Reviews tagging 'War'

Fire and Blood: A History of the Targaryen Kings from Aegon the Conqueror to Aegon III by George R.R. Martin, Doug Wheatley

89 reviews

alicialikekeys's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

some parts dragged on longer than others. 

these Targaryens gotta start coming up with new names my god 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

waitaminuteash's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

So, basically men are the root of all evil and everything would have been better if women ruled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

libraryghost's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Abortion

explorachel's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

 I knew what I was getting myself into, but this book is the absolute definition of slog. This is the first time I can say that I far prefer the TV show/movie adaptation to the book. 

This is a very different writing style compared to the rest of the Game of Thrones books, since it covers a huge span of history and sweeps over battles quite quickly. The most redeemable parts are when George R.R. Martin hones in on a particular few characters, like Jaehaeris and Alysanne and their family. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

deadnberried's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.75

Worth it if you're a completionist and interested in Westerosi history, but wow is there a lot of gross stuff in here. Lots of mention of people being R-worded, repetitive turns of phrase, (in my opinion) broken internal logic (women can be Queens and Ladies and rule as liegelords, but are treated as second class citizens in every other respect. Huh?), lots of minors in sexual situations, including someone who seems to have an intellectual disability. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Murder

philineselavy's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

glad this was an audio book otherwise wouldn’t have bothered to finish. i mainly wanted to read it because of the tv series house of the dragons -  and have to say i’m glad the screenwriters did a great job at improving the story, namely they toned down the sexism, fatshaming, ableism and hints of racism of the book.
 
having focused on more diverse fantasy books in the past years i found myself really bored of the stereotypical tropes here. 

the storytelling is tiresome, even though at times this pretense historiography adds some comic relief in the form of mushroom, the court fool, who wrote down parts of the history. 

also, spoilers,

the slaughter of 4 dragons by a bunch of drunk shepherds makes absolutely no sense

- feels like a lazy plot to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Incest, and Racism

graveyardbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Finally, we see Aegon’s Conquest in depth and it sure is the spectacle that we were promised. I cackled every time Dorne was a thorn in his ass. His sons Aenys and Maegor were bumbling idiots but their successors Jaehaerys and Alysanne had a productive reign that was interesting to follow and I loved me some lesbian Rhaena Targaryen interludes. 

Viserys’ rule was uneventful and felt like a speedy prologue for the Dance. The TV show and his actor Paddy Considine fleshed out his character with hardly any worthy source material so I respect that. The Dance itself got boring fast. I did not care about most of the lords named and there were a lot of names. The pacing was a slog to get through and the relentless violence became tedious. It only hurt every time a dragon died and I  had a soft spot for the Velaryons who were always badass.

After the Dance of Dragons, Cregan Stark and Tyland Lannister were familiar and compelling guardians but Unwin Peake got on my every last nerve. It was unbelievable that he could replace the whole castle’s staff with his relatives and not piss off any lord. He never got punished enough for the Lyseni Spring either. 

The book ended abruptly before the most interesting Targ history of Baelor the Blessed, the Blackfyre rebellion and my beloved crown prince Rhaegar so I’m glad GRRM updated his writing progress for the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

cherrynat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

What an amazing introduction to Westeros of old, loved this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail