waitaminuteash's review against another edition

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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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bookycnidaria's review against another edition

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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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ronan_lesh's review against another edition

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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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explorachel's review against another edition

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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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graveyardbook's review against another edition

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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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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!

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malafaia's review against another edition

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

3.75


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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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amachonis's review against another edition

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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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