Fire and Blood: The inspiration for HBO and Sky TV series HOUSE OF THE DRAGON from the internationally bestselling creator of GAME OF THRONES (A Song of Ice and Fire) Paperback – 12 July 2022

If you like A Song of Ice and Fire – and I’m talking about the novels rather than the TV series – and you want to learn more about the history of Westeros, you’ll love this book. It’s not written as a conventional novel, more as a narrative history. What I mean is that the ostensible narrator is not an omniscient GRR Martin but a master writing several centuries after the event and relying on several contemporary sources of dubious accuracy. If that doesn’t sound very exciting, don’t worry, there is plenty of excitement here. And plenty of action too, of the kind you associate with Game of Thrones: wars, conspiracies, betrayals, beheadings, poisonings going on all over Westeros, with additional dollops of violence and mayhem floating in from across the Narrow Sea.For those who find all this a bit grim and macho, GRR Martin is pretty good at putting women front and centre, so there are plenty of notable female characters, not just doing queenly things, but also doing “manly” things like exploring the seven seas (or however many seas there are in this world) and riding dragons. In fact, the major war in the centre of the novel hinges on the female right of accession to the Iron Throne, i.e. whether a younger brother’s claim trumps an older sister’s.It reminds me that I’m not keen on the Middle Ages really, and as a republican I’m not a big fan of kings and queens. However, I can see why so many fantasy novels are set in something that approximates to the European Middle Ages. Kings and queens, knights in shining armour, jousting and swordplay, men with longbows and crossbows. It’s all fertile ground for creating action-packed narratives and fully-rounded characters.Unlike GRR Martin, I’m not usually a great fan of illustrated novels, but in this case, the illustrations by Doug Wheatley are generally very good and do add a lot to the novel. We also get a list of reigns and dates and a Targaryen family tree, which is helpful if you get your Aegons mixed up with your Aemons. My only gripe about this edition is that there is no map. Yes, I can picture Westeros in my mind and there are maps in other volumes, but I’m sure there are some names of towns and regions that I haven’t come across before and it would be nice to know whereabouts they are.By the way, Fire and Blood begins with the Targaryen take over of Westeros, three hundred years before the TV series starts. In this volume we get about half-way through that period, so expect a sequel at some point.In this edition, as a bonus, you get a transcript of a conversation between GRR Martin and the mediaeval historian Dan Jones. It gives a fascinating insight into how the author first conceived of Westeros and how he developed this complex world. Apparently, it all started with a dream about the incident – which is very vivid in the TV series – when Bran discovers the direwolf pups. And at first, the author thought of that as a fit subject for a short story, not for a massive series of several doorstep sized novels. He also talks about his interest in history, and how the great thing about being a fantasy writer, rather than a historical novelist, is that you can take a historical event or artefact and then let your imagination go. As an example, he tells how a trip to Hadrian’s Wall led to the Westeros Wall. The author also hints at future Westeros novels, including a sequel to this one.

The design is perfect and looks amazing. As for the book itself, it reads like a historical chronicle, tracing the Targaryen lineage from Aegon’s Conquest to the early stages of the Dance of the Dragons. It's written from a maester’s viewpoint to tell the story. It’s less a novel and more a richly detailed history, so expect more lore than character-driven plot. Definitely worth checking out.

I read this book following watching S1 of House of the Dragon. I must say I was immediately gripped by the story; Martin always delivers. It’s a fantastically detailed history-esque tale set across a 130 year-ish period. It details the highs and lows of the Targaryens we have loathed and loved on tv.The book is unique in that it is compiled by eye witness accounts and therefore there are differences in opinion rather than one ‘true story’. Through this there is limited dialogue and lots of opinion. I really enjoyed the way it was told including sections where you have 3 different perspectives and you can choose your ‘truth’.I would highly recommend this book and I devoured it very quickly. I am however giving it 4 stars as I felt the pace dropped in the last 1/4 of the book. I am wondering if this is due to the editing and I am aware that Martin has a sequel planned. At times it felt like a few different pieces of work blended together and wasn’t as seamless as earlier in the book. Well worth a read nevertheless.

Another amazing read from George. Albeit not read from the perspective of any living character but a maester well after the events take place. It's interesting reading the interpretations of what happened, it's a very unique way of storytelling.

Excellent product, swift transaction and arrived earlier than the date mentioned! Will definitely shop with them again!

I wanted to read it since I loved the series House of the Dragon. Since I roughly knew about the plot it wasn't too bad and I really just wanted to know what happened next. The annoying thing is that it's written like a history book so you only learn the facts about who marries who and who dies and the main battles. It really misses out on all the details that make the plot interesting.

It’s more of a timeline than any solid story but when it gets into the meat of the dance of dragons it does slow down and become more of a story you can follow as opposed to a timeline. It was really interesting, it’s clear that grrm has poured his soul into this world and its history. Thankfully this content is all complete so our hbo show has something solid to follow unlike the latter volumes of asoiaf. We can only hope grrm will one day complete his works.