Fire & Blood: Better than it has any right to be

What you've been waiting for: my Fire and Blood review by George RR Martin. I can't believe how good this book was - who know (fake) history could be so fascinating? Tell me your thoughts below!

Chapters
00:00 - Intro & spoiler warning
01:10 - The best of Martin
08:10 - The "not knowing" of it all
09:14 - Over-arching ASOIAF themes
11:59 - Female characters: on womanhood and motherhood
18:40 - On dragons
20:27 - Baratheons, Maegor, and Targaryan exceptionalism
22:55 - Jaehaerys and Alysanne
25:44 - Princess Aerea
26:30 - Blood and Cheese
28:06 - The Dance of Dragons and the ending
29:44 - F&B 2 and ASOIAF 6
31:49 - Conclusion

Socials

[louisroy]

Daemon jumping from his dragon to Aemond’s over the Gods Eye is the most metal thing I’ve read in fantasy.

[fantasyhaven]

Some people consider it to be too "dry", but I love Fire and Blood. I dunno, maybe it's the history major in me 😂

[Bluerock]

Queen Alyssane is probably the best written character in the book for me. One of her last scenes where she rides her dragon for the last time and comes down crying because she knows it’s the last time is genuinely heartbreaking

[Trune]

Despite it being written as a history book there’s so many great characters and complete stories in here

[vinnie]

"Come no closer, " warned Ser Gyles Morrigen. "Any man who lays a hand upon our king and queen shall die today." Lord Rogar was dismayed. "Sheath your steel and move aside, " he commanded. "Have you forgotten? I am the King's Hand." "Aye, " old Sour Sam answered. "but we're the Kingsguard, not the Hand's guard, and it's the lad who sits the chair, not you." My favorite passage in the whole book kinda.

[Texans]

The end part about Quentyn lol. Talk about a chef's kiss 🤣

[SirGeeSantos]

Your "optmism"( not really optmism, but a just a positive realness about everything) is such a breath of fresh air, because YES i love fire and blood, and if george wants to publish the part 2 instead of main asoiaf, i will still love it and I will BUY IT

[Trune]

For Fire and Blood II — Martin actually said in a blog post on September 9th he had worked on it a bit this year so I think he intends to release it after Winds but before A Dream of Spring

[SuperWeebBros]

So, the thing with Valyria
The main accepted theory is that Dragons aren't natural, the Valyrians used magic to combine Fire Wyrms with Wyverns and birth the dragons.
These Fire Wyrms are what are thought to have been inside the Princess

As for what hurt Balerion, we have no idea, it's possible that somehow another dragon survived and fought him

[jacksonellis]

Stannis dragging Rhaenyra as an usurping traitor is so funny when you read Fire and Blood and see how many parallels they have 😅

[dhruv]

GRRM said that the version of Viserys I in House of the Dragon is better than the version he wrote in the book. Honestly so much is gained in adaptation sometimes and Viserys I in the show is one of the best characters in the ASOIAF universe and one of best performances as well. In the book you just know of him, but in the show you follow his entire reign and see the person who the maesters considered uninteresting. You might wanna check out the show.

[TES-]

Another interesting thing about the Baratheon-Targaryen connection, is that Robert’s (and Stannis and Renly’s) grandmother was a Targaryen. One of the reasons he was chosen to become king out of the main rebels who overthrew the mad king, was because they felt him being partially Targaryen would make him look more legitimate to Westeros.

Also, would love a video on how you felt about the Greens and the Blacks, both really compelling sides with lots of interesting characters. For me the Greens are one of the most interesting families in all of George’s ASOIAF world

[fly]

This was quite the journey to see you from not being so sure about asoif to getting so into it.

[jimiafolabi]

The world of Ice and Fire is more of an encyclopedia. But the first 100 or so pages cover Fire and Blood part 1 and 2. But it’s really brief and he doesn’t go into as much detail. So for instance, Fire and Blood part 1 is covered in about 60/70 pages. To give you an example of how brief it is. But I’d suggest reading it just so you’d get a summary of Fire and Blood part 2. Even though it’s not in detail. It lets you know the main events. And the Blackfyres come to play in that portion of the story and it’s really good imo. It makes me want Fire and Blood 2 even more lol. But at least you have an idea of the story. The rest of the book reads sort of like a textbook tbh and I never got through the entire thing.
But the first section, I recommend because it tells you what happens after Fire and Blood Part 1 ends.

[fabiolaliano]

i know you haven’t watched the shows, but it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on hotd. im one of the few people who love both f&b and hotd, i think they’re really good companion pieces to one another and ive loved most of the changes and additions to the source material. it’s definitely a transformative adaptational approach that works as an interpretation of the book’s unreliable narrative. it also seems more in line with the themes and fantasy elements of asoiaf than what game of thrones was

[alexs_toy_barn]

As for the 'what's happening in Valyria?' Question, the answer is probably that George Mystery-Boxed it, so he doesn't even know. It's most likely a magical-Armageddon/chernobyl or a nuclear fallout

[Stxrk]

its honestly crazy to me that bookborn went from super not-a-fan of whatever she heard of martin & asoiaf to like being a super fan of it when she actually sat down and read it.
I kept track of merphy napiers readthrough and she dropped it like mid way of clash of kings or after it, which disappointed me, so I was expecting bookborn to have a similar experience given both merphy and bookborn seem to have similar tastes and limits on what they can handle. I was so (happily) surprised when she finished all 5 books, and then A REREAD of AGOT followed by F&B. like good lord!!!

[BanesBasement]

Any time I hear someone call this series nihilistic, it makes me think either a.) they don’t understand nihilism, or b.) they haven’t actually read the series. I love that, as someone with a wide booktube audience, you continue to highlight George’s romanticism. I think ASOIAF is some of the most effective fantasy hopecore since LOTR.

George: “One of the great things that Tolkien says in Lord of The Rings is “despair is the ultimate crime”. That’s the ultimate failing of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, that he despairs of ever being able to defeat Sauron. We should not despair. We should not go gentle into that good night. So winter is coming, but light the torches, drink the wine and gather around the fire, we can still defy it!”

[spartacan]

I love the women in Fire&Blood. My absolute favorite is Rhaena Targaryen, first rider of Dreamfyre, granddaughter of Aegon the Conqueror, and eldest sibling to Jaehaerys and Alysanne. She had been through so much, from losing her husband, and being forced to marry Maegor. She's also amazing for queer representation, I thought George did a great job with that in this novel. Her relationship with Elissa Farman and the possible explanation for how Daenerys got her dragon eggs is really cool. I also love her reign over Harrenhal and Dragonstone, and the fact that at the end of the day she just wanted peace for her and her daughters. I could write novels about how underrated I feel she is 😢 Like come on, Aegon the Conqueror CRIED when he held her for the first time!!! She's the GOAT!!! (I do also love your picks, Alysanne is an amazing woman)

[gulsahalkan]

You should read The World of Ice and Fire.