Fire and Blood

Every time I have an itch to read The Winds of Winter (the publish date of which has been pushed so many times, I have given up on ever getting to the end of this series), I go back and read some of George R.R.Martin’s sundry books on Westeros.

Desperate times 😉.

So, recently I read Fire and Blood – this book recounts the Targaryen history starting from the first king Aegon the Conqueror to the Dance of the Dragons.

A second book is expected to be published sometime soon, which explains what happened to the Targaryens after the dance.

This book just reminded me why I am still so invested in a series that’s going nowhere.

Martin has the ability to create dramatic 3-dimensional characters I love and put them in settings of pure terror and violence that make my heart race.

Why read this book?

I read this book because I am fascinated by Westeros. I love Daenerys’ character, and reading so much about her got me interested in the Targaryens as a whole. It’s also a great book in the sense it foretells a lot of events that occur in A Song of Ice and Fire (such as an explanation of how Daenerys ended up with the dinosaur eggs or the appearance of Aegon in A Dance with Dragons).

However, this is not a book you’d want to dip into as an introduction to the Westerosi world. It’s a great book, but you would have to have already watched the series or read the books to appreciate Fire and Blood fully.

My review

In short, I loved it absolutely.

First up, I love the Targaryens in general – they are completely crazy and unpredictable characters. So, a book about them is a no-brainer. I went into this book expecting to love it, and it lived up to all my expectations.

Second, I love George R.R.Martin’s writing style. He’s one of those authors whose books I am always happy to pick up and read and reread. I always come away with some new intriguing detail every time I reread his books.

Fire and Blood is one of those books. I read it at a fast and furious pace the first time I read it and then went back to read some of the more interesting portions.

Third, the aesthetic of this book is beautiful. I bought this book on hardcover, and it’s easily one of the most beautiful books I own. The fonts, paper quality, and illustrations are all top-class.

This is one of those books where I felt I really got my money’s worth! It also makes a wonderful addition to the entire series I have on my bookshelf!

This book ends with the dance of the dragons – the fiery battle between two warring Targaryen family branches. This dance is covered briefly in the short story (The Princess and the Queen in Dangerous Women), but Fire and Blood provides more detail.

So, if you have read the short story, you might find this section of the book repetitive.

However, I knew the story, and still, I didn’t mind reading it in an expanded form. The characters and battles are so interesting and dramatic that I could easily reread this for a third or fourth time and still love the book!

So, yeah! I loved this book. No surprises here 😊.

Have you read Fire and Blood? What did you think of it? Or the other supporting Westerosi books like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? Do they satisfy your Westerosi addiction, or are you still frustrated about the delays in The Winds of Winter?