Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

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

42 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

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

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

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

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I’ve wanted to read this ever since I started watching House of the Dragon, and I’m so glad I finally sat down and did it. Although this is written more as a history book, I found the deep dive into the Targaryen dynasty endlessly fascinating. So many characters are interesting in this book, and the three separate history accounts interwoven provide a nice perspective about how history is never neutral. The world of Westeros remains as sordid and strange as ever, and the dragons add so much. I love everything I can get my hands on about this world.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

viscountess_black's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I did it. I finished it!
It is a really good book, albeit a heavy one. It has amazing world and character building, which I enjoyed amazingly. 
Would definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

isabellamarg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Set 300 years before A Game of Thrones, Fire & Blood is history of the Targaryen family beginning with the rule of Aegon the Conquerer. 

 

This book is a narrative non-fiction history and so as George R.R. Martin said, it is not actually written by him, but by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel in Westeros. With this in mind, we are given multiple sources that show how history is warped and construed depending on what you choose to believe. The Archmaester refers to three main primary sources: Grand Maester Orwyle’s official court records, the religious Septon of King’s Landing and the Red Keep, and Mushroom a scandalous court jester whose histories were always the filthiest. The varying accounts of what truly happened added nuance to this 700 page long historical tome. 

 

As a newbie to A Game of Thrones history as well as Martin’s writing I actually thoroughly enjoyed this book! It took me longer than a usual novel to read, given the length, but I never felt bored or unhappy with what I was reading. More-so I felt excited and curious as to what was next to befell the Targaryen family. 

 

The rich world building from Martin truly enraptured me and I loved learning about the different families and houses in Westeros and beyond. It was also interesting having read Fire & Blood after having watched the first and part of the second season of House of the Dragon (it did not make me excited for the third and fourth seasons as they will be devastating for my beloved Rhaenyra). I feel the same way I felt watching the Dune movies prior to reading the books in that it enhanced my experience by allowing me to have some prior visual knowledge of what certain settings looked like as well as a more relatable bond with some of the characters. There are also 85+ beautiful illustrations from Doug Wheatley that help you visualize the story, characters, and realm of Westeros and beyond. The drawings added a little extra oomph! 

 

Note: the Dance of the Dragons which is what House of the Dragon is based off of only takes up 226 pages of Fire & Blood. While I did enjoy this portion of the book especially because of my prior watching of House of the Dragon my favorite histories within this novel were that of Aegon the Conquerer, Queen Visenya Targaryen, and Queen Rhaenys Targaryen in addition to Jaehaerys the Conciliator and Queen Alysanne Targaryen. 

 

Overall, as someone who does not read too much fantasy I loved this book! Some of the content is definitely a bit heavy (subject wise as well as dense in material) but like I said I never felt bored or like storylines dragged on for longer than was needed. It felt really cool to be almost reading a historical text that could be real (or maybe is in our multiverse who knows). Fire & Blood was one of those books for me that I finished reading and immediately wanted to read more, hence why I ordered the first Game of Thrones book as well as Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, whoops! Definitely expect to hear more from me about Martin and A Game of Thrones in the future! Now I need to go find a dragon and become a dragon rider. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ashlynregan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-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

Honestly I liked this better than the actual series lmao!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

queerloras's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Deportation