5.02k reviews for:

Fire & Blood

George R.R. Martin

3.97 AVERAGE

dark fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The good (IMO):
- the history we’ve always wanted, left with a few questions unanswered, about the Targaryen’s. There were so many little stories that were absolutely amazing, hilarious, horrifying and just downright interesting.
- dragons! Oh the dragons!
- the battles, along with the battles including the dragons as well. Have I mentioned the dragons yet??
- the drama! The scandal! I felt like I was reading a telenovela at times because of the backstabbing, forbidden love and drama. So much tragedy, just so compelling.
- the women! Despite either being used as a breeder for males, being a prostitute or being turned down for the throne because *gasp* you have a vagina, there are so many bad ass women in this book. The Targaryen women (and the ones who marry in as well) are strong, bold and just awesome.

The bad (IMO):
- First off, wheres the map? Every ASOIAF book has a map and they reference places SO MUCH in this book that it should have been there.
- Politics. Like I know I KNOW to know about the history, there has to be some politics but oh my lanta some of it was just plodding. Especially the last 150 pages or so.
- The characters. Or should I say the sheer VOLUME of them. There were a lot. Which is normal in a Martin novel but there was like probably at least 1000 in the book and since they’re Targaryen’s, they name basically every single child basically the same name. It was just a lot of content to keep track of. If they didn’t have the family tree at the back, I would have been hopeless keeping everyone straight.
- Finally, it’s not the Winds of Winter. And this read makes you long for the next instalment BADLY.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was just a very heavy book (literally and mentally) to take in at times.

It reads very much like a history book, not anything like the GOT series. It goes through 100+ years of Westeros history and even in the most interesting parts (drama, wars/battle, etc) drag on. If it wasn’t for the audio version of this book, I probably wouldn’t have finished it

Such an interesting "textbook" of Targaryen history.
adventurous dark funny slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
slow-paced
adventurous dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It reads like a history textbook. It‘s not a bad book it’s just not for me

4.5
adventurous informative slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes