A Song of Ice and Fire : Fire and Blood (The inspiration for HBO’s House of the Dragon TV tie-in edition): The inspiration for 2022's highly ... of epic fantasy classic GAME OF THRONES Paperback – September 15, 2022

J. R. R. Tolkien labored at his mythology for a majority of his adult life, from the trenches of World War I until his death. He mostly thought it unpublishable. He was interested in the great histories, in the sweeping sagas, in the stories that were written not as modern novels, but as texts that might have jumped straight out of the world he created. Some of Tolkien's mythological material made it into 'The Lord of the Rings.' Much of it did not. He wanted to publish the histories--the Silmarillion saga--alongside the books we all know today, but the publishers turned him down repeatedly. He died without seeing any of that work published, and when his son Christopher tried to make one cohesive text from the massive amounts of material, much of it was bastardized. Only later did Christopher edit and release over a dozen volumes of original texts, showing us a bit more of the scope of the history Tolkien had imagined.Why am I telling you this about Tolkien in a review for GRR Martin? This should seem fairly obvious by now: GRR Martin has the same longing Tolkien did. He has the same love of the grand, sweeping historical epic. So far he has been giving us his 'Lord of the Rings,' his drama of the minutiae, but in the process he got caught up in the grand and glorious visions of the Targaryens, just as Tolkien was swept up into the glories of the First Age. It’s no mistake this book is being called the “GRRMillion.”Martin's popularity is granting him a chance that Tolkien unfortunately never had in his lifetime: To create his myth IN FULL. To give us the grand sweep of things in the greater world, beyond just the characters we know and love in 'A Song of Ice and Fire.'Please accept this book for what it is, rather than complaining about what it does not aim to be. And what exactly is it? An artefact from Westeros. It should be read not as a book Martin wrote, but one he transcribed, from the original text by Archmaester Gyldayn. It will require some work on the part of the reader. The lines have been drawn, and we are being asked to fill in the colors with our imaginations. This participatory reading is what can make history so engaging—it takes work, but the work pays off.We have two choices: We can claw after the next GoT book, complaining that the author hasn’t yet met our demands. Or we can allow the author a chance to fill out his universe. For my part, this stuff is more exciting than the series proper. We get to see the bigger picture that all of the Song of Ice and Fire is a part of. If you don't want this sort of thing, simply move on rather than ruining the experience for others.I remember what it felt like to sit down one day as a boy and open 'The Silmarillion.' I was holding the Bible of the Elves. It was a piece of that world. It was a text that might have been read by a scholar in Minas Tirith. It was magic. Martin has the chance to give us this now. Imagine being Samwell Tarly, sitting in the Citadel's library, opening up this ponderous and magical tome about the history of the Targaryens for the first time.Why now, though? Why not wait until he's finished telling the main story? For my part, I'd rather follow the passion of a writer than get mediocre work demanded by fans. Martin created this universe for us; let him follow his vision for how it should proceed. He was caught up in the glorious history of his universe as he was telling his story, and he wants us to have it in all of its rich complexity. I can only wish that Tolkien had had the same opportunity in his lifetime. We only see fragments of what that might have been. But Martin is giving us his own great mythology, in his own lifetime, whole and complete; and I am a boy again with wonder.This, my friends, is going to be a feast.

This book is a very good read especially for GoT fans. This book offers you so much background history that sheds much light to the turmoil in the seven kingdoms as well as the "curse" of being a Targayren. Having dragons is one thing but having loyal humans is another and the latter is scarier.The book did well to highlight powerful women and their contributions to the Westerosi's history. This was particularly very refreshing.So much foreshadowing in this book its crazy and I get giddy everytime I pick up on these hints.This book had its own version of the characters from the GoT series we've all come to love. For instance there was a character similar to Lord Baelish who was even more cunning, destructive and consequential in the history of the Seven Kingdoms

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙮𝙚𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚, 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙝𝙤𝙮𝙣𝙖𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙈𝙚𝙣, 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙢, 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥.𝙃𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙠𝙚. 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮-𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙡𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙒𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙨𝙞𝙭 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨.𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙.So this isn’t going to be a book for everyone. It definitely reads like a dry history book, but as a non-apologetic history nerd, I absolutely loved that about it. Not only does it give you an in depth history of so many major (fictional) events in the history of this world, there’s also DRAGONS!I also need to say, I read this book completely out of order. I wanted to get the Dance of the Dragons part done before the start of S2 of the show (nailed it!) And after reading the back half, I went back and read from the beginning.Surprisingly, Aegon I’s part was probably my least favorite of the book? So I’m actually happy I did it the way I did. And ending with King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne was perfect for me, because it was at least bittersweet and not SUPER depressing. 😂(Seriously, how did GRRM get me cheering for this bro/sis couple? He had me so happy for them, while simultaneously grossed out? 🤣)I also think the TV show is a great companion to the book. Since the book is only based on “accounts” compiled together (like most of the history books we read) it’s fun to see how they can interpret these events as they “actually” happened on the show.And now that Dunk & Egg is filming, I need to check out that book again. I feel like I read maybe a small portion of it, but I’ve always been intrigued by the Blackfyre Rebellion, and I think there is more info on that in that book?What this book is giving:✅ Fantasy✅ Spinoff of ASOIAF✅ Fictional History Book✅ Targaryens✅ Dragons✅ “Interesting” Family Dynamics

It was almost new. Excellent packing and price