Fire & Blood
Ratings192
Average rating3.8
This was an interesting companion piece to Martin's abandoned Song of Ice and Fire series*. It's written from an in-universe perspective, chronicling the history of the earliest Targaryen rulers of Westeros. Written as a history book, it initially feels dry and lifeless, but as you get more engaged with it (and as Martin gets to the more interesting parts of Westerosi history), it becomes sometimes fascinating. On the whole, the Targaryens are a great argument against hereditary monarchy, and it's interesting to see the Westerosi narrator struggle to attempt to justify their failings and present them as beneficial parts of the development of his society.
Due to the scope of the material that Martin's going over, he unfortunately doesn't have space to include all the parts of the history that fans are most interested in - there's no Aegon the Unlikely or Rhaegar Targaryen here, which is a bit of a shame. On the other hand, he does include a comprehensive look at the Dance of Dragons that is epic in scale and rivals anything he's written in this world.
It's just not holding my attention. I thought I would enjoy this because I do like the Targeryans but I'm incredibly bored by all of them at the moment 😮💨
Loved it. Really like that some of the lines in hear appear un HOTD.
I didn't even like Targaryens all that much, but this book just got me hooked.
300 Years Before A Game of Thrones, this tells the Targaryen history from Aegon the Conquerer to Aegon III. It is both the rise of the dragons in Westeros, as well as the beginning of decline.
Honestly I picked this up simply to stop having stuff spoiled for me online after each episode of season two of House of the Dragon. If I can see it online, or google the answer myself, I might as well just read the story.
The writing in this is just simply so superb that it blows my mind. It is so well done, so meticulous, so real. Each page is like a section of a textbook, each sentence like a piece of history. And with that, it has its climactic moments, as well as its tiring ones. The conquering of Westeros, while interesting, was one of the drier parts. I’m not sure if he was just getting started, or if that just wasn’t his focus. I’m not sure how that’ll become its own show, as the burning of Harrenhal, a part that seems so extreme, actually happened in a single night. I did like that he addressed the clash of religion with the Targaryen’s incestuous nature though.
At about 50% into the story, you finally get to the crowning of Viserys and to his children. Aka the start of HotD. At about 25%+ of the book itself, this is the largest story it has to offer. The dance of dragons is long, bloody, and absolutely spilling with betrayal. Truly the amount of times Rhaenyra gets betrayed is mind blowing. And while the show seems to want to drag out every single line of dialogue possible, the book has an awful lot of dragons flying into action and fighting. I won’t say more for spoilers-sake but the fact that the show writers keep changing things for no reason doesn’t make any sense to me. Same with their desire to connect so heavily into GoT itself. The two are not really related whatsoever.
While I really enjoyed this, and I get that he’s going for a ‘time-period based’ fantasy, I just wish he spent more time on the story than on caring so much about girls’ virginities.
I wouldn't have picked up this book if it hadn't been for the HBO show, mostly to avoid seeing all the spoilers online. They are both better off consumed in conjunction with each other. The show lends some depths to these characters that the book did not, and the book provides more background details, which the show understandably leaves off to create a sense of narrative.
After the Dance of Dragons though, the book drags on a little too long, and I stopped caring since all my fav characters are not featured in it anymore. I know this is meant to be a history book but my eyes glazed over the 527th time the “author” mentioned the unreliability of Mushroom the clown...
Also i may or may have not read this out of procrastination of moving.
I'm fairly convinced George R R Martin wrote A Song of Ice and Fire in order to get famous enough to get this published. It was generally fun to read (as someone who liked The English and their History), but pretty self-indulgent for sure.
First book done for 2023, not the most exciting read but provided good backstory and historical reference for the main Song of Ice and Fire series
It's kind of weird to rate this book cause it's written like a non fiction account of fictional events but I mostly enjoyed it. It definitely dragged in parts when it read more like a history textbook but the world building was cool. Looking forward to the rest of House of the Dragon!
Only for Game of Thrones would I read a 500 page history textbook about a completely made up royal dynasty
This is so frustrating (where is Winds of Winter?). It has been so long, I genuinely forgot that when George R.R. Martin writes, he can WRITE.
This novel is written as an in-universe history of the Targaryen dynasty. As expected, lots of politics, lots of incest, lots of dragons. Lots of memorable characters and moments amongst the bunch.
Martin marries real life history with his own world almost flawlessly. In the same way A Song of Ice and Fire is clearly influenced by the War of the Roses, here Martin is inspired by earlier English history, most notably the succession crisis after the death of Henry I, son of William the Conquerer, known as the Anarchy.
Recommended to anyone interested in the world of ASOIAF. It continues to be incredibly well drawn. It also continues to be incredibly frustrating. Reading an 800 page novel about the ancestors of Daenerys Targaryen is a lot to ask when we don't even really know how her own story ends.
You can't rate this book compared to Martin's other novels because it's not written anything like it. It's written as a history book basically where a Maester is just telling the story of the Targaryen kings that came before ASOIF. I thought that it was pretty fun and interesting although it did start to slog for me towards the end. This book might be better if you just read about one king at a time and then switched to a different book in between.
I liked reading about the history, but if I put it down, I wouldn't pick it up again. So I read this in one sitting to prevent that from happening.
There are numerous complaints from other reviewers about this book being “boring”, but I found it pretty engaging for a history of a kingdom that never was. I wonder if Mr. Martin has ever considered chronicling the actual Wars of the Roses, which his series is said to be based upon.
Moartea pasiunii.
Nu am citit niciodată ceva mai plictisitor, asta in conditiile in care eu citeam de plăcere manualele de istorie in avans... Doar că acolo era vorba de niște oameni, in timp ce aici e doar o înșiruire de x fiul lui x nepotul lui x căsătorit cu regina x si Mâna lui era x si prințesa x era fiica sa promisă lui x., timp de 700 de pagini .. unde niciun x nu e mai mult decât un nume. Nici măcar atât, e doar o combinație de litere ce nu reprezintă vreun personaj conturat câtuși de puțin. Cartea nu are deloc poveste, doar cate 1000 de personaje pe fiecare pagină lipsită de orice urmă de ceva interesant. Apropo, am citit mai multe istorii ale Angliei, pe care evident o emuleaza, si toate erau incomparabil mai interesante. Fiind scrise de istorici, nu scriitori.
Și am avut o problemă si cu traducerea, deși e de la 2 din cei mai buni si experimentați traducatori de la noi, pt ca nu se poate hotărî intre limbaj modern (ar fi fost ok) sau arhaizant (si el ar fi fost ok, dar combinația constantă între cuvinte ca “teroare” si “gîlceavă” e foarte deranjanta).
I really enjoyed this. It took me a while to read it because it is very dense, but the history is fascinating. It just wasn't a quick read. I will definitely pick up the next one.
Well this is riveting fiction, methodically dubious “history,” and a rollicking good time... until it just ENDS SUDDENLY. Damnit, George.
Anyway, I loved it. But I'm starting to think George RR Martin is allergic to real endings.
Brilliantly written book on how Targaryens conquered and ruled Westeros. It makes you feel connected to Targaryens with tales about their good and bad.If anyone thought they didn't get enough of dragons in song of ice and fire, this is the perfect book.
I enjoyed the prose and it being written as an in world history. Towards the end the multiple tellings of similar events by different first person accounts dragged on a bit.
