A review by hemang_jindal
Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin

3.0

I finished the book yesterday. It was alright, not too great, not bad either. The dance of the dragons was easily the best period. Initially, learning about the various lords and ladies was a harsh task, but the book eases you into it, only to kill off every single character and have another set of morons running about trying to kill each other. You can’t really blame the author for that, that was the pacing’s fault. Learning about the dragons was also fun. I wonder why subsequent dragons usually come out smaller than the ones before. How was the black dread the biggest dragon, when he was also the eldest? That’s opposite of natural evolution. But then again, they are dragons. And I think I just remembered why the older dragons are usually larger. It’s because they keep fucking growing throughout their lives. I am a moron. Daemon Targaryen was easily the best character, and Aemond Targaryen a close second. I just loved reading about them being dickheads to everyone around them, killing being their only method of communication and the absolutely legendary Vhagar and Caraxes fight. Yesterday, I saw some really good art of that scene on reddit. It really put things in perspective like the dragons; sizes and how they could duel in the air during the dragons’ brawl. The only thing I didn’t like was how it didn’t last longer. Daemon just flew Caraxes up, came down, fucked Aemond’s eye and bid farewell to the world alongside his nephew. Even their exchange right before they take flight was stupid, I want to see the show milk this rivalry until this cow is lying on the ground seizing or something. This was also the first book where I had to read a specified amount of pages a day, to ensure I finish it within twenty days, to make sure that I read 18 books this 2024. Because of that, this book felt like it came and went in the blink of an eye but also, when I think back to the time of Aegon the conqueror, it still feels like a long time ago. Back then, I hated the documentation writing style at first, I felt like there was too much information in too few a pages, but I eventually came to like it, as humans tend to. I also found the distinguishes between the show Rhaenyra and the book Rhaenyra interesting. In the show, she is basically the protagonist. I don’t think the showrunners intended that, except they started the first episode with her riding a dragon, and the next act with here giving birth. In the show, I love Rhaenyra, easily my third favorite character. I want to see a mother’s rage kill the greens. But in the book, man. The book really humanizes her. She is a glutton, has mood swings lasting years because of the death of her children and other bannerman, and honestly, just as, if not, as evil as Aegon the second Targaryen. Not as evil as Aemond though, bro was burning villages for fun for upwards of two years. I think you can really tell that the dance was the most fun part of the book, even though it didn’t even last half the amount of pages. I’ll try to go through some of the other reigns now. Aenys and Maegor’s time is the most blurry, mostly because nothing all that interesting was going on other than the first dance of the dragons, and Alysanne Targaryen, who I really liked as a person, she was kind and nice. Jaeharys and Alysanne’s rule was fucking long long long. Their royal progress was fun, seeing the wall, the female councils and the lot were stupid fun. And one of the most interesting things was learning about what might still be dwelling in old Valyria, through the little things inside Aerea Targaryen, that whole quote from the grand maester at the time was chilling to listen to ( because I was also using a free audiobook on youtube to catch up on pages). It was also cool learning about the Red Keep’s creation and the various phases King’s Landings goes through. Oh man, the whole schpeel of the first shephard, which I originally hated (because I considered Rhaenyra the protagonist and thus hated seeing this happen under her rule), but now reminiscing upon it, it was really fun. The dull gloom of the night, the kingsguard not being able to afflict anything onto the crowds, them going on a suicide mission to kill the dragons and eventually destroy the dragon pit. So interesting a time that was. I also liked how Corlys survives the dance. He was literally the queen’s right hand man, held his head up high, every time an enemy intended to chop it off, but managed to not die of a sword each time because of all the respect, wealth and wisdom he had accrued. His granddaughter twins are also fun to read about. I think that’s it. Fun read, all in all. Fuck man, I would have loved to see Daemon and Aemond duel on the ground once.