Fire and Blood
300 Years Before A Game of Thrones, Dragons Ruled Westeros.
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4.3 • 274 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work by the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the inspiration for HBO’s Game of Thrones.
With all the fire and fury fans have come to expect from internationally bestselling author George R. R. Martin, this is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.
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 and 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 did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? 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. 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 and Blood is the ultimate game of thrones, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this thrilling exercise in expanded world-building, Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin jumps back a few hundred years to detail the brutal history of the Targaryen family’s dragon-powered reign. Starting from the clan’s conquest of the Seven Kingdoms and continuing through the story of the original Broken King, Aegon III, Fire & Blood is chock full of battles and political intrigue. Martin channels his inner historian, treating the lineage of his fantasy rulers with the same painstaking approach others might reserve for the Tudors and Plantagenets. The characters aren’t just the ancestors of beloved character Daenerys Targaryen—they’re also the source material for HBO’s House of the Dragon. Raise the banner for this meticulously crafted work of fantasy history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Martin's evocative storytelling style and gift for gripping narrative are mostly absent from this dry history of the blood-drenched Targaryens, one of the central dynasties of the land of Westeros (setting of the Song of Ice and Fire series and the HBO show Game of Thrones). Beginning with the Targaryens' fortuitous escape from the destruction of Valyria and Aegon Targaryen's subsequent conquest of Westeros, and concluding with the ascent of young King Aegon III to Westeros's Iron Throne some 130 years later, Martin gives equal weight to each member of the Targaryen family. The deliberately inbreeding Targaryens share a number of characteristics through the generations chiefly brutality, snobbishness, and the single-minded pursuit of power and it can be hard to keep track of who's who. Brief sections are dramatic ("the golden dragon devoured the queen in six bites") or salacious ("it aroused the princess to watch the men disporting with one another"), and there are entertaining snatches of dialogue and detailed depictions of battles, but they only last a few pages before a return to brisk summary. The conceit of the history being written by one Archmaester Gyldayn ("author" of several other works of Westerosi scholarship, most recently The Sons of the Dragon) mostly gives rise to images of unhappy Westerosi schoolchildren being forced to study this weighty textbook. Fans hungry for the next Song of Ice and Fire novel will find this volume whets, but does not satisfy, their appetites.
Customer Reviews
Fun for GoT diehards but feels incomplete
Reads like a history text not a novel, as intended by author. The biblical “begats” are even more abundant than in the novels. Ends rather suddenly, not even in a “to be continued” sort of manner, it just stopped. A bit dissatisfied at that, but overall I enjoyed the read. Lots of Easter eggs for those paying attention, but the book is only for diehard GoT nerds (me), casual readers can safely skip.
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