Fire and Blood: The inspiration for HBO’s House of the Dragon

A Song of Ice and Fire is one of my favorite fantasy series. But wow, this book was like reading an encyclopedia. You almost need a spreadsheet to keep straight who was aligned with who and who they were fighting against. But then you would have found out that would have been a waste of time because Martin would introduce characters, give a long introduction to them, their house, their history, and then in a page or two they were dead or completely forgotten as the story moved on.

This book was captivating and has a wonderful historical element to it. I enjoyed getting to know the kings and queens not only through the words of a maester, but those around the kings and queens as well. This book is bloody, shows the highs (and lows) of before and after a war, and how everything was built to become the King's Landing we know in Martin's Game of Thrones.

I enjoyed it much more than I had initially anticipated! The storytelling is exactly like ASOIAF, and the goings on make you think that history really does repeat itself, knowing what happens later on. Reading about the rise and decline of Targaryens was thoroughly enjoyable!

Great but keeps skipping . Great story other wise

Grate writing. I love and hate this book at the same time. I think the author spends too much time dwelling over horrible events, really disgusting events. But the rest of it is great.

I thought, it would include the story of mad king, anyhow, still lots of twists and turns.

If you're looking for a more generic story then this might not be to your taste but if the rich history of the Song of Ice and Fire books has already captured you when reading Thrones Gu the main series then this makes for s great addition. Particularly interesting for me were the reign of Good King Jaherys and the Dance of The Dragons. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook.

As good as I knew it was going to be. Simon Vance narrated this to perfection

Love the book was grear i loves it would read again

I'd be hard pressed to imagine a better written "fake history" style book than this. It reads as any real life one (albeit with a heightened amount of awesome or horrid stuff happening, and dragons), meaning it is full intriguing omissions, wild rumour, attempted objectivity, dry lists, exciting machinations and most of all, truly human characters that you only glimpse as the narrative sometimes covers a month in a sentence, or a year in a paragraph. Imagine Suetonius' Twelve Caesars, but in Westeros. The fictional author's personality shines through just enough to be entertaining in his own right, while still clearly being an attempt at coming off as a neutral chronicler. The referencing other chronicles as primary sources is believably haphazard, and on those occasions when it is done, creates a real tapestry of possibilities, biases and sense of realism. 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.

well read, very enjoyable, a great companion for long drive or during lunch break

This is primarily a history and reads like one, not so much as a novel. It is essential to understand the history of Westeros and the history behind Robert's Rebellion and the subsequent events of the books.

This is a big fat history book covering hundreds of years of conquest and civil wars. It's a big fat _made up_ history book, as it's the first half of the history of the Targeryan dynasty in Game of Thrones.It feels a bit in places like 'notes for books George RR Martin knows he will never have time to write', and it is a bit of a slog through a lot of people blood feuding with a lot of similar names. It is very typical GoT with lots of rape and murder, but from a higher vantage point of a history book the atrocities come much faster and you care about the characters a bit less. By halfway through you don't care that much about anyone because you know they're probably all going to have a grisly end soon.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.

I would normally rate a work of genius five stars; however, this fictionalised history was at times hard to digest.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 the synopsis for numerous novels, which would've been a better idea, albeit it'd take a heck of a long time to write them. 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.

There were some sections in there that made for entertaining reading, but without the support framework of a novel (or 6) it was hard to feel invested in what was going on. This book was like GRRM remembered that The Silmarillion exists and thought, "Hey, I could do that."

The problem is that unlike JRRT, GRRM didn't have decades of outlines and myths spanning a world's entire history. GRRM's history of the Targaryens is focused on a more narrow band of his world's imaginary history, and the events described therein are more petty and forgettable.

Excellent Look back to the beginnings of Game of Thrones and of the mysterious Targaryens and the beginnings of the houses we know in game of thrones... And Dragons!

Made the wait for WOW just that much more bearable!!! Really enjoyed the historical background and look forward to seeing some of it on HBO sometime in the future in one of the spin-offs

Ben Blackwood echoed him and said, “Half your men will die, Lord Stark.” The grey-eyed Wolf of Winterfell replied, “They died the day we marched, boy.” Like the Winter Wolves before them, most of the men who had marched south with Lord Cregan Stark did not expect to see their homes again.

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.

Listening to this as an audiobook felt like someone was reading a medieval chronicle to me, with the addition of dragons. And I intend that as a good thing, because, for the record, medieval history is fascinating. If you are familiar with medieval British history, some of the stories are vaguely familiar - one struck me in particular as a refashioning of the Anarchy period when Empress Matilda and King Stephen fought for the English crown. That being said, if you're looking for a novel that tells a concise story, you'll likely find this book lacking. If you're a fan of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, you'll appreciate learning about the predecessors to the families featured in those books.

First note: This does not get 2 stars because of the style, because its GOT, or because its not Winds of Winter. This gets 2 stars on the merit of the work (or lack thereof), its content, its boringness, and bluntly, its poor writing.

Flatly, its not a good book. I understand the style, even the purpose of the "novel", but it flat out doesn't work, and its not good, and isn't even fun or enjoyable. I felt like I was making myself read it to complete it, to "learn" about a 'universe' I enjoy. Like reading the various Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or Warhammer 40K or other universe style lore novels or add-ons or non-fiction works.

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.

A very long book but very well done. It gives you a complete history of the Targaryens before A Game of Thrones begins. The illustrations were amazing as well!!

GRRM's Fire & Blood is a history of Westeros under the Targaryens from Aegon I through the regency of Aegon III. This is NOT the Winds of Winter or anything like the Ice & Fire series. This is a history book which would be considered non-fiction if Westeros was a real country. Think Ian Mortimer, Niall Ferguson, David Starkey, or other noted historians of the British Isles.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.

George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood tells the history of the Targaryen family from the arrival of Aegon I in Westeros through Aegon III, 131 years later. These events occur 152 years prior to Robert Baratheon’s defeat of Rhaegar Targaryen, which set in motion the events of A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin’s full title for the work is Fire & Blood: Being a History of the Targaryen Kings of Westeros – Volume One: from Aegon I (the Conqueror) to the Regency of Aegon III (the Dragonbane) by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown (here transcribed by George R. R. Martin). The book itself is therefore best read as a work that exists in-universe, so any contradictions with earlier or later novels can be explained as those that occurred naturally in medieval works of history, especially in chronicles of kings that were often tinted by their authors’ political biases.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.

Nope. This is not a review of “Fire & Blood” which I’ve just finished. This is going to take the form of a suggestion aimed at Martin for the “forthcoming” “Winds of Winter”… "What about "Fire & Blood," you may ask. "I couldn't care less." Crap.An apocalyptic battle between the White Walkers and fire-breathing dragons results in the Ice Wall being melted, thus inundating much of the North with a gigantic flood, but causing practically no human casualties, as the Nights Watch by now consists of Jon Snow, Gilly and her baby, all of whom are saved by sitting on top of Sam Tarly, who is in turn holding on to the tail of Jon Snow's direwolf. They thus escape the flood, being eventually rescued by the fortuitous arrival of the ship commandeered by Arya Stark and Gendry, who she rescued from the dungeons of House Frey, all of whom she had personally killed after she thought they had looked at her funny. Sam, Gilly and Arya settle in the Iron Islands, with the aid of Yara, who likes the cut of Gilly's jib and marries her in a touching lesbian ceremony presided over by Sam, who for his part never has sex with anyone, ever. Arya eventually marries Gendry, who sets to work applying his ironworking skills to establishing a successful metallurgic industry using the Islands' most famous resource, which thus in a classic application of the free-market economy makes the Islands the centre of the wider Northern economy, rendering any military conquest of the Boltons unnecessary. The humbled Boltons opt to quit the human-flaying business in order to relocate to sunnier Braavos, where they become rich by turning their talents to opening tanning salons and sausage restaurants for Westerosian tourists, Westeros under the rule of Queen Daenerys and her new Hand, Tyrion, having experienced a massive economic boom once the country abandoned the monetarist policies of the Lannisters. The Lannisters are by now practically extinct, as all their members have by now all murdered each other, married each other, or murdered each other after having married each other, with the exception of Tyrion, who, as we saw, managed to sneak into Daenerys' good books by virtue of advocating a Keynesian strategy of economic stimulus (the dragons periodically burn everything down, which thus obliges everyone to rebuild it), and Tommen, who had wisely opted to marry his cat Ser Pounce instead, before being murdered by the latter at the wedding. Tyrion is by now happily reunited with Sansa, who has come to realise after her adventures that there are worse things in life than a randy husband who drinks a lot. Daenerys opts to unite the Houses of Lannister and Targaryen by marrying Ser Pounce, a tentative liaison with Theon Greyjoy having proved unsatisfactory in various aspects (Theon joins Varys to become a popular comedy duo in Westerosian seaside resorts, managed by Lord Petyr Baelish, who discovers in show business the true stage for unlimited Macchiavellian plotting and amoral deception). Stannis Baratheon is reduced to being their bouncer, having been abandoned by Melisandre, who married Bran Stark after the latter inveigled her into seeking unlimited power by adopting the Children as her own children. The Children keep her out of trouble by raucously demanding lavish home-cooked meals every hour, on the hour, for the rest of her natural life. Jon Snow is made heir to the throne, but continues to mope about King's Landing in a miserable and gloomy state until he meets Margaery Tyrell, whereupon he finally realises that he has found the true purpose in his life, which is to marry her and thereafter devote all his energy and waking hours to making her as gloomy and miserable as he himself is.Martin, take it or leave it. Pay up on your way out please…

I'd be hard pressed to imagine a better written "fake history" style book than this. It reads as any real life one (albeit with a heightened amount of awesome or horrid stuff happening, and dragons), meaning it is full intriguing omissions, wild rumour, attempted objectivity, dry lists, exciting machinations and most of all, truly human characters that you only glimpse as the narrative sometimes covers a month in a sentence, or a year in a paragraph. Imagine Suetonius' Twelve Caesars, but in Westeros. The fictional author's personality shines through just enough to be entertaining in his own right, while still clearly being an attempt at coming off as a neutral chronicler. The referencing other chronicles as primary sources is believably haphazard, and on those occasions when it is done, creates a real tapestry of possibilities, biases and sense of realism. 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.

This is a fictional work masquerading as non-fiction history. Which is fun. It is also accordingly dry, as a real history of important peoples and places is dry. It's a framed narrative within a frame, written by Archmaester Gyldayn, transcribed by George R. R. Martin. Gyldayn is not interested in providing and entertaining narrative for the reader, he is writing history! Though he does a good job spicing up the story with gossip from "Mushroom" the fool. It's also fun because we are reading the history of Daenerys Targaryen's family, though it doesn't connect with the "present" Song of Ice and Fire series quite as much as I thought it would, but it isn't any less interesting for that. I was especially enthralled with the Dying of the Dragons sections, as they are very tragic. 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.

set 300 years before the events of the Game of Thrones period, it's Part 1 of a planned two-part history of the Targaryen Kings, beginning with Aegon Targaryen I's initial Conquest of Westeros (the Duck and Egg stories recently collected are prequels set in the Part II period). it's similar to Tolkien's Silmarillion in form, though the tone is a bit Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. here the poor historian Archmaester often has to pick his way between duelling sources which is amusing (especially when one of them is the account of a court dwarf with a wild imagination and access to the worst gossip from both the highest courts and the lowest brothels of Flea Bottom). there is one long period of civil war called the Dance of Dragons that's particularly riveting. altogether, a nice romp that fills in a lot of the period before the Song of Ice and Fire begins.

A very good chronicle of the Targaryen bloodline in Westeros, done nicely according to the rules of writing fake history books. One hears the lines being rolled off the tongue of a good lecturer at the halls in Oldtown. The illustrations in the hardcover version are nicely drawn by by Doug Wheatley, and it is the way to pull a certain type of reader into the world of Ice and Fire. It is a sort of homage to the often engrossing Sieur Jean de Froissart's chronicles from the Hundred Years' War. It is well worth the read and brings some of the allusions in the novels to a fuller life. Perhaps the second edition will add a series of maps, and some more family trees. Both would be welcomed by my part of the audience.

This was a fascinating history of Westeros from the arrival of Aegon Targaryen the Conquerer, 300 years before the start of Game of Thrones. Lots more dragons back then, and almost constant wars as the seven kingdoms are forged into one. Very readable, but I had two problems with it. Firstly, it only covers the first half of the 300 years so you don’t find out about more recent events (is he writing the second half?) and secondly why is Martin writing this instead of getting on with Game of Thrones!

I very much enjoyed this book. It put considerable depth to the origin of the Targaryen family conquest myth and is very readable. I had limited knowledge of this subject matter before, but am a fan of the show, so this book was very useful in expanding my visions. I did hear the book received some unfavourable reviews from critics. I would say if you are a fan and want to know more you will like this book. I do agree that a detailed map would have been useful.