Fire & Blood (HBO Tie-in Edition): 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (Unabridged)
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
#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 simply meet an inventive and horrible end.”—The Guardian
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, and Simon Vance’s authoritative voice makes it feel suitably epic. 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. Press play on a meticulously crafted work of fantasy history.
Customer Reviews
Awesome
Absolutely enjoyed this book. The narrator does an excellent job as well. I would love a few more books on some of the other houses.
Great listen
Loved the narrator and story felt like being in a history class. Give it a listen if you’re a GOT fan.
Not what I expected
As George R. Martin wrote actual stories in Game of Thrones that’s what I assumed this book would be. HOWEVER, it’s basically just a history book of the book setting. This was NOT clear in the description. I am very upset I wasted $25.99 on this because i wanted an entertaining story not a history lesson. UGH!