"Fire and Blood" An Admirable Addition

 

    I have to admit, my absolute adoration for George R. R. Martin will be clear as I attempt to form an unbiased opinion on this "book". In fact, I'd argue that your love for A Song of Ice and Fire, will largely determine whether or not you actually enjoy this book, as the reality is its basically a history book written about a fantasy world, so your mileage may vary. However, as someone who fawns over anything Game of Thrones, I have to admit, this book had me hooked, sink and line.

    To understand why I enjoyed this book so much, I think its important to recognize who I am, and what I look for in media, whatever form it may come in. As an avid enjoyer of fantasy, I love to engross myself in lore and worldbuilding, so therefore a book that is almost entirely lore was something that I found myself interested in exploring. Furthermore, I have to come clean for the record that A Song of Ice and Fire is my favourite fantasy series by far, and I had a period in my life where it was the only thing I obsessed over, whether it be videos, fanfiction, shows, movies, wiki pages, social media. When I say I obsessed over the series, I do quite literally mean I dedicated that portion of my life to that show and that show alone.

    Despite my effervescent praise, I am not one who often comes away thinking anything is perfect, and this book suffers from the fact that it is a history book. Although, one might suggest the book dragging on only contributes to the atmosphere of reading a musty old history book, I personally do think the history of the Targaryen's can get quite boring, especially near the end of the book. Specifically, why did they not continue until the fall of the "Mad King" Aerys II? I understand that the events of "Roberts Rebellion" might want to be explored in another book, but ending it on the death of Aegon III, who had a boring reign other than the part about Cregan Stark was an anticlimactic ending. In fact, some of the more famous Targaryen's such as Baelor the Blessed are not even touched upon. I suppose that could partially be because Martin wanted to leave room for a sequel, but I was sorely disappointed when House Blackfyre was never even mentioned, considering they play such a pivotal role in many fan theories involving future events in the series.

    Even with these complaints in mind, I'd be lying if I said this book has absolutely nothing of worth for people who aren't fervent fans of A Song of Ice and Fire, as the "Dance of the Dragons" was absolutely astounding. I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical of the TV show House of the Dragon which bases its plot off of this book, and more specifically this portion dedicated to the "Dance of the Dragons" but after reading it completely through, I was absolutely sold. Despite the fact that this book cuts out all of the fluff and fun that comes with reading a novel, I was still able to feel absolutely repulsed while reading this section, as I felt that the Targaryen's reckless use of dragons was so wasteful and should never have been allowed.

Final Score: 60/100

    Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the way George R. R. Martin was able to make this book riveting, despite the creative constraints placed by it being a "history book". I only picked up this book after being impressed by the first episode of House of the Dragon, and I can plainly see why they felt they had enough source material to make a full blown multi-season TV show off of it. While parts of the book do drag on, and I do wish it was a full exhaustive history of the Targaryens, I find it difficult to complain with how densely packed Martin made this book with lore that could keep readers interested for days.