Reviews with content warning for Incest - Feuer und Blut - Erstes Buch: Aufstieg und Fall des Hauses Targaryen von Westeros

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.

Content Warnings

philineselavy's review against another edition

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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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cherrynat's review against another edition

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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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deedireads's review against another edition

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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!

Content Warnings

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

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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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