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A review by benjch
Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
4.0
To be clear, this is closer to a textbook than a novel. That being said, I loved it!! I'm a huge GoT book fan, and I have always wanted to know more about the history of Westeros.
If you're looking for a high fantasy novel similar to the central books, you will not find it here. This will not sate your hunger for the Winds of Winter. Don't fret though, there's still plenty of stories of treachery, villainy, and heroism in these pages, but in a much more scholarly tone than you may be used to.
This book feels like the wet dream of a DnD dungeon master with way too much time on his hands. Nothing is so satisfying as a fully fleshed-out world, complete with lineages, military and political restructuring, and even complex succession arguments. As an indication of how buck-wild this gets, a copy of the Targaryen family tree is essentially always needed on hand while reading.
My only complaint is that GRRM often sacrifices readability for realism. Many characters have similar or identical names, and by the fifth Rhaegonaerysysrs you have to stop and search the family tree for a while to figure out who the hell it is we're talking about.
I'm very excited for the second volume of the Targaryen History! I would recommend this book to diehard GoT fans exclusively. It's not for the faint of heart or easily bored, but I'd argue that it's well worth the time commitment.
If you're looking for a high fantasy novel similar to the central books, you will not find it here. This will not sate your hunger for the Winds of Winter. Don't fret though, there's still plenty of stories of treachery, villainy, and heroism in these pages, but in a much more scholarly tone than you may be used to.
This book feels like the wet dream of a DnD dungeon master with way too much time on his hands. Nothing is so satisfying as a fully fleshed-out world, complete with lineages, military and political restructuring, and even complex succession arguments. As an indication of how buck-wild this gets, a copy of the Targaryen family tree is essentially always needed on hand while reading.
My only complaint is that GRRM often sacrifices readability for realism. Many characters have similar or identical names, and by the fifth Rhaegonaerysysrs you have to stop and search the family tree for a while to figure out who the hell it is we're talking about.
I'm very excited for the second volume of the Targaryen History! I would recommend this book to diehard GoT fans exclusively. It's not for the faint of heart or easily bored, but I'd argue that it's well worth the time commitment.