Rating: ***
Tags: Lang:en
Summary
#1
NEW YORK TIMES
BESTSELLER •
The thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life
in this masterly work by the author of A Song of Ice and
Fire, the inspiration for HBO’s
Game of Thrones.
Centuries before the events of
A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only
family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of
Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone.
Fire & Blood begins their tale with the
legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne,
and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who
fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil
war that nearly tore their dynasty apart. What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why
was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were
Maegor the Cruel’s worst crimes? What was it like in
Westeros when dragons ruled the skies? These are but a few of
the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as
related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring
more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by
artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of
this narrative in such volumes as
The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first
time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed. With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire,
Fire & Blood is the the first volume of the
definitive two-part history of the Targaryens, giving readers
a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and
always fascinating history of Westeros.
Praise for *Fire & Blood* “I love it
so much.
Fire & Blood is Martin Unbound . . . and I
couldn’t put it down. . . . There’s
an addictive quality to the prose that’s outright
gossipy. . . . The obvious comparison here is J.R.R.
Tolkien’s
The Silmarillion. . . . Writing centuries after the
events he’s describing, the Gyldayn voice
complicates this game of thrones with a clash of perspectives
and a storm of debatable facts. . . . Heavy stuff,
but
Fire & Blood flies.”—
Entertainment Weekly
“A masterpiece of popular historical fiction.”
—*The Sunday Times* “The saga is a rich and dark one, full of both the
title’s promised elements. . . . It’s hard not to
thrill to the descriptions of dragons engaging in airborne
combat, or the dilemma of whether defeated rulers should
‘bend the knee,’ ‘take the black’ and
join the Night’s Watch, or simply meet an
inventive and horrible end.”
—*The Guardian* ** “I love it
so much.
Fire & Blood is Martin Unbound . . . and I
couldn’t put it down. . . . There’s
an addictive quality to the prose that’s outright
gossipy. . . . The obvious comparison here is J.R.R.
Tolkien’s
The Silmarillion. . . . Writing centuries after the
events he’s describing, the Gyldayn voice
complicates this game of thrones with a clash of perspectives
and a storm of debatable facts. . . . Heavy stuff,
but
Fire & Blood flies.”—
Entertainment Weekly
“A masterpiece of popular historical fiction.”
—*The Sunday Times* “The saga is a rich and dark one, full of both the
title’s promised elements. . . . It’s hard not to
thrill to the descriptions of dragons engaging in airborne
combat, or the dilemma of whether defeated rulers should
‘bend the knee,’ ‘take the black’ and
join the Night’s Watch, or simply meet an
inventive and horrible end.”
—*The Guardian* “Lean and efficient and slyly seductive and
instructive . . . The text is filled with such a wealth of
incident and so many colorful characters.”
—*Locus* “The overall narrative of the book is wonderfully
fluid. . . .
Fire & Blood was a great surprise to me. I
found myself becoming deeply emotionally invested in the
Targaryens, thrilling when they achieved great victories and
lamenting when they succumbed to their more idiotic desires.
(And they have a
lot of idiotic desires.) This book
feels like A Song of Ice and Fire. And you know
how I know? Because I want the next book right
away.”
—*Tordotcom* “[There are] treasures hidden in this new Targaryen
history.”
—*Vanity Fair* “The world of ice and fire only gets more
fascinating the more we learn about it.”
—*Mashable* “Martin is still a powerfully gifted, inventive
writer. . . . [
Fire & Blood] has hundreds of fascinating
anecdotes, ranging from the cruel fate of a jester named Tom
Turnip to a dragon that, tellingly, refuses to venture beyond
the Wall. . . .
Fire & Blood is a lavish object, with
charts, family trees, and stunning illustrations by comic
book artist Doug Wheatley. . . . In this sense it fits into a
venerable tradition, from J.R.R. Tolkien in his
Silmarillion to Diana Gabaldon in her companion to
the Outlander series.”
—*USA Today* “[
Fire & Blood] explores the dragon-fueled secrets
upon which the current saga is built.”
—*Hollywood Reporter* “Martin has done it again. . . . [
Fire & Blood is] a beautiful weaving of the
wars, marriages, deaths, dragons, and politics that shape the
world Martin has created, leaving the reader feeling like
this is a true history rather than a piece of fantasy. This
is a masterpiece of world-building. . . . Beyond
Martin’s legions of fans, anyone with a taste for
richly, even obsessively detailed historical fiction or
fantasy about royalty will enjoy this extraordinary
work.”
—
Booklist (starred review)
George R. R. Martin is the #1
New York Times bestselling author of many novels,
including those of the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and
Fire—
A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A
Feast for Crows, and
A Dance with Dragons—as well as
Tuf Voyaging, Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag, Dying of
the Light, Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle), and
Dreamsongs Volumes I and
II. He is also the creator of
The Lands of Ice and Fire, a collection of maps
featuring original artwork from illustrator and cartographer
Jonathan Roberts, and
The World of Ice & Fire, with Elio M.
García, Jr., and Linda Antonsson. As a writer-producer,
he has worked on
The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various
feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with
the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Review
About the Author
Doug Wheatley is a comic book artist,
concept designer, and illustrator who has worked on such
properties and characters as
Star Wars, Aliens, Superman, The Incredible Hulk,
and Conan the Barbarian, to name just a few. Wheatley was the
artist on the comic book adaptation of the film
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and
contributed illustrations to
The World of Ice & Fire.