Set 300 years before the events in A Song of Ice and Fire, FIRE AND BLOOD is the definitive history of the Targaryen's in Westeros as told by Archmaester Gyldayn, and chronicles the conquest that united the Seven Kingdoms under Targaryen rule through to the Dance of the Dragons: the Targaryen civil war that nearly ended their dynasty forever. The thrilling history of the Targaryen's 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 Targaryen's in Westeros. Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen - the only family of dragon lords 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 Targaryen's 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. 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.
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[The maesters of the Citadel who keep the histories of Westeros have used Aegon's Conquest as their touchstone for the past three hundred years]***
(HarperVoyager, 20 November 2018, 736 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I'm an uber fan of George R.R. Martin and the Game of Thrones books and TV show so I had high hopes for this. I must admit to being a little disappointed. I thought the Targaryen's history would be packed with drama and madness. Unfortunately, this book is not as deep as the Games of Thrones books. The Game of Thrones books are dense, packed with well-developed characters and something chunky you can sink your teeth into. Fire and Blood is a slightly poor imitation of those books. Even though the book is fairly hefty I still felt like it was a bit rushed with one event being swept up by another. I didn't feel the characters were as well developed as I expected. The book starts off well but sags a bit after the first couple of hundred pages. Also, a lot of the characters have the same or similar name as characters in the Game of Throne books which I found confusing. This just isn't as good as it could have been.
