, one is a "well endowed" fool named Mushroom and the other is a former Archmaester or Grand Maester scholar Munkun. And often through the events of the Dance of Dragons (DoD) we get two possibilities for many of the (especially KEY) events. So often many things are left vague(ish). And it more or less reads like Martin wasn't sure if he liked A or B better, but wanted to write both A and B as being "fact", and so he wrote it this way, and allowed himself an out if he ever decided to make a definitive DoD narrative.
This is also where you see the breakdown of why this as a scholarly work is "plausible" but not "good" or at least "not done well". Mainly because in "this volume"; it constantly refers to how Mushroom's "Testimony" or Munkun's "Treatise" are far more definitive than this Archmaester's version could be.
....which means.... WHY are *WE* reading this volume and not Munkun's or Mushroom's? Why are *WE* reading a subpar chronicling of this massive event? When *WE* could be reading a far more definitive version?
All of this also leads to the various other reasons why this 'work' is pisspoor and not "good" or "well" and even at times stretch plausibility of it being a true scholarly work. The side-divergences into character X and event Y that tangentially affect the King in question or the Realm in question, that will go on for several paragraphs or pages. Much like Martin's other works in the series where you get feasts for pages or sigils and banners and coat of arms discussions for paragraphs on end, here you will get what a whore at Harranhal was doing at X juncture that only barely impacts the story. Keen editing once again being a sore spot in Martin's writing post-book two of the series.
Also, this is where the scholarly work is called into question. When a SCHOLAR would write for a paragraph (or more) about the "member" of a fool or the size of a Knight's "longsword" (if you get my innuendo) and other 'bawdy' tales, it strikes this as more Martin writing for our own purposeful intent and trying to make everything more "fun and lighthearted" and "entertaining" and "the tits and dragons" of the real narrative of GOT/ASOIAF. Sadly, this just diminishes the work itself and makes it seem far more unlikely that it would ever have been written as such, even given the sake of this world and the narrative universe that Martin has created.
The diatribes about this or that person's genitalia or brothels or this or that, makes you believe that either this is more dirt-rag scandal sheet than true scholarly work, or that every man is a whore-monger and that that determined(determines) every epoch and heroic moment in Westeros (and Essos, etc.)
"Plot" wise, there isn't really much to go into, other than that world-building, its mostly done WELL... but, there are a lot of questions of HOW and WHY for Essos and Westeros. Mainly in regards to the Doom of Valryia and why the Targaryens and Valaryons are the only major families to escape it, yet the rest of Essos seems to be unchanged and that they aren't as powerful as Westeros post-Targaryen conquest. Essos is kind of the Asian continent and gets downplayed severely in the telling and perception, and Westeros is Europe-centric basically, and that its overplayed up and considered superior. But no true reasons is SHOWN. And given the size of Essos and how they were basically the first colonized continent and that they had Dragons far longer than anything else.... you would have thought Westeros would have been conquered a lot longer ago than Aegon's Conquest.
Likewise, as per always the case with millenia long fantasy series, it stretches the credibility of epochs. Why is there no gunpowder? Why are they basically stuck in a pseudo-European-medieval/King Arthur like style for 2000 years. Why is there zero scientific, moralistic, philosophic, or technological advancements, inspirations, or progress or devolution or evolution? Its just a stagnant 2000 years. And this isn't fully a gripe on Martin, but is pretty apropos of all Fantasy series (and Sci-Fi, and etc.) that deal with a single world/universe/map for 2000 years. There is no progression of stone age to bronze age to iron age to gunpowder to etc.
And lastly, the artwork is beautifully done. Douglas Wheatley is a fantastic artist and his work here is tremendous. I honestly think without the artwork I read this even slower (it took a few months as it is, given I typically read a book every 5-6 days). The middle section, at the start of the DoD battles and such - the artwork gets a little weird though. Almost old clipart like, rather than some of the other more beautifully drawn pieces (especially the full page black-white drawings). So I'm not quite sure why that is and if it was done for stylistic purposes or what, but they seemed a bit lacking. But elsewise the artwork in the book basically keeps this from being a 1 star.
Last gripe, is the atlas. There should probably have been included a map or atlas at the start. With the sheer amount of geographical discussions, as per the battles and wars, and the conquest itself, to not have a single map included in this volume anywhere, is a great disservice to fans. The character names and battle names are confusing enough, but trying to make sense of the geographic journeys and battles and routes players and characters take and embark on is daunting, especially when you have to primarily rely on the previous five books of the ASOIAF series, and or mentally keep conjuring up the map in your mind to remember where Gulltown or Maidenpool or The Trident or White Harbor is in comparison to Lannisport or Hightower or Oldtown or King's Landen or the Sepstones.
Hopefully "Part II" if it ever comes out will be more well written, more entertaining, and more lucid, and will include maps and other things to be more helpful for the reader. And of course, here's to hoping that The Winds of Winter actually gets published in my lifetime.
Years ago, I made up my mind. So yeah, no one is anyone's bitch, but GRRM is never going to finish the series. Let's just enjoy what we have, look to HBO for some eventual closure. Maybe I'll read Winds of Winter someday, maybe not. Probably not. Dream of Spring, no chance. (Same goes for the Kingkiller Chronicle.)
A lot of Fire & Blood is old news. We've covered Aegon's conquest a bunch of different ways aready, and I read the Dance of Dragons stuff earlier. The Jahaerys section is the most interesting and is pretty good. Of course GRRM gets to stack the deck, but the story of Jahaerys's rule as the Targrayen version of Marcus Aurelius is like an anti-Machiavelli. How can someone be a good person and a good king? Jahaerys tried, and mostly succeeeded.
At this point, just
In short, this is a "history" book. It's a scholar compiling accounts of the earlier Targaryans. So it reads more like a textbook. There are multiple accounts of the same scenarios as this scholar pulls from different