Reviews tagging 'War'

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin

89 reviews

deedireads's review against another edition

dark funny informative lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.5

All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.

I picked this up (finally) because I was loving HBO’s House of the Dragon — and the House of R podcast’s accompanying deep dives. I had too much FOMO about having to turn the podcast off when Mal and Jo discussed book spoilers at the end of each episode. Besides, it’s very unlike me to watch an adaptation of a book without having read the book first. So it was time to fix that!

Fire & Blood is not a novel; it’s fiction, but it’s written as a history text, wherein a maester is compiling various sources to provide an account of the Targaryen dynasty from Aegon’s Conquest through the end of Regency. (There is a second book, which will be called Blood & Fire [yes really], which will cover from the end of Regency through Robert’s Rebellion.) The Dance of the Dragons, which is the civil war being covered by House of the Dragon on HBO, starts about halfway through this book.

Reading a fake history book sounds kind of boring, but this is really not boring at all. I had a surprisingly awesome time reading it. Bonus of this format: I actually started at the beginning of the Dance rather than starting at the beginning of the book because I wanted to read that part before HotD season 2 ended, which worked perfectly fine! I read from there to the end, and then I went back to the beginning and read the first half. That said, I did have the audiobook as well (thank you, PRH audio!), but found it harder to concentrate on in that format. So print it was.

If you’re on the fence about picking this up, please allow me to encourage you to do so before HotD season 3. I don’t think you’ll regret it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Violence, and War

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

abbrown118's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

amachonis's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rml14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

marina_claveria's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

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

lizgom's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

My biggest issue going into this was how the writing made me feel like I was reading a history book. I’m sure thats what the author intended but the narrator made the story come alive. I've never seen a single episode of GOT so I went in totally blind into this and was in shock at the amount of incest in this. 🥲 Other than that, the story was entertaining and really well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

anne_racovita's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

oreoo1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Incest, and War

Moderate: Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Grief